Which Water of Life Did You Purchase Today?-Fall/Winter 2014

[tanstaafl2]

Picked up a Glenmorangie Taghta. Looking forward to trying this one.

Picked up one of these today. Have also been looking forward to trying it and expect it will make it onto the Wednesday tasting schedule this week.

[Trey Manthey]

Amrut Portonova, Longrow RED Shiraz Cask, and a cask-strength Signatory Tamdhu

[AaronWF]

Spotted on a shelf and offered to me at cost, this is the most exciting whisky I have purchased in awhile. At one time it was the best whisky I had ever tasted. A lot's gone on since that time, so perhaps my palate has discovered others; only one way to find out! Now I can drink the sample taken from my previous bottle and saved for future reference!

Bottled at CS in 2005, apparently a 3 cask vatting of a 1st fill Sherry, a 2nd fill Sherry and a bourbon barrel. A CS vintage bottle that predates their Family Cask series.

[tanstaafl2]

Spotted on a shelf and offered to me at cost, this is the most exciting whisky I have purchased in awhile. At one time it was the best whisky I had ever tasted. A lot's gone on since that time, so perhaps my palate has discovered others; only one way to find out! Now I can drink the sample taken from my previous bottle and saved for future reference!

Bottled at CS in 2005, apparently a 3 cask vatting of a 1st fill Sherry, a 2nd fill Sherry and a bourbon barrel. A CS vintage bottle that predates their Family Cask series.

Sounds like it would be interesting at the very least!

[garbanzobean]

Based on the Ardmore I opened last night, I ordered a G&M Ardmore 15 cask strength. I think its going to be good . . . And it was reasonable: $80.

[garbanzobean]

Got my Signatory Caol Ila 30. Its even in the classy decanter style bottle!

[tanstaafl2]

Couldn't resist when offered another Glenmo Taghta and also picked up another CB The Lost Blend based on my opportunity to try it at the recent WoW event.

May have to have my own solo Wednesday tasting today...

[garbanzobean]

Picked up my Duncan Taylor Clynelish. Ended up being an Octave release instead of Dimensions. Works for me. I also picked up a bottle of Compass Box Glasgow Blend. I left several Lost Blends on the shelf at $93. Y'all seem to be enjoying yours, but I'm not in a hurry. CB just doesn't fly off the shelves here since most scotch drinkers up here seem to care more about brand name than quality.

[AaronWF]

Picked up my Duncan Taylor Clynelish. Ended up being an Octave release instead of Dimensions. Works for me. I also picked up a bottle of Compass Box Glasgow Blend. I left several Lost Blends on the shelf at $93. Y'all seem to be enjoying yours, but I'm not in a hurry. CB just doesn't fly off the shelves here since most scotch drinkers up here seem to care more about brand name than quality.

[HD 335]

Picked this up last night and popped it open right away. Good stuff!

[tanstaafl2]

Picked this up last night and popped it open right away. Good stuff!

[ATTACH]19756[/ATTACH]

Hmm, that looks purdy! I wonder if that will be coming to these parts.

[AaronWF]

Hmm, that looks purdy! I wonder if that will be coming to these parts.

Peat + port = YISSS!

[HD 335]

Hmm, that looks purdy! I wonder if that will be coming to these parts.

The color is amazing. It just landed this week here in CA.

[tanstaafl2]

The color is amazing. It just landed this week here in CA.

[ATTACH]19757[/ATTACH]

Yeah, California and even Chicago are one thing. But getting it to Atlanta is another thing altogether!

[garbanzobean]

Bought a Longrow Rundlets and Kilderkins on my way home to visit my family. Should make the week go a little more smoothly.

[BigRich]

I grabbed a Alexander Murray Costco pick of Dailuaine yesterday on a lark. Not too damn bad.

[tanstaafl2]

Was in Knoxville this weekend to visit my sister. That means a mandatory stop at the local liquor store! Bourbon options seemed routine at best (they did have a fair number of store picks) but scotch seems to be their forte anyway. Almost got a bottle of the Longrow Rundlets and Kilderkins but allowed myself to be swayed by some Kavalan I haven't seen in Atlanta. Ended up with the cask strength Solist Vinho Barrique and Bourbon Cask as well a Concertmaster Port cask that wasn't cask strength to join with the Solist Sherry Cask I already have. Too expensive but I got a bit of a discount that made it a bit more palatable.. Also picked up a back up of the Nikka Coffey Grain and then spotted the Kilkerran Sherry wood WIP 5 and decided it needed to join its sibling, the bourbon cask. Finally I pcked up a Westland regualr single malt (which is an American whiskey rather than foreign of course) to make it an even 6 bottles. Was impressed with it at the WoW event.

