What's in your collection?

[Jack Daw]

Now let me see. There are six bottles of whisky in my cupboard and six unopened cases of whisky in the cellar, and without even looking I know the labels will all say:-
TALISKER.

Spare the 18 year old.

[mookien]

Piper: I like 'em all, but the peaty ones. :-)

I suspect there is a WAS. ;-) Hope I'm not infected. My aim is a dual process of sampling scotches and winnowing those I don't care for, or those for which there is a tastier alternative. I would like to end up with a lesser number of my favorites that will both offer variety and not take up so much space!

[Rob, ClanMacMillan, NM]

Piper: I like 'em all, but the peaty ones. :-)

I suspect there is a WAS. ;-) Hope I'm not infected. My aim is a dual process of sampling scotches and winnowing those I don't care for, or those for which there is a tastier alternative. I would like to end up with a lesser number of my favorites that will both offer variety and not take up so much space!

Any of the "peaty" ones which you just can't stand -- but haven't finished yet -- you can just send my way I'll be more than glad to relieve you of the burden of just letting them sit there all unappreciated.

[ForresterModern]

Jeff: Great collection and selection! Looks like we share an affinity for Auchentoshan, Balvenie, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, and especially Glenmorangie. I'll bet we could talk (and drink) for hours. :-)

You have a number of Aberlours, while I only stock the 16. I have been tempted to buy the A'bunadh, but fear it is too peaty. What do you think?

I'll bet that Auchentoshan 24 Signatory bottling was cheap. Did you pick up a bottle at Sam's Club? ;-) Actually, Sam's recently sold a Glen Taite - a 19 year-old malt distilled at Macallan that is wonderful. But, I haven't seen it in a while and it may have been a one off. I keep looking for it, though.

I bought a bottle of the Welsh Penderyn "Aur Cymru", but did not care for it - too much like brandy wine for me.

I'm looking forward to the picture. I'll drain a dram tonight and toast you, "Slainte mhor agus sonas".

John

Thanks John, but yours is clearly the best display---very impressive. Although we have a "bar" in our basement it currently is directly adjacent to our three year old's play area, and with all manner of flying objects around, plus the little tike himself, we thought it best to keep them in a closed cabinet, so we took what used to be a TV armoire and put a shelf in it and that is where nearly all the "good stuff" is kept---out of sight and out of light.

I visited the Aberlour distillery (by word of mouth the best in the central highlands because of the tasting demo afterwords) which is where I got the Sherrywood single cask. I actually got pictures of me tapping, corking, and labelling the bottle, and signing the bottle and the Aberlour "bottling" record for official purposes. I have been hooked on their stuff ever since. I would not dare to assess the a'bunadh for its taste as my likes and dislikes and descriptions do not fit the general norms, but you are welcome to a dram or six if we ever get together, which I now have a distinct sense we will someday.

The Signatory bottlings of the Auchentoshan and Braes of Glenlivet were found in, of all places, Bordeaux France last summer. There was a huge whisky store (probably a couple hundred cask strength bottlings alone) across the square from a little cafe where my wife and our son and I stopped for dinner. Had the little bugger not run off requiring me to chase him, directly to the window of the store, I would never have seen it. Talk about a kid in a candy shop---I came back the next day when they were open to take a few notes of their stock, then the next day to buy a few bottles after researching them online that evening.

I did run across a gold mine last spring in my local liquor store---3 bottles of Hillside Glenesk 1969 25yr specialty bottling (the distillery was mothballed and then destroyed in the 80's) sitting on the shelf at about $175 a piece. I laughed, having never heard of it, but then went to the internet to discover they were selling in the UK for 350gbp per bottle. I raced back to the store and bought two (the third had sold overnight), then sold them to a whisky collector online and hand delivered them when I was in Scotland golfing in August, pocketing a profit of nearly $800US. I would have bought the third bottle, had it been there wwhen I went back, to keep for the collection and my own tastings. I told the manager later what I made on the deal and now he watches me when I come into the store to see what I am looking at to make sure it is not underpriced after I leave. I laugh now every time I go in there.

We shall toast one another's good fortune tonight then.

Slainte'.

jeff

[mookien]

Rob: Not a bad idea, actually. You and I really should get together sometime. We have little excuse living fairly close to one another. I thought about coming down to the Fat Squirrel on Tartan's Day, but the party didn't start until 6 PM and it would have been a looong drive home.

My son, Joe, and I are coming down to see Kathy on Friday. He's picking up his Douglas-WCWM kilt that she just finished for him. We can't wait to see it. We ordered the cloth on Dec. 10th. It took 4 months to get it here from Dalgliesh! :-(

In my early days of scotch drinking I tried a good number of the infamous "peat monsters" - Highland Park, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Bunnahabhain, Bruichladdich, Talisker, et. al., and I just don't like that rubbery aroma/flavor that my wife characterizes as the "smell and taste of air being let out of a tire".

Now, what's interesting to me is that some people share that opinion, while others don't get that aroma and taste at all out of peat. To date though I haven't heard anyone who "likes" it explain what it tastes like to them. They just say something like, "I like it". Clearly, it is very subjective.

Anyway, most of my peaty scotches have been consumed in the past by friends and, of course, I haven't replaced them except with those that I actually like, where the peat is surrounded (and controlled?) by other flavors (like Auchentoshan 3 Wood), or where the peat is relatively mild and compensated by some other outstanding quality of the malt (like Bowmore 18 or Glenfarclas 17).

