Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@bwmccoy - For what it's worth, I've bought a few Diageo whiskys over the last year or so and have generally been surprisingly pleased with the quality; A Talisker 10 being the most recent - as good as I've ever tasted it to be honest.

I wonder if they've had a bit of a 'spruce' and made an effort to pump up the quality? Add to that their prices appearing to decrease or at least stabilize and, well, whisper it but I'm starting to quite like the big, old smelly dog

I just picked up a bottle of New Liberty Millstone Rye bottled at 47.5%. New Liberty is a distillery located in central city Philadelphia PA. I try to purchase from local distilleries when I can. We’ll see how this goes.

@DaveM My Millstone Rye is different, I wonder if they are aware of each other

@Astroke Your Millstone is from the Netherlands. Mine is from the US, Philadelphia Pennsylvania. I doubt they are aware or care of the other distillery.

Spent a four day weekend in Louisville, Kentucky last week with three other couples. Had a grand time. Our initial “itinerary” outlined stops at six or seven “distillery or experience” locations, but as luck would have it, we visited twelve. For transparency sake, I am generally not a zealous fan of bourbon. I drink it. I enjoy it. But would gladly pass over most offered selections for a decent irish/scotch/world whisky. So no surprise that few/none of the samples overly impressed me. My significant other kept pressing me to buy myself a bottle or two at each of the locations visited, but I declined. My sole exception was to purchase three bottles of Willett Family Estate (4 year old) Rye. It was smooth and enjoyable. And not easiest for me to source back home in Northernwestern Michigan. But it not my favorite rye, as I tend to favor those with more of a “fruity” profile than a “minty” one. Fact is, I outright gave away my tasting sample of Makers Mark mint julip. Simple enough to say I do not care for mint flavor in/with my whiskey. I also purchased two bottles of Very Old Barton’s 100 proof from a Bardstown liquor store (sale price: $11.99; nice mix of quality and affordability) but passed on lone bottle of GT Stagg ($450) on shelf. Look forward to a return trip in two or three years, as the Makers Mark ambassador barrel my name graces should be ready for bottling. Hoping to visit both Four Roses and Woodford Reserve distilleries, which alluded us this past weekend.

@RianC, @bwmccoy: We all like to slag on Diageo, but the run quality operations, they maintain age statements, and their prices for regular everyday bottles have stayed pretty reasonable over the years. (For the most part!)

@MadSingleMalt they did take the age of Blue Label...

?

...

@MadSingleMalt Ditto.

@Nozinan I don’t think there was ever an age for blue. Am I missing your point? Or the joke?

Sorry this will be a longer post than usual for this thread.

I shouldn't be posting about a bottle purchased on here as I swore I'd hit my monthly limit with the Octomore.

Anyway, here I am.

On the SMWS they release bottles every month and they call it the 'outturn'. They send you an email a few days before the bottles become available detailing what will be in that month's outturn.

So earlier in the week I get this email and they say it's there biggest outturn of the year. I foolishly click on the email....

So I learned the hard way soon after joining the SMWS that some bottles sell out very quickly. My first month I had my eye on a 12 year old Old Pulteney. It went on sale at 9am I logged in at 1130 and it had already sold out. Some bottles are available for months. Some sell out in minutes.

In November's outturn there were a few bottles that caught my eye. Including a Bunnahabhain,a Glen Scotia and a Littlemill. But 2 bottles in particular caught my eye but I knew they'd sell out fast.

So the outturn went on sale on Friday at 9am. I was busy at 9 and logged in at 930.

Bottle A - already sold out. Damn it. Bottle B - in red writing (they love nudge theory on the SMWS) only 4 left, only 1 purchase per customer. I put one in my shopping cart. I have 15 minutes to complete the purchase otherwise the bottle will be taken out of my cart. Click on the shopping cart (It takes ages to load as I'm on mobile data) The bottles not in my cart. Somethings wrong I go back to the bottle and press 'add to cart' again. I get an error message as it thinks I'm trying to buy 2 bottles of a bottle where only 1 is allowed per member. Bollocks. I go back to the bottle. Now it says 'only 2 left'. Damn it. A quick decision. I log out of the SMWS. Clear my cache, my browsing history, my cookies. Log back in click on the bottle 'only 1 left'. Christ this is '24' and I'm Jack Bauer! I swear I can hear a clock ticking in my ears with each tick of the clock, it gets louder and louder. I click on the last bottle. Add to cart. Go to my cart it's in there. I complete the purchase and immediately get a confirmation email. Yes. Get in.

So bottle A that I missed out on was a 17 year old, bourbon cask, Old Pulteney.

Bottle B which was probably the one I really wanted is an 18 year old, Sherry hogshead Auchentoshan.

It had better be worth it!

Two bottles but not whisk(e)y ... An Espolon Blanco tequila and Montelobos Mezcal Joven.

I'm buying these relatively blind but they were available at good prices and what is out there, in review terms, is all rather positive. I tried my first 'proper' tequila (El Jimador Reposado) last year at @Victor's suggestion and have been very impressed so wanted to taste some decent quality Blanco - without any ageing - and at 40%.

The mezcal intrigued me as it is ticks all the craft/organic/artisinal boxes and I was able to snag the US 750ml version. The comparisons to peaty single malt also make it appealing.

These will be my last buys for 2019 (well, unless Father Christmas is kind to me ...) and I've bought way more than I intended this year already but wanted to scratch an itch, if you get my meaning?

