Whiskey - It's the water of life!

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ScamL Likely said:
Had a bit of Arran 10 tonight. I guess the liquor store was trying to get rid of it for whatever reason because it was about $30 cheaper than prices I see online. Very decent stuff.
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Arran 10 is very solid, very decent. My only gripe is the nose promises so much more than what the palate and finish gives.
I reckon I should try the 18 someday to see if it delivers on that promise, but it's a bit expensive.
 
I just had some Redbreast 12 a few weeks ago. I'm not really into Irish whiskey but that shit was really good. I've never defined an Irish whiskey as 'pleasant' but Redbreast is definitely that. I could sip that stuff all day.

Also I had some Four Roses Single Barrel bourbon and while I'm a wheater fan, this was some excellent rye bourbon. I can't recommend it enough if you're looking for a change of pace.
 
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For this month, Talisker 10, which I reckon doesn't need any introduction, and Auchentoshan ("ock-un-tosh-un", meaning "corner of the field") Three Wood.

Fairly sweet and heavy nose, just like an aged rum. Lots of brown sugar, plum, raisins, and figs. A little bit of blackcurrant, hiding in the bushes along with a hint of hazelnut.

On the palate, dark chocolate leads, vanilla and sour blood oranges follow it, with spices and oak on their heels. Faint nutty notes remain all along. It's a lot less sweet than its smell indicates, and all for the better - if I wanted rum, I would have bought rum instead.

The finish is slightly bitter cocoa with the same oaky, spicy notes. Quite warm and easy drinking, it's a pleasant daily sipper. Too bad for the heavy colouring.

A few notes on Tomatin Legacy/Dualchas: the last bottle I bought was slightly different than the usual. That batch probably had a different cask configuration, since it had a lot more wood than the usual "refreshing fresh citrus" stuff. Not really a quality issue, since the casks weren't tired, just different. I prefer the former, though.

A few thoughts about the Talisker: neat, it's perfect for the kind of weather in my area: chilly, rainy, with an occasional gust of wind. A bit of water brings the milder elements to the forefront, making it a good daily sipper. However, I don't like it as much as I think I should. The disruptive elements, like the blast of salty smoke or the dry, chalk-like finish are very interesting. While it's better than the entry level Laphroaigs - Select and 10 - for me, it doesn't form a coherent whole, at least not yet.
This is my first encounter with the Talisker 10, and I reckon I need more time with the bottle.
 
This month's whisky budget was a bit tighter, so I went cheap.

Teacher's Highland Cream, a full liter bottle.

Unexpectedly decent. Smells like a young blend and tastes like a bland blend. The slightest hint of smoke, toffee and cereal sweetness, ripe red apples. Very smooth with no alcoholic burn and a very short finish of more apples and honey. I don't think it's much worse than Chivas Regal 12 for half the cost.

The Ileach Cask Strength "Islay Single Malt" from an undisclosed distillery, botled by Vintage Malt Whisky Company.

It's got a healthy colour, but sadly, it's been "enhanced".
The nose is bitter, green, organic. Burnt rubber and actual, organic peat. A whiff of iodine, a pinch of cinnamon, maybe, and salt lightly sprinkeld on top.
Oily and viscous, a brief sweetness turns into medicinal notes. It is peated, but rather than smoke, it is raw and organic. Oil and tar.
The finish continues with iodine and sour apples, not a great combination.

I do recommend a bit of water. Opening it up introduces fruity elements - apples and plum - and improves the sweetness without diminishing the peat, creating a good balance.

As for the mystery distillery, the gentlemen of Single Malt Review speculate it's either Lagavulin or Caol Ila. Horst "Oh God switch the fucking mike off when you're swirling the whisky in your mouth" Lüning leans on the latter.
 
Fall has been exceptionally busy for me so far, but I've added a few more bottles to the collection thanks to some serious overtime pay.

My current favorite evening sipper is Glenlivet Rum Cask Finish. There's no age statement on the bottle, but when the whiskey is this smooth, I simply don't care. It's a very golden hue, and honestly looks like a good rum in the bottle. On the nose it's very quiet, with very light floral notes and a hint of tropical fruit with a bit of coconut. On the palette, it's extremely smooth and creamy with no alcohol burn at all, the rum is definitely there, and compliments the light fruitiness of the Glenlivet very well, with the sweet notes of the rum taking over towards the finish. It's really an excellent offering from Glenlivet and an interesting take on their classic single malt, and at around $35 - $40 USD a bottle, I can't beat the value. I find it somewhat similar to Glenmorangie Cadboll Estate 15, (which is fucking excellent whiskey by the way, if you haven't tried it, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle) but significantly cheaper, the Cadboll creeping up towards $90 - $95 a bottle here in the US.
 
Boris Blank's glass eye said:
This month's whisky budget was a bit tighter, so I went cheap.

Teacher's Highland Cream, a full liter bottle.

