The quinta ruban is an excellent whisky at a very good price, I'd highly recommend it.

How did you like the arran? I'm going to go to a bar this weekend to sample a few bottles I'm interested in : Isle of jura, springbank, glenlivet nadurra, Isle of arran, among others. Opinions about those bottles are appreciated.

i liked it quite a bit and it wasnt a type i've had before really. i've written down for nose: vanilla, soft, spicy. for pallet: buttery yet spicy

heh.

i was quite surprised i think the glenmorangie was my favorite one i tasted all evening. when usually my favorites are by far the peaty whiskies. this one just was really special.

There's probably something rather ironic in the fact that I can see the Isle of Arran from my house but would much rather have a bourbon than anything distilled there. Nothing against Arran, I just dislike Whisky. On a related note, I've never got around to trying a Rye Whiskey. Are they closer to Whsky (Scotch) in taste or bourbon?

I'd say ryes are like a spicy bourbon, but that may be an over simplification. I'd put them closer to bourbon than to scotch.

I think this is an excellent analogy. I too would place rye much closer to bourbon. To me rye is more peppery, almost more...floral than bourbon. In cocktails it's spicier and drier than bourbon which is much sweeter imo.

Went to the Irish pub which has the best selection of whisky in my city and tried a few 0.5 oz pours. Made some notes through the night, which I'm pasting below. Prices at my local liquor store in parentheses for reference.

Dalmore 12 ($48): nutty, vanilla, butter after adding some water. Taste not too memorable, finish is not long.

Oban distillers edition ($80): can't figure this one out. It's not bad but it's not blowing me away either. I think I prefer the 14 over this one.

Glenlivet nadurra ($60): strong, needed to add water right away. Very sweet nose. Flavor similar to Nectar D'or after adding water. Like a non-peaty Oban.

Springbank 10 ($63): peaty nose, feels strong at first taste. Nose doesn't improve with water, but flavor does. Citrus, a hint of sweetness.

Springbank 15 ($98): nose much less peaty than the 10. Very pleasant at first taste, not overpowering as the 10 was. Lingering finish. A little sweet and fruity, but none of the flavors are overwhelming. Nicely balanced drink. Sea salt flavor after a few sips. Probably my favorite of the six.

Bowmore 15 ($69): sweet nutty nose. No peat on the nose? Peat is all in the mouth. Nice finish of sweet peat.

Also, as I was leaving the pub I noticed what looked like a bottle of pappy in their bourbon shelf. Lo and behold, it was the 20 year old pappy! $25 for a pour, which sounds pretty cheap for how hard it is to find. I actually asked for only half a pour because I already had exceeded my drinking quota with all the scotch tasting.
The drink was excellent. Great nose, taste, and finish, hard to find a weak spot in this bottle. However, after having tasted several fine scotches, I don't know if I would pay more than $150-200 for the pappy, or go out of my way to get my hands on a bottle. But for $25 a pour, I may go back to the pub tomorrow for a second taste!

The check for all the scotches + pappy + fish and chips: $45. I love that pub.

Been looking at getting a bottle of Pappy 15 or 20 year old but it's almost impossible in the UK

yummy sounds like a steal.
will get me a springbank 15&18 at next purchase.
only know the 10 plus the 12 cask strenght and i like them.

My local shop has had a bottle of Lonach - Glen Grant 31 - 1974/2005 on the shelf for a long time now. Asking $145.

Anyone ever try the older Duncan Taylor, Glen Grants? Should I grab it up?

I have a bottle of Glen grant 20 from berry's. I posted a review a couple of weeks ago, I liked the bottle but it didn't totally blow me away. $145 for a 31 year old sounds like a good deal.

Finally opened my WP to commemorate my first session (winning, I might add) of NLHE live grinding.

It's damn good. Even for $75 imo. Since I strongly prefer islays, I never thought I would find a bourbon that I think tastes like it's worth $50+ (I did get this for $60 though)

I am still new to whisky, but is it worth my money to spend $100 ($75 if I get a friend to join me) on a tasting of Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon including: Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 23 Year, Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 Year, Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 15 Year, Pappy Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 Year, Rip Van Winkle 10 Year, and Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye.

