Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@Nozinan I recently noted to @conorrob that wine-searcher.com showed precisely one store in the entire world offering Wiser's Dissertation for sale, which was The Whisky Exchange in London. I strongly urged him to get some. He did.

With respect to my comments about 2019 Lot 40 CS, I believe that I was a little more gentle than to say that it was 'no good', only that its reception has been generally less than enthusiastic. I was only reporting the reports of others, since I have not yet had the opportunity to sample the 2019 Lot 40 CS myself. I would like to sample it.

@Victor sorry to have misquoted you! That was not my intention. The quality of my paraphrasing may need work !

The "WHY" on recent purchase of whiskies which seemed interesting.

A) Dewar's 21 using the 4 stage process and based on a review by @talexander. The phrase on the label "Aged For Ultimate Smoothness", nor did the half bottles size deter me from making the purchase.

connosr.com/dewars-dewars-21-year-old-doub…

B) A Kavalan Sherry Solist as a backup to an unopened bottle in my possession. The newer releases "Golden Choice and Solist Peated Cask Strength (a fully peated spirit as opposed to peated barrel finish) are approaching the "jumping the sharks territory". I'll take my chances with a product which established Kavalan's reputation.

c) Mortlach 16 Distiller's Dram. I lucked out and received a bottle with Batch Code L8275DM002. The code indicating that it was bottle in 2 October 2018. I have been searching for the 2018 release based on the reviews by Serge and Ruben of www.Whiskynotes.be. The bottles which are in my region were bottled 2019 and the reviews were not flattering. Hopefully, the 2018 bottle delivers.

whiskynotes.be/2019/mortlach/…

@fiddich1980 - Great haul! The Dewers looks interesting and well done on the 2018 Mortlach. It was recent reviews on the 16 that put me off a while back - seems as if they let the quality drop after the first few batches?

I've just had a teacher in training with me for 3 weeks. I got a small compensation for all the extra work (you definitely don't do it for the money ) so it was straight to the (online) bottle shop. Anyone recognise the bottle?

@Hewie A guess: Port Askaig - rumour of Coal Ila first filled hogshead and sherry hogshead cask with ABV 55.8%? If it is nice score!

@fiddich1980 Bingo. Not many names that end in 'g' in the whisky world Yeah the 10 year old 10th Anniversary bottle: apparently 15% solera sherry butts, 25% first-fill bourbon barrels and 60% refill American oak hogsheads and 55.85%. By all accounts a good IB Caol Ila - I'm looking forward to cracking it open later tonight

@Hewie

Too bad it’s a knockoff. No self-respecting scotch producer would miss-spell “palate”.

@Nozinan ha ha oh dear - well noticed. I completely skimmed over that misspelling. Blimmin cheap knock-offs

@Hewie - just purchased and opened one of those myself. Great whisky!

2Bar Sprirts Straight Bourbon Whiskey 50% ABV Seattle, WA. Why? Because my wife and I recently had this one at a tasting and as someone who doesn’t gravitate toward bourbon normally, I really enjoyed it.

@fiddich1980 Jealous of that Mortlach!

Picked up a KC store pick today. I'm a sucker for these. Can't beat it for $49.99usd.

@casualtorture so the 9 YO age statement is finally gone from the single barrel....

@Nozinan This one is a store pick and was barreled in Feb 2011 and bottled in May 2020, so it is a 9yo if my math is correct. I'm not sure about the "standard" label KCSB.

These arrived today for a virtual tasting coming up. A couple of the caps were a bit loose so the package smelt pretty good. 5x 50mL samples for $30 NZD ($20 USD) was too good an opportunity to pass up. Any experiences with John Paul? Now they have to sit and wait for 2 weeks until the online event!

@Hewie - If it's any consolation, my bottle is misspelled too so ...

Did you open it? How was it? I'll be saving mine till this winter at the earliest.

@RianC sipping on some now and loving it. The finish goes on and on

@Hewie -Excellent news! Cheers, mate!

@RianC very maritime with plenty of peat. Yes meaty smoke aka bacon but also sweet fudge notes. Very clean and fresh.

@Hewie - the only experience that I have had with Paul John was about a month ago at a friend’s house. Here are my thoughts from that night.

“Paul John Classic Select Cask Batch 01 (July 29, 2019) - 55.2% ABV. This was my first time having Paul John and it tasted like liquid barley and honeycomb. Really nice.”

Would love to try the other expressions that you have as well.

I just bought a bottle of Forty Creek Copper Pot and Forty Creek Founder’s Reserve. Why? Well a friend of mine won both in a raffle through his wife’s workplace and he doesn’t care for FC. He knows I do and was looking to recoup his $25. I know FC Founder’s Reserve hasn’t gotten the greatest reviews, but I find Copper Pot to be fairly consistent, and even it sells for about $30, so I feel this is a “can’t lose” proposition.

I purchased two more bottles of the 15yo Glencadam. Why? They were still at a good price, and I wanted to 'stock-up' on it.

Unfortunately, there is bad news to tell.

The store that I bought, I have purchased the same before, uses FedEx. Unfortunately, FedEx delivered my package to the wrong address, got a signature, and according to FedEx's GPS coordinates claims I received the package. The signature doesn't match the name they say was the signer, and yes, sometimes the person who signs for it isn't the person the package is actually for. I have contacted the store, and they cannot do much about it. And I have contacted FedEx, and they are, supposedly, conducting an internal investigation trying to see if/why the truck delivered the package to the wrong address, even though their computer records says otherwise.

I will include two photos the first being the Name (in print) and the signature associated with the printed name, which is not very close to my name. The second photo is from the FedEx website of the coordinates of where they claim they delivered the package to. The green arrow is where the general area they delivered it to, but the little red star (I edited the image) is the general area I live in. See for yourself.

Lesson learned, and I feel burned. The burden is on me (some how) to prove I didn't get the package. I don't plan on ordering whisky for a while. Okay, I know what some of you are thinking, 'With all that Nadurra and other stuff, why buy more?' haha. Pandemic! HA!

@ajjarrett Map pic. Not even close.

I forgot to mention. The liquor store, increased their price on the 15yo Glencadam soon after I purchased my two bottles (this seems to be a re-occuring theme for me) by $15 USD. The increase also discourages me from buying it again.

Good news Connosrs.

FedEx, just delivered the package to me. I showed my ID and signed for it. When I ask the delivery person why the package was delivered to the wrong address yesterday, he didn’t know. I didn’t think he knew what happened, so I am hoping that FedEx contacts me and tells me how they solved the problem.

Anyway, the good thing is the package didn’t look like it was opened and the bottles were not tampered with.

I guess this is good news to report.

It is amazing what 24 hours can do.

I guess some of you are asking, "Will you buy more, now that you got them?" No. They increased their prices. HA! Plus, with these two bottles, I now have four unopened bottles. I don't want to go through the FedEx silliness again. Unless they lower the prices. : P

PS. I know Paddockjudge is good luck. (Thank you) After he 'liked' my original post the doorbell rang.

@ajjarrett - glad to hear it all worked, but what a frustrating experience. Sorry it was such a hassle!

Not whisky, but rum. Pusser’s British Admiralty (42%) rum was on sale for $12 off so I had to get one. I would have purchased several at the sale price ($29) but my cart was already quite full and bills need to be paid on time, Covid or no Covid.

@bwmccoy Yup. It was a bit of 'stressful' moment, but not as stressful if I didn't get the whisky and got COVID instead. HA!

@ajjarrett Glad to read a happy ending...

@Nozinan

"And the bottles and their new owner lived happily ever after."