@Wierdo - Love the way you wrote that up. Well done! Felt like I was right there with you; anxious heartbeat and all!

@Nock I thought it used to be 18 Year old. I am happy to be corrected.

You've encouraged me to review it to learn more about it (if my wife gives me the chance tonight).

@Nozinan consider yourself corrected dear sir. But I wish you all the best in your exploration of the liquid. I have only ever had one taste of the Blue.

I believe it was the Gold Label that once boasted an 18yo statement. For my wedding back in 2011 I gave my groomsmen each a bottle of Johnnie Walker (the prices were much more reasonable back then): Blue for the best man, Gold for next guy (my cousin), Black for the third, and Red for my usher-friend. My best man waited a half year to crack the bottle of Blue with me. I was unimpressed. But he seemed to savor the experience. I am glad I could give that to him.

At the time (2011) the Gold was 18yo. They latter dropped the age, and then the Gold altogether. Then they brought out the Platinum (with a bigger price) and finally added back the 18yo age statement. Or something along those lines. I don't tend to keep all the Walker decisions in my head.

My priest who officiated the wedding got the best bottle by far: my 3/4 full bottle of Glenfarclas 1974 (31yo) 57.4%. I really didn't like the bottle at the time. And I knew he would really appreciate it (he did - he was the guy who got me into Macallan Cask Strength). I now realize that I should have put that bottle at the back of my cabinet for a year or so. While I am happy he got it . . . there is a wee twinge of regret.

I purchased the Penny's Proof pack of 2.5 year old rye whiskey from Sagamore Spirits this weekend. This is the first juice that has actually been distilled and aged in Maryland. So far they have been finishing distillate from an Indiana distillery. I was very impressed with the rye's progress so far. The color is a lot darker than I would have figured for a 2.5 year old whiskey. Good flavor although I can see where further aging should only improve this whiskey. There were only 297 packs of Penny's Proof (Penny is the name of their column still) available, so it did sell out. I got ticket #2. Why did I get it? I rather enjoy Sagamore's whiskey so far and was very interested to taste their whiskey fully produced in Maryland. Also, it was only a penny!

Start of the line.

Got my ticket!

Crowd picking up.

Got my Penny's Proof!

Not bought but was gifted a bottle of Queen Margot 8 year old Blended Scotch. Ralfy recently raved about the 3 year old and this 8 year won a WWA (ISC) a few years back. I'll sit on this for a while, no doubt, but will be interested to see how it holds up against a similar blend e.g. JW Black.

@TracerBullet thanks for the pics. I would love to hear a few comments about the smell and taste of the whiskey. We knew in many guises what MGPI Rye tastes like. Now we will know what Sagamore Spirit Rye tastes like.

You can put a lot of flavour into a US Straight Rye in 2.5 years. Selling it at 41.5% ABV cuts down on that though.

But hey, Sagamore Spirit like most producers is gearing its market toward the taste of the general publlic, and not primarily to the high proof aficionados.

@Victor So you can tell this is a young rye and can benefit from some additional barrel time, which the distillery acknowledges. But I personally felt that it was going in the right direction. Lots of vanilla and caramel both on the palate and nose. On the palate add in spices like cinnamon and maybe nutmeg. Would have loved to have tried this cask strength. My rye and bourbon skills are not equal to many on Connosr, I am a scotch guy first and Irish whiskey guy second. I am working my way into the bourbons and ryes more. I tend to like the ryes better because there just seems to be more to them.

@TracerBullet thank you for your prompt response. It will also be good to hear about how it develops after a few weeks when it has had time to open up. One of the great things with US ryes is that they tend to get more and more flavourful with air exposure, even the low proof ones. Something like Van Winkle 13 yo Family Reserve Rye is very good when first opened, but it will blow you away after the bottle has been opened for 2 years.

@Victor Well, I've not been lucky enough to get my hands on any Pappy's including the Van Winkle 13 yo Family Reserve Rye at regular price and I refuse to pay the markup. One day I will get to try it. I did try to get a bottle of the Old Rip Van Winkle 10 year at Montgomery Co. last year priced at about $70. It was a first come first served event. People spent the night in line to get a bottle - I did not.

Attention Shoppers, Old Ezra Aged 7 Years Barrel Strength (this batch is 58.5% abv and relabeled at 58% by LCBO) ...a damn fine bourbon. No cherry notes, reminds me of Jefferson's Reserve with the volume turned up, way up.

@paddockjudge Any idea who makes it? MGP? Heaven Hill? BT? I know the brand is owned by Luxco... No cherry notes? Hmmm, that's one of my favourite bourbon notes. Any tobacco flavours in there?

@OdysseusUnbound, not MGP, it is Kentucky Straight Bourbon, probably Heaven Hill. Tobacco? yep.

@paddockjudge nice score. I am 98% sure it is Heaven Hill. The older 7yo version at 101 Proof was Heaven Hill. I didn't like it as much as I liked the other 7yo 101 Proof Heaven Hill product - Virgin Bourbon at half the price.

But I would certainly not pass up an opportunity to pick up a bottle of that at 58% if I ever saw one. I am a big fan of what Heaven Hill puts out. I hate the sour notes of cherry and lemon in many younger bourbons. I find that is typically absent in older bourbons . . . and Heaven Hill products. And notes of tobacco? You are speaking my language. I have a feeling this is one whisky would find agreement on. Enjoy sir!

@paddockjudge Oh right, I missed “Kentucky” on the label. D’uhhh!! I’m not always attentive. Looks interesting nonetheless.