Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@OdysseusUnbound you have spent a lifetime discovering what you like best. Who is to say that there is anything wrong with concentrating on what you love most? This merely reflects the refinement of your tastes.

@RikS hey Rikard, we'd all like to have the maximum number of fulfilling experiences while we are here on this earth, would we not? That number of fulfilling experiences will be greatly reduced by wasting our money. It is not merely acceptable to be cost effective. It is self-defeating and foolish not to be.

Before the whiski madness, about 10 years ago I was already stocking up on my favourite whiskis, before anyone I knew even much liked whiski, much less stockpiled it. Why? Because I saw an under-valued asset. That perception turned out to be correct in spades, and even I did not foresee that bottles I could and did buy 10 years ago, usually with difficulty and hustle, selling 10 years later for 60 times what I paid for them then.

There is so much quality whiski in the world today at attainable prices that I am still extremely reluctant to spend more than $ 150 on a bottle of whiski, no matter what it is. The relative handful, maybe 10 bottles out of 350 bottles total, I have purchased in the $ 150-300 range were all opportunities that allowed me to buy the product at the lowest end of its offered pricing.

@Victor No matter how many people I am with we are rarely able to finish a bottle of wine in one sitting. But it does not keep long afterward.

As for whisky, I have bottles that are good for way more than 17 drinks. My average (and median) pour is 15 cc. That is probably why my bottles last for years. If you amortize the cost over the number of occasions I enjoy whisky, it is definitely the better value.

@Victor I've had this conversation with several people before. And I completely agree.

I can't think of the last time I bought a bottle of wine. If we get one as a gift, my wife and I will finish a $30 bottle of wine in one night. A $30 bottle of bourbon can last weeks, even if we have a glass or 2 a night which we generally don't, whisky generally tastes better (totally subjective I know), and doesn't give me a headache from sulfites. Whisky is definitely a better value in my book!

I caved despite the getting to be rediculous price in Canada.

@Astroke Lagavulin 12 is now, and has been for several years, an expensive bottle. According to wine-searcher.com the LCBO price is right near, actually just below, the average world price:

wine-searcher.com/find/…

If you want that particular bottle, that's just about what you have to pay for it these days.

Interesting looking tube.

@Astroke What was it in Ontario? About $200?

Just got my bottle of Loch Lomond 18. Based on a small neck pour and 15 minutes of air time, I like it. Not particularly complex or challenging, but eminently drinkable and a far different animal than the 12 year old.

@BlueNote yes. LCBO price today is $ 199.75 taxes included. wine-searcher.com gives Lagavulin 12 CS average world price today at CAN$ 202, excluding taxes and shipping.

lcbo.com/en/lagavulin-12-year-old-18872/

@Astroke In this case Canadian prices for Lagavulin 12 CS are certainly high, but they are high almost everywhere else in this world as well.

@Victor That is the 2020 price/bottle, the 2021 is $214 and change. Was an online only through the Vintage section and will not show in the regular LCBO site.

@BlueNote the 2021 is $214.50

@Astroke UK price for Lagavulin 12 is £130 which works out at current exchange rates at approximately $215 Canadian.

I don't buy it anymore since the price went above £100. The Laphroaig 10 CS offers a similar experience for almost half the price.

@Wierdo the Laphroaig 10 CS is essentially unobtainium in Canada.

@Wierdo For less than half that price I can get by quite happily with the 8 year old. It’s not as good as the 12, but I like it better than the 16.

@NozinanThat one’s a distant memory. The last bottle of Laph 10 CS I had was purchased at the distillery in 2018. I really need some more of that beauty. I’ll get the Oregon in-laws working on it for me.

@BlueNote I will add it to the list of what we will taste when we meet…

That and some Lag 12

@Nozinan that's a shame. And also a bit weird. Because for years the Laphroaig cask strength was a product they sold in the states and didn't sell in the UK. I know Canada isn't the states. But I'd always assumed if they were concentrating on selling it across the Atlantic you guys would be able to get your hands in it.

Regards Lagavulin. The 16 has become quite hard to get hold of recently. There are persistent rumours that Diageo intend to 'premiumise' both Lagavulin and Talisker and a large price increase is inbound for both.

