lol, the one on the left has mooarr

How much were they per bottle? Where did you find em?

Hi folks,

The list of half time oranges - note I can only have one of these so vote up some for me to consider!

Tamdhu 18yo
Compass great king Street, new york
Talisker 30yo, 2000 release
Tomatin 1999 Hungarian oak
Miltonduff 1970 cask strength
Tobermory 19yo sherry cask
Glen moray 1977 single cask
Bunnahabhain 1987 25yo refill sherry hogshead
Springbank 16yo medieval cask sample - 10yrs in bourbon, 6 in madiera
Tomintoul 33yo
Glenfarclas 31yo port cask
Bowmore 1987 old and rare 25yo
Highland Park loki 15yo
Arran 1999 14yo bourbon cask
Colonel eh Taylor bourbon
Bowmore 1989 port 23yo
Dallas Dhu 1975 refill bourbon barrel 32yo
Glendronach 1990 single cask Pedro ximenez
Balblair 2nd fill bourbon single cask 19yo
Kilchoman 7yo single cask bourbon 59%abv
Glenmorangie 18yo
Laphroaig directors cut 15yo 1997.

Happy to take advice. The Springbank is pre bottling so I might go find out how soon to bottling. If it's imminent I will skip it but if it's a while it sounds interesting. Advice very welcome!

Queue forms 3.55 bst. Ends 4.15, about 11et. So advice sought speedily - ta!

Best,
Pete

iwould chose from those:
Talisker 30yo, 2000 release
Springbank 16yo medieval cask sample - 10yrs in bourbon, 6 in madiera
Bowmore 1987 old and rare 25yo
Bowmore 1989 port 23yo

whatever u chose,
dont take the tomintoul 33years.
i allready drank it.
in this 1 the cask has won against the whisky
the loki is ok but nothing special.
i would probably go with the talisker or springbank.
both will have some smoke in,just that u know.

Cheers manndl. About to try another madiera cask which will help guide my choice - Springbank have no plans to bottle soon so I am veering that way. Unless this madiera one tastes pish.

Madiera benriach 15yo was fine. Think that means I will try Springbank's.

Not sure how medieval slipped into my post...

Ph,

Can't go wrong w any of mann's recs, but I personally would go with the talisker.

HP fans,

Compared these last night:



Really similar. I thought the 18 was a bit smoother and maybe a little richer flavor, but the flavor profiles were so similar I'm not sure I'd be able to pick them blind.

Both were hotter than I remembered, especially for only 43% alcohol. This was especially surprising because I've been drinking mainly cask strengths recently, but most of them have been very peaty, so maybe that masks the alcohol taste more?

I still like HP and think they are a great scotch if you want just a touch of smokiness more than a smooth sweet speyside, but now that these are $80 and $100 here, I think you can get better stuff for those prices.

Guys,

Thanks all for the recommendations: it's late, and I've also been out for a beer, so I'll post in more detail soon. Hopefully tomorrow morning, but caveat I'm off on a cricket tour from noon so it may be a week. In the meantime my friend crafted a website to track all the whiskies (dramtracker.com) and I was sure to mark everything on that page with review notes, so will post them here just now.

my live musings.

This doesn't include the half-time oranges so will comment on those tomorrow as I did try, inter alia, the talisker off a friend.

Happy to say I got through 50-odd drinks, mostly whisk(e)y but also some cognac, falernum (need some for the bar) etc. Hope the list above helps before I post more comments. Everyone's input was appreciated, really made me home in on what I wanted to try the most.

Best,
Pete

on my third tasting of the glenrothes 98 now. i like it more now than i did the first time.

straight after pouring i smell flowers and fruits. a few minutes later i'm getting more deeper and sherry smells... i think!

very sweet and rich flavours. extremely smooth and velvety

absolutely nice!



does anyone have a recommendation for what to get for my third bottle (after ardbeg + glenrothes)? gotta say the peaty/smoky stuff is still my fave.. but it would be nice and probably wise to discover different styles and types and flavours.

although from what i've been reading i'm secretly leaning toward a lagavulin 16

go for it a classic very good whisky.
plus a must try.

lag 16 is the standard for islay. if you like the peaty stuff it's an easy pick

Lagavulin 16 = the reason I got into whisky

So on reading the link I think my ratings and comments stand ok, happy to clarify any nonsensical ones. If you crossref to the pdf it makes interesting viewing when compared to price (the website I was rating it on doesn't mention retail price).

