What water of life did you purchase? - 2023

[bourbon4all]

10 hours ago, LCWoody said:

Picked this up last week. From what I understand, this distillery is not known for non peated whiskey so should be interesting. 

Love me some Campbeltown. Too bad it’s so dang hyped up. Enjoy and let us know what you think!

[Anwalt]

On 7/30/2023 at 6:50 PM, Kepler said:

Recent pickups.  I've had the 15 before and I'm already enjoying this bottle.  I haven't tried the other two yet but looking forward to em.

 

 

I loved the 21 & 18, and I'm not a Scotch guy. Looking forward to trying 12 & 15. 

[berto]

The local Costco finally came through and had the Kirkland Islay blend and as a bonus they also had the 2023 Laphroaig Cairdeas.  

[jvd99]

Picked up a G&M Highland Park 27 yo ex-sherry

 

Should be good at a fraction of the price of an OB

 

Opening tonight 

[jvd99]

On 8/16/2023 at 10:11 PM, LCWoody said:

Picked this up last week. From what I understand, this distillery is not known for non peated whiskey so should be interesting. 

Picked this up too today. Hazelburn is fantastic. I just opened a 12 year Olorosso and it's great. 

[Kepler]

Picked up a Bunnahabhain 12 and getting ready to crack it open and take for a spin.

[Kepler]

I picked this up last week.  2nd tasting is as positive as the first.  I like it and it was a good pickup.

 

[jvd99]

This just landed at Binny's - a "sister" cask to the one I posted about earlier this year (upthread). This one is another single barrel cask strength, 9 year Laphroaig PX cask, a year older than the February cask.

 

My understanding from the whisky guys at Binny's is that Laphroaig rarely, if ever, releases single barrels to retail stores with Laphroaig label. That makes these pretty unique. I was also told for that reason, Laphroaig demanded the retail price be $249 USD which Binny's objected to, but ultimately agreed, and then immediately put the whole original February cask on sale for $189 and this one on sale for $229.  Not sure how that FU to Laproig will affect future access, but I personally like it.

 

Another fun fact, I'd estimate over 50% of the bottles from the February cask ended up in European auctions within a couple months. 

 

700 ml. bottle which is becoming more ubiquitous nowadays.

 

The box is cool, but like most packaging, I threw it out already because it takes up too much space.

 

Into the bunker she goes...

 

 

[mal00768]

2 hours ago, jvd99 said:

 

This just landed at Binny's - a "sister" cask to the one I posted about earlier this year (upthread). This one is another single barrel cask strength, 9 year Laphroaig PX cask, a year older than the February cask.

 

My understanding from the whisky guys at Binny's is that Laphroaig rarely, if ever, releases single barrels to retail stores with Laphroaig label. That makes these pretty unique. I was also told for that reason, Laphroaig demanded the retail price be $249 USD which Binny's objected to, but ultimately agreed, and then immediately put the whole original February cask on sale for $189 and this one on sale for $229.  Not sure how that FU to Laproig will affect future access, but I personally like it.

 

Another fun fact, I'd estimate over 50% of the bottles from the February cask ended up in European auctions within a couple months. 

 

700 ml. bottle which is becoming more ubiquitous nowadays.

 

The box is cool, but like most packaging, I threw it out already because it takes up too much space.

 

Into the bunker she goes...

 

 

We got a couple of these up here in MA via Julio’s. They are amazing! And 14 years old. Hehe

Edited December 2, 2023 by mal00768

[jvd99]

9 minutes ago, mal00768 said:

We got a couple of these up here in MA via Julio’s. They are amazing! And 14 years old. Hehe

Wow! 14 yo sounds great. 

[jvd99]

All this Laphroaig talk convinced me to pop another single cask open, decidedly less expensive than the one I bought today thankfully

 

 

[berto]

Ardbeg Bizarbbq was the only thing from their growing number of yearly one offs that really intrigued me.  I thought it was long gone and I was out of luck.  Found a bootle at MSRP and shippable so I had to get it.  Should be here tomorrow.  

[jvd99]

17 hours ago, berto said:

Ardbeg Bizarbbq was the only thing from their growing number of yearly one offs that really intrigued me.  I thought it was long gone and I was out of luck.  Found a bootle at MSRP and shippable so I had to get it.  Should be here tomorrow.  

I love Ardbeg 10 Ugi, but the constant drip of these one-off NAS goofy-titled releases is getting annoying. They're definitely doing more than one or two a year.

 

Haven't tried the Bizarbbq, or any of the others lately. 

[berto]

3 hours ago, jvd99 said:

I love Ardbeg 10 Ugi, but the constant drip of these one-off NAS goofy-titled releases is getting annoying. They're definitely doing more than one or two a year.

 

Haven't tried the Bizarbbq, or any of the others lately. 

Same.  It used to be a committee release that was probably pretty good now it seems like a quarterly dump of NAS shenanigan stories for way too much money.  Bizarbbq sounded tasty and was well regarded across the board.  The other releases were consistently rated below it but often twice as much.  I’m a sucker for a good bbq meat note in Islay and this one is supposed to deliver.  Oogie is an all time favorite.  It would probably be my scotch pick if I could only have one.

[jvd99]

Picked these up, two of three I'm interested in. Still want the Clynelesh

 

Passed on the Lag and Oban...just weird cask finishes I'm not interested in. Lag in tequila and Oban in rum or something or other. (Talisker is finished in port, but that actually sounded OK to me)

 

The Rosiele is kind of a novelty because it's the first official release from Diageo's massive complex of a distillery that produces distillate for its blends. The locals call it the Death Star. Regardless, its an age stated malt not finished in some weird barrels, so I'm game to try it.

