Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@RianC head wobbling prices is a great description I do like looking at the auctions but getting more and more out of my range for my favourite distilleries.

Like your approach for looking at older bottlings though and you seem to have found some good uns. Be interested to see your thoughts on your Dunhill when you crack it..

@RianC I'm curious about the Dunhill too. I think it will be either a stunning old school blend, or a lot of style over substance. Back in the day when many of us smoked, it would have been the height of snottery to light up a Dunhill ciggie with a gold plated Dunhill lighter while sipping on a dram of Dunhill whisky.

Ledaig 2007 whiskysponge on sale now from decadent drinks. Be quick if you want one.. Cheers..

@Timp I've been thinking about getting a bottle of the Glencadam 15 for a while for let us know what you think of it?

I had the 10 and was very impressed. Decent dram. Especially for the price which was something like £35.

Maker's Mark 46 Cask Strength (54.8% ABV). Why? Because we were almost out of Maker's Mark 46 (47% ABV) which we use to make Black Manhattans. However, when my wife went to the liquor store for me this afternoon, she grabbed the wrong bottle. :-) Nothing like making cocktails with a $25 (before taxes) more expensive bottle of bourbon. It will be interesting to see if we can tell the difference when we make Black Manhattans a little later today.

I had a small amount of regular 46 left in the bottle so I did a head-to-head comparison of regular 46 to the cask strength version. Wow! What a huge difference. I'm not a fan of regular 46 neat, but I really like it in the Black Manhattans that we make. Head-to-head, the regular 46 has that fake cherry cough syrup note which I do not care for, but that note is greatly reduced in the cask strength version. It is also more oaky, but the wood influence is balanced. I also think the additional wood note is what is taking away some of the cherry cough syrup note. The cask strength version to me is fuller and more well rounded than the regular 46.

Of course I like the cask strength version better; it's more expensive. :-) My Mom always told me that I had champagne tastes on a beer budget. (I just noticed that you can see the ghost of @bwmccoy in the reflection of the bottle.)

Sigh, FOMO strikes again

@Astroke, OMG! They put it in a tube, as if!!?! Price increase coming.

@Astroke Batch Proof?

@Nozinan I believe it may have something to do with the entry proof. Someone will correct me if I am wrong. Could also be a Brown Forman thing since Woodford Reserve has a batch proof as well

@paddockjudge Copying EHT I guess. I believe this is it for this release.

First I saw of this Batch Strength/Batch Proof thing was that Tamdhu Batch Strength No. 1 from 3 years ago.

The words Batch Strength/Batch Proof have zero useful meaning whatsoever. The whiski is from a batch of barrels, rather than from a single barrel, and the whiski was bottled at the strength at which the whiski was bottled. That's Batch Strength/Batch Proof for you, the strength at which the whiski was bottled. Just putting the ABV on the label tells you exactly that without additional obfuscatory verbiage. No need for the 'batch' part, either, because all whiski is assumed to be from a batch of barrels unless you declare otherwise. Adding "batch strength/batch proof" to the label is 'repetitious redundancy', about like saying, "This whisk(e)y was made from grain!!!!". This is talking when you have absolutely nothing to say.

Are people really stupid enough to think that these words actually tell you something? Apparently the distillers believe so.

@Victor considering Old Forester Single Barrel's are listed as Barrel strength, the batch strength labeling on the 150th does not make much sense other than these bottles are not single barrels.

@paddockjudge The Greek Key pattern around the label makes it worth whatever they charge!

@Wierdo thanks for letting me know your thoughts on the 10, will be getting one soon I think. Really liked the 15 and had a nice dry note married with the light stone fruits and a touch of the tropical fruit note. I have only had one dram from the bottle so hoping the fruit notes will become even stronger as I seem to be on a quest for the ultimate fruit salad whisky! Anything with apricots, peaches or nectarines, vanilla sweet with brioche or sweetened bread notes is really what I am looking for.

Must the summer coming!

I must admit I do think the Glencadam has more of these than the Balvenie 12 single barrel I purchased the other day as it really is drier than I remember, but hoping it develops as the bottle goes down a bit.

Cheers..

