I'm giving up this year. >=3 years ago, I just walked in the store within a few days or even a week to buy BTAC/pappy. Two years ago it required a few phone calls to my regular places, not a ton of effort. It was not worth it last year, it's too popular now. People chase the ****ing trucks or retailers gouge. I maybe spent 10-12 hours to get ~10 bottles of whiskey last year around this time. I mean, it seems worth it but the hype definitely gets to me. So no twitter, no blogs, etc. I'll drink my standbys that are very very good and hope the hype machine doesn't eat them too, and I'll stand in line for beer once (BCBS variants) and that's all the time I'll spend on it.

Yeah, I was too lazy to get around to it this year as well but have a buddy bringing over a bottle of Pappy 15 in just a few .

El T,

Omgomgomgomgomg.

The Balblair 90 and Dailuaine 16 on that list leap out as ones I would love forever, but that is an impressive haul.

P

not nice of u
i wanted more tasting notes....
looks like a nice pack!

I'll try to post my notes on all the samples throughout the next month or so.

In the meantime, last night I compared the two balvenie 15 bottles I have at home. The first one is the original matured in a Bourbon cask (now discontinued), and the other is the one matured in a sherry cask. On top of that after a few sips I mixed them both to taste the results. Here are my notes.

15 original
Nose is sweet, not cask forward, light caramel. Arrival is sweet with a lingering finish.
With water the nose gets less sweet. Light vanilla cake. Arrival also less sweet. Tastes cakey, finish still long, a bit spicy towards the end. The balvenie character is noticeable at the end.
Very enjoyable, excellent whisky. I will be sad when I finish this bottle.


15 sherry cask
Nose is cask forward, very syrupy, like maple syrup. A lot of wood and nuts on the nose. Arrival is not as sweet, very dry mouthfeel. Finish is long with sherry and spices.
With water the nose is a little sweeter. Demerara sugar, sweet sherry. Still neutral arrival, but gets sweet once it hits the palate. Less syrupy than when neat. Sherried finish, still dry. Not as spicy a finish as the original, I like it more that way.
Very good too, but very different than the original. The balvenie character is not as present, may be masked by the sherry influence.

Mixed
Nose is not so intensely sherried, but the sherry notes dominate the sweet notes of the original. Arrival is a little sweet, very pleasant. Mouthfeel is silky. Sherried finish, but a little sweet and not as dry, must be the influence of the original.

Samples package from MoM arrived this morning. I'm excite!

Started tonight tasting the anCnoc 16 (46%). I think I'll taste the samples in alphabetical order. My notes:

Light golden color.

Nose. Neat: slightly sweet, malty, cut grass, woody, light earthy and floral notes. Not many changes after water, still very pleasant nose.

Taste. Neat: neutral arrival, takes some time to develop vegetable notes, not too sweet, very light (not silky). A faster arrival with water, a little sweeter.

Finish: earthy, vegetable, not too long. Longer finish with water, a bit sweet and then peppery towards the end.

Very pleasant drink and would definitely order in a bar, but probably won't be buying a bottle.

I also broke out the nosing kit and it was pretty awesome to compare some of the smells with the distillery and whisky Bible notes. The malt, cut grass, and wood notes I didn't distinguish at first but when I sniffed the aromas they definitely were present in the whisky. Pretty educational but also time consuming. I spent almost a full hour messing around with the aromas and an ounce of whisky!

Bought some Ardbeg Corryvreckan. The tastiest whisky I've had. Normally I'd water down a 57% whisky but I take this neat and it's ****ing delicious.

That's how you make a dram last! The Scots would be impressed

Am off to SMWS next Wednesday 12th for dinner with an old flatmate, will report back what I try, flowery prose and all! manndl recommended me one I'm hoping they'll still have on the shelf.

Best,
Pete

Nice to see a lot of Ardbeg fans in the thread. It does nothing for me, I have always been fine with it but not one I sought out. I think I'm peat over sulphur, and Ardbeg always seems on the latter side of the fence to me.

On an unrelated topic, what did people make of the Judgement of Tokyo doing the rounds in the press today? Yamazaki's 2013 sherried single malt coming top. I found Yamazaki nice - a good whisky - but it was almost scientific. Harmonious but not outstanding, rounded but not pronounced. It was like drinking an ideal of whisky rather than an ideal whisky...

