As a huge Springbank fan, I can't wait to get my hands on a bottle of Longrow. Thanks for the tasting TR!

Got my shipment of Glenmorangie Companta and Talisker single cask today.



I like the way K&L did the Talisker presentation, and will keep the pouch to carry around bottles when I have to.

Started with the Companta after dinner.

Color: Burgundy red.
Nose: Typical Glenmorangie fruit/fruitcake nose. A bit of some burned fruit that I can't pinpoint. Very refined too, showing the age of the whisky.
Mouthfeel: oily and silky.
Taste: Fruity, but not overly so. Definitely more tamed in the fruit explosion than the Nectar D'or.
Finish: Long, a bit spicy.

I definitely liked it. Tastes like a more refined Nectar D'or, but I'll have to do a head to head comparison at a later time to really tell the differences.

...on to the Talisker now.

2008 Talisker "The Speakeasy" K&L Exclusive Single Barrel Cask Strength (that's a mouthful!)

Color: very pale. Probably the palest whisky I own, no doubt because it only spent 5 years in the cask.
Nose: The first thing that hit me was the intense alcohol smell which overwhelmed almost everything else. Reminded me of a non-aged aguardiente.
Taste: I took a sip neat and hated it. Just too raw, this bottle needed more time in the cask.

Added a generous amount of water to see if it got better.
Nose: Some hints of sea salt come out, but you really have to stick your nose in the glass.
Taste: Much better, but still not great. Gets a little sweet and I start to get a hint of the Talisker peat. Still, the taste of immature whisky is what dominates.

I gotta say that I really didn't like it, and for $60 you can buy way better stuff. K&L's page says "Similar whisky sells for $120 in Europe". Yeah, right.

ET,

Bummer about the talisker. I have some good scotch cocktail recipes that do very well with cask strength stuff, so I'm sure we can help you put it to good use!

Glad you enjoyed the companta, I'm really liking it.

Thanks, I could use some of those recipes. I've seen a couple of videos where ralfy plays around with whiskies to try to make them better. For example, there was one where he added a drop or two of absinthe to a Caol ila and let it rest for a week. I think this will be a good bottle for experimenting.

Went out to a friends bar the other night and tried macallan cask strength. I liked the flavor lots of wood good sipping straight was surprised it was around 120 proof didn't taste it. It was a lot more complex than regular 12, didn't see an age statement anywhere on the bottle. Decided to look online and saw it's discontinued that sucks. Any one else try this stuff?

Kondo,

I shared a bottle of that some time ago. Lovely stuff. Distinctly Macallan, but alot better and more complex than the 12y offerings. The colour is great, red mahogany. Nose light vanilla, dried fruit and wood. Taste super rich, choclate, orange, little wood. Finish smooth, spicy. Mouthfeel was great eventhough it's 60%, little hot but no real burn.

I dont think there was a age statement, but Ive seen 10y cask strenght version too.

Do you guys find that a lot of 15s in general are disappointing relative to their price? It always seems like they are the mehest bottles I buy (recently bought HP 15, Springbank 15, Macallan 15 fo, Dalmore 15). All seem to be underwhelming considering the hype that these distilleries get for some of their other offerings.

Just wondering if this is a trend or my taste or just a function of the sample or what. For reference I tend to lean sherry but I love Lag 16. Recent bottles I've loved have been glenmorangie nectar d'or, Arbelour abunadh, Arbelour 18 and Mac 12.

I don't think there's any magic with the number 15. It's the same with all scotches, some are good and some are less so. But based on what you like, I can recommend Balvenie 15y Single Barrel. Good stuff.

I do agree about the HP, wasn't too impressed with the 15y. Loved the Springbank 15, though.

Agree, though disagree that the HP15 is not good, I thought it was a huge improvement over the HP12. I read that it depends on the batch so maybe I got lucky with my bottle.

Some great 15s: Glendronach, Springbank, Balvenie, Bowmore.

Thanks, maybe I should let the springbank breath a bit more since it's my most recent buy.

ElT,

Yeah, maybe bad is little harsh, but I wasn't a huge fan. I think I might prefer the 12y more, and the 18y is from another planet alltogether. Not sure what is up with HP QC, with the 18 the bottles and batches have huge differencies in quality. Have not noticed same with other distilleries core range bottlings, at least not this clearly.

Went by my local Costco (Hawthorne, CA) yesterday, they had

Lagavulin 16 for $65
Oban 14 for $53
Whistle Pig 10 for $60
They also had Macallan 10 directors cut, johnny walker double black and some others but I forgot the prices on those

I picked up the Whistle Pig based on recs from this thread and it was delicious.

They also had some beers like Chimay Grand Reserve Blue ($9.xx) and Duvel.

FYI, Purchasing alcohol in California doesn't require a Costco membership.

Re: 15 yr whiskey

Fwiw, I think 15 is generally in the sweet spot for bourbon/rye. I find many of the bottles I've had that spend longer in the barrel taste over-oaked to me.

I just got a bottle of Lagavulin 16 from that exact Costco the other day...seemed like a great price considering it sells for $88 down the street at BevMo.

Man you guys are lucky. $101 here in MI.

EDF Whisky drinkers,

OK, finally settling once and for all the debate of does whiskey left in a bottle change at all? I left my last couple oz of HP 18 for a long time, and last night compared to a new bottle:



Results? Both tasted great. I think maybe the new one tasted a touch sweeter/richer, but no idea if that was a function of being a different batch or being newer.

All in all, I thought maybe there was a difference or maybe there wasn't.

Question answered!

Looking for the best examples of certain distilleries that are available to buy from any good spirit shop........

Kilchoman
Arbelour
Laphroaig
Dalmore
Talisker
Any lowland

Max price 200£/300$ all the way down to entry level

Tia

Dalwhinne 15 - 24 quid in Waitrose has to be a good shout?

Yeah, definitely. They also did the Aberlour A'bunadh for like £34 which was a bargain too. I love living in Scotland.

Apologies for the weird line breaks, using my phone :/

no idea with kilchoman,but they are expansive for a 5-6 year old malt(and probably not widely available)
arbelour 12 unchillfiltered
laphroaig 10
dalmore 12
talisker 10
auchentoschan 12

this 1 is from a refill sherry hogshead
nose:not easy even if it is fairly dark no real sherry notes,camp fire smoke,gras,butter,apple cider,smell u get when u open a new ikea closet
taste:strong!full mouth,bitter oranges,campari,hazelnuts,some grilled marshmallows(at the hard palate)
aftertaste:long,some herbs and cherry,slight smoke
(tasted around 50%,u know i`m a wimp)
this isn`t a easy whisky,but i like it.

http://gizmodo.com/weve-an-irish-whi...3369/@marchman

Master of Whisky from Bushmills is doing an AMA on Deadspin/Gizmodo for the next hour

Stopped by a friends place today, who is actually the one who gave me my first taste of Lagavulin and other higher level scotches. And he had these for me to try:



Then this one:



He had a couple other bottles of Corsair (triple smoke and another I can't remember) which I hope to try soon'ish.

But that Lagavulin was niiiiiice!!

Sitting in a bar watching basketball, I saw that they had the lagavulin distillers edition, which I've never tried. I agree, niiice.