What Water of Life/Scotch are drinking or purchased 2025?

[Scotch_Collector]

1 hour ago, Kepler said:

Found these at retail over the weekend.  @jvd99 inspired me.

 

Springbank makes great Scotch. I am not a huge peat fan and need to be in the mood for it, but Springbank is a more balanced peat than Islay, for example. Not as potent and more smokey than medicinal in my opinion. 

 

I have the local barley and it is delicious. Mine is a 9 year, but I am sure the 8 year is amazing as well. 

 

Enjoy them in good health and please let us know what you think. 

[jvd99]

13 minutes ago, Scotch_Collector said:

Springbank makes great Scotch. I am not a huge peat fan and need to be in the mood for it, but Springbank is a more balanced peat than Islay, for example. Not as potent and more smokey than medicinal in my opinion. 

 

I have the local barley and it is delicious. Mine is a 9 year, but I am sure the 8 year is amazing as well. 

 

Enjoy them in good health and please let us know what you think. 

The local barleys are good, but they're not really available at retail for me, only tater prices.  I still have some the first runs of  10, 15 and 16 years olds from year ago stashed away I think

[jvd99]

7 hours ago, Kepler said:

Found these at retail over the weekend.  @jvd99 inspired me.

 

Just noticed my 15 has a bunch of sediment in it. Not necessarily a bad thing from my experience. How about yours?

[Kepler]

2 hours ago, jvd99 said:

Just noticed my 15 has a bunch of sediment in it. Not necessarily a bad thing from my experience. How about yours?

 

I checked mine and yes it does have quite a bit of sediment.  The 8 has some but not as much as the 15.  I found my 10 and it has just a tiny bit if you flop the bottle upside down.  I have a 12CS somewhere but can't locate it right now.

[jvd99]

I had to scratch the itch…

 

 

[Kepler]

2 hours ago, jvd99 said:

I had to scratch the itch…

 

 

 

What is that, a 16 year Local Barley?

 

[Kepler]

On 5/13/2025 at 12:28 PM, Scotch_Collector said:

Springbank makes great Scotch. I am not a huge peat fan and need to be in the mood for it, but Springbank is a more balanced peat than Islay, for example. Not as potent and more smokey than medicinal in my opinion. 

 

I have the local barley and it is delicious. Mine is a 9 year, but I am sure the 8 year is amazing as well. 

 

Enjoy them in good health and please let us know what you think. 

 

I actually cracked open the Springbank 15 Yr last night and took it for a spin.  It was excellent, as good as advertised.  I did an impromptu SBS with my already opened Kilkerran 12 Yr that I picked up in London in 2019 as a trip souvenir.   As much as I loved the sherry influence on the Springer 15, I have to admit I was a bit surprised (disappointed?) that it lacks that "industrial machine oil" note that the Kilkerran has.  I need to open my Kilkerran 16 yr soon, to continue my research...

[jvd99]

16 hours ago, Kepler said:

 

What is that, a 16 year Local Barley?

 

Yep, a bottle from 2016, I kept some samples for just this occasion

 

16 hours ago, Kepler said:

 

I actually cracked open the Springbank 15 Yr last night and took it for a spin.  It was excellent, as good as advertised.  I did an impromptu SBS with my already opened Kilkerran 12 Yr that I picked up in London in 2019 as a trip souvenir.   As much as I loved the sherry influence on the Springer 15, I have to admit I was a bit surprised (disappointed?) that it lacks that "industrial machine oil" note that the Kilkerran has.  I need to open my Kilkerran 16 yr soon, to continue my research...

I cracked the 10 and the 15, both good, but the 15 really shines with the sherry. I'll have revisit for the machine oil, or lack thereof

 

Also love me some Kilkerran 

 

Im just a Springbank fanboy I guess

[Kepler]

5 hours ago, jvd99 said:

Yep, a bottle from 2016, I kept some samples for just this occasion

...

 

 

Good call. I do this sometimes with bottles I can't replace.  When the bottle gets close to empty, I will "archive" off a sample to save for future comparisons to new bottles.

 

Edit:  I know I learned this process from others here on SB.  Great ideas here just pass from one whiskey lover's generation to the next.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 11:33 PM by Kepler

[Kepler]

Mail call 

 

Edited Saturday at 04:34 AM by Kepler

[Scotch_Collector]

Not a Scotch, but a wonderful single malt from one of my favorite distilleries, Kavalan, from Taiwan. I have cask strength single barrels from them that are Bourbon Cask, Fino Sherry, Moscatted Sherry, and Vinho Barrique.

 

Now I have another, a single barrel, 9yr,  cask strength (59.4% ABV), Kavalan "Port Cask," selected for a local whiskey society. I might post a picture of the bottle (green label) at some point, but what an amazing find.  