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by jvd99

[berto]

I got a bottle of Powers John Lane 12yr and a bottle of Teeling Black Pitts for ridiculously cheap from a local guy who wanted to offload stuff he wasn’t going to get around to drinking anytime soon.  The Powers is something I’ve been meaning to buy for over a decade but always found something I wanted more.  I even had a bottle in a cart as an add on a few weeks ago.  Absolutely great timing.   The Teeling is peated and I love peat so bonus.  The Irish portion of the closet is sparse so happy to add to it.

[jvd99]

Got the Clynlish today. Very hard to find, no regular LS got any and Binnys website says (as of yesterday) they only got 12 bottles, which is totally out of proportion to the amount of the other releases they got. Had to drive about 45 minutes but worth it

 

 

[Kepler]

I picked up Signatory bottlings of Bunnhabhain and Linkwood last week.  Let's just say I'm happy with my decisions.

[MadGoodPour]

very excited to land this sauternes finished kilchoman

Edited December 22, 2023 by MadGoodPour

[Skinsfan1311]

Mrs. Skinsfan gifted this to me for Christmas. 

She knows that I'm an Islay whore

I've read about the Octomore, but have never seen it on a store shelf.

Can't wait for a cold night to sip this one!

[Skinsfan1311]

On 12/13/2023 at 7:39 PM, berto said:

I got a bottle of Powers John Lane 12yr and a bottle of Teeling Black Pitts for ridiculously cheap from a local guy who wanted to offload stuff he wasn’t going to get around to drinking anytime soon.  The Powers is something I’ve been meaning to buy for over a decade but always found something I wanted more.  I even had a bottle in a cart as an add on a few weeks ago.  Absolutely great timing.   The Teeling is peated and I love peat so bonus.  The Irish portion of the closet is sparse so happy to add to it.

The John's Lane is crazy good.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Skinsfan1311

[jvd99]

Got these today - Compass Box Delilah's 30th Anniversary and Glenglassaugh Sandend.

 

Couldn't find any info about the CB, it just landed, but the bottle says the contents are a mystery and celebrate a 30 year party - hopefully CB or some internet sleuths will find out more. But CB is one of my favorites and you can't really go wrong with any of their one-offs.  

 

For what it's worth the Glengassaugh won Whisky magazine's whisky of the year. It also came in second for The Whisky Exchange's whisky of the year and has pretty consistently high praise. So I took a flyer at $70. It's NAS at a respectable 50.5%. The bottle is nice too, the waves at the top make it easy to pour. Not familiar with the distillery, so I'll crack it open tonight and report back...

 

 

[NDN98]

On 12/29/2023 at 7:17 PM, jvd99 said:

Got these today - Compass Box Delilah's 30th Anniversary and Glenglassaugh Sandend.

 

Couldn't find any info about the CB, it just landed, but the bottle says the contents are a mystery and celebrate a 30 year party - hopefully CB or some internet sleuths will find out more. But CB is one of my favorites and you can't really go wrong with any of their one-offs.  

 

For what it's worth the Glengassaugh won Whisky magazine's whisky of the year. It also came in second for The Whisky Exchange's whisky of the year and has pretty consistently high praise. So I took a flyer at $70. It's NAS at a respectable 50.5%. The bottle is nice too, the waves at the top make it easy to pour. Not familiar with the distillery, so I'll crack it open tonight and report back...

 

 

Been considering getting the Glengassaugh since it has been getting a lot of hype lately.  Can't wait to hear your thoughts once you open it.

[jvd99]

2 hours ago, NDN98 said:

Been considering getting the Glengassaugh since it has been getting a lot of hype lately.  Can't wait to hear your thoughts once you open it.

Honestly, not too impressed. It drinks pretty hot, a little bitterness, not very balanced IMO. But that's just me. It's NAS and seems quite young, and my preferred profile generally involves more age on non-Islay single malts. It's not bad and I don't regret giving it a try, but I dont think I'd buy it again. There's certainly worse and better buys out there in this price range, this one seems average to me.

 

I'll note that when I saw this revealed as Whisky Magazine whisky of the year, I looked it up online at Binny's and they had it at every location. When I went there a few days later, every bottle was gone from every store. Fast forward like 4 weeks, and the entire chain was restocked. My bottle came from the restock, so I'm not sure if there were more than one batch (it doesn't say on the label), and if so, whether that first batch was a honey batch. Guess we'll never know.

Edited January 4, 2024 by jvd99

[Kepler]

On 1/4/2024 at 3:18 PM, jvd99 said:

Honestly, not too impressed. It drinks pretty hot, a little bitterness, not very balanced IMO. But that's just me. It's NAS and seems quite young, and my preferred profile generally involves more age on non-Islay single malts. It's not bad and I don't regret giving it a try, but I dont think I'd buy it again. There's certainly worse and better buys out there in this price range, this one seems average to me.

 

I'll note that when I saw this revealed as Whisky Magazine whisky of the year, I looked it up online at Binny's and they had it at every location. When I went there a few days later, every bottle was gone from every store. Fast forward like 4 weeks, and the entire chain was restocked. My bottle came from the restock, so I'm not sure if there were more than one batch (it doesn't say on the label), and if so, whether that first batch was a honey batch. Guess we'll never know.

I bought one too on a whim because at that price, why not.  Now I kinda wish I'd seen your feedback before my impulse purchase. Haven't cracked mine yet, ... from the tasting notes I figured I might like it as a warm weather pour