@Victor so true! Limited edition is the one that gets me. Although factually correct that something maybe limited to 15000 bottles, its the implication of exclusivity that I find irritating. Much as I love Bunnahabhain for instance they really can’t help themselves putting it on most of their bottles outside of their core range..

@Astroke why would anyone ever possibly have to declare, "This is not a single barrel product." ? These "Batch Strength/Batch Proof" statements are redundant meaningless words, merely a restatement that the ABV is the ABV.

Every whiski is assumed to be from a batch, unless you declare otherwise, just as every whiski should be assumed to be from one "single" distillery, unless you declare otherwise. "Grain" whisky? All whiski is made from grain. Such very sloppy language is retained in this industry in the name of tradition, or, alternately, to market product. To me it's just sloppiness, laziness, fear of change, and stark failure to communicate clearly.

@Victor I have no idea why Brown Foreman would market these as "batches" unless they don't want it confused with their single barrel cask strength program. Woodford Reserve has been releasing a "Batch Proof" Bourbon for years now and it never seemed to bother anybody.

@Astroke FOMO is justified when it comes to buying a good dram. FOMO is only a sickness when it comes to social media, and you end up trying to one-up someone with a hamburger, made of dog and cat, in some exotic place that you know no one else can get.

@Timp

I know I am a bit behind on replying to your post about getting a bottle of Glencadam 15.

This is definitely one of my current favorites. I am quite fond of it and have purchased back-up bottles. For me, this is one I don't want to wait until I finish to justify buying another bottle of.

A bit of a side step. A friend of mine in Taiwan had the Glencadam 14, which isn't available where I am at. From what he wrote I got the impression that he enjoyed much more than the 15yo, and it was having a taste of it at his place that got me into getting the 15yo. So, I hope I can get to Taiwan and getting my hands on a bottle, or two. Writing this reply, makes me think I will pour myself a dram of the Glencadam 15 tonight.

かんぱい！

@ajjarrett thanks for your response and heard somewhere else that the 14 is a good one. Going to have to check the sites for that and a Nadurra this month I think

Picked up an Arran Amarone for myself because, well, you know me.

Edradour Signatory 2008 for a friend who loves all things Edradour.

@Timp

Good luck with the Nadurra. I have to inquire, which Nadurra 'expression' are you thinking of picking up? If you happen to find the 16yo, I would be interested in knowing which batch it is.

@ajjarrett And where it could be obtained....

@ajjarrett Sorry, should have been more specific. Yes the 16, and @Nozinan will have to be from auction as not seen one in retail for years.

I have had the 03/13-56.1% , 10/13-55% , 08/14-55.7% , 01/14-48% travel retail, and two more in 2014 and 1 in 2015 I foolishly didn’t seem to make a note of. Any of these really or whatever I can get tbh.

Cheers.

Ps. Clearly haven’t looked very hard as just seen a 08/14 on Whisky Exchange for £110..hmm Auction prices seem to be around £50 to £70..

@Timp 08/14 has been granted legendary status, probably in part because of a great review by @antihero on his website allthingswhisky.ca. You can read it here:

www.allthingswhisky.com

A few months after I read that review in 2016 I found myself in Calgary and my brother in law (@nosebleed) and I found 2 bottles of this batch at a tiny store very close to his home. I came home with one and the other ended up, I believe, with @paddockjudge.

I have not yet tasted this batch. In fact, I've only ever tasted this from my brother-in-law's bottle the first time we bought some years before (might have been 0410J), but it left a strong impression.

If I had as many as @ajjarrett I would probably keep one open in my cabinet more often than not...

@Nozinan That would be this little beauty. I’ve got about a third left in an open one and this is the lone survivor in the bunker.

@Nozinan If I knew, I would certainly tell you, after I bought it. HA!

@Nozinan, I did receive a Nadurra 16 YO from one of your dusty-hunting adventures, thank you . I do not recall the batch number, it may have been 8/14, regardless, it is long gone.

@Timp, Nadurra 16 YO batch 11/11 (easy to remember) is spectacular and imho only surpassed by 7/12 (thank you @cricklewood!).

I think we should organize a raiding party and go liberate a few from @ajjarrett’s bunker. We could put these masks to good use.