Unexpectedly decent. Smells like a young blend and tastes like a bland blend. The slightest hint of smoke, toffee and cereal sweetness, ripe red apples. Very smooth with no alcoholic burn and a very short finish of more apples and honey. I don't think it's much worse than Chivas Regal 12 for half the cost.

The Ileach Cask Strength "Islay Single Malt" from an undisclosed distillery, botled by Vintage Malt Whisky Company.

It's got a healthy colour, but sadly, it's been "enhanced".
The nose is bitter, green, organic. Burnt rubber and actual, organic peat. A whiff of iodine, a pinch of cinnamon, maybe, and salt lightly sprinkeld on top.
Oily and viscous, a brief sweetness turns into medicinal notes. It is peated, but rather than smoke, it is raw and organic. Oil and tar.
The finish continues with iodine and sour apples, not a great combination.

I do recommend a bit of water. Opening it up introduces fruity elements - apples and plum - and improves the sweetness without diminishing the peat, creating a good balance.

As for the mystery distillery, the gentlemen of Single Malt Review speculate it's either Lagavulin or Caol Ila. Horst "Oh God switch the fucking mike off when you're swirling the whisky in your mouth" Lüning leans on the latter.
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Lüning, Horst Lüning cracks me up endlessly. He knows his stuff of course, but he's so low-key weird that you have to love the guy.
 
Normally I'm a 50-80 dollar whiskey kind of guy, Belvenie and the like. But today I picked up some Jameson's Cold Brew, it's Jamesons blended with cold brew coffee. Was only like 27 bucks and I must say if coffee and whiskey is your thing, it's actually a nice drink for that price. Wish I had gotten this during summer though, bet it would be even better on a hot night. But the coffee nor the whiskey overpower each other.

I first tried it on ice, since the cold brew and it was kind of meh and the watering down overpowered the coffee flavor. But straight up with just a drop of water it is pretty good for a 27 dollar whiskey.
 
Whatevs said:
Normally I'm a 50-80 dollar whiskey kind of guy, Belvenie and the like. But today I picked up some Jameson's Cold Brew, it's Jamesons blended with cold brew coffee. Was only like 27 bucks and I must say if coffee and whiskey is your thing, it's actually a nice drink for that price. Wish I had gotten this during summer though, bet it would be even better on a hot night. But the coffee nor the whiskey overpower each other.

I first tried it on ice, since the cold brew and it was kind of meh and the watering down overpowered the coffee flavor. But straight up with just a drop of water it is pretty good for a 27 dollar whiskey.
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I'll admit that at first I dismissed the new stuff that Jameson has been doing as sort of 'gimmicky', but after trying the Caskmates Stout at a Christmas party a few years back I had to re-think that. It was wonderful (and as an added bonus it will always remind me of Christmas now.)

The funny thing is that I'm not really a huge fan of regular Jameson. It's not that I don't like it. I think it's fine. I even keep a bottle of it stocked in my bar for company because it's a safe "go to". but the Caskmates Stout is awesome. I've got a new bottle just waiting for Christmas time.

The Cold Brew sounds interesting and I may have to try it, but I think I'll take your advice and wait for the summer.
 
Boris Blank's glass eye said:
This month's whisky budget was a bit tighter, so I went cheap.

Teacher's Highland Cream, a full liter bottle.

Unexpectedly decent. Smells like a young blend and tastes like a bland blend. The slightest hint of smoke, toffee and cereal sweetness, ripe red apples. Very smooth with no alcoholic burn and a very short finish of more apples and honey. I don't think it's much worse than Chivas Regal 12 for half the cost.
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I've always considered Teacher's to be really good value for money. That smoothness and slight smokiness raises it a few notches above other cheapo blended whiskies, except maybe J&B Rare.
 
Some JERK said:
I'll admit that at first I dismissed the new stuff that Jameson has been doing as sort of 'gimmicky', but after trying the Caskmates Stout at a Christmas party a few years back I had to re-think that. It was wonderful (and as an added bonus it will always remind me of Christmas now.)

The funny thing is that I'm not really a huge fan of regular Jameson. It's not that I don't like it. I think it's fine. I even keep a bottle of it stocked in my bar for company because it's a safe "go to". but the Caskmates Stout is awesome. I've got a new bottle just waiting for Christmas time.

The Cold Brew sounds interesting and I may have to try it, but I think I'll take your advice and wait for the summer.
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Oh, I'll definitely have to give the Stout a try. I do like a nice stout beer so that with a whisky sounds like a good combo if it's done right.

And while I'm having the Cold Brew in November, If you are into cigars, I got to admit this goes really well with a Perdomo 20th Anniversary. The peppery taste of the cigar and coffee tastes really compliment the coffee of the Cold Brew.
 
I like Bourbon. Woodford Reserve, Four Roses, etc. I started off with Jack Daniels and Wild Turkey, of course, but Woodford Reserve is damn good. I’ll happily take just about any damn bourbon, though. I’m not too picky. Bourbon is bourbon. It’s all good. Occasionally, I’ll get into some Scotch, like Glenlivet or Laphroaig, but the caramel notes of bourbon are always what call to me.
 
