Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@RianC @OdysseusUnbound I think you are right about the site being a bit temperamental. It has been very slow to respond sometimes recently, you know, when the little circle goes round and round endlessly. I thought it was just my computer acting up.

Grabbed a bottle of the Glendalough 17 year old mizunara finish Irish Whiskey. Why, well my wife absolutely loves the 13 year old mizunara finish and she wanted this bottle. Not a cheap bottle but I think we found a good price. Can't wait to give it a try!

Bought these three at pretty decent sale prices recently. They just arrived yesterday and so far I have had very small tastes of the Bere Barley, which might take some getting used to, and the Berry’s Orkney, which is a 21 year old Highland Park at 53%ABV. It’s unlike any Highland Park I’ve ever had, much better IMO. The Cadenhead 21 year old Loch Lomond is 51.5% and due for a taste later today.

@BlueNote please give information on how you find that 21 yo Loch Lomond. I have always found reviews of the younger Loch Lomonds to be highly discouraging to the idea of actually buying some.

@Victor Will do. The only other Loch Lomond I’ve had were the 12, which was fairly innocuous, and the Croftengea, which is their peated version. I quite liked it, but none of my friends did.

@Victor, even though the old blue-label NAS Loch Lomand is perhaps the worst scotch single malt I've ever had, the current 12 is totally solid and a killer, killer value at less than $30.

I just bought another one for an upcoming club event where we'll blind-taste a lot of cheap malts to find the BFYOB king.

@MadSingleMalt perhaps there persists in you a perennial Port proclivity.

(Whoops! wrong discussion. This is in reference to your comments about liking Longrow best with Port.)

@MadSingleMalt Looking forward to the results of the BFYB session.

@BlueNote, here's the BFYB lineup I'm imagining:

•Loch Lomond 12 ($28)

•Talisker Storm ($29)

•Oban Little Bay ($29)

•Old Pulteney 12 43%'' ($37)

•Monkey Shoulder (whatever that costs....$30?)

•This rando sherried CS Kininvie 8 I got for $38 at Total Wine on clearance

•Speyburn 10 ($26)

•Tomatin 12 ($30 I think?)

Whatcha think? Another other nominees?

@MadSingleMalt took me a while to figure out BFYB.

If you mean cheap and good malts, as a Canadian I can’t really comment because nothing here that is good is that cheap.

That said, Amrut cask strength is probably twice as expensive as any on your list but for me carries a better bang for buck. Why?

My impression from you is that all those are drinkable, but not stellar, inexpensive malts. Those are not the malts I would want to drink. Over the past few years I have adjusted my collection to try to find homes for my whiskies that are only good, bought at a time when I was still learning what I liked. I have parted with cheap and expensive bottles in favour of ones I really like, both cheaper and more expensive.

Looking at the list, I would rather have one good Amrut in my cabinet, than all of those bottles. By definition, that gives it a high bang for my buck.

This is absolutely not a judgement on anyone’s taste, just a personal preference.

@MadSingleMalt Judging by your prices, I would think Bunna 12, Ardbeg 10, Caol Ila 12, Laph 10 & QC, Lag 8, Deanston 12 and many more standard OBs would also be good bangs in your neck of the woods. Those are stupendous prices on the Loch Lomond 12, Talisker Storm and Little Bay. A good BFYB here is anything decent under about $70 Can.

I'll be interested to hear the verdict on the Kininvie.

@MadSingleMalt looks like a fun exercise. Others in that price range (here at least) include AnCnoc 12 (just tried it and pleasantly surprised by this one), Glen Grant Majors Reserve and/or 10 YO, all the Glen Morays (yuck), Ardmore Legacy, BenRiach Heart of Speyside or Bernie Moss, Bowmore 12, Tamnavulin, Aberlour 10, Arran Lochranza, Singleton of Dufftown 12. All of these are less than OP12 here but not all of them are equal quality

@Nozinan, it probably didn't help that I initially miswrote it like "Bang For YO Buck." :)

@BlueNote, those are all great value picks too, but most of them fit into other of our club themes—except that Deanston 12. I should see what the local prices are for that one. I'm seeing tons of online love for Deanston lately!

