^^^

GooberTheHat wrote:

Great chart that.

I've never really got into the leapfrog as I much prefer those from Ardbeg and Lagavulin, their next door neighbours (literally a few hundred yards between them all).  The old man absolutely loves it.

On Islay all the other distilleries sort of laugh at laphroaig until the conversation moves onto sales numbers.  Then the silence is deafening.

Yeah you'd expect it to be an acquired taste. Even for Islay it's heavy on the smoke and medicinal flavours. For me 10CS tastes heavier on the peat than Ardbeg Corryvreckan and even the couple of Octomores I've tried - despite the Octo's being peated to WAY higher levels.

Don't remember the last time I bought one of Laphroaig's big sellers tbh, but I'd say the 10 Cask Strength, 16 year old, and Lore are objectively great whiskies and a match for anything coming off the island. I fist picked up a CS after watching a Whiskey Tribe vid where they gathered a bunch of US distillers to talk about their favourite drinks, with CS getting the nod from a good few. I mean, if this is the favourite whisky of so many craft bourbon/rye distillers it's gotta be worth a go, right? Turns out, yup.

Ardbeg Uigeadail and anything peated from Bruichladdich would be my next picks. Kilchoman are up there and are just getting better. Don't think there's a single distillery on Islay that I don't enjoy to some degree. Had some great Bowmore and Caol Ila's through indie bottlers as well.

I always found it funny that Laphroig is the watchword for the peaty end of things, when I remember being told during visits there and to Ardbeg that Ardbeg was actually the peatiest of the Islay malts. I love the variety in all of them tbh.

Anyhoo, infinity bottle update! 

The OG blend was great (35% Arran Quarter Cask, 25% Ardnamurchan Cask Strength, 15% Kilkerran 12, 15% Aberlour Casg Annamh, 10% Ardbeg Corryvreckan), and every time I get it to around half full I'll top it up with various other drams I think would work.  

Whiskies I've added in various amounts since then: Ardnamurchan AD, Balblair 12, Deanston 12, Auchentoshan Three Wood, Bunnahabain 12, Kilchoman Sanaig, Lagavulin 16, Ladaig 18, Port Charlotte SC:01. I've added more non-peated/lightly peated stuff than heavily-peated stuff, and while it's always been good the current state of the bottle is something else and is the most complex (obvs) yet balanced it's been. It's pretty malt forward with a moderate smokiness, some apple, pear, and citrus zest, and evolving into richer dried and smoked stone fruits. Just wonderful, and yeah I'd even take it over most of the individual bottles that went into it.  

Would heartily recommend this infinity bottle lark to anyone that hasn't already got one on the go.

Knew you'd have one!

Ooh, now that's an idea! Maybe I should start a non-peated bottle as well. Probably best to banish the "too much whisky" thoughts though. It's fine, don't worry about it.






Convincing myself by proxy here. Works like a charm.

Lol, that's brilliant. Somehow missed this.

Anyway, I'm on the rye atm. Michter's single barrel rye needs no introduction, it's just a rock solid, well balanced, and stupidly easy drinking whiskey. Could finish the bottle in a sitting - kinda easy drinking. Good stuff, won't leave it so long before buying it again. 

Frey Ranch are a pretty awesome operation, a grain to glass farm distillery from western Nevada. This bottled in bond rye is made from 100% winter rye grown on their farm and bottled at the required 50% abv (obvs.) Yeah, a 100% rye mash bill is unusual but they wanted to showcase those grains. It's lovely, very grain forward as you'd expect with a fuckton of spice leading into vanilla and mint. Will buy again. 

Barrell Seagrass is something I've wanted to try for a while but accessibility in the UK isn't great, thankfully all the usual places just got a new drop! This outfit is part of the small but growing new wave of American blending houses, and this particular release is a combination of high-end American and Canadian rye whiskey that's then finished in Martinique rum, Madeira, and apricot brandy barrels and bottled at cask strength. It's incredible (bloody well should be at that price), a complex as all-fuck spiced tropical fruit punch kinda thing that I'm struggling to fully get my head around even after a couple of glasses. Stunning stuff and I might just put the rest up 'til summer.

Yeah you really can't go wrong with Bulleit rye for the price. It's a tasty drink, a 95%/5% MGP rye mash bill made for Bulleit in small batches, so minty pine and orange peel rule. Makes a good old fashioned as well. 

I'm a sucker for experimenting in general though, no matter how much I like a particular thing I'll always wanna try as many other similar things as I can.

It really is lovely (my favourite low-rye rye), but every time I see it in the local bottle shop the price stops me from picking up another. Can't see as I'll pick up another Seagrass for the same reason.

Edit: Unless I get drunk and order one online.

Never tried it but that's some recommendation.

The only whisky I get twitched about not having in is Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength, but as it's a special pour a bottle can last months. For more regular consumption there's nothing I have to have in, but I do have bottles I replace semi-regularly (two or three times a year instead of once every year or two). For Scotch it was just Bruichladdich Classic Laddie and Port Charlotte 10 for a long while, but in the last year or so Kilchoman Machir Bay and Ardnamurchan AD have joined them.

For bourbon it's been Four Roses Single Barrel and Wild Turkey Rare Breed, but as I've rushed out to replace my Woodford Double Oaked I s'pose that's another new addition to the list.

All great drinks at good prices and always easy enough to get.

Oh well now, that looks and sounds great. Let us know how you get on with it, MoM's single barrel, barrel strength picks haven't done me wrong yet.

It really is. I know colour isn't everything but I do love what a charred new oak barrel does to a whiskey.

Fantastic. I wonder if they have any left...