Whatevs said:
Oh, I'll definitely have to give the Stout a try. I do like a nice stout beer so that with a whisky sounds like a good combo if it's done right.

And while I'm having the Cold Brew in November, If you are into cigars, I got to admit this goes really well with a Perdomo 20th Anniversary. The peppery taste of the cigar and coffee tastes really compliment the coffee of the Cold Brew.
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The 20th Ann. is one of the few Perdomos I like. (Pepper, earth and coffee are the flavors I tend to go after the most.) I wish I still had a couple but every time I think about buying more something else finds its way into my cart instead. (I'm sure you know how that goes, lol.)

Since you also seem a fan of that flavor profile, try the RoMa Craft Neanderthal HN (If you haven't already). If you dig that, I might turn you on to my favorite cigar of all time (which I love so much I refuse to mention it on public forums. I'm terrified that the prices will go up if too many people figure out how awesome they are.)
 
Whiskey has become my liquor of choice over the last few years. Honestly Nick Rekeita having all kinds of different things on his streams is what got me interested in branching out and actually trying things. Me being a cheap ass it was tough to drop more than $25 on a 750mL bottle but the price concerns dropped pretty quickly once I got to try so many nice things and learned to appreciate it.

My favorite if I had to choose is something from a young local distiller. The name would be TMI but basically it is the first batch of aged whiskey they've ever made. Maybe it's trash whiskey and the sticker on the bottle just puts me in a nice comfy mood but it works. I've enjoyed it greatly but the problem is I've been sitting with a practically empty bottle for about 6 months clinging on and unable to drink the rest because the first batch has been all sold. A supplier is claiming there will be more at the end of this year but will that be true? Will the second batch be just as nice? Those are my fears. I'm maybe thinking of getting a case of it if they do release more, just seems like a lot to drop on a bunch of all the same whiskey when I could get some more exotic things for the price.
 
Joshuan Moon said:
Whiskey has become my liquor of choice over the last few years. Honestly Nick Rekeita having all kinds of different things on his streams is what got me interested in branching out and actually trying things. Me being a cheap ass it was tough to drop more than $25 on a 750mL bottle but the price concerns dropped pretty quickly once I got to try so many nice things and learned to appreciate it.

My favorite if I had to choose is something from a young local distiller. The name would be TMI but basically it is the first batch of aged whiskey they've ever made. Maybe it's trash whiskey and the sticker on the bottle just puts me in a nice comfy mood but it works. I've enjoyed it greatly but the problem is I've been sitting with a practically empty bottle for about 6 months clinging on and unable to drink the rest because the first batch has been all sold. A supplier is claiming there will be more at the end of this year but will that be true? Will the second batch be just as nice? Those are my fears. I'm maybe thinking of getting a case of it if they do release more, just seems like a lot to drop on a bunch of all the same whiskey when I could get some more exotic things for the price.
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Transfer the remaining liquid to a much smaller bottle. Get a 0,2dl or a 0,05dl mini, if you can.
The next batch is probably going to be different, but not necessarily inferior or superior. Try to get a sample first, if you can.
 
Boris Blank's glass eye said:
Transfer the remaining liquid to a much smaller bottle. Get a 0,2dl or a 0,05dl mini, if you can.
The next batch is probably going to be different, but not necessarily inferior or superior. Try to get a sample first, if you can.
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Fortunately it's not only drops and fumes remaining but you're still right about taking it to a smaller bottle if I'm going to sit on what's left. I don't spend any time in the miniature section of the liquor store because it's not very economical so I don't have anything on hand I could use. They have a sampler variety pack I wouldn't mind getting that has a couple 375ml bottles but that might be too big. I estimate about 200-150ml remaining.

Still probably a good thing to wait for the new stuff to actually come out before committing to too much. The store does do samples but mostly of items they want to move faster or are items they have high margins on. Even if I can't try it in store I can alway get one and come back for more if I'm still happy with it. I don't think the discount on a case is very high anyway.
 
High-proof alcohol for December, though the weather's been crap (not cold enough) here.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed, which could be described as the older, more mature brother of WT101 - more wood, more spice, deeper citrus notes. The only thing it can't beat is the sheer value of the 101 - good bourbon at a great price.

Benriach Peated Cask Strength Batch 2, with a lot more information on the sleeve. Now it proudly states it's natural colour, non chill filltered, and it's been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso casks. There's peat in the nose, but a lot more subdued compared to the first batch. It's more Oloroso and almonds, and the same goes for the taste. Earthy peat gives a slightly bitter background to sherry flavours: prune, figs, raisins, almonds and walnuts. A lot more subtle than the blast of the previous one, it's lovely.

I'm undecided on the next order. Initial plans were an AnCnoc combo with 12 and Peatheart, but I've noticed one of the stores stock both the Cu Bocan line and the Tomatin Caribbean Rum Cask Finish, so that might be the winner.
 
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