Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@BlueNote I also have a 6 year peated sherry matured Ben Nevis from Carn Mor

@cricklewood, Kilkerran rules.

@Astroke I spotted that one too, with a fairly reasonable price but I'm trying to stick to budget and plans.

@cricklewood I don't blame you. I will take it easy for a while myself.

Just got back from my trip to the Bourbon Trail. I picked up a few bottles along the way.

Here’s the rest… (a couple bottles of gin in there too - Castle & Key)

@TracerBullet serious haul!

@cricklewood Tried to primarily get things I could not get in the stores at home. Did get a few available here but I got the bottles signed.

@TracerBullet, a very nice assortment.

Cheers!

@paddockjudge Got two of the Eagle Rare 10yo because the Buffalo Trace Distillery offers a special deal (I think) everyday. The day we were there it was Eagle Rare 10 for $35 each but limit one per person and you can’t buy another deal for three months (they scan your drivers license). So I bought one and my wife got the second bottle.

I've already gone over my whisky budget for the month. Then I had a message from Tyndrum whisky to say they had the Ben Nevis 10 in stock! Considering how hard it is to get hold of I've ordered 2 bottles.

So if any UK based Connsrs are after the Ben 10. If you check out tyndrum whisky they still have it in stock at the moment.

Today I bought the John Walker & Sons Celebratory Blend. I've had it on a few occasions (from a friend's bottle). Across various flights and different comparisons it continues to show as an excellent dram even when compared to single malts. I stumbled across one in Niagara Falls and was shocked to see the sticker at only $77! I'm quite sure it was $105 when it came out around Christmas time. I'm thinking this may be a province wide clearance, but not sure. Just thought you guys would wanna grab one if you see it!

@dloewen

Nice catch. This one isn't bad. I tried a sample of it from @fiddich1980. At the time I wasn't prepared to but a whole bottle of it. I don't regret my decision, though if there were bottles around me at this price I might pick them up...someone would want them.

I'm teaching myself that I don't need one (or more) bottles of every whisky that I like,,,

@dloewen That is an excellent price. I hope you got a couple. It’s $105 +15% tax in BC. I agree, it’s an excellent old school blend and up there with many single malts.

A Knob Creek 9 (I hope - buying off Amazon so trusting the new age statement version arrives).

Why? £25. Which, for a 9 year old bourbon at 50%, is very, very decent (rrp £44). I've also never had KC before but have almost been tempted a few times. The price and age statement sold me. Reviews all seem positive too although I'm a little worried it might be a tad too nutty for my tastes, we shall see. At that price though, if it ends up being a mixer it's no real loss.

Just got a Signatory 6 year old Ben Nevis and a Carn Mor 9 year old Ardmore. So far, I think they were well chosen, but I’ll know better after I’m a little further into both bottles.

Not a purchase, but rather a gift from friends.

Bend Distilling (Bend, Oregon) Black Butte Whiskey 3 year. Release #5. 47% ABV.

A collaboration with Deschutes Brewery (Bend, Oregon). This American malt whiskey is distilled from Deschutes' Black Butte Porter wash and aged three years in new #4 charred American oak barrels. Notes of sweet oak, chocolate and toffee. In the finish, malted grain with a hint of smoke and charred oak.

In addition to the whiskey, they also gave me several different Scrappy Bitters (Seattle, WA) 0.5oz sample bottles to further inspire my cocktail exploration. The bitters include; Aromatic, Orange, Chocolate, Fire Water Tincture, Cardamom, Lavender, Black Lemon, Grapefruit, Lime and Celery. Now I just need to figure out what kind of cocktails some of these would work best in, especially the celery. :-)

@bwmccoy I do like their Porter, sells out fairly quickly in Ontario.

@dloewen - I bought four of those when they at a good price (around £40). It's one of the best modern blends ive had. Very nutty, spicy, a tad fruity and with a definite old-skool vibe. You'd be forgiven for thinking it a malt, especially on the nose.

Picked up this Indy 18 YO Blended Malt and a distillery released ex-Bourbon Cask. Both at cask strength, both are single cask, and both are delicious. Non-chill filtered, no colour added.

@paddockjudge Can’t quite read the label on the 18 year old. I’m intrigued. Any more details on what’s in it?