This also comes with a tasting of Knob Creek Single Barrel, Jack Daniels Single Barrel, Buffalo Trace Single Barrel, and one more single barrel that I can't make out in the picture, but I figure all those are whatever and seem like throw ins.

Cdl,

IMO prob no except to be able to say you've tasted all that stuff.

I don't know how many of you whiskey nerds are also on the Bitcoin train but I just made my first BTC purchase for a few bottles here http://www.dewinespot.co/
Picked up Old Potrero Straight Rye, Breckenridge Bourbon, and Sazerac rye. Buying Ryes w/ Bitcoin... I don't think I've ever felt so hip

Thanks for the shout out! We also just got 1 bottle of each 12, 15 and 20 yo Pappy's. Prices are $600, $875 and $1200, respectively. Will be posted on the site in an hour or so.

Wine spot

If you're a retailer that markup is pretty riduclous IMO. But good for you if you can get it I guess.

We appreciate the comment. According to wine-searcher.com, average price for Pappy 20 yo, for example, is $1,328. So we are actually under the average price.

Pappy is EXTREMELY hard to come by, so it's a simple law of supply and demand in play.

Fair enough. I have a bottle of this year's 15 and 20 that I'll sell you for $800 and $1,100 respectively...we both win. Let me know if interested!

Also have multiple years of btac and bmh 16 bourbon, 18 and 23 rye that I'd be happy to let go for the right price. Lots of other stuff too!!!

I should have had more $25 pappy pours last Friday when I had the chance :/
That price looks like a steal given the market rate for the bottle.

I don't see why we have to give the Wine Spot a hard time for understanding supply and demand. Reselling for profit is something that happens with an extremely wide variety of items, not just whiskey. Bottles of the Pappy 23 go for up to $2,500 fwiw

And I don't see why people assume I don't know what the /secondary/ market of bourbon looks like - I likely know that world better than most everybody here.

FWIW, I don't think I even gave him that hard a time, but since you asked, here are a few of the many reasons that one might:

1) as you both correctly point out, short supply drives up the price of van winkle (and other) bourbon. You know what else drives up the price on the secondary market? Retailers marking up msrp by 500-1000%. This future perpetuates the "cult" status of the brand and leads to people who find bottles near msrp hoarding them, further feeding into the price inflation cycle. Here's an example that you'll probably say is ridiculous but is fairly analogous to me. After big tragedy X, gas stations start selling gas that was going yesterday at $3.80 a gallon for $380.00 a gallon. People freak out and think there's a gas shortage so they start lining up at the station and buying as much as they can afford at this ridiculous price. Pretty soon, people are flipping gallons of gas in glass jugs in their front yard for $1000 a pop.

2) take it for what its worth because its fairly hypocritical given how tightly he controls supply, but Julian van winkle has repeatedly publicly come out against retailers marking up msrp on his booze.

3) I was under the impression that this thread was a place to discuss whiskey, not sell your ****. If it's a marketplace, then my offers above were/are real - and I'll even knock 5% off for reputable EDF members (except for devil - that dude can afford to pay full price).

4) 2+2 has a long history of being against commercial entities shilling on this site without paying for advertising. Check join date/post history for wine spot lest you mistakenly think he/they are active forum members that just happened to stop by.

Ok, I'm now officially that guy who takes the internet too seriously - thanks for that!

had a murraymcdavid bowmore 8 yesterday in a bar and it.
nose was sweet peat, taste had smoked plums with fudge after taste was semilong with exotic smoked fruits.

Foobar, I actually agree with most of your points, especially one against commercial site "shilling" their services. That was not the intent, but I can see how it might have came across. I won't be posting anymore.

The only reason I even commented on it is because someone else on this board gave us a shout out and I wanted to thank him for it.

Mann and others, I have a general question regarding the whisky age and the taste finish. I always associated a long, lingering finish with a more nature whisky. However, there seems to be some exceptions such as the Bruichladdich PC7 and the Bowmore 8 (I assume it's an eight year old whisky) that Mann just reviewed.

Is my initial assumption of a younger whisky having less of a finish wrong? Or is it that those two are just an exceptions to the rule, and if so, what is it that makes them different?