Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@Wierdo No, I have not tried a Signatory Mortlach...

@Wierdo Me neither. Bet that extra abv gives it some ooomph! Did you get a bourbon cask or a Sherry butt matured? Good reviews of both on whiskybase.

@Timp it has been finished for 15 months in a Sherry Butt. 57.8%

I did check whiskybase before I ordered and it scores pretty well so I think I'll be alright.

Kilkerran 8 CS, the 57.1% Oloroso version. Because of my Kilkerran crush, and because of all the fan hype, and because my local specialist shop secretly had one held behind the counter all these past few months for some clod who reserved it but never came in to get it.

Was on the waiting list for this for a few months. Paid close to retail so there is that.

@MadSingleMalt Those kind of clods don’t deserve to live.

Just picked up a bottle of the Lagavulin 11 year old Offerman Edition. Haven’t cracked it yet, but I hear it’s good. Quite different from the first edition I’m told. The Guinness cask finish should be interesting.

Just got back from seeing family to have these waiting for me. The Irish was a gift from my Da' and I've never tried Paddy so that will be a new one.

I'd ordered a Mellow Corn but there was an issue with it so I opted for two of the Mortlach instead. Hoping i'll not be too regretful. Loving the old label and packaging too. I miss all the tartan type guff, there I've said it

The photo bomber is my eldest.

@RianC we say it's all about the liquid. But if I'm not quite sure about a purchase if I like the bottle will often be what gets me over the line or not. Conversely if I get a recommendation and I hate the bottle it will make me a bit hesitant. I hate bottles that are overdone. I just want something simple and understated.

Those Mortlach bottles are really nice. Much nicer than the offical bottles imo.

@Wierdo - Agreed. If I feel a label/packaging is off-putting then I also have to think someone who made this whisky gave it the green light. That I could have such opposing tastes doesn't instil one with confidence about the contents.

Like you say, the juice is all that matters but the power of suggestion is very real. Too real not to influence us, I'd say.

Just got my half of a bottle share on this 6 year old, heavily peated, sherry cask matured, cask strength Ben Nevis. It is imported from Rogers Vintage Selection, a bottler located in the Netherlands and brought to Canada by a group called Single Cask Clan. I just had a small taste last night and my first impression is that it is worth every penny of its high price. When they say heavily peated they ain’t kidding. The sherry influence is pretty well contained, probably due to the short time in the cask.

The bottle.

Picked up a bottle of Ardbeg Uigeadail during the Monsters Of Smoke tour. Had it engraved as well.

While at the Monsters Of Smoke event, my wife disappeared with my friends wife. When we got home she pulled this out of the car.

@TracerBullet when you say she pulled that bottle out - was she showing off what she bought for herself or for you or maybe to share??

@BlueNote - Jealous - That looks lovely! I keep looking for IB Ben Nevis but they're getting snapped up tout suite!

@TracerBullet - Nothing beats a surprise gift of whisky, especially after drooling over them all day

@Hewie It was for me but she enjoys scotch as well so she will be having drams. Oh, and my friends wife got him the companion bottle, The Dark. We will be getting together to compare.

@Wierdo - Thank you! I'm glad my little experiment was helpful. It was surprising to me because I have always preferred the stemmed tulip glass. Without any reason why, I thought it was superior to the GlenCairn, even though I preferred the weight (heft) of the GlenCairn. I've been using GlenCairn's almost exclusively since my experiment.

@RianC - I think you are in for a real treat with the G&M Mortlach. I really enjoyed my last bottle and every time that I've had it prior to that!

@BlueNote - Dang! Would LOVE to try a Hevily Peated, Sherried Ben Nevis. Unfortunately for you, they just opened the Canadian border for those of us in the states. Fair warning... I'm on my way! :-)

@TracerBullet - Got to love a wife who buys whisky without your knowledge. Fortunately, mine does the same from time to time. I haven't tried either the HP Light or Dark but that is awesome that your friend's wife bought the companion bottle. Too Cool! Enjoy and let us know what you think of both, please!

Recently ran out of Maker's Mark 46 which I use for cocktails. Went to the store over the weekend to get another bottle, but they didn't have the standard Maker's Mark 46. They only had Maker's Mark 46 Cask Strength. While I think the Cask Strength version is much better, it is also more expensive, which is really hard for me to use for cocktails. Oh well, life is short. I will consider this a treat and hopefully they have the standard 46 the next time I go to the store.

