Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@BlueNote I will report back once I have sampled this.

The old 2008 version of Port Charlotte Islay Barley.

Why?

Because when my club ran through a bunch of Port Charlottes last month, this one that a friend brought was easily my favorite, besting even the current Islay Barley that I had just bought. Then I found a shelf full of them collecting dust at a local grocery store, so that was an easy "yes" once I had the money in hand. And, it's vintage dated from before my daughters' births, so it just might go into long-term storage to become a bottle with which I'll try to blow their minds when they're adults.

@Jonathan - I think it used to be a fairly common practice (tea-spooning malts that is) in Scotland but I suspect not so much these days.

Re the Japanese doing it - there was a link on this site a while back that quoted the Ben Nevis distillery manager complaining that lots of their malt went to Japan.

@MadSingleMalt - Let us know how you find it. I've just remembered I've still got a PC 10 2nd Ed that needs opening ...

@RianC That reminds me. I’ve got a Bruichladdich 10, 2nd Limited Edition that’s due for some attention.

I just bought a Glenfiddich Fire & Cane. A peated, rum cask finished ‘fiddich bottled at 43% abv, on sale??? Why not?

@OdysseusUnbound, I too thought that Fire & Cane sounded good on spec, but I tried it at a friend's house and thought it was pretty awful, actually. Other guys liked it well enough, though. I hope you have a better experience with it.

Thanks to a buddy who visited a Binny's and send shelf pics to a bunch of his fellow clubbies with an offer to buy anything we wanted, I have the following coming to me:

•Kilkerran Peat In Progress (oh hell yes!)

•Laphroaig Cairdeas 2019 CS Triple Wood (first Cairdeas I've sprung for in a few years)

•Ardbeg Corryvreckan (gotta take advantage of the $70 price at Binny's!)

@MadSingleMalt No brainer on the Corry. Good one. Be interested in your take on the Cairdeas.

@BlueNote, roger that. It might be a while before I crack that Cairdeas, but I'll leave at least a little note here when I do. I never had the regular Triple Wood for comparison's sake, but I'll try to compare it to Oogie, which seems to be in the same ballpark.

So.... after weeks of FOMO and envy, reading people’s impressions of the new AP releases, this finally arrived. Part of a shared order.

I probably won’t have time to try any of them today, but hope to get to each of them in November!

@Nozinan The Wiser's 23 CS is worth the price of admission and then some. I am confident it will lose out to CR NHR in Jim Murray's "Bible" for 2020.

MISTER SAM 66.9% abv, “a blend of the finest Canadian and American whiskies.” With help from a solid contact in Montreal, a solid pour finds its way into my glass. Pre-blizzard tonic. I’ll be be taking my time with this one after I swap out my snow tires.... a wee sip before hand to motivate me.

@paddockjudge

The man who gave me my first bottles of spirits used to work for “Mister Sam”. He died 10 years ago.

He had told me that he would build me a cabinet worthy of Mr. Bronfman himself. This man had some amazing stuff. Multiple Macallan 25s , 9 Black Bowmores (he paid $100 each for them...).... what a collection!

I would like to think that with everyone’s help I’ve built a cabinet he would be proud of.

@Nozinan Very impressive little collection there. Well scored.

@paddockjudge 66.9%! That would certainly get the frost off your windshield.

@paddockjudge this is #1 on my want list as you know. I am still searching the LCBO site multiple times a day. I am confident I will be shut out :)

@Nozinan Wouldn’t you just love to sit down and have few drams with him knowing what you know now.

@BlueNote would I ever...

@paddockjudge Again I asked Hello LCBO for any future releases of this, and :

"This product is currently unavailable and regrettably, there does not appear to be any upcoming offerings on file at this time. You may contact us back in a few months and we would be more than happy to provide an update on future availability."

Visited the Ardbeg Escape Bus twice (Friday and Saturday). On the first day, I picked up a Ten, mainly because I was out and there was a discount on all Ardbeg because of the Ardbeg Escape event. I also picked up an Uigeadail. On the second day, (the bus was at a new location) I was able to score this! They only had two bottles.

Free bottle engraving was also available during the event.

@TracerBullet That's my idea of a good weekend. Enjoy the spoils.

One of my favorite Rye's, and was lucky to get 2 at $97 Cad each before they sold out in 10 min or so.

Bought this strictly for the Bob Dylan connection. Apparently, the bottles are emblazoned with his gate designs and he had some input into the bourbon as well. It’s a gift for my wife’s cousin, who is the worlds biggest Dylan fan.

Do you see many BenRiach single cask releases? There are still plenty knocking about here and when this one came up on special offer today I puled the trigger on it. Peated port pipe - yes please. This one is a Batch 15 from last year.

@Astroke nice catch. I assumed this is sourced product that is made for them, do you know the source?

@Hewie there's a lot of Benriach singles hanging about in certain markets, I suspect the price hike to have affected their sales.

Peat and port can be a fun combo, I really enjoyed the Benriach Solstice from a few years back.

@cricklewood The Amrut peated port pipe was (is) excellent

I've always railed against buying an Octomore seeing them as overpriced and a bit gimmicky. I've finally relented and brought one as I figure as a scotch fan and someone who's partial to a peat monster it kind of felt like I would have to see what all the hype is about at some point.

Why this particular bottle, the masterclass 08.2? Well choosing an octomore to buy is a bit of a minefield. There are so many different ones with just different numbers to identify them. But this gets some of the best reviews of the available and not crazy priced Octomores out there. It's still the most expensive bottle I've ever brought though. It's also spent time in wine casks which to me was an absolute must for my first Octomore.