@BlueNote, perhaps you can better see the label in this pic. There is some CLEAN sherrry (Oloroso) in this blended malt, no discernible peat, and void of smoke. It is a very nice whisky. In my own blended malts I often include some smoke, like a fruity Laphroaig, at about 5 - 10 %.

This Independent bottling reminds me of sherried Macallan from a decade or more ago, nothing at all like the current distillery offerings from which I have tasted.

Non-chill filtered, natural colour, matured in a Sherry Butt.

I suppose the only way to understand this whisky is to pour it in a glass and give it a try

Paddockjudge; chuckling as your description of “a fruity Laphroaig” instantly took me back several/many years ago when I used that same phrase to describe a Laphroaig 18yo dram I enjoyed.

@cherylnifer, I haven’t tasted many fruity Laphroaigs, the 18 YO is definitely one of them. You were on the mark with that statement. Lore and Cairdeas 2015 also fit the bill. I suppose many of the long-aged releases fit the bill.

Yesterday I received a tip that the 2021 release of Alberta Premium Cask Strength was available at the LCBO.

I immediately found a store nearby that had some but I was wasn’t able to go, so I used they “same day pickup” option.

When I did not hear back in the 3 hour window they advertise, I thought that I would have to make this posed under the thread “How F-ed up is the LCBO”. But I called them today and they said it was ready.

I picked these up because the last two releases have been excellent. And in case I‘m not fond of it, I know someone who will be happy to use it for COVID sanitation…

I purchased a Teeling Small Batch (Rum Cask Finish) Irish Whiskey - 46% ABV. Why?

1. Because I have never tried any Teeling whiskey.

2. I thought I would try this as a replacement for the standard Jameson that I usually have on hand for cocktails.

3. It was part of a cocktail kit that included all of the items needed to make an iced Irish coffee cocktail; 2 Teeling collins glasses with metal straws, 2 cans of LaColombe vanilla draft latte (foamy, nitrous infused milk and cold brew coffee), nutmeg shaker and a 750ml bottle of the Teeling Small Batch.

4. It was only $40 USD for everything and I had a $20 off voucher, so that seemed like a good deal to me.

Shortly, I will be doing a head to head tasting of the Teeling and standard Jameson. I will post my thoughts in the "What are you drinking now" section.

Old staple Ardbeg 10. For UK based Connosrs it's £37 from Tesco at the moment if you have a club card. I missed the glory days of the Ten in the early 00's when it had much older whisky in it and was winning awards everywhere. But it is still a very good peated whisky at that price.

I basically get through 1 bottle a year of the Ardbeg 10 and never pay full price. It always goes on offer in the UK supermarkets in the lead up to Christmas and I grab a bottle.

Not sure why I checked out the Kensington Wine Market’s site (new website) but I wanted to see if there was anything new from Milk and Honey Distillery.

They had three of their “elements” bottlings and the Sherry cask was sold out, but I was able to get one each of these two (one was the last bottle), an STR and a peated cask.

I have reached out to the distillery to find out more about the STR bottling, to see how it is different from their Classic malt which is matured in STR casks.

These will rest peacefully at my sister-in-law’s home, where they should be delivered this week, until we visit, Covid-permitting, in December.

@Nozinan I got into a bit of a debate with someone who presumably was one of the owners or investors of milk and honey on Facebook.

An advert for one of their bottles came up on my feed. A 3 year old ex-islay cask bottle for £95. I commented that it was way too expensive. And this chap was arguing that it is cask strength and that they have investors who need to see a return etc. I just kept replying that whatever situation £95 for a 3 year old is nuts and the investors were none of my business. If you are looking for a quick return on an investment then don't invest in whisky.

Anyway the 2 bottles you have are quite sensibly priced. But that ex-Islay cask bottle is way overpriced. And unsurprisingly there's still quite a lot of bottles still available so I'm clearly not the only person who thinks that!

@Wierdo Interesting. I've noticed some price creep. The 3 YO classic malt was a lot less expensive than these elements bottles. I'm not sure what the difference is between them (especially the STR bottle). Same volume and ABV. I hand-filled a 3.5 YO ex-Islay cask bottle at the distillery in December 2019, and it was a lot less than 95 GBP. I can't imagine bottling and labelling could add so much to the cost...