@Wierdo oh my no, North America is not "North America". Canada is Canada, the USA is the USA and never the whiski twain do they meet...except for the individual bottles that get hand-carried in small numbers across the border. North American Free Trade does not exist in whiski.

The only real whisky commonality that I can think of between Canada and the USA is that we both get 43% ABV Laphroaig as the standard 10 yo, unlike the 40% sold in the UK. And, 10 years ago, we both got that magnificant NAS Macallan Cask Strength.

@Victor, Whiskies Without Borders: Macallan Cask Strength Sherry Cask NAS. My favourite single malt, valued for its blending properties.

My blend of choice is a simple 3 malt blend of Macallan Cask Strength sherry cask, Glenlivet Archives 21 YO or Nadurra 16 YO CS, and Laphroaig 18 YO or Lore in the ratio of 8:4:1.

I've coined this Vatted Malt, OBSCENITY.

I guess I knew, academically speaking, how evaporation works in a barrel, but still - quite interesting to see it presented as visually as this. And, I suppose also a rather good indication why there is quite a difference in price between different ages, notwithstanding the cost of simply just storing space in a warehouse, but also liquid-wise… why an 18yrs old is double the price of a 10yrs old, cause there’s only half the juice left…

@Wierdo Canadian prices on both are already stratospheric. I suspect they are taking aim at the lucrative Asian market. We mortals will either have to grit our teeth and pony up, or start looking for affordable alternatives. Neither option is particularly attractive.

@BlueNote Rum is still somewhat affordable, but in Canada it can be hard to find anything bottled above 43% abv.

@Wierdo Both batch 13 and 14 Laph 10 CS were available in a few provinces in Canada. They were the first 2 batches sold in Canada. However they were scooped up quickly in both Alberta and Nova Scotia. I believe BC also had them available. I was fortunate enough to get a batch 13.

@Astroke interesting. So how does that work? Do the individual provinces' liquor control monopolies work out agreements with Beam Suntory for importation of their products? I suppose so. And does this imply anything about the status of the other provinces for acquisition of some of their own Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength? Supplying Ontario, or Quebec, or British Columbia, is obviously on a different scale than is supplying Nova Scotia. And as for Alberta, even though it is the whisky Mecca of Canada, the numbers allowed for Alberta may have been kept deliberately in line with Alberta's population base, and not with the fact that Alberta has the capacity, de facto, to be the whisky supplier to all of Canada.

Where I live Laphroaig 10 CS remains very available, but it now costs about 60% more than it did 8 years ago.

When I think about Laphroaig 10 CS availability being limited in various countries what most occurs to me is that this is a cask quality issue. In other words I suspect that what is going on here is that the distillers consider the number of casks that will work well with respect to high quality to make each batch of Laphroaig 10 CS to be limited, and they are very careful not to overpromise product by making that product freely available in all markets. I also suspect that the reason why the USA has gotten the very best availability and pricing, worldwide, for Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength is that this is a marketing tool for Laphroaig/Beam Suntory. I can tell you that I live in one of the most affluent areas of America, and Scottish malt is very popular here, but peaty-smoky-briny Islay whiskies have, generally, for most of the last 12 years, just sat on the shelves unsold, even when they were being offered MUCH below average world sale prices for those products. I think that the great availability and pricing of Islay whiskies in the USA reflects their relative unpopularity here, and the producers' efforts to increase that popularity through the incentive of offering excellent pricing.

@Victor I believe that Quebec also had some in their lottery but not positive. Outside Alberta the individual provinces can request the different offerings if they cared to. LCBO buyers are order takers only and if offered 10,000 bottles of Jim Beam white label they will take it. I have complained at nausium to the LCBO and have been told that they will request nothing from a distributor but I do suppose they expect some premium bottles included. When I asked the LCBO a year ago if they were getting Laph 10 CS, they said yes. On a facebook forum the Laph rep for Canada (including Ontario) said that Ontario would be getting it and they still never got it. The LCBO is the text book laughing stock of liquor stores. Where else in the world are Ardbeg core bottles a lottery item and marked up 60-100% higher than retail than anywhere else?

@Astroke, @Victor, the LCBO sells on "consignment". I use the word loosely, but all sales are guaranteed by the distributors. Items are offered to the buyers. Buyers act on the offers. You can't buy what isn't offered. When an item moves slowly, the supplier/distributor is expected to provide an incentive for movement, whatever that may be....whatever it takes.

