The plus side of being an idiot is that I do have plenty of choice for a potential tasting session with a few friends next weekend, and I might even start a bourye infinity bottle.

Sometimes the 'bought because of the name' thing pays off - I first bought Cardenal Mendoza (best brandy) because it reminded me of the guy from Mysterious Cities of Gold.

equinox_code wrote:

Got a couple more bottles. Trying different things. Def fave so far is Lagavulin ascension 16, which i admittedly only got because it's named after StS character. I really find it super delicious. Gonna have to ration the measures because i could see it disappearing fast.  What else is in that direction, but different?

Excellent work, Lagavulin 16 is a damn fine whisky.

For different Islay distillery's takes on that wonderful combination of peat smoke and sherry finishing (expect more smoke and higher abv with most of these) - Ardbeg Uigeadail and Kilchoman Sanaig are superb, Uggie is especially lovely and would be my top rec if you're up for something that turns all the dials up. I'd also say to try a Laphroaig 10 Sherry Oak Finish, but I am massively biased towards diesel soaked tire fire flavours.

Alternatively, for a few notes more than your 16 - whichever Lagavulin Distillers Edition you can find is also well worth a look for an extra sherry hit in your Laga. Also, Kilchoman Loch Gorm and Kilchoman PX Sherry Cask Matured Edition (there's also a fino cask edition), as well as Ledaig 18 from Tobermory distillery on the Isle of Mull. All excellent. 

For a more unusual peat/wine influence (same direction but even more different) - the limited release and pricey Port Charlotte SC:01 is finished in sauternes casks and PMC:01 is finished in pomerol casks. Kilchoman Casado is still available here and there though I haven't had it. These last few are gonna be the hardest and most expensive to source, and in experimenting with different wine casks there's a good chance not all of them are gonna be a hit with your taste buds.

Adjacent to all this, you could also lean into bold peat flavours without the sherry influence, or just rich and lovely sherry finishing without the peat (or other types of wine finishing), it's all good stuff. Ardbeg 10 for peat and Bunnahabhain 12 for sherry should do you right.

Just ordered an Old Perth Palo Cortado Ltd edition. £63! A big one. Need to try their standard whisky at some point, but the cask strength stuff is so appealing.

In all the years of buying whisky for my my dad (or getting him to taste stuff I'd bought for myself) I think Old Perth Cask Strength was the biggest 'Jesus fucking Christ!' level reaction ever. Deffo one of my favourites too.

Nicely done, guys. Love Ardnamurchan, the one cask strength bottle I've had was excellent (definitely got better over a few weeks though) and their regular AD/ is one of my favourite sub-£50 core range bottles, from anyone. 

Only had cask strength stuff from Old Perth as well, Moot. Not that one though, can't imagine it'll be anything other than great.

Nice. I ran out yesterday. Mrs. Moot says she thinks it's on offer this week too.

That's a really good price. Wild Turkey 101's great for what it is even at full price