Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@Hewie - It surprised me to be honest, and the SB did have the edge; but I reckon it was the presentation first and foremost that was doing it.

A Pulteney 12 at 46% NCF and au naturel would be amazing I reckon, but I bet they shift enough of the 12 as it is for it not to be worthwhile?!

I've had some batch variation but if you get a good one it would not be a bad investment, imo.

@ajjarrett I just did that. Picked up a bottle of op 17 on sale as mine is in its last legs. Shame it won’t be around much longer as the replacements in the core range will be more aged and well beyond my price range.

@Nozinan A similar amount of Bowmore Laimrig of which I have a backup bottle. I did a H2H with Lot 40 CS and for me the L40 CS was just a tad better, IMO.

@msudukie @ajjarrett That is very sad news, especially about the 17. I may have to spring for a couple while they are still around. I smell NAS in the air.

@BlueNote That was my first thought, "here comes the NAS," but I am have not heard about what they are going to replace the two expressions with. If they go with the dominant trend, most (if not many) distilleries are doing we should not be surprised to see a few NAS. The same fate as the 16yo Nadurra replaced with several NAS Nadurra.

@BlueNote - I know they are releasing a 25 Year but cannot find the news of the other core bottle to replace the 17. I thought it was a 15 year but totally possible I am mid-remembering.

@ajjarrett I had a taste of one of the new Nadurras the other night. Can't remember what it was called, but it was not the peated one nor the First Fill one. It was bottled at 46% and did not resemble the old 16 in any way at all except the look of the bottle. Not something I would ever buy. Let's hope Pulteney is not going the same way.

@BlueNote The only other NAS Nadurra besides the ones you mentioned is the Oloroso sherry cask, but I am surprised it was 46% ABV. I thought all of the NAS Nadurra were at least above 50% ABV. Anyway, I feel the same way about the Old Pulteney.

Here is a question for you all: What is your max price for a discontinued whisk(e)y, that you enjoy, that you are willing to pay for?

@ajjarrett that's a really good question. I regret the $93 Mac CS bottles we returned after finding them for $73. Now that price seems a steal.

I think the answer will partly depend on your position. If you have none, you might be willing to pay a bit more. If you have some on hand, it's harder to consider paying a premium for more.

@Nozinan

I agree completely. This is one of the reasons I tell myself when I decided to buy all the 16yo Nadurra bottles I could get my hands. Regret is a horrible thing, especially when it comes to paying a reasonable price for a bottle you know that has been discontinued. In short, try to avoid paying a premium, but know that you might have to.

I didn't even buy it...

My extraordinary brother-in-law gifted me a springbank 12 CS. I believe he doesn't even know what gold he has struck!

@Alexsweden my brother in law takes me whisky shopping every time I come into town. And there have been a clue of years when a special bottle has appeared under the tree in his home where we stay, including an amazing SMWS Arran.

This year I wanted to get him something. Thankfully, @paddockjudge, for whom I have been promoted to personal shopper, agreed to "ask" me to pick up a bottle of Amrut Intermediate Sherry for him, so the purchase was seen as legit and he won't expect to see it tomorrow am. I should mention, because @nosebleed (who rarely reads posts here) has been instrumental in finding a lot of stuff for both of us, the gift is from both of us.

I must say that @Nozinan is doing a bang-up job being my personal shopper. There is definitely a second career awaiting him after retirement. Thank you my friend.

@paddockjudge I want to be on his preferred client list. He's such a selfless guy I'm sure all we would have to do is flip him the odd free bottle of Founder's Reserve.

Picked up 3 bottles yesterday: Dalwhinnie 15, Dalmore 12 and Aberlour 12. Opened the Dalwhinnie last night. Sweet honey notes with a hint of smoke that dances on your tongue and then departs before the finish.

Won the right to buy a BTAC of my choice in a lottery, went with the WLW 2017. Only paid Retail in U.K. £134 so could not refuse, also got a barrel pick Whistlepig 10year done for the British Bourbon Society bottled at just over 115proof.

Bought them as the WP is a one off bottling and the Weller is so hard to get hold of in UK and I do like a Wheater.

@Pete1969 Excellent buys, I hope I am as lucky to get a WLW BTAC in the upcoming LCBO lottery.

@Pete1969, congratulations! William Larue Weller is the one I would have picked too, among the five Buffalo Trace Antique Collection whiskeys. It's been at least 3 years since I've managed to buy a WLW. It is a great feeling to have a bottle of any release of William Larue Weller in your cabinet. It takes so very little of it to have a fabulous good time. As Jim Murray describes William Larue Weller, it is "a three course meal of a bourbon".

I would bet heavily that you will love your WhistlePig too!

@Victor had a small try of both and straight out of the bottle the WP edges it slightly will be leaving them alone for a little bit of oxygen as found them both a bit closed. Really spoilt myself over Xmas and opened my first Makers CS and also Appleton 21 rum but no point keeping bottles sealed.

Hope you had a Merry Xmas and best wishes for the New Year.

@Pete1969 right back at 'ya! Have a great holiday season.

