What Are You Drinking Tonight, Winter'07/'08

[OscarV]

Old Rip Van Winkle 10yo 107.

It is starting to warm me up now.
It started out 4 below zero this morning and got all the way up to 17 now.

[NickAtMartinis]

Mark,
I would be interested in your comparison of these 2 bottlings. I tackled them both on NYE, and I found them to be very similar, could be due to the other drinks I had beforehand, but I dunno.......may have to do it again!

Cheers
Scott

Scott, funny you should ask. I did a blind tasting that included WTRB, WTKS and WTAS. I sampled each three times. Two of the three times I chose WTKS and the other time, WTRB. That's not the interesting part. What is, is the fact that WTAS came in last all three times! I was pretty shocked.

Mark

[squire]

Switched from EC 18 to a manhatten made with Saz Rye.

Squire

[Gillman]

VWFR rye.

Whatever the iteration, this one rarely disappoints.

This bottling is dryish, elegant with a good residual sweetness.

Kudos to the shop.

Gary

[Kendall]

Very cold here in central Ky.
A GOOD NIP OF Old Grand Dad 114 hit the spot.

[NickAtMartinis]

I just poured me some '07 WLW. Don't know what from here but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

[bigtoys]

Went into an ABC store in Kona. My choice of American whiskey: Jack or Jim. Johnny red or black were there for Scotland. Crown and Chivas were also on the shelves.

I went with Jack and am enjoying it now on the rocks sitting on my balcony overlooking the Big Island with the mountains far off in the distance. Only a couple of more days and then back to the frigid Chicago temps.

[Frodo]

Over the past holidays I've had the good fortune to get some samples from Gary Gillman that I could not have obtained from our local liquor stores.

Four Roses SB (50.2&#37
Nose: Dark & sweet. Furnature polish, blood oranges & cloves.
Taste: Good balance between sweet & dry. With water, dry becomes magnified, then ebbs & flows.
Aftertaste: Tingles on palate. Drying like tea leaves. With water finish becomes longer, drier.
Impression: Beutiful in its simplicity. BALANCED! Able to drink this at full STR (usually have to water down spirits over 46%).

Hallmark of St James vatted malt 25yr (Scotch)
Nose: Stewed apples & pears. Nutmeg.
Taste: Follows through with the nose. More spice with some hotness. Reminds me of Cutty Sark 25yr.
Aftertaste: Spice comes to the fore. Finish is powerful.
Impressions: Fruitier at the start/ spicier at the finish.

[Frodo]

Old Weller Antique 107 Single Barrel Unfiltered (Bernheim)
Nose: Expressive - dark fruits with oak notes complementing. Becomes more expressive with water.
Taste: Oak & spices. Drier with water.
Finish: Long finish, then tapers gracefully. Less intence with water, and a bit drier.
Impressions: LOVED this one!!!A beutiful dram on its own, and can take water without tasting diluted. The highest I've ever been able to drink alcohol (107 proof). A dram for the ages - thanks Gary!!!

Also opened my bottle of EC 18 than family muled up from SoCal. The driest bourbon I've had by a wide margin. LOVE it, but am still trying to come to terms with it. Will post notes in the BOTM thread!

The more I try good bourbon, the more I lament our lack of choices up here in Toronto. It's almost criminal...

[Gillman]

This is a chance to mention that Chris (Frodo) kindly gave me samples in return, a 1960's Park Lane was very Canadian in style but heavier and more caramel-like than often found today. His Lagavulin 12 was a vigorous expression of pure Islay character and quite different to the 16 year old version. Finally, a blended scotch finished in a rum barrel showed interesting oily-like notes from the finishing treatment.

We'll try to bring back different bourbons after the February trip to Doug's if I can get down there as currently planned.

Gary