stormyskiesahead wrote:

I got a bottle of this, and my SS Benriach. Opening soon.

Nazi whisky?

Gremill wrote:

Nazi whisky?

secret santa

The Daddy wrote:

Nice hauls chaps!

Absolutely, Talisker Parley Wilder Seas and Red Spot especially are both bottles I wanna try. 

Moot_Geeza wrote:

The Kilchoman is really tasty too.

Yeah it's a good 'un, especially for the price. Their Sanaig is lovely as well, like Gremill says, great balance between peat and sherry. 

The Lagavulin 8 that I landed is pretty good as well - way more peat forward than the 16yo, 48% abv, and with no sherry maturation, just bourbon. It's one to look for if you like Ardbeg 10, Kilchoman Machir Bay, or Port Charlotte 10 - but only if you can get it for under £50, the regular price is kinda bullshit.

stormyskiesahead wrote:

Just in case anyone still has booze funds after Christmas, Master of Malt have a "20% off everything" end of year sale.

Was just coming here to post that.

In the town where I work there's one of those cheap-looking wine shops with a tiny, unassuming frontage, that has a surprisingly excellent beer and whisk(e)y selection. When I was stocking up on BA imperial stouts and Belgian tripels/quads for Christmas I noticed their bourbon selection behind the counter included a few hard to get allocated bottles - including this E. H. Taylor Small Batch - for a good few quid cheaper than I've seen it anywhere else.

Anyhoo, popped back in yesterday afternoon and picked this one up and it's a delight, a classic old-school profile full of butterscotch and toffee popcorn. I do drink bourbon fairly regularly, with Wild Turkey Rare Breed and Four Roses Single Barrel being my my go-to bottles, but I think I'm gonna try more American whiskey in general this year. Bourbons, ryes, corn whiskeys, single malts, whatever I can get that looks interesting. 

 

Corn whiskey can be decent as well - buttery as hell.

So, I've been playing around with the idea of an infinity bottle for a while after seeing a few others have a go. Create a homemade blend of whiskies I'm enjoying that I think would work well together, then when I've consumed around 1/2 to 2/3 of the bottle, top it up with new whiskies I'm enjoying for a never ending and constantly evolving personalised blend.

I finally created the base version this evening after a thoroughly enjoyable session of sampling and combobulating. This is what's in it, the percentages aren't exact but they're as close as makes no difference; 

35% Arran Quarter Cask (bourbon cask Island, non-peated, 56.2% abv)
25% Ardnamurchan AD/09.22 Cask Strength (bourbon and sherried Highland, medium-peated, 58.4% abv)
15% Kilkerran 12 year old (bourbon and sherried Campbelltown, lightly-peated, 46% abv)
15% Aberlour Casg Annamh (sherried Speyside, non-peated, 48% abv)
10% Ardbeg Corryvreckan (bourbon cask Islay, heavily-peated, 57.1% abv)

Only had a couple of drams so far but holy shit it's a delicious, complex, and really well rounded beast of a whisky. There's honey nut cheerios up front, loads of dried fruits mid-palate, and a lovely lingering smokiness. 

Not gonna lie, I was more than a little hesitant about putting so much good whisky into a blend that might have been be a complete disaster (this experiment emptied my Arran QC and Ardnamurchan CS) but the result is well worth it. Really interested to see where it goes from here as right now I have no idea what I'll be adding to it next.

Who am I kidding, it's definitely getting some Ledaig 18.

Was following this guy's advice for a bit:



...but found it way to conservative so mostly did away with the dropper system early into my experimentation.  I remember Nick turning up smashed at a mate's house after a whisky blending day with a bottle he wasn't supposed to open, which had six different whiskys in it (iirc).  Tasted amazing.

I've bought loads of 20cl bottles and I've been doing my own marvellous medicines for a few weeks.

He kind of uses it as a way to make middling whisky taste better by adding small amounts of he goodstuff, but I've gone for a chuck it all in approach (assuming I think the flavours fit).

Back on a couple of old favourites, and with the way bourbon prices have gone crazy these remain great value for such high quality products. Rare breed is just fantastic, that classic Wild Turkey mash bill but blended from older 6 to 12 year old bourbons at barrel proof for around £55. And then there's Four Roses Single Barrel, their high-rye recipe bourbon at 50% abv and full of black cherry and dark chocolate flavours for £45. Four Roses have 11 or so mash bills, but their single barrels are always this high-rye recipe, and it's a very different beast to their regular or small batch bourbons knocking around.

Definitely recommended as really good value, easily accessible examples of both classic and high-rye bourbon styles that are above and beyond the usual supermarket mediocrity. Plus, one's barrel proof and the others a single barrel. What's not to love?

Not orange bitters, but I love these as an alternative in old fashioneds.

Wait, now I need cherry bitters!

A lil bit late then. So I've been seeing Jack Daniel's premium releases getting huge love recently, and after getting a bottle of Bonded over Christmas and thoroughly enjoying it I thought I'd try the Single Barrel Barrel Strength that was worrying so many top 5 whiskey lists in 2023. 

It's bloody lovely, all boozy banoffee pie and vanilla ice cream with a good amount of oak. Must have drank half the bottle last weekend. 



Anyhoo, happy Burns Night for anyone settling in for a few.

Lineup:

Talisker x Parley
Laphroaig QC
Ancnoc 18

Then we’ll see, maybe Glenlivet Nadurra to finish.