Nonetheless, if you're ever up this way, please drop by and we'll share a dram or two of whatever malts suit our fancy - peaty or not.

[mookien]

Jeff: Display? Maybe. But, the contest is for "what's in your collection?" Yours gets my vote. Those independent bottlings alone get double points. :-)

Your storage cabinet was an excellent idea given that your son is worth a billion times your (and my) scotch collection. My son, Joe, is 27, but it seems only yesterday that he was 3. They grow up fast. Try to enjoy every day with him. It won't make him grow up any slower, but it will make you feel a bit better when you turn around and he has. :-)

That Aberlour tour sounds fantastic. How did they manage to get you out of the distillery? :-) Are any of the pictures you described available for online publication? I would love to see them. Did you get to keep one of the bottles you signed? I'm definitely going to get some A'bunadh now. I'll let you know how I like it, or not.

Sounds like Carter is a chip off the old block with a nose for kilts and fine whisky. That's a funny story about him "leading" you to a scotch bonanza. I also love those stories about folks who find rare bottlings of scotch. You hit the jackpot on that one.

I, too, have a bottle from a distillery that burnt down, but in 2003. It's a 12-year old lowland scotch called Littlemill. It has a smokey flavor, but not of peat. It tastes more like scorched, pressure-treated pine. It's so bad I almost left it under the bar for my picture. I just know that the week after I finally finish it, I will read in the newspaper that an unopened bottle is worth thousands!

I also have a bottle of Finlaggan, a hideous, no-year blend made at a "secret" distillery, which everyone seems to know is Lagavulin. It's even worse than a peat monster. It's a peat mutant. One of my son's college buddies is the only person I know who is willing to drink it.

I only have 14,317 scotch stories left, but they'll have to wait. Take care.

John (mookien)

[Singlemalt]

OK, I have already declared myself as deficient in pallet. I don't think I "get" the subtleties in flavour that many other do. But I do know what I like.

I love the rich peaty, smoky flavours of the heaviest Peat Monster Islay Malts. Mookien asked what it is about them that people like. It caused me to think about it in a deeper way than I ever have before. When I get down to the root of it these flavours seem to hit the same part of my brain as rich, earthy, natural but not always 100% pleasant scents like newly mown hay, fresh cow manure or even skunk from a distance. Now I am being serious here. All these scents to me are very attractive as long as they are not too powerful and overwhelming. They seem to activate an emotional part of my brain which connects me to the natural world. They are rich, natural and somehow spring from the earth and life. Not flowery or perfumey but real and vibrant like birth, life, reproduction and decay.

I may not be an expert and have no aspiration to become one at this stage in my life but if I drop by for a dram one of the notorious "Peat Monsters" will do just fine thanks.

Slainte

[ForresterModern]

Whisky Cabinet

Contains all my Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and Japanese whisky plus a bottle or two of bourbon I believe.




I did not include on my list my two most recent acquisitions, Glenmorangie Nector d'Or and Scapa 16, the latter of which I enjoyed a toast to all of you with tonite after the evening's repast.

Most of my bourbon is held in a separate cupboard----did not wish the up and coming american whiskies spoiling for a fight with any of the good old boys.

jeff

P.s. John, I think you would like the a'bunadh, it is only lightly peated for a highland/speyside, and is sherry casked for a finish.

[lethearen]

You lads are serious about your Scotch!!!

I feel inadequate, but here's my list:

Auchentoshan Three Wood
Glenmorangie Original 10 yr
Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or
Glenmorangie Signet
Glenfiddich 12 yr
Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix
Talisker 10 yr
Jameson 12 yr
Jameson 18 yr

I know the last two aren't single malt Scotches... but I just wanted to fluff my menu

Has anyone ever tried anything from Douglas Laing? I'm a Laing on my pop's side. Not saying that I'm related to the proprietor of this distillery, but would still be interesting to have a bottle of the "family" Scotch

[ForresterModern]

Jeff: Display? Your storage cabinet was an excellent idea given that your son is worth a billion times your (and my) scotch collection. My son, Joe, is 27, but it seems only yesterday that he was 3. They grow up fast. Try to enjoy every day with him. It won't make him grow up any slower, but it will make you feel a bit better when you turn around and he has. :-)
I enjoyed my Scapa 16 on the couch snuggling him while he enjoyed his Vitamin D enriched whole milk nightcap tonite.

That Aberlour tour sounds fantastic. How did they manage to get you out of the distillery? :-) Are any of the pictures you described available for online publication? I would love to see them. Did you get to keep one of the bottles you signed? I'm definitely going to get some A'bunadh now. I'll let you know how I like it, or not.

I do have pictures buried somewhere, will try to locate them tomorrow as the milk beast has reawakened. The bottle I tapped and capped and labelled I bought for over 100gbp----well worth every pence, although I only drink that on special occasions. They did not have to drag me out, but the wife did have to take the next hour or so driving.Sounds like Carter is a chip off the old block with a nose for kilts and fine whisky. That's a funny story about him "leading" you to a scotch bonanza. I also love those stories about folks who find rare bottlings of scotch. You hit the jackpot on that one.

I only have 14,317 scotch stories left, but they'll have to wait.
Then we will have plenty to talk about while we share our scotch whenever we can get together.
John (mookien)

Jeff