Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@BlueNote

Well, I was about to reply, "Just make sure you wear masks," but it appears you are keeping my welfare in mind already.

@Nozinan thanks for the steer to the review, interesting. Thanks also @paddockjudge for the heads up about the batches you mention. Will keep an eye out. Cheers and will let you know what I get..

@BlueNote - I'm curious what guitarist is in the picture behind the bottle of 08/14 Nadurra?

@bwmccoy It's a shot I took of an old friend of mine who had a pretty good bar band called Slim and the Pickups. He drank most of a bottle of Bell's and smoked about 2 packs of plain end Players every day. He died about 7 years ago after a short battle with lung cancer.

@BlueNote - Sorry to hear your friend has passed, but that's really cool that you have that memory and honor him in that way!

I picked up a Springbank 10 which arrived today - a nice way to be greeted on getting home prior to the Easter break.

Bottled in March 2021 so as fresh as you like. I may open this later.

I'm noticing a price hike and less and less availability with this one. As such, I plan on getting a couple each year while I still can ...

Also got another Glenlivet Illicit Still. Yet to try the first, and indeed any 'livet, so a gamble but I'm sure it can be traded or auctioned off down the road if needs be. Great price of £38 also helped!

I recently picked up a bottle of Glendronach 18 and 21 because of the solid reviews and because they are both actually aged for several years more than the number on the bottle.

I also decided to try some Irish whiskey, and purchased Redbreast Lustau and Redbreast 21. Heard pretty good things about these as well. Wanted to try the RB 12 CS, but they were out of stock.

@broadwayblue You can still get a 2019 or 2018 Glendro 18 on the shelf?

@Astroke Not near me...got the 2019 18 yo online. I've checked out a few local liquor stores looking for it but most don't have anything beyond the 12 yo, or don't even carry Glendronach at all.

@broadwayblue, Those two Glendronachs are chewy and spicy, great selections!

I just purchased a bottle of Aberlour A’Bunadh Batch 69. Somehow I missed out on Batches 64-68. I did a search but I didn’t find those particular batches. Oh well!

@broadwayblue The Glendronach 18 YO was a constant staple here in the Pennsylvania liquor stores. The price was around $138 US. Since Covid the 18 YO is unavailable as well as most other Glendronach expressions.

@DaveM

From what I couldn't find (as it were) the 18yo Glendronach hasn't been available in Colorado. I had to order mine. I was able to get the 2020 bottling (I refer comments regarding bottling years to other posts I have made) for $134 USD. I am happy I was able to get my hands on a few bottles, mainly because I do enjoy the dram. However, I noticed that the store I ordered mine through has been 'out-of-stock' of the 18yo for a while now.

My guess is, these crazy youtube reviewers are influencing too many people and they are snatching them all up. HA!

Some of you know all too well, that I have a 'tendency' to buy several bottles of a particular whisky, e.g. the Glenlivet 16yo Nadurra. There are a few (maybe not on Connosr, but elsewhere) that I be diagnosed with a bad case of FOMO. That is not true, I have self-diagnosed myself with a bad case of FOMI (pronounced with a long 'I'). FOMI = Fear of Missing It. : P

@ajjarrett You also have FORO - the only explanation for accumulating so many of one expression...

@DaveM, I picked up a "milestone" batch 65, to open when I turn 65. It probably won't be my retirement bottle (I have a Glendronach distilled the year I started training) if my kids want more than one degree... A batch 69 would be nice to have as 69 is my birth year, but I'm not setting foot in a liquor store until it is absolutely necessary while COVID tears through my city...

Ledaig 2007 13 years 55% for Whiskysponge. Why? Because I was sat at home and the email pinged through and I knew I had just a few minutes to make a choice before they all sold out.

Most importantly I trust their ability to choose a decent casks or casks to bottle, particularly as this commentator puts himself out there and presumably would fail in his new venture pretty quick if we all found out his company was bottling under performing casks.

Whiskysponges last piece refers to those such as myself who open their bottles as noble ( sarcasm ) and part of whiskies WOKE group. Not that I took particular offence to this as I would love to have multiples to keep however it’s really just plain greed and gluttony on my part as I have no ability to wait to see what they taste like! Or can afford multiples etc.. ha ha.

The fact his company limits the purchases to one per customer would indicate a level of fairness in giving all a chance yet we all know how easily this can be got round. Wokery too perchance?

It doesn’t concern me how many bottles people own and how many of one type. Good on you if you can and have. I have always been the same, instant reward type of character.

Will let you all know what it tastes like. Cheers.

@ajjarrett Luckily, right before Covid broke, I picked up a spare bottle of Glendronach 18 YO. It looked like I had some foresight.

Managed to get myself another bottle of Deanston 10 Amontillado cask, 59.2%, hand filled 2015 and for info @ajjarrett a Nadurra 16, 55%, 10/13.

