My birthday is coming up next week, so in response to the inevitable, "What do you want?" from my family—to which I anually respond, "Nothing", this year I instead decided to send out a pretty straight forward list of scotches—after first checking that they are all available at the liquor store that is located one block away from our house, to see what happens:

• Aberlour A'Bunadh cask strength
• Highland Park 18 year old
• Lagavulin 16 year old

Not doing much tonight as I rest up for an upcoming weekend of work so I decided to pull out my bottles from the upper level cupboard where I stow them away and can't even see what I have, just so I could make a list of my modest collection so I would know what the hell I do have in order to provide my family with the birthday scotch suggestion list I posted earlier itt:

Ardbeg Uigeadail (3)
Bruichladdich 23 year old 1990 Black Art 03.1
Campbeltown Loch 21 year old
Caol Ila 8 year old 1999 unpeated
Caperdonich Members' Legacy 1967 36 years old 57.6%
Chivas Regal 12 year old
Glen Moray 17 year old Dimensions Duncan Taylor
Glenfiddich Rich Oak 14 year old
Glenglassaugh 29 year old 1976 AD
Laphroaig Cairdeas 200th Anniversary Edition 2015
Nikka Whisky From The Barrel
Oban 14 year old
Ron Burgundy Blended Scotch Whiskey
Scotch Malt Whiskey Society Fisherman's Friend Aniseed Lozenges cask 29.135

Yeah, there are a couple odd ones in there that I received as gifts, the worst offender being the Ron Burgundy bottle that my wife so thoughtfully gave me two or three years ago as a "joke" for my birthday because she thought it would be "funny". Ain't nothing funny about wasting money on a lousy bottle that could have got her half way to a decent one! That's why I decided to distribute a list this year... self protection. Worked last year when both my wife and daughter got me bottles of Uigeadail... and there ain't nothing wrong with that imo.

And what the hell, I decided I just better have a nip of the Fisherman's Friend that a friend got me a while back—he's a member of the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society. This whiskey is a real beast at 60.7%... and I like to sip it as is.

I absolutely love the description—and it is spot on imo:

I'm hosting a blind tasting this weekend and am trying to figure out what to put the scotch in for the 1-4 hours between me pouring it out of a bottle into a container labeled with a letter and someone else pouring it out of that and into glasses for us to drink. I have some mason jars, but pouring from those isn't ideal. I'm thinking plastic water bottles will be easiest, but will this affect the taste at all? Like I said, it will only be a few hours at most.

anyone tried Hornitos Black Barrel? it's tequila aged in whiskey barrels. I like it and for $29 not too pricey

Plasctic bottles would probably work fine, but something like this would be nicer: http://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Star-CAS...dp/B011SGS8U8/

Cdl,

I've done a bunch of these with a group, and we just pour the whisky into glasses right before starting.

FMP

Not bad, not bad at all.

Here is a photo from the Springbank warehouse tasting!
Distillery manager Gavin Mclachlan giving his welcome speech

Impressive. Difficult to imagine how it could get better than this. Directly out of the cask and everything.

very cool

Having Grants. Nothing to get a fuss about. Hard to beat that bottle.

Far from whiskylover's whereabouts. Planning for attending some quality tastings/festivals though. You need to step up your game. Sniffing my 24 aroma academy bottles.

Should I go try to get a bottle? And if so, which of those three should I shoot for?

never had the rye, but the 10 and 12 arent worth the price imo.

Unless of course you get retail, then the 12

The email said that they don't mark up the price, bottles are between $70 and $120.

I'll stop by after work and see if they have any left.

They only had the 10yo left, got a bottle because why not? $80+tax.

$80 is marked up, the 12yo should be like $47. Damn greedy stores.

Either way, enjoy...

Hard to complain when the market price is like $300!

I am debating between drinking it for a special occasion or selling it and buying a couple of really good Scotch bottles. If anyone is interested in the bottle send me a PM.

Van winkle 10 yr is just meh. Sell it IMO, or trade it for a four roses 2015 small batch if you want something fairly comparable in aftermarket price that's a billion times better to drink.

And not that anybody asked, but my 2 cents on van winkle:

Drinkability:

20 > 15 > rye > 12 > 23 > 10

Aftermarket value:

23 > 20 > rye > 15 > 12 > 10

You may have mentioned this before, but what is the best place to sell these bottles? Bottle spot is the one place that popped up after a quick Google search.

Yea, if you can get $300 for it, SELL!

For selling...

FB groups. There's been some shakeup on this front recently and I haven't bothered to get re-added anywhere cause ive been busy. If you really need an avenue to sell I can prolly find you private buyer at 250ish, or get re-added to FB groups and then add you. You could move bottle there for closer to 300. PM me if you want to explore.

Foo,

Guy at a local shop (cask) was really hyping their Dickel single barrel (I believe 9yo). Something like this: http://thewhiskeyjug.com/tennessee-w...barrel-review/

Selling for $48, he said it's one of the most underrated bottles in the shop and he prefers it to their four roses single barrels (that are $68).

You (or anyone else) had it?

Devil,

Haven't had, but the dickell barrel selects get pretty positive reviews from what I've seen.

At that price point, obv play is to get one and taste blind against a couple other bourbons (including 4 roses selections), see how it pans out.