Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@Timp I resisted peated whisky for years until about 18 years ago when I decided to give it another try. When I told a good friend that I didn’t like peaty whisky, he told me I wasn’t trying hard enough. So when returning to Canada from the US one summer’s day I picked up a bottle of Ardbeg 10. That was it, I saw the light, one taste and I was hooked. Ardbeg 10 has been my go to peated whisky ever since. I have a big soft spot for it and I always have one on the go and at least one in reserve.

Cheers.

@Timp, I would love to hear what batch of Ardbeg 10yo you have. And to hear your impressions when you open it. I am finding more and more that the 10yo is having more and more high lemon tones up top. I am not a fan of that note. It has been coming across to me as sour lemon over the sweet deep Ardbeg peat. It used to be that the sweet peat dominated the high lemon tone . . . but that note has been getting more and more pronounced to me in recent batches. But maybe it is just me. Please let us know. And I am with you, I will always have a bottle of Ardbeg 10yo open on my shelf.

I have had a bit of a buying splurge in the past few days. I have recorded elsewhere on the Steal-of-a-Deal thread about my bottle of a teaspooned Blended Malt from Five Lions.

Why? It is 61% ABV. It is a single cask aged for 7 years from 2010-2017 in a first fill sherry hogshead. I picked it up for $75.99 reduced from $130. I am convinced it is Ledaig. I didn’t go pick up any more bottles today . . . but I likely will tomorrow.

I also picked up Kilkerran Peat in Progress Batch 7. Why? I have Batch 1, 4, 5, and 6. I am loving what they are doing right now.

I picked up two bottles of Ardbeg Ardcore Committee Release at 50.1%. Why? I don’t know. I had passed on the stuff a year ago when it came out. It was mostly greeted with disappointment. However, I just so happened to find myself driving past the last store in Virginia with the last two bottles available in the state. (That is what the online state inventory is good for). What is an Ardbeg geek to do? I have the collection of every Fies Ile release going back to Ardbog in 2013 (which is how I first met up with @Victor who procured them for me). Can I quite now? I thought I was quitting a year ago . . . but it pulled me back in. Maybe have 10 years in a row give me the freedom to quit this year?

That said . . . this new special release of Heavy Vapors from Ardbeg . . . it better be amazing.

I also picked up a new bottle of Lagavulin 16yo. Why? I don’t know. Well, I was in Delaware. It was $81.99 at Costco without tax. That is just too good. And it is my wife’s favorite scotch to have on hand (she likes to make cocktails with it). For a while the price was around $120 in Virginia. I actually have 3 bottles of Lagavulin 16yo in my bunker. So why buy this “new” one? Well, the three bottles I have are from 2004, 2009, and 2017 respectively. The 2017 bottle is the last one I could find with the old red stripe sicker over the cork. That really disappeared late 2017. I have three fingers left of my open bottle of Lagavulin 16yo from 2004 (I had stocked up a few bottles back in 2004 for $50 each . . . I have only one sealed bottle left. It was a fantastic batch). My plan is to do a comparison of the 2004 batch with the new (likely 2022) batch I have just picked up. I have been noticing a particular distillery profile emerging in younger Lagavulin (8yo, 9yo Game of thrones, 11yo and the 12yo CS) of late. I am curious to see if it has made its way into the 16yo yet. I will report back. The last reason is that I have had to hide my open bottle of the 16yo for 2004 from my wife. With this new open bottle it will give her carte blanche to start making cocktails with Lagavulin again. I was making her use Lagavulin 11yo Nick Offerman batch 3. She isn’t as big of a fan. Neither was I.

Anyway, if I pick up more of that Five Lions Blended Malt tomorrow it will kill my whisky budget for the month on day 3 of the month. Oh well.

@Nock whisky budget for the month? That’s my whisky budget for the year!

My wife accompanied me to the shop today, and I asked her to pick something out that she remembered liking from things I've had before.

She picked well. Hopefully I get some.

@casualtorture Mrs. casualtorture has good taste.

@BlueNote the smokier the better for her.

@BlueNote Nice to hear we are of a like mind taste wise..

I have a few friends who have discovered a love of whisky through Ardbeg 10 but struggle to get any further as they seem to measure anything else against it. I suppose at its price point in the uk there isn’t another peater like it. Appreciation of subtlety comes in time and experience I think and certainly has for me.