The ones I tasted that aren't on the website included Longrow Red from Springbank, a cask strength peated whisky matured in Australian Shiraz barrels. It was fine, maybe 3/5, nice, a little peaty but not as good as an Islay, and the Shiraz didn't reeeally come through.

Half time oranges we shared around about 5 of us so I tried:

Talisker 30yo, 2000 release - this was a very 'classic' Talisker, with a pinch more saltiness, but very very smooth.

Tobermory 19yo sherry cask - a challenging one for me, very leathery on the palate. Pleasant but not my scene.

Laphroaig directors cut 15yo 1997. This didn't do anything for me - I am a Laphroaig fan, don't get me wrong, but I think the quarter cask or even standard cask strength is fine. This was quite overpowering (nb I didn't add water as it wasn't my dram). I'd have needed more time with it!

Balblair 2nd fill bourbon single cask 19yo - this was my second choice so glad someone went for it. It was delicious, you could really pick up the bourbon wood notes, and the finish was exceptionally smooth for the abv (59% iirc). Very nice indeed.

Springbank 16yo Madeira cask sample - 10yrs in bourbon, 6 in Madeira - this is the one I had the most time with. Without water there's a hint of sweetness/pudding on the nose. The taste, however, is a standard Springbank, Campbelton dram. You really don't pick up the Madeira notes which is odd given it had 6 years in the wood.

Then, after adding a couple of drops of water, the Madeira really pushed through, on the nose a lot more, definitely on the palate and the finish was mostly rich wine which is a surprise for whiskies.

Springbank says *if* they bottle it, it'll be a 300-400 bottle run, of which some will come to Edinburgh. I'd have to check the price to consider it, as I think it's the sort of thing that is only a novelty whisky rather than a dram a day type. Since I already have a 'gimmick' whisky (Arran Calvados finish), I don't see the need for another.

Thanks again, all, for your help - if I go next year I may take you up on assisting with the shortlist. I think reviewing my whisky choices says yes, I'm still more of a bourbon cask guy, but a sherry cask got my vote and I enjoyed others of them. So nice to know I'm an all-rounder.

Best,
Pete

Tens - found them buried deep in a behind the counter shelf at a DC liquor store. I paid "I'm embarrassed to day how much" for them

i will be in london for 4 days this week.
does anyone know any good whisky bars/pubs?

My Glendronach 15 came in today, figured I would buy Uigeadail while I was there (at K&L)



Probably ganna be a few days before I try open the bottles, though

PH,

Great review and whoa, you certainly did a man's job of drinking there! How much does that event cost?

All,

This was discussed ITT a while back: http://www.reservebar.com/products/j...atinum-label-1

That's cool, hopefully restaurants will start carrying it so I'll be able to try it out

I wonder why they capitalize Speyside but not Islay though

No, but if you find one please share.

Hi El D,

£25 gets you in, a tulip glass to take home, and a £10 off voucher if you buy a bottle from the shop that puts the event on within a month of the event.

Given that most of the whiskies I tried were in the £50, £100, £200 and £250 ranges I think that is a bargain, and is evidenced by the popularity: Saturday tickets sold out in 2 minutes this year. The entire thing was sold out in under 10 minutes.

I did make liberal use of the spittoon, especially for the 1s and 2s out of 5. No sense in dulling my senses on bad whisky. I'm considering scatterplotting score out of 5 versus price as I am not convinced the best ones were necessarily the priciest in my opinion! Although that opinion is subjective, I admit.

Best,
Pete

I was just at a bar where they had rvw and pvw, never seen it before anywhere, I didn't get the exact breakdown but shots ranged from 25 to 75 for the varieties of years... Anyway am I an idiot for not getting anything?

bixby,

"Anyway am I an idiot for not getting anything?"

No. IMO getting really expensive whiskey at a bar is usually a pretty sucker move.

Devil,

Meh. Agree that the pvw hype doesn't warrant such ridiculous prices but disagree with the general sentiment. If I'm somewhere that has a pour I know I'm never ever going to own ("very very old Fitzgerald" for example) I'm somewhat likely to pay what I know is an exorbanent Price just to try it - and I think that's fine as a once in a while thing.

+1

I ordered a glass of PVW 15 just to see if it was really worth the hype (it isn't imho), so now I won't get butthurt if I miss out on getting a bottle when November comes around

And I ordered Port Ellen 25 just because it's the holy grail of Islays (afaik), and a fifth costs over a dime.

It's just a good idea to check the bottle before ordering an expensive glass of w/e you want to drink, so you can check if oxidation has taken it's toll on the whisky