Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@cricklewood Haven't opened it yet, but sampling the three neat is the first step of the experiment.

Not whisky but I just bought a bottle of Plantation Three Star white rum. The only white rum I have is Longueteau “le 50” Rhum Agricole, and I may want some less complex daiquiris over the holiday break.

@OdysseusUnbound I find Wray and Nephew is a very versatile white rum, for cocktails and for flambees.

@Nozinan My W&N white Overproof was left at the cottage for the winter. And honestly it’s a bit too powerful to have more than one or two cocktails. Plantation Three Star is bottled at a more approachable 41.2% abv.

@OdysseusUnbound I never have more than one cocktail if I do have one so that’s not a problem. I figure the ice and other stuff dilute the flavour enough, I dinKt need more water in my bottle of rum...

Friend of mine found a few of these at a little shop and picked them up. He asked if I wanted one. What a silly question.

Just picked up 2 bottles of Copperworks whiskey. Why? Because I was able to try them both at a virtual tasting earlier this month. Release 33 is amazing and while release 34 isn’t what I was expecting, it is still the first bottle of peated whiskey using Washington state peat so I had to get it for that reason alone.

Release 33. To create this whiskey, Copperworks poured 45 gallons of new make spirit into a sherry butt from Jerez, Spain that had previously aged Fino sherry for over 80 years. They then added 85 gallons of their Pale Malt recipe whiskey that had been aged for more than two years in an ex-cognac cask. This combination matured for 30 months in the sherry butt. 50% ABV. Nose: almond, fruitcake, rum raisins, and linseed oil. Palate: fig, browned butter and apple skin with a finish of tobacco, citrus rind, balsamic vinegar, and tomato vine. Look at that color after only 30 months!

Release 34. This is made from locally grown barley that was malted with peat from a bog in Washington State. The malt is the first peated malted barley produced entirely from ingredients sourced in Washington State. The peat / smoky flavor is very subtle. This release comes from eight casks of whiskey that were brewed and distilled from 100% Copeland variety barley grown in Washington’s Skagit Valley. The whiskey was matured for just over four years in new American Oak casks. 52% ABV. Nose: campfire, roasted tomatoes, and exotic spices. Palate: roasted almonds, toast, and orange zest with a finish of hickory, cedar, wet earth, brine and wood notes.

@bwmccoy it's no wonder that many reports of American malt whiskey distillery products get little follow-up from members after they are made. Almost none of our Connosr members have familiarity with the vast majority of the new American distilleries. The proliferation of US distilleries in all spirits in the last 10 years has been staggering, numbering 1,000+. The number of US malt whiskey distilleries now numbers more than 150, with most of them having quite a small production volume. How many of these new small distilleries will survive the economy of the next five years is anybody's guess. But it is overwhelmingly likely that there will remain many US malt whiskey distilleries going forward, even with hard economic times.

@bwmccoy - Good luck to them! It's great to see distilleries using local barley and peat, and the cask selection is very interesting. Would like to try more of this kind of whisky but not easy to get hold of.

Haven’t had or seen this around for awhile. Was shopping for a fried and decided to pick this up. Merry Christmas to me!

A friend gave this to me as a Christmas present; Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength Christmas Edition (Santa hats on sheep). 58.6% ABV.

@bwmccoy Need to get your thoughts on this one. Its high on my wish list right now.

@BlueNote - I plan to open it soon (in the coming days), so I will be sure to let you know my thoughts. For what it’s worth, Kilchoman released a cask strength Machir Bay for their West Coast tour of the U.S. back in 2017. I had a bottle of it and really enjoyed it. I just looked and apparently I didn’t rate it for some reason, but I do remember liking it a lot. I will let you know if this edition lives up to my memory of the previous one.

I had a little cash infusion last month and decided (fully wife sanctioned) to get some good stuff in for Christmas. These are the three that made the shortlist.

@BlueNote - Nice! Especially that Imperial. Well done!

@BlueNote Farclas 25 bottled at 50%? Let us know how that is!

@BlueNote Where did you find these gems?

@bwmccoy well done on the OGD 114, I think many of us would snatch that up if we saw it available.

You have some good friends who must know you well to be gifted that Cask strength Machir Bay. I saw this available for order recently at a pretty good price but didn't bite. I think I'm in the minority when it comes to Machir Bay, I don't love the profile of the original so I wasn't sure upping the proof would really change much for me. I know why this appeals to folks it's really a personal thing rather than a judgement of the product.

I guess I should revisit the Machir Bay OB to see if there's been any changes to the composition.

@BlueNote Well done sir. Lovely choices, those SMOS bottlings are supposed to be of really high quality and how many changes does one have left to try some Imperial. Look forward to hearing your impressions.

@Astroke Got them from Calgary on the recent Kensington Wine Market sale.

@casualtorture I'll let you know. I'm saving that one for Christmas day.

@BlueNote - Oooh very nice, Sir! The 50% farclas could be awesome!

Was at the shops yesterday and needed some 'cooking bourbon'. Woodford Reserve was £20 so in the basket it went. Not had this for years and it was possibly the second bourbon I had way back and enjoyed it, so a bit puzzled as to why I never bought it again (high prices, maybe?)