P

Balblair 1999 (46%)

Nose: wood, barley, fruit lurking in the background. Buttery.

Taste: mildly sweet arrival. Ethanol. A little spicy.

Finish: sweet banana (?) note, lingers with sweet fruity notes.

I liked this one a little better than the AnCnoc I tasted yesterday, it has a less woody and earthy profile. The one note I didn't get at first was the sherry one, as this one is matured first in Bourbon casks and then in sherry casks. The sherry is there but is very secondary.

Have not had the Yamazaki in question but the other Yamazaki's I've had I am a big big fan off. I kind of understand/can see where you are coming from re: scientific etc and actually the first time I had it, that is how the person described it to me as also.

went to the store looky for pappy yesterday nut found this instead



Never had them before but the liquor rep rec'd

I enjoy both the Taylor single barrel and the barter house well enough.

<rant>
That said, "the orphan barrel project" (ie. Barterhouse, old blowhard, rhetoric) is the epitomy of cashing in on bourbon hysteria IMO. These are /not/ limited releases, the marketing is incredibly misleading, and they're overpriced.
</rant>

@Peter Harris had this Yamazaki last year at a tasting.
it was a nice sherrybomb but nothing that blew me away
i didn´t buy 1 after the tasting even so i had a -10euro voucher.

Hey manndl,

I guess that's what its all about, I am glad I have tasted enough whiskies to know what I like, or I may get steered into buying something based on rankings that does nothing for me. This thread is a big part of that, else we'd possibly all be reliant on a bunch of people telling us what we should like, instead of our voyage of discovery!

Best,
Pete

tbh,

What foo said. I'm a fan of the EH Taylor. The barterhouse is fine, but it's crazy how hard it is being pushed around here, huge marketing behind that.

JW fans,

Gold Label Reserve now added to the permanent JW lineup. I haven't had it.

Rye fans,

Considering a bottle of the Whistlepig Boss Hog

$175 at K&L http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1182293
or
$210 at Caskers, lol https://caskers.com/product/whistlep...t-rye-whiskey/

I had the last version of this and really liked it, but not sure if I really want to pull the trigger at $175.

Diablo,

Whistlepig Boss Hog is indeed delicious but $175 is really outlandish considering that the 10yo version is only $75.

Which brings me to... over a year ago I asked whether you agreed that bourbon/rye provided better quality for the price than Scotch, which you did. But seeing the recent increase in prices for all things bourbon, I think that statement is not true anymore. Thoughts?

ET,

That price is definitely highly based on rarity and marketing. Yeah, I think I'll pass.

If it hasn't flipped, it's certainly close. I think bourbon/rye still have the clear advantage on the lower end. You can still get a lot of really solid American whiskey in the $30-40 range, which is a lot tougher to do w/ scotch imo. But when you get into the higher ranges, I think it has flipped and on average I think you'll get more value from a $100 scotch than a $100 bourbon/rye.

On the other hand, there are still some delicious finds out there. I just bought this for a friend and thought it was incredible. Super spicy, lot of kick, great balance with a nice degree of sweetness.



K&L has four versions:
http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1174269
http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1170863
http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1174268
http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1170864

Very tempted to get all four, but that seems kind of silly.

I would offer you a prop bet for a Four Roses blind test but I don't think I have enough $$ to make this interesting given the odds that would need to be laid.

Diablo,

If on the fence, recommend getting all four four roses single barrels. They're all different recipes, representing 4 of the 10 recipies that four roses uses:

http://bourbonr.com/blog/ten-recipes...roses-bourbon/

Four roses puts out good stuff, and if they're store selections, these bottles are likely above average - fun to taste and compare and hone in on which you like best.

Re: rye. I've kind of made up my mind to hate whistlepig, so take this with a grain of salt, but off the top of my head, easy to fond rye that's much cheaper than boss hog, and I'd buy first even at the same price point:

Knob rye ($20-$30)
The new willett 3yr? Rye ($30-$40)
High west double rye ($30-$40)
High west rendezvous rye ($50-$70?)
Taylor rye ($60-$70)
Angels envy rye ($70-$80) - not a an every day sipper, but nice after dinner for a change of pace IMO

I guess I need to get over my meh experience with yellow label and buy the single barrel sometime