All auction purchases.

Cheers..

@Nozinan

FORO? Hmmmmm. Fear of Running Out? Yeah, I guess so. Maybe that is why I haven't opened a bottle for over two years.

@DaveM

Congratulations! The little voice in your head steered you in the correct direction. Usually the little voice in my head always tells me, "What ever you do, don't become a 6pm news story."

@Timp

Congratulations! I do have a bottle of the 1013Z, but I haven't opened it. If you do open your bottle before I get to mine, I would hope you tell us what you think of it.

@DaveM That's right, so I won't have to open mine. HA!

I know I am bending this thread's theme a bit, but I am planning to reimburse, for this purchase, my friend when I get a chance to go to Tokyo. Yes, I did ask my friend to get two bottles. FOMI and FORO.

Why did I ask him to this for me?

1. I enjoy whisk(e)y that has some, or all, maturation in ex-sherry casks.

2. I cannot get where I am. (Thus, I am taking a risk of buying before trying.)

3. Why not? Is what I ask myself.

4. If I don't enjoy it as much as I think, and when COVID has become somewhat of a non-issue, I can get together with friends (who enjoy whisk(e)y) and I can bring it as my contribution. HA!

@ajjarrett will do, I know I won’t be able to resist opening it up!

@Timp

I do remember some 'wise' words that goes, "Resistance is futile." I am not sure where heard that, but I remember hearing it quite often. Maybe from a fortune cookie.

A friend had a line on a few of these so he asked me if I wanted one and of course I said yes.

@Astroke, of course! What are friends for?!!

I haven't had an OB Bowmore for quite a while, and I've only ever had the 18 once a long time ago. So in a weak moment and seeing a pretty good sale price, I decided to give it a try. Word was that it had improved in recent years. Oh, really? To me it tasted just like the 12 and the 15. It might be decent at 46 or 48%, but at 43% it's pretty well as much of a weakling as the 12 & 15. Now I know.

Laimrig, Laimrig, wherefore art thou? Oh yeah, you're hiding out at @Nozinan's house with your beautiful cousin, Tempest.

@BlueNote Laimrig, Tempest and Devil's Cask, all waiting for you to visit.

Any of the standard line-up from McClelland's to the 12, 15 and 18 are a hard pass.

I picked up a bottle of Glendronach 15 year old. It seems that Glendronach releases in general are drying up and getting impossible to find in Pennsylvania. Best to buy what is available.

Double post

Apologies for the unglamorous photo but these are my two latest acquisitions. For the second year running Springbank have had an open day in lockdown conditions and so sold the bottles you'd normally have to go to Campbeltown to buy over the Internet to society members.

Last year I only brought 1 bottle of the 4 on offer. A 10 year old Longrow.

This year they had a bunch of sample packs and 4 bottles on offer. I never bother with the sample packs because they contain around 8-10 small 1 or 2cl samples. That would just irritate me because if you like the sample you can't actually buy a full bottle.

The 4 full bottles on offer were:

An 5 year old Oloroso matured heavily peated Kilkerran for £50

An 8 year old bourbon and PX cask matured Springbank for £60

A 15 year old Oloroso matured Hazelburn for £85

And a 17 year old rum cask Longrow for £100

I wasn't that interested in the Longrow. But wanted a bottle of the other 3.

Buying them was without doubt one of the worst online purchasing experiences I've ever had.

They sent members a link to cadenheads on Monday morning at 1000 with a 3 hour window to buy the bottles before they went on sale to the public (flippers).

This just created a mad panic. I was at work but took my break at 10. Logged on. The Cadenheads website couldn't deal with the traffic. Everyone kept getting 404 messages. You'd put bottles into your basket. Then you only had 10 minutes to buy them before they would be removed from your basket. Then it would crash. You'd log back in the bottles were no longer in your basket. You'd add more then when it went to check out actually the previous bottles were still in your basket now you had twice as many. You'd try to remove the excess bottles then it would crash again. Then you'd gone over the 10 minutes limit. The original bottles were removed. You'd try to put the bottles back in. It would crash again. You'd get your purchase right. Then it would crash at the checkout.

Just absolute amateurish stuff from Springbank. Really quite shoddy. Anyway I actually gave up very angry when all the bottles had sold out. I thought I'd missed out only to find in all the chaos I'd received an email from Cadenheads saying I'd actually succesfully purchased the 2 bottles above that I had put in my basket right at the start and the purchase had crashed when processing my card so I thought I'd not brought them.

Disappointed I didn't get the 8 year old Springer but happy with the 2 I did get.

On a side note. Springbank is most defintely no longer a distillery only those in the know, know about. These 2 bottles I've purchased have already been spotted on auction sites at £500+ each. Absolutely madness £500 for a bottle brought for £50 a few days previous. All the special release lately sell out in milliseconds and end up on auction sites at eye watering prices.