Saw a number of Glendronach including a 21yo Parliament, a 1996 cask strength single barrel finished in Oloroso and a NAS cask strength I haven't seen before as well as the Laphroaig Cairdeas 2014 but passed on them. The Glendronach seemed a bit pricey and I really wanted to try the 2013 portwood but the salesperson said they had just sold out of it a few weeks ago. That was a bit annoying!

Edited November 16, 2014 by tanstaafl2

[Jazz Nut]

Picked up a FRSB Store Selection (Premier Wine and Sprits in Osseo, MN), and a bottle of Balvenie 15--which was $59.99 lowest price I've seen it for. So far I've purchased three bottles of the stuff from the same store, it's all from the same barrel, so it better be good! For the price I couldn't pass it up. Bottling date was 1/2012 so it's been on the shelves for some time.

tanstaafl2, have you ever tried the Glendronach Parliament? I have really been enjoying the Glendronach Revival lately.

[garbanzobean]

Speaking of GlenDronach, I have been seeing an awful lot of various alternative cask finishes as of late on their 15+ year stuff. I wonder if they are starting to hol their better inherited stock back for future releases, and are ttrying to perk up some of the not so great stuff? I'm hopeful that is the case, versus just plain running out of the good stuff. Or a case of Bruichladdich-esque schizophrenia.

[portwood]

Speaking of GlenDronach, I have been seeing an awful lot of various alternative cask finishes as of late on their 15+ year stuff. I wonder if they are starting to hol their better inherited stock back for future releases (1), and are ttrying to perk up some of the not so great stuff(2)? I'm hopeful that is the case, versus just plain running out of the good stuff(3). Or a case of Bruichladdich-esque schizophrenia.

(1) not likely, the market is hot if they had more old stuff not requiring finishing they would be selling it NOW

(2) very likely

(3) that is my guess

Its very likely that the stock that was put down in the latter days of prior ownership did not use very good casks. So, like Bruichladdich, they now have to spruce up those stocks with finishing in wet (very active) wine casks. The good news is that Billy Walker appears to be doing a better job at it (or has better raw material) than the laddie guys did.

[tanstaafl2]

tanstaafl2, have you ever tried the Glendronach Parliament? I have really been enjoying the Glendronach Revival lately.

I have not tried the Parliament to this point. The standard Glendronach bottles, not to mention the prices at least until recently, on the standard 12, 15 and even 18, have been so good that it did not seem necessary since this has always been well over $100 (the bottle in this store was $160+, 30-40 more than bottles I previously passed on). The reviews seem like they have been decent but not taken the plunge. Someone here probably has though.

In addition I have a very nice 19yo single cask from K&L I am still working on so the need for more wasn't great!

I woould have considered the Glendronach Cask Strength but it was NAS and $150 which was just way too much for me for something I knew nothing about. TPS has it for around $80 which seems far more realistic. Just don't know when I might get up that way again.

Edited November 19, 2014 by tanstaafl2

[zeeck]

My in-laws just bought me a bottle of GlenDronach Revival for my birthday. Haven't cracked it yet, but I've heard great things and can't wait to give it a try tonight.

[Jazz Nut]

My in-laws just bought me a bottle of GlenDronach Revival for my birthday. Haven't cracked it yet, but I've heard great things and can't wait to give it a try tonight.

Ralfy on YouTube has a very favorable review of this scotch. I bought it partially on his recommendation, and am pleased with the rich spicy and sherry notes in it. My bottle had a VERY slight sulfur note as well but has receded over the last few weeks. You've got some good in-laws!

[Jazz Nut]

(1) not likely, the market is hot if they had more old stuff not requiring finishing they would be selling it NOW

(2) very likely

(3) that is my guess

Its very likely that the stock that was put down in the latter days of prior ownership did not use very good casks. So, like Bruichladdich, they now have to spruce up those stocks with finishing in wet (very active) wine casks. The good news is that Billy Walker appears to be doing a better job at it (or has better raw material) than the laddie guys did.

I totally agree about the reason for the finishes. With that said, I haven't tried any of the finishes, and am unsure if these whisky's state how long the finishing lasted. Only the Revival, according to Glendronach, "Exclusively matured in the finest Spanish Oloroso Sherry Casks".

[sailor22]

After a taste in New Orleans at Tales and again in Atlanta thanks to Transtaffl I picked up two bottles of Nikka Coffee Malt Whisky. Sounds like some sort of weird coffee infused junk but the coffee refers to the still used, not the flavor. Delicious stuff.

Edited November 20, 2014 by sailor22