@Hewie, the only one on your list that is (a) probably readily available by me, (b) cheap enough, and (c) probably worth buying is that AnCnoc. I'll keep an eye out for it—thanks!

@MadSingleMalt - My money's on the Pulteney ...

And I would concur with @Hewie on the AnCnoc and Aberlour 10 or 12.

I had a little surprise tax rebate earlier this week and thought I'd treat myself to something a wee bit special. After much umming and ahhing, and many online and YouTube reviews later, I opted for a Glendronach 18. I wanted a 2019 bottling as this apparently contains some 22+ year malt in there and, luckily, that's what I've received.

I'm hoping this will deliver the kind of fully-matured sherry experience that I was after in the 'farclas 25. At least I know for sure that this one has gone the distance in oloroso sherry casks (for what that's worth).

I also picked up a Clynelish 14 a few weeks back as it was on sale at £35. I mean, that's hard to pass up and it's nice to have a malt that is neither too sherried or peated on the go. Amazon is killing my bank balance with all these deals lately ...

@BlueNote we have similar tastes I'd say. In the last few months I've purchased the Bruichladdich Bere Barley 2010 (not opened yet) and a Berry Bros Orkney. Mine was 18 years old rather than 21 (I bet that is a belter) the 15 year old 'Orkney' I brought from Berry Bros a year or two back was the best Highland Park I've ever had.

Pick up pretty much any independent bottle with 'Orkney' on the label and you are reminded what a great whisky Highland Park can be. Given a decent length of time in a good cask, non-chill filtered and bottled at an abv with some oomph it's a cracking dram. Such a shame Edrington tend to go down the route of bottling it as NAS dross at a low abv in a perfume bottle with a silly name.

@Wierdo Yeah, the independents seem to do much better with HP than HP does. I had the Cooper's Choice 18 year old Skara Brae last year and it was outstanding. I see they now have a 16 year old version of Skara Brae that I am thinking of trying.

The jury's out on the Berry's Orkney Islands 21 so far. I think it might need some air time. And the Bere Barley is different, but I'm warming up to it.

Cheers.

@Wierdo - where did you get the HP from?

@RianC The Green Welly Stop.

Berry Bros didn't have any Orkneys when I looked but Green Welly stop do a good range of different indie bottles including Berry Bros.

tyndrumwhisky.com/whisky-brands.html/

tyndrumwhisky.com/whisky-brands/…

The Orkney I brought from them a few months back is on there but when you click on it. It's out of stock now.

I would really like to buy a decent bottle of something from Adelphi. They have such a good reputation. But it's hard to find anything at the moment.

I just bought an Elijah Craig Small Batch. I have one bottle of the old 12 Year Version thanks to @Nozinan and I want to do a side by side comparison.

@OdysseusUnbound I think as I get older and the realization hits harder that I will never get to the majority of the bottles I own, one of the satisfying sequelae will be that I will be able to supply people with some of the long-gone bottlings that they remember so fondly

@Nozinan I’ll probably end up bottling a sample of the Small Batch for myself and do the comparison later. I was planning on opening that EC 12 Year shortly after I got it from you....but it might be the last one I ever drink so I’m hesitant to open it....

I picked up a bottle of Shin 10 year old Mizunara Oak Finished Japanese Whiskey. I am not familiar with Shin but it seems that someone at Forbes likes it so I figured I would give it a try. Besides, my wife likes the Mizunara finished Glendalough Irish Whiskeys she has had so she picked this out.

Forgot the picture. Oops!

Looking forward to the new relaunched Arran 18. Was able to get this in my hand from Alberta for $116 as mine was able to hop a ride with an incoming case. Thinking I will open this sooner than later despite having too many open bottles as it is.

WINNER! Forty Creek Victory is an incredibly delicious whisky. I’ll be picking up more of this one. Bill Ashburn, you have created one hell of a good whisky! CONGRATULATIONS!

@paddockjudge I have a self imposed boycott of Forty Creek due to their 22 Year Rye debacle or I may be tempted. I will fall back on @talexander's review and not suffer from FOMO :)

@Astroke Good reason to boycott (though was it their fault, or LCBO?) Personally, I'm boycotting Bulleit.