@Nock The batch I have is 24/11/22 and reading your post makes me wish I had kept samples from every bottle I have owned. It’s interesting what you say about the lemon notes as that fits entirely with the modern versions serge from whiskyfun has reviewed and he does seem to like that particular bitter lemon note in whisky. When I crack it I will let you know what I think and definitely starting a sample stash this time. Will be very interested in your Laga comparison. I still look ( just looking! ) at the white horse bottlings that everyone raves about. Maybe one day!

@casualtorture She is clearly a woman of good taste..

@casualtorture you wife choose well. Do you have a batch code? Laser code on the back bottom of the bottle? Some of us are obsessed. Also, how dark is the batch? How much sherry influence would you say?

@Timp thanks for the batch code on your 10yo! I will await your impressions. Yes, I have been following Serge on whiskyfun since his first version of the website in 2001. Learning to read him has been amazingly enlightening. And now I have a much better sense of where his taste diverges from my own. And I can tell just by reading him how I will like a whisky. He is not a fan of wine influence in his whisky. I tend to love it. He is a fan of “austere” and “chiseled” whisky and I am not. So, when I see him enjoying a lemon note (or a lemon sour or lemon bitter note) I now know I won’t care for it.

And it is a shame because that seems to be the profile that Dr. Bill has been going for at Ardbeg for the last 10 years. I like it when the dark earthy notes with anis and liquorish are present with only a whisper of lemon to give some highlights. Too much of that lemon note is off putting to me. One of my favorite Ardbeg 10yo batches of all time is from @Victor’s bottle which was bottled on June 1st of 2010 (L10 152). That was a fantastic batch. I ended up hunting down two bottles at auction. Thanks again @Victor for sharing the experience!

I am with you on those old White Horse bottlings. I have been beat out on every bid I ever placed on one. I am so curious but just not willing to go up to the price necessary to find out. However, I did go in guns-a-blazing on a bottle of Lagavulin 19yo 54.7% from 2014. Serge gave it 94 points. (The same score he gave my “white-whale” Brora 30yo from 2005). This 19yo Lagavulin was that last piece of the puzzle for me to dial in Serge’s taste. And he was spot on comparing it to a 16yo Lagavulin . . . but at Cask Strength.

Serge called the 19yo “Sharp, ultra-chiselled, even more ‘precise’ than, for example, the 12 yo CS, very flinty, ultra-lemony, masterfully peaty and briny… I’m truly impressed, the expression ‘sharp like a blade’ must have been invented for this one, although there is a smoothness as well that makes it relatively approachable.”

Ya, now I know. This whisky is not my thing. It is good. But it doesn’t tickle my heart strings like it does for Serge. For him to give this whisky (or any whisky) a 94 means it is in rarefied air for him. If I had tasted it first I might not have even pick up the bottle at the original price. Still, it is a wonderful experience that helps me put a lot of his tasting notes into perspective for me.

Serge gave that Brora 30yo from 2005 a 94 and I gave it a 97. Serge also gave this Lagavulin 19yo a 94 and I would probably give it a 90.

As @Victor is apt to point out . . . different bottles = different experiences - even from the same batch. And there is clearly wisdom and experience in that point. But assuming that these small releases are identical that just goes to show you need to learn to read your whisky reviewer.

The Lagavulin 19yo currently sits at the back of my cabinet and is hopefully changing in a direction I will like . . . someday maybe.

@Nock I have to laugh. I observe all of this righteous meticulous experiential whiski science which is being pursued by you, by me, and by many many others and then I contrast that with the MANY otherwise well-meaning people I know who would assume that anyone who owns hundreds of bottles of whiski must be an irresponsible lush !

Over the weekend I bought a bottle of Powers Gold Label. My brother in law likes Irish whiskey but he's not "a conn-wah-soor" as he says, so I like to say so I thought I'd keep something inexpensive around. I tried it on Saturday night and I'm pleasantly surprised so far.

@OdysseusUnbound baseline Powers can be quite good, but it is, like so many other mass market brands, highly variable according to batches. Some batches are not so good. I've tasted both the good and the not-so-good from Powers Gold.

@Victor That doesn't surprise me at all. I've had incredible, mediocre, and downright bad bottles of many mass-market whiskies such as Jameson, Bushmills Black Bush, and even plain old Jim Beam White Label. The same whiski doesn't really exist from one bottle to the next, does it?

@OdysseusUnbound no sir, it does not!