Like many of us I swore to reduce my purchases this year and for the most part I have been fairly successful, not quite the drastic cut but when I've splurged it's mostly been rum or the occasional bottle that just cannot be passed up with an eye to laying down future drinking stocks.

I try and practice the philosophy of open and enjoy your bottles especially in these times when you are made keenly aware of how fleeting everything is. It would be foolhardy to not put down a few things for enjoyment on a rainy day, if not mine someone else's at least.

I didn't think twice when I spotted Kilkerran 8 CS Batch 5 and Kilkerran Heavily Peated batch 3 show up on a retailer I've never purchased from, the price reasonable or at least close to what we would have paid in the before times. The KK8 is fresh oloroso cask and I largely prefer the ex-bourbon versions but it would still be either an interesting dram or a good trade piece. The KK heavily peated is the one I was after, having not tried the other two batches I figured it was time to see what this was all about and it will be a good one to crack open in the fall when peat starts calling.

I had not planned on making this an all Kilkerran acquisition post but I have a Quebecois friend who resides in Japan who comes to visit family every summer. I had helped him acquire some hard to obtain bottles last year and he mentioned he'd help me track down something exclusive to Japan or hard to find, we had initially settled on a bottle of insanely high ester Jamaican rum but just 3 days before his departure I get a frantic messages, you want Kilkerran 16 yrs old instead?

Yes please...this was probably just as hard to get as the Springbank Local barley releases and I just loved how good the Kilkerran 15 anniversary cask (bourbon) was, so no brainer again. Bonus the back label is in Japanese so it will be a nice memory or association when looking it over.

@cricklewood nice picks there! I've been fortunate to have the first two bottles. Similarly I prefer the ex-bourbon cask strength versions but the Oloroso is a nice change of pace but not entirely my cup of tea. It'll make the diehard KK fans manifest but I actually really enjoyed blending the two together! The KK16 is fantastic - some wondered what it provided above and beyond the already amazing KK12 but it is a much more elegant whisky. Enjoy when you do open them.

@bwmccoy I hope Mr. Biden is going to reciprocate soon. It’s been over 2 years since we last saw the in laws in Hood River. Not to mention that they have some excellent wine and craft beer down there. And excellent whisky prices, too.

Picked this up today. Why? Because I’m in Louisville, KY on the bourbon trail. More bottles will be coming.

I don’t know why my pictures are posting sideways from my phone.

@TracerBullet, it happens to me as well… no idea why.

@TracerBullet How much of that bottle did you drink in one go? That may be your answer...

@cricklewood excellent haul with those Kilkerrans. Nabbing a 16 I'm jealous!

I currently have batch 4 of the heavily peated open and it's very good. I think you'll definitely enjoy batch 3.

@Wierdo Very pumped for this unexpected acquisition, at least I can tone down my search for Campbeltown malts for a while.

I'm looking forward to cracking the peated but we're in the middle of another heatwave and the prospect of something peated is unappealing I'd rather have a Mai Tai

I am curious about the evolution of this series, it seems they've jigged the proportion of casks used at one point

So I’m in Louisville, KY on the bourbon trail. We can see Old Forester from our hotel window. When I looked out this morning, there was a line of people around the block. Made the assumption it was for Old Forester but had no idea what was going on. Apparently they had started lining up as early as 10:00 PM the previous night because a bourbon blog had leaked that the second Series 117 Warehouse K bourbon was getting released today. We had Peerless and Evan Williams tours setup for the morning and afternoon and Old Forester in the late afternoon. The crowds were gone after our Peerless Distillery tour and our wives figured they would find out if there were any bottles of 117 left (we didn’t have much hope). The wives met us at Evan Williams and said we were out of luck - no surprise. Had a great time at Evan Williams and then headed to Old Forester. Fast forward to the end of the Old Forester Tour and the tasting. The Series 117 was included in the tasting - fabulous! Finished the tasting and our tour guide said they had set aside bottles of Series 117 for everyone on release day tours. So we ended up getting the bottles!

@TracerBullet - That is too cool!