I did taste the 2017 Stagg, Weller, and Handy together a month ago. This year I liked the Thomas Handy the best among the three, but that was a first impression only. The only one of those I have tasted twice to date is the Stagg. With @Maddie's help I did acquire a bottle of the 2017 Thomas Handy, but I haven't opened my own bottle yet. Even though I liked the Handy best of the three this year I probably still would have picked a bottle of the Weller if given the choice of any one and only one, because Weller is in this country much more difficult to get than is Thomas H Handy. Which is splitting hairs, because Handy is very difficult to get, and Weller is next to impossible to get. I do have a much larger cache of Handy on hand, which is my primary decision criterion in giving preference to an acquisition of a new bottle of the William Larue Weller.

I always opened up all of my new bottles, ...until I had about 150 bottles open. I don't quickly open them all up now. If I buy a new bottle I have two choices: 1) open it and have, say, 96 instead of 95 bottles open, or 2) have the new bottle sit in a queue to be opened in 2, 5, 10, 15, or 20 years from now. Neither prospect is appetizing, so only the most completely compelling whiskies get bought by me at this point. And, with enormous experience and a fabulous cabinet, only a few whiskies these days seem completely compelling.

@Victor I have really noticed this during this trip to Calgary. I have been to a couple of stores with huge selections, and some pretty good (though not fabulous) prices. Total bottles bought so far: 4. Total I bought for me: 0.

I will be bringing home a couple. There's a Lot 40 CS that @nosebleed picked up for me, a blended malt that was a gift, and a Ben 10 that he bought but he didn't enjoy it when he tried mine (essentially a swap for a Lot 40 CS instead of him paying me for it after he had bought it for me and I had paid him but then I magically got one in Ontario...did you follow that?).

I'm forcing myself to be more discriminating and exercising self-control. I saw some Amrut IS for about $120 tax in, and was tempted, but I have 2 at home (Avg price $100) - just don't want to open it. Portonova has increased in price here, and I'd love to get one to not open the batch 1 I have at home, but I didn't. I saw (sold out) Corry for < $100 - that I would have picked up.

I will probably cave and pull the trigger on an Oogy that's $80 plus tax near my B-I-L's home.

I opened a few really good bottles this year and it has allowed me to keep to my goal of not having more unsealed bottles at the end of the year than when I started. That's a big change from the last 2 years that saw unprecedented growth.

That goal will remain for 2018, but I will add the goal of ending the year with fewer open bottles than I started with. Which will likely curtail my buying as well.

Ardbeg Ten. Don't need to explain why!!

@RianC you may be interested to know that Sainsburys are currently selling the Ten for £35 a bottle (I brought the last 2 on the shelf at Sainsburys Castle Vale in Birmingham).

I am getting a little concerned about the Ardbeg Ten I have to admit. I've read in a few places that people think that 'An Oa' was released by Ardbeg to replace the Ten. Now Tescos (Biggest Supermarket in the UK) who have stocked the Ten as one of their main malts for at least 5 years are no longer selling it, you can't even get it from them online.

Now Sainsburys have it on offer. Hey it may just be on offer but putting whiskies on offer is something Supermarkets often do to get rid of stock before discontinuing a line.

If Ardbeg stop doing the Ten and go all NAS I think I'll cry.

@Wierdo - Thanks for the heads up! I share your concern and purchased one just before xmas.

As it happens, I stopped in Sainsburys again on my way back from seeing family today and bought another! At £35 and as it's possibly my favourite malt it seems a no brainer, as they say.

As an aside, i just watched Ralfy's RotY - interesting that he comments that the SWI perceives him as undermining the reputation of Scotch re. the NAS thing. I'd argue he does the opposite . . . he probably undermines profit margins though the oiky so and so

More fuel for the old speculation machine!

And the drought is over!

B-I-L and I had a couple of hours to make a few trips this evening, the last whisky run of 2017 for us. We stopped in to a Co-op in my desperate attempt to find a Corryvreckin for a friend (I had seen one and couldn't remember where, and everywhere was sold out). I found a reasonably priced G&M cask strength Caol Ila. We met up with a friend of @nosebleed at a bigger store and I got to provide shopping advice, then we went to a couple of other stores. At Crowfoot Wines and Spirits I finally found a Corryvreckin at about 60% the LCBO price (I just noticed it went up to $205). We went for a bite and brought his friend back to his car outside the large store where I finally got through to another friend I'd been trying to contact all day, and who approved my purchase for him of Amrut Portonova.

Ardbeg Uigeadail is $176 at the LCBO. I convinced my BIL to stop, on the way home, to stop at a store where I liberated their last bottle of this expression for the price of $80 plus 5% tax. For Ontarians that is a steal of a deal.

Finally, while there, I saw the Caol Ila 15 YO CS (unpeated) for $100 and could not resist. It will make for a good H2H with the 17 one day when I have Connosr friends to share it with.

Now I just need to open one more bottle this year to achieve my goal of keeping my inventory from growing this year.

@Nozinan Nice grab! You are a very good friend to many Connosr members and I am lucky to be one of them.

Tomatin 12 yo. Some sherry cask and some bourbon barrel. Didn't buy it. It was a gift to my wife from a work colleague. I am hopeful about this bottle, despite being underwhelmed at best by prior tastes of Tomatin 12.

I am delighted that some people are finally getting the word about us: "Make your gift a gift of whisk(e)y"

Well, I took you guy's advice and invested my shekels in a bottle of Amrut Intermediate Sherry. It's Batch No.2 from Sept 2010.

@KRB80

I am confident you'll be happy with that purchase. Please do let us know once you've opened it.

@Nozinan Thank you, sir. It'll be my pleasure!