Cardenal Mendoza is proper Xmassy, I like.

New bottle delivered today, a birthday present from my mum.



Pintail blended malt, cask strength, matured in oloroso sherry casks for 10 years. It's pretty nice, not as immediately stunning as the Old Perth but has a lovely chocolatey, coffee, dried fruit flavour - much less oiley and a bit more dry, kind of reminds me of the 105 a bit. Recommended.

I've always rated good blends alongside malts.  Chivas Regal ,Tullamore Dew, Black Bush , JW Black and JW Blue are all cases in point.

They may not hit the high notes but they are damn enjoyable. Whisk(e)y with ice and a splash of water is now my regular drink. I don't bother with beer now except on certain occasions.

So this is a companion post to the saga I've been putting in the holiday thread.  Apologies to those who already know what is going on.

My mate Shaun passed away a few weeks back and I've spent the last few weeks in Australia and doing the holiday in New Zealand that he planned and organised.  It has been sad and fun simultaneously.

I have been slowly going through his belongings with his wife and she has told me to take many things.  This includes his whisky collection.  Over the years he has been a sneaky collector and I took an Ardbeg Galileo and a Bruichladdich Cuvee 407 to NZ for our holiday group to consume.  I now have to make some decisions about which whisky to bring back to the UK.

Here is the list to choose from and any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated:

Ardbeg Corryvreckan
Arbdeg Airigh Nam Beist
Starward Twofold Double Grain
Eilean Mor (Private cask strength 10yr old Bruichladdich - I already have a bottle of this back in the UK).
The Gospel Solera Rye
Overeem Port Cask
Bruichladdich 3D3
Port Charlotte PC7
Port Charlotte PC8
Octomore 12.1

Definitely bringing the Ardbeg Beist and the Laddie 3D3.  Can technically bring 8 litres worth back but weight is the issue so have to keep it reasonable.

edit:  forgot the Octomore, that's also coming back.

I doubt it makes a blind bit of difference with quality like that on parade.

It's personal too - anything port related would be for me.

Just bought a bottle of 12yo Glendronach on Amazon. Down from £47.99 to £39.99 and with left over vouchers I only paid £14. Well worth it if you like sherry bomb whisky.

Pseudoscot wrote:

Turns out there was a sneaky bottle of Ardbeg Aliigator hiding at the back of his cupboard.  That made it back alongside the Biesty thing, the 3d3, and the Octomore.  Trying to work out which to open first.

I'm jealous, if that's an appropriate feeling given the circumstances of your acquisitions.

Bought myself a bottle of Woods Old Navy Rum (on sale at Morrisons atm) which is a demerera rum that comes in at a hefty 57% abv. I'm never sure if I like this kind of rum, as it tastes so different from most, but it's pretty good neat and with ice. Looking forward to trying it in some cocktails too, which is where it'll shine I think

Always worth it.

Lidl’s Ben Bracken 19yo is reduced to £30 in my local. Might be worth checking around. Tempted to go buy another.

Ardbeg Wee Beastie is £39 £28 in Sainsbury's.

I’ve just dropped a hundred quid on a bottle. It’s for my Stepmum’s 60th birthday though, so I think it’s allowed.

Edradour 10yr old Bordeaux cask.

Reasoning being that Edradour is her favourite, and she lives near Bordeaux (and used to go to the Bordeaux Wine Festival every year to stock up on red wines).

Agree, I only finished the PX last week, whereas the OP OP lasted about three days iirc. Both nice but the cask strength is one of the absolute best.

So, this dram is really really nice. It tastes nothing like a malt (as you'd expect) but has a lot of the kind of flavour and texture of an Irish whiskey that's fucked a bourbon and is disputing the parentage of the results. It reminds me a bit of Jameson's ( but heavier) or Teeling with a wee bit of Jim Beam double black. The strength it's bottled at doesn't come through in the tasting - it's really quite light and doesn't have a lot of the up front burning alcohol that non-malt cask strength often has. At £30 it's a banger.

As much as I love Octomore and that kind of whisky, I don't think I could justify paying that much for a bottle. I'd rather buy 3 or 4 other bottles of stuff that looks interesting.

Last time I bought lagavulin 16 it was about £65. Is it really closer to £135 now?