Which bottle did you just buy and why?

A 22 year old forty creek rye! Now that is something. Not even on the Forty Creek website. I wonder if it's all 22 year old or if they've done some "wiser's magic", and dumped in some younger whisky courtesy of the 1/11 rule like Wiser's does with most of their older releases (like the 35 year old). I actually knew nothing of this Forty Creek, I'm a bit surprised. It must have been too limited for their standard "limited" release, that's where they could have made their money!

I'd love to try it, but that's a hefty price tag...

@JasonHambrey, I'm not holding my breath. Which Limited release had the 20-something YO Rye in it from the pre-Forty Creek days? ...not memorable enough because I don't remember which one, Harmony? I too would like a taste of this 22 YO RYE...at least it isn't 40% abv...they must have got the memo this time LOL

Hey Jason, perhaps Santa will bring you a bottle.

I opened that Berry Bros IB Highland Park last night. It was both fantastic and frustrating at the same time.

Fantastic because the whisky is everything good about Highland Park. Sweet to dry, fruit, heather and salt. A hint of peat.

Frustrating because it's so annoying that Edrington Group take a spirit that good and ruin it with how they present it, low abv and chill filtering, silly marketing and crazy prices.

Confirms that if you want to drink Highland Park nowadays you are best going to independent bottlers and looking for an undisclosed Orkney bottling. I'll defintely be getting another Berry Bros they have a 17 and 18yo cask strength HP on their site . North star spirits sell an 11yo through the whisky barrel too.

I bought a Kilkerran 8 yesterday. Price was good, free delivery, it gets pretty good reviews and I was impressed with the 12. @madsinglemalt also convinced me with his comments on the top 5 whisky thread.

@Wierdo - How much did you pay for the IB HP, if you don't mind me asking?

@RianC £79. Which I think is reasonable for a 15 yo cask strength.

It's not on their site anymore so I must have had one of the last bottles. But they do have a 2000 cask strength Orkney for £85 and a 1999 for £90. So presumably a 17 and 18 year old.

I'll go back for one of those in January.

@Wierdo - Agreed! Not bad price for a 15 cask strength HP in this day and age. It sounds lovely.

Old Rip Van Winkle 10 yo Bourbon, 2018 release, 53.5% ABV, and Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye, 2018 release, 64.4% ABV.

Why? Several reasons: 1) I like them, 2) I was offered them at dealer prices, in this case about $ 140 and $ 170 respectively, total, 3) even though I already have several bottles of each of these from other year releases, and these prices are getting to about the limit I am williing to pay for drinking purposes, it is important to say yes to the few remaining vendors doing any offering, and 4) secondary market prices remain 2 to 3 times what I have paid.

@Victor - Those seem like excellent prices. The TH Rye is about £500 over here!

@RianC, oh yeah, at those prices one must close the deal.

Glenfarclas 105 22 years old, 50th anniversary bottle (3600 bottles) of the first release in 1968. The price of $188 CAD plus 5% seemed more than reasonable for a limited 22 year cask strength (yes it says cask strength on the bottle)

@Astroke, I was scoping out that Farclas anniversary as well, I didn't know it's from such a limited run. The price for a Cask Strength 22yr old is quite reasonable considering the standard 25 is about 221$ in QC.

@Victor I would love to pick up a second THH at this price as my only bottle is getting perilously low. I will of course be crossing my fingers in the annual upcoming LCBO BTAC/Pappy lottery (of which nobody really wins a bottle anymore)

@Astroke Have you popped the cork on the 22 yr old GF 105 yet? If so, what do you think? Also, if you don’t mind my asking, where did you buy it?

Cheers.

@Astroke If you win a Stagg, and I win a Handy, I'll trade you...

@Astroke The BTAC “lottery” in Ontario is an absolute joke. The Toronto Whisky Society always “luck out” and end up with several bottles of each offering. So do most of the well-known whisky writers and corporate big-shots. But I guess it’s just luck of the draw.

@Nozinan I don't like Handy that much :)

@BlueNote It is arriving with a large order from a friend so I have not tried it,. I do know 1 person that had it and liked it a lot. ZYN, $188 plus 5%. My shipping will only be in the $10 range due to the size of the order I hitched a ride on.

@OdysseusUnbound I know someone at the TWS and he has yet to win a bottle. They can of course increase their odds with numerous entries through their connections. I have in the past won several bottles through family and friends but nothing since 2016. They used to list the amount of bottles allocated for each expression. Since they don't do that anymore I assume that the allocation to the general public is all but nil or less.

@Astroke Thanks, Yeah, ZYN has some good prices, particularly on most of the standard OBs.

Just a little eye candy to make those Ontario Connosrs jealous.

Picked up an oogie alfor a friend. Price is up from a year ago when I got one on sale for $80, but almost half the price of the KGBO.

If I had unlimited dollars and unlimited space....

It's Boxing Day and I'm sucker for a single cask.

@fiddich1980 considered that Trillium but I thought the LCBO overpriced it by $60-$80 as is their habit. Maybe a glowing review would make me reconsider.

@Astroke Yea, I thought so also but, my friends have learned not to buy me a bottle. So, I used a couple of gift cards for the purchase.

My recent haul from NH and Boston. As for why: -KCRye.. It was on clearance for $12. Great deal for nice Rye -BB.. Clearance for $18 -BBoy.. Was given to me for Christmas -Bain’s.. Clearance for $18.50 and I’ve enjoyed a bottle in the past -CBGlasgow.. Also clearance for $26 -Chieftains Glentauchers.. Picked up in Boston. Have never drank Glentauchers and it’s the darkest Scotch Whisky I’ve seen -BAPeatReek.. The store owner said that anything they rack into wood is excellent liquid

I purchased a hand-filled, single cask release from Westland Distillery in Seattle, WA as a Christmas present for my brother-in-law. Fortunately, I was able to try it before buying. I loved it so much I decided that my wife needed to buy me one for my Christmas present. Since I am such a thoughtful husband, I saved her a trip to the distillery and bought both bottles while I was there. :-)

At 6 years, this is the oldest release of any Westland whiskey to date. It spent the first 27 months in Coopers Reserve New American Oak before spending the next 45 months in an ex-Pedro Ximenez hogshead. In addition to the nutty nose that you would expect from a PX cask, there is raisin, cherry, maple and slight chile spiciness. The palate is oatmeal, raisin, black pepper and dark berries.

@bwmccoy that single cask bottle is quite striking looking!

@fiddich1980, please let us know all about it when you crack it open.

@bwmccoy I just made a vatting of Cambeltown Loch 21, Hart Brothers Clynelish 14yo and Westland Peated and was impressed,again, at how good is the Westland. I am envious of you and would really like to experiment this whisky vicariously through a future review. Enjoy.

@jsilevinac - $12 for KC rye?!?! That's less than a tenner! Amazing value - nice haul. Be interested to know what the Blackadder malt is. Not a bottling(lers) we get much of in the UK (far as I know) but think they get on the continent.