 

I tried it the other night after but after another dense and rich bottle I picked up - which I will talk about in another post. It was good, but I did not get all the nuances. I let it open up for a few days and tried it again tonight. 

 

Really nice pour and just what I like in a single malt. It is rich and dense (when I twirled it in my Glencairn, it took forever for the droplets to drip down the sides of the glass) and with rich malt and deep grape and (some) raisin fruit flavor. The smell is fruit forward but the palate is a deeper flavor profile than what the palate lets on. It is not as "dark" and fig/date like as some sherry casks, but the port flavor is rich and pronounced and really nice. 

 

As with my most Kavalan's, it drinks smooth and does not feel like almost 60% ABV. 

 

What a unique and great bottle. 

 

I initially gave it 8.75/10 but think that could move up as it opens up a little more with time.

 

[Kepler]

16 minutes ago, Scotch_Collector said:

Not a Scotch, but a wonderful single malt from one of my favorite distilleries, Kavalan, from Taiwan. I have cask strength single barrels from them that are Bourbon Cask, Fino Sherry, Moscatted Sherry, and Vinho Barrique.

 

Now I have another, a single barrel, 9yr,  cask strength (59.4% ABV), Kavalan "Port Cask," selected for a local whiskey society. I might post a picture of the bottle (green label) at some point, but what an amazing find.  

 

I tried it the other night after but after another dense and rich bottle I picked up - which I will talk about in another post. It was good, but I did not get all the nuances. I let it open up for a few days and tried it again tonight. 

 

Really nice pour and just what I like in a single malt. It is rich and dense (when I twirled it in my Glencairn, it took forever for the droplets to drip down the sides of the glass) and with rich malt and deep grape and (some) raisin fruit flavor. The smell is fruit forward but the palate is a deeper flavor profile than what the palate lets on. It is not as "dark" and fig/date like as some sherry casks, but the port flavor is rich and pronounced and really nice. 

 

As with my most Kavalan's, it drinks smooth and does not feel like almost 60% ABV. 

 

What a unique and great bottle. 

 

I initially gave it 8.75/10 but think that could move up as it opens up a little more with time.

 

 

Sounds great.  I've never had a Kavalan personally but I've been impressed by feedback from others that I respect.  Any specific Kavalan that you would recommend as a first bottle?

[Scotch_Collector]

5 hours ago, Kepler said:

 

Sounds great.  I've never had a Kavalan personally but I've been impressed by feedback from others that I respect.  Any specific Kavalan that you would recommend as a first bottle?

I love the single barrel cask strength bottles. Some stores buy single barrels and have a store pick and that is the best way to go, IMO. For a non age statement single malt, the single barrels are expensive. Not saying they are not worth it, but they are pricey. 

 

If price is no object, the Vinho Barrique is amazing as is the Moscatted Sherry. I find the Fino Sherry to be a little more subtle, but still delicious. The Moscatted Sherry and the Vinho Barrique are unique and also delicious. I am not saying Kavalan does not do a mean Fino Sherry, but I like the richness of the Moscatted and the Vinho. The Moscatted is sweeter and the Vinho is rich and a great wine essence. 

 

Of course, you cannot go wrong with the bourbon cask. Rich and dense in both flavor and mouth feel. I will have to revisit my bottle, but I had a store pick at a restaurant recently, and wow, I forgot how good it is. 

 

I tend to go for more wine, sherry, port, etc. casks and my collection is 2/1 these types of casks to bourbon cask. However, when done right, a bourbon cask can be amazing and definitely has great notes of vanilla and oak, often with floral notes and the malt usually really shines through in these. 

 

My dream bottle of Kavalan is the single cask PX cask. Not spending $650+ on a bottle at this point. Again, probably incredible, but that's steep. That is especially pricey when I can get a store pick or independent bottling that is excellent for 1/5 the price or less.

 

Given that I am running out of room for bottles, I might want to consider getting pricier bottles over several bottles, but I do not know if I can justify that to myself. We will see. 

 

I am not a fan of the concertmaster series but have not had them in years. They are 40% and light, if I recall. 

 

They also have a bourbon oak, sherry oak, and port oak, that are 43-46%. Those, from the description, seem like less potent versions of the single barrels. I see they also released a 3 Sherry at a lower ABV as well. 

 

Bottom Line: Cannot go wrong with the cask strength single barrel series. These are a both amazing single malts and great representations of what Kavalan can do. 

 

However, if price is a factor, and you cannot find a store pick to reduce costs, I would try the bourbon oak or port oak and maybe the sherry oak.

 

For what's worth, I have never had their peated expression, but it sounds good, if you can find it. That is probably up your alley if I recall some of the bottles you like.  

 

Whatever you choose, make sure to report back and let us know what you think!