Just placed an order with Craft Cellars in Calgary Alberta.They ship to other provinces in Canada. Thanks @Bluenote for the heads up. They have a few specials on currently as noted in Bluenotes message. Cheaper shipping by 6 pack so 3 X WT Rare Breed, 1 X Bookers, 1 X Old Forester 1920 and 1 X Russells Reserve 10 YO. The prices were very good eg. WTRB 50 bux Cdn. and no provincial sales tax that we pay in Manitoba. Just thought I would let the crew know. We have no WTRB, Russells or Old Forester 1920 in Manitoba plus Bookers is $125 in Manitoba (my pockets are not deep enough for that) vs $87 at Craft Cellars.

@Jonesz Well done mate. Get on their newsletter/mailing list to get info regarding their frequent sales.

@Jonesz Those are pretty good prices. I've bought only one bourbon since 2019 (to help out someone who needed to get rid of it) so I haven't really been following prices, but I haven't seen a Booker's for less than $100 in a very long time.

@Nozinan Yes, Bookers is $125 here plus tax total $140.00 Really enjoy this one but for that price "no". Kind of was a no brainer to buy it for $91 gst included plus shipping from Craft Cellars. Saved me $40 for the bottle and I absolutely love Bookers. It will be kept for a special occasion. I have a few empties here and hard pressed to replace them till this sale.

Greetings and salutations. Yes, it has been many months since I have logged onto Connosr, but I am back, but not sure how often I will get back on. Nevertheless, I thought I would post a recent purchase after seeing a post by @casualtorture of his bottle of ECBP.

I got one bottle of ECBP C922, and I am not at all an experienced bourbon enthusiast. Or more accurately, I should write that my level of appreciation for bourbon is quite low. I decided to go with the ECBP as my first attempt at bourbon based on reviews and recommendations. I don't think I went wrong with the ECPB C922. I decided to buy two more bottles. I was asked if I would start getting into the world of bourbon. My response was an easy, no. I might pick up a bottle of ECBP when they are out, but I cannot afford to expand into another spirit as intense as I am already doing.

This might change when I win the lottery.

I am looking forward to my being able to buy ECBP.I think you are fortunate to have located a bottle.I enjoy Elijah Craig small batch so am guessing you have hit the mother load,IMHO

@Jonesz In Canada ECBP is often prohibitively expensive. I got my three bottles in the US (I think one was a gift) but in Canada they would have cost me twice the price. Interestingly, the first time I saw it at the LCBO it was about $150, and I believe now it is out of stock but listed at $130. Of course they could just as well list it for $20 - there is none to buy.

@Jonesz I just got lucky. Most of the stores in my hometown do not have the ECBP, so I had to order online. I paid $80 USD, not including shipping.

@ajjarrett @Nozinan Yep I hear you. Will keep my eyes & ears open and if I find one in the USA maybe will try con one of my snowbird friends into bringing an ECBP home with them next season. Have read nothing but good things re this one.

@Jonesz I wish you luck in getting your hands on a bottle. I feel lucky that my first bourbon purchased turned out to be one that I actually like. I refer my next comment to comments made earlier by others: I tried a few bourbons and just never liked them, so I ended up staying away from them. After 'investing' my spirit money in single malts, single pot still, Japanese whisky, and later high proof Darroze armagnac, I just avoided venturing into the world of bourbon.

@Nozinan Watching reviews of the ECBP on Youtube gave me the impression that it has a strong following, but reading your post makes me think it is almost more of a 'cult' following. Of course, this could be said about many other bottles out there.

For me, it was the Glenlivet 16yo Nadurra (cough cough).

@ajjarrett I had a couple of Nadurras and thought they were great. Sadly so much so that they are long gone and haven't seen any replacements for some time now.

@Jonesz I haven't tried any of the NAS Nadurra. Some people on Connosr might blame me for the difficulty in finding the 16yo Nadurra, but they just have to remember that it was discontinued a while ago.

@ajjarrett You probably own more Nadurra 16 than still exists in some states. I have 1 or 2 tucked away, and am currently enjoying (sparingly) a bottle I inherited from my brother in law @Nosebleed.

The couple of times I have tasted the standard bourbon matured NAS Nadurra I have been fairly impressed.

Although I hesitate to tell you this because you might buy them all up…

@Nozinan No need to worry, too much of my spirit money has gone to Armagnac. (I refer to my posts to the brandy thread)

@ajjarrett No worries. I have not purchased a Nadurra NAS - I don't even know if they are available anymore in Canada. My 2.5 bottles of the 16 YO will probably last me for life.