Many rare and sought after items do not hit the retail shelves. The LCBO is the biggest bottle flipper in Ontario.....mic drop

@Astroke "....marked up 60-100% higher retail than anywhere else." Anywhere else except beautiful British Columbia where Ardbeg 10 is $118.55 by the time it's through the till. Uigeadail? $166.85, and Corryvrekkan? forget about it; not even available. That's just one reason why most of my whisky shopping, and that of most of my whisky-loving friends, is done next door in Alberta. Even after tax and shipping we can save anywhere from $20 to $40 on bottles that are available in both provinces. Another key factor is Alberta's hugely more diverse selection of whiskies. We just wait for the sales and load up. Our last order on KWM's last big sale consisted of 34 bottles shared among 7 of us. Craft Cellars recent 12 hour 20% off sale yielded 12 bottles for 4 of us. I can't remember the last bottle I bought in BC. Oh, yes I can. It was Glenmorangie 14 year old Quinta Ruban. For some strange reason it is about the same price as Alberta once the shipping is factored in.

@BlueNote I sometimes forget about BC. At least you are closer to Alberta :)

Last night (Sunday), some friends of my wife and I held their wedding reception at Westland Distillery (rented the space after-hours). It was a great night of whisky, dinner and dancing. Our friends had an open bar consisting of 4 Westland expressions. One of the expressions was a single cask bottling that was just released earlier in the day. I wasn't sure if we would be able to purchase bottles since this was a private event, but fortunately, the Westland staff was more than happy to sell me a bottle of the newly released single cask. I had to have it after trying it. The staff also poured me a couple of other expressions that weren't part of the open bar since I was buying a bottle. So what did I buy? First, I'm not a huge fan of Westland's core range, but their single cask releases are often very nice to spectacular. This one was stunning.

Cask # 6140 is a 7 year old (one of the oldest Westland releases to date). It spent its first 4 years in New American Oak before spending the last 3 years in an ex-Pineau des Charentes (brandy) cask. This is Westland's standard 5 Malt, bottled at cask strength 50.4% ABV. The color has a beautiful purple hue. The nose is walnuts, berry syrup, waffle cone and jasmine tea. The palate is fresh cherry, light maple syrup and buckwheat biscuit. What impressed me the most and why I wanted a bottle is how balanced it is. The standard Westland character is there, but so is the brandy influence. Neither one detracts from the other. Rather, they enhance each other. My only disappointment was after getting home, I noticed that this is a 700ml bottle. I know my UK and European friends will not shed a tear from me in this regard, but if you didn't know, the US recently allowed 700ml bottles to be sold and this was the first one that I have seen in the states that wasn't an imported bottle from the UK / Europe. I totally understand why a distillery would want to sell 700ml instead of 750ml, but the hard part for me is that the bottle I bought was the same price as one of their other expressions that was in a 750ml bottle. I want my missing 50ml. :-) To see the rest of the Westland's I drank last night, see my posting on the What are you drinking now thread.

Two more bottles of Mortlach 15 G&M @46%. Mentioned why on other thread but, in short, I just opened a bottle and loved it. I knew there weren't many left in circulation either so jumped on them. Humorously (or not?!), as soon as I made my purchase the price went up by almost £20 - crazy!

@Nozinan, @Victor, @OdysseusUnbound, @casualtorture @RikS - just seen your chat about wine vs whisky value. This is something I thought about years ago and realised that, whilst we pay more out initially, even a £100 bottle works out less for a glass than most wine would. And wine doesn't keep well for long. I'm lucky as my partner drinks wine so I get to try it with meals but I rarely drink it on its own. I also find it hard to drink whisky after a glass of wine - this is where armagnac is very handy to have around Wine is a bit of a rip off to be honest but it's hard to have a steak, sea food or blue cheese without it ...

@Wierdo - I really hope that's not true about Talisker and Lagavulin. The signs are there though, especially for the latter, but the way the newly packaged Tali 10 has been hawked around the supermarkets makes me think it might not happen with that one. I may just have to get another Talk 18 (or two, three ...) though, just in case

@RianC What sort of money are you paying for Talisker 18 these days?