Anyway, had to have a taste and it's as good, if not better, than I remember. A little oaky on the palate but a lovely wee nose and a steal at that price. Reminds me of Xmas for some reason?!

@RianC I was just drooling over your glazed ham. Looks like a good whack of your “cooking bourbon” went to a good cause.

@BlueNote - 100 ml to be precise, which did seem a lot, but the end result was worth it.

A couple of Canadian hitter's. I have tried the Great Plains and I really like it. I also have a sample of the Shelter Point ADL (?) Rye, I hear it is as good or better than their first release.

What did I just buy? Well, I have been good (more or less) for a while now. Buying has been very conservative. So, the gloves came off in our most recent liquor store trip. Many good single malts, bourbons, ryes, Armagnacs, and World Whiskies were available. No bourbon this year. Things are crazy there. But I kept focused and cask strength.

Old Scout Straight Bourbon 4yo Single Barrel Cask Strength 57.2% Smooth Ambler; Barrel No. barrel 16768. Why? For $49.49 a single barrel cask strength Rye from MGP (LDI) should be well worth the money. I might just crack this tonight.

Willett Single Barrel Rye 54.7% 109.4 Proof 4yo barrel 16768. This is the new Willett juice. I loved the 4yo bottle from them two years ago. So, I bought two bottles this time. Will I regret not buying a 3rd? Probably.

Laphroaig 10yo Cask Strength 60.1% batch 012 Feb.20 – 3 bottles. Why? This should really speak for itself. One of the great cask strength releases each year. I have collected them all. I can’t stop now. AND at over 60%? I am going to want as many as possible. I bought all the store had . . . which was only three. Shame. I might have bought 4. Glad they had at least 3. I am satiated . . . until I try it on Christmas. Yes, this is going to be my Christmas dram.

Four Springbank’s that 2017 forgot Why so many Springbanks sitting dusty on a shelf at the end of 2020? Who knows? I would say that Sprinbanks tend to have much higher prices in the US than across the pond. For example: they had Springbank 10yo on the shelf for $98.95. Really? With tax that translates to £81.50 when it sells for almost half that in the UK. A hard sell these days.

Springbank Local Barley 10yo 57.3% Jun 2007-Nov 2017 06/11/17 17/521 (Barley source: West Backs Farm; Barley type: Belgravia; btls 9000). Shocking to see this still on a shelf in 2020. I picked up one bottle a year ago and never opened it. They are going for over €200 at auction. Now I see one lone bottle for the original US price of $159? Totally going for it.

Springbank 12yo CS 56.5% Batch 15 (70% sherry; 30% ex-bourbon). This was bottled in 2017. I picked up one bottle back in 2018 and loved it. I have tried 3 different batches since then. This one was my favorite. So, when I saw my “favorite-recent-batch” available on the shelf three years later . . . it was a no brainer. I was happy to pay a bit above normal for the only two bottles of this batch on the shelf.

Springbank 20yo 51.6% (Refill ex-bourbon 204 bottles: March 1997 – April 2017) – This was the most pricy bottle I bought to end this year (and the only one they had left). Whiskybase rated it a 90 which is better than the mid-80’s that most whiskies earn on that site. Why did buy it? Well, I have really been enjoying Springbank 12yo CS’s lately. This seems like a good quality ex-bourbon example of an aged Springbank at over 50%. Is this worth the money? Probably not. But I am excited to find out. This will likely be my open bottle for the new year.

Yes, I cleared out the inventory of 4 bottle slots. It feels good to know you grabbed all you could

@Nock congratulations on your excellent acquisitions! I see that things have changed with you and Springbank. I remember the days just a few years ago when you were decidedly unimpressed with Springbank. I had some decidedly mixed early experiences with Springbank too, which greatly delayed the day before I bought any bottles of it.

@Victor @Nock I tried Springbank too early in my whisky journey, less than 6 months in. After about a year or so of neglect I tried the 12 CS and Claret wood and liked them so much better. Was it air time? Maybe, but subsequent bottles have been enjoyable from the get-go. I think it takes time to learn to appreciate what Springbank has to offer.

@Nozinan I think that in my case the issue was with having early experiences with bar samples of questionable quality.

@Astroke, the new KWM Shelter Point Rye 58.8% abv barrel#346 is indeed ADL Rye. It is different from the 2018 release of KWM Shelter Point Rye 59.6% abv barrel #343, also from Alberta Distillers Limited.

My experience with RYE originating from ADL has led me to believe there are two distinct (possibly more sub groups) and easily recognized styles of Rye from ADL. One is the light fruit, light spice, clean oak with toffee and pepper that is found in WP, Masterson's, Lock Stock & Barrel, Hochstatder’s, and APCS.

The other style is Pendleton's, CC100%, and now KWM Shelter Point 2020 release cask #346. All of the bottles of this “other” style from which I have tasted, none are as good as this current single barrel bottle of KWM Shelter Point Rye #346. However, I prefer the first style described above.

The second style is chewier and duller. This KWM cask is the best of style#2 from anything I've tried. It is a nice rye, but not one I want to fill my shelves with.

I think a heavy char is responsible for this style. Possibly new oak, in particular the second stage of aging... or perhaps recharred barrels.

Check out the difference in colour.

Both bottles/barrels were distilled May 2009.