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


garbanzobean
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Picked up a Bruichladdich 10 year while passing through New Hampshire tonight. Figured I should get one while I had the chance, sounds like this has become a distillery only offering. Looking at their online inventory, it looks like the state still has about 75 bottles. At least that is what's in the stores, there could be more tucked away in the warehouse, but I kind of doubt it.

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Last year's Lagavulin DE for $50.

That's insane.:shocked:

Three times the price here,:shocked: which explains why I've never bought one.

Edited by portwood
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That's insane.:shocked:

Three times the price here,:shocked: which explains why I've never bought one.

Maryland is turning into a limited release wasteland for Bourbon(which is fine because I don't need anymore), and the dusty hunting has mostly dried up, but you can find outstanding deals on Scotch if you know where to look. Right now I'm kicking myself for not putting away another bottle of Talisker 18 for $84. Can't find it anywhere for less than $129 now. Now I feel like I have to hold onto my last bottle until I see it on sale again.

Just don't come here looking for anything from Ardbeg, Macallan or Yamazaki, because they jack those prices up nice and high.

Edited by garbanzobean
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I decided to scratch my Talisker itch with last year's Talisker DE for $39.99. Also an Oban 14 jumped into my hands when I wasn't looking for $44.

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Right now I'm kicking myself for not putting away another bottle of Talisker 18 for $84. Can't find it anywhere for less than $129 now.

I jumped on one at $99 for this very reason.

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Dewar Rattray Cask Collection Balblair 16, 1990-2007, cask 1138. Aged in sherry (refill butt would be my guess) with 409 bottles total. 62.4% abv! Just looking at the bottle, I'm guessing that it was a 2nd ish fill sherry butt. Looks about the same color as other 2nd fill sherry malts I have. Additionally, the 400+ bottles along with the unusually high alcohol content makes me think this was several casks that were re-racked together at some point. It also appears to be slightly peated. At any rate, the slight peating, high abv, and low price made me go for it. Online reviews seem favorable so far. Also picked up a Berry Bros Littlemill 22 on sale. Looks like Berry has released some hidden Littlemill gems in the past. Kind of a risk, but whatever. Dead distillery and all that.

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Dewar Rattray Cask Collection Balblair 16, 1990-2007, cask 1138. Aged in sherry (refill butt would be my guess) with 409 bottles total. 62.4% abv! Just looking at the bottle, I'm guessing that it was a 2nd ish fill sherry butt. Looks about the same color as other 2nd fill sherry malts I have. Additionally, the 400+ bottles along with the unusually high alcohol content makes me think this was several casks that were re-racked together at some point. It also appears to be slightly peated. At any rate, the slight peating, high abv, and low price made me go for it. Online reviews seem favorable so far. Also picked up a Berry Bros Littlemill 22 on sale. Looks like Berry has released some hidden Littlemill gems in the past. Kind of a risk, but whatever. Dead distillery and all that.

I like that 22yr Littlemill. The next one on deck @ TW is a 21yr and 46%...

I liked the 22 enough to acquire a spare for the bunker.

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Edited by ChainWhip
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I like that 22yr Littlemill. The next one on deck @ TW is a 21yr and 46%...

I liked the 22 enough to have a spare in the bunker.

Good to hear! I figure you guys gave me crap about not liking Lowland malts, so I'd go with a double distilled malt famous for a fairly genial, easy drinking character. my TW had the 21 yr 46% as well, but I sort of had to choose, so I went with the CS 22, which was also about $5 cheaper.

I also went into one of my local spots today hoping to find an Inchgower. Not readily available around here. I struck out, so I left with the aforementioned Balblair.

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Just got an email from a website I will never use again that a Duncan Taylor Caol Ila 27 yr I tried to order 7 or so weeks ago just shipped. I actually emailed them 3 weeks ago to tell them to ship in 24 hours or cancel my order. Sigh.

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Picked up a Springbank 18 for $149 while traveling. Was going for as high as $189.

I was surprised at the price ranges on certain SMS OBs: HP18 $94 - $138, Talisker 18 $99 - $130, Laphroaig 18 $84 - $139. All within 100 miles of each other, and some of the higher prices were in the larger shops ... can't make sense of it, but taught me not to impulse buy, at least for the more common OB offerings.

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Picked up these two tonight for about $60 each. My first time trying an IB of any kind.

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Would be interested in hearing your thoughts on those once you open them

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Just made probably my last big whisky purchase of 2014: said screw it to the Rosebank and picked up a bottle each of Arran Devil's Punchbowl II and III. I've had a glass of batch II before and loved it, and the batch III sounds outstanding as well. I paid MSRP for both, which is high for NAS, but I appreciate what Arran is doing and am happy to support them while they continue to work on their cask management processes.

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Just made probably my last big whisky purchase of 2014: said screw it to the Rosebank and picked up a bottle each of Arran Devil's Punchbowl II and III. I've had a glass of batch II before and loved it, and the batch III sounds outstanding as well. I paid MSRP for both, which is high for NAS, but I appreciate what Arran is doing and am happy to support them while they continue to work on their cask management processes.

I wish I could even find the III! No sign of it so far here.

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I wish I could even find the III! No sign of it so far here.
I think I was the first customer to buy any of it at my store. I'm sure it'll hang out in Maryland like all the other limited scotch whisky releases do, most of them at MSRP. No offense to you guys, but I'm pretty thankful it is illegal for stores to ship out of state here. That said, if you're ever in the area, drop me a PM and I'll hook you up. Y'all are alright in my book.
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I've been awaiting the arrival of the port matured Longrow with great anticipation. They had to uncover it among stacks of unpacked boxes but I didn't mind waiting! The Rattray is a blend of Auchentoshan, Benriach, Balblair and Bowmore, all 19-21 years old and all from sherry butts. Cask strength and NCF so I took a chance on it.

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I've been awaiting the arrival of the port matured Longrow with great anticipation. They had to uncover it among stacks of unpacked boxes but I didn't mind waiting! The Rattray is a blend of Auchentoshan, Benriach, Balblair and Bowmore, all 19-21 years old and all from sherry butts. Cask strength and NCF so I took a chance on it.

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I don't know if you watch Ralfy's YouTube channel, but he just reviewed the Longrow Port and was absolutely tickled by it. I think he gave it a 90 or 91, which puts it in fairly rarifiedair. I believe at one point he said something like "watch out Lagavulin 16."

I'm looking forward to reading your impressions of both, for sure.

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I don't know if you watch Ralfy's YouTube channel, but he just reviewed the Longrow Port and was absolutely tickled by it. I think he gave it a 90 or 91, which puts it in fairly rarifiedair. I believe at one point he said something like "watch out Lagavulin 16."

I'm looking forward to reading your impressions of both, for sure.

You sound like a Malty McMuffin... =]b

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I don't know if you watch Ralfy's YouTube channel, but he just reviewed the Longrow Port and was absolutely tickled by it. I think he gave it a 90 or 91, which puts it in fairly rarifiedair. I believe at one point he said something like "watch out Lagavulin 16."

I'm looking forward to reading your impressions of both, for sure.

I did see Ralfy's review, though this has been on my radar since I saw it showing up in Europe over the summer. I do love to hear Ralfy praising Springbank and was delighted to hear him suggest that anyone who has an interest in starting a new distillery should look to Springbank as the model of craft distilling. Pretty amazing that a distillery established 186 years ago can still be pointed to as a genuine model of distilling as a craft.

IMO, Laga 16 can't hold a candle to a nice sherried Longrow, like the 1996 vintage 10yo. At least the recent bottlings of Lag 16 that I've tried.

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