Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@paddockjudge Did "buck-a-beer" save you enough to buy that?

@paddockjudge, your price, and the average Canadian price, on Blanton's Original is currently significantly lower than the average prices for it in the US. Good going.

wine-searcher.com/find/blantons original/

Was in London so decided to check out the whisky shops. By far the best (in my opinion) was The Vintage House. Has a huge selection of IB’s and distillery bottlings from the most common to the most obscure distilleries. I picked up a bottle of Ben Nevis 10 year old on recommendation and a bottle of single cask Tobermory from Old Malt Cask series. Will be heading back anytime I find myself in London.

@Victor It's the result of the new tariffs, I guess...

@bsk8198 that Ben Nevis is another one that I've been wanting to try. How is it?

@bsk8198 which ones did you visit? The whisky exchange is obviously impressively stocked, but I tend to prefer the smallest royal mile whisky in Bloomsbury myself. I avoid world of whisky on picadilly... Way to fancy and more expensive than all the other ones.

Got my bottle to share on my 50th birthday next Feb’, no way I could afford a 50 year old or even a bottle from 1969 so just went for a style which should be a crowd pleaser. The Glenrothes 1988, 44.1% 27 year old, sherries Speysider NCF and no E150.

Thought that would be it for the month but walked into a small corner shop top shelf back of the store and found the old bottling of HP12 round bottle, square box with the sunset picture, from the code think it is 2005. £32.99 out the door.

@Pete1969

It's good to plan ahead. I have my 50th BD bottle planned for 2 months later than you, it seems. I'll be opening a bottle of A'Bunadh batch 50. @Robert99 secured it for me back in 2016 as it never made it to the LCBO. Sadly I was not able to get myself a bottle of batch 60 for my 60th, but for my 66th I can open 2 bottles of Batch 33?

I just checked and I've bought no bottles in July and August. That makes 5 calendar months this year with no purchases. I also have few plans to buy anything else this year. Maybe some of this year's Lot 40 CS release (one to compare to last year's and one to save..if I like it). It looks very much like I will end the year buying fewer than half the number of bottles I bought last year. But I'll still have the same number of bottles I started the year with, meaning I need to start drinking more....

Blanton's Original. I returned to the same store from where I purchased one yesterday. The corporate sight is showing 500+ bottles (for online shopping) of Blanton's Original and plenty of stores with product on the shelf. I'm thinking there might be another LCBO effbook tasting.... and that will lead to a purchasing frenzy by the I wanna be cool and drink whiskey too crowd.

@paddockjudge did you buy all 500? That would show them!

@paddockjudge You may have to go through an Old Forester Birthday Bourbon frenzy first. Seems the LCBO F'd up and sent a few bottles to a Queen St LCBO early and they of course were scooped immediately.

They will be released in the near future I was informed by Hello LCBO. Of course they will carry a $179.00 price tag and be sold out in 5 minutes. Almost makes me sad I missed out on the PHC 11 Yr SiB for $387,

@Astroke, that is absolutely ridiculous! Birthday Bourbon at $180 CDN? It is a nice bourbon, but not $180 nice.

@Nozinan I also tucked away a batch 50 but that is going to be my treat, most of my friends only drink Scotch occasionally and the A’bunadh would probably be a little too strong even with a little water.

@Hewie The Ben Nevis 10 is an amazing dram for the price. I've heard there is a generous amount of 18 year old and even some 21 year old juice in the bottle. Certainly stacks up well against most of the better known 10 year olds I've tried. Highly recommend it!

@RikS I went to The Whisky Shop in Piccadilly, The Whisky Exchange in Covent Gardens, and Royal Mile Whiskies. They all had their highlights but for me, The Vintage House had the best variety and selection, both distillery bottlings and independent's.

@bsk8198 Cheers. I think I've been there but now I'll definetly go check it out!

Last month brought a bottle of Arran 12 yo cask strength.

Not opened it yet. But like the Arran 18 and feel like they're the sort of distillery I want to promote.

Just ordered a bottle of the latest Springbank 12 and from the endorsement on here a Ben Nevis 10.

I just bought an Isle of Arran 10 Year. It’s reasonably priced for Ontario and I’m curious about this distillery.

@OdysseusUnbound - Let us know how you find it. I think it's a bit underrated so be interested to see what you think.

I just picked up an A’Bunadh Batch 53 and a Glenfarclas 12 from a friend. Both are about 2/3 full and both have been opened about 18 months. He’s “not into” the sweeter stuff anymore. It gives me the chance to test some whisky that’s been exposed to air for awhile since mine never last that long.

I’ve been reading some reviews on the newest Macallan triple cask 12yo. Positive all around it seems. Anyone had a chance to try it yet?

@nooch

The sherry cask has generally been considered good.

The double cask was generally thought to have been sulfured.

Originally there was only a single chance the cask was sulfured. Then it only took one of the 2 casks to sulfur the whisky.

I would say that with a triple cask, only one of the three casks needs to contain sulfur.

Sometimes less is more.

@OdysseusUnbound like @RianC I'm also interested to see what you think of the Arran 10. I enjoy it for its simplicity (decent ABV, no added colour, NCF, unpeated, no sherry influence) which allows the whisky to speak for itself. It's a very reasonable price here too. I keep intending to try something else from their stable but as yet the 10 is the only Arran offering I've sampled.

I had a hankering for something cheap and strong. I picked up a bottle of Wild Turkey 101.

@DaveM Don’t forget delicious and consistently good. I’m always shocked at how fast my WT 101 disappears. Even friends who “don’t like bourbon” seem to take a liking to that one.

@OdysseusUnbound - Yeah it's a solid dependable bourbon with some pep, in my experience. I was able to snag a couple of bottles for under £20 last year - that's amazing value (usually c£30).

My partner treated me to a 350 ml bottle of Chivas Regal 12 as it was on offer for £12. She's well trained Never tried Chivas so keen to see how it fares. Most seem to like it but prefer JW Black. We shall see . . .

I just got back from a short trip to Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo. If any of you kept up with previous messages, you will know that I had purchased a bottle of 21yo Redbreast back in June when I was in Tokyo. Well, I got three bottles of the 21yo Redbreast this time. One of those bottles if for my cousin, who gave me money to do so. Now depending which store I would go to here in the Denver area, I was able to save 85 to 100 USD, per bottle. Yes, you read correctly. Now, I don't think I need to go into the "why." If I do, I refer to my previous post. HA.

Now, I did get a small 180ml bottle of The Chita, by Suntory. I purchased this bottle at a local convenience store, near my hotel, and sadly I got it before meeting up with a friend of mine. If I waited one day, I wouldn't have to buy the 180ml because my friend gave me a 700ml bottle. Why did I buy the Chita? I can't really go into detail, but I can say it is a refreshing and crisp single grain whisky.

Lastly, when it comes to whisky, I purchased two 50ml bottles of the 12yo Yamazaki. Why? Because the 700ml is way out of my price range, and because they were available.

Now, the last bottle (of something) I purchased was Roku Gin, by Suntory. Why? I didn't find any whiskies I really wanted to get. Second, I enjoy a good gin. Third, the duty free shop I got it from offers samples, and I enjoyed the sample.

@ajjarrett I have seen that Roku Gin bottle. Lovely design but I just can't do gin LOL

My recent purchases are:

Bladnoch 10 YO 46.7% ABV why? I have been curious about this distillery after trying some of the new releases without an age statement and jumped on this one

Teeling Brabazon No. 2 49.5% ABV Tried it at a show and adored it, I wasn't going to try it until a friend who loves ex-port pipe aged whisk(e)y encouraged me to give it a go

Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Rye 45% ABV just...curious !

@paddockjudge , I'm not sure why, but the Blanton's range has good distribution here in Sydney!

@ajjarrett - Just shown that to my Gin loving partner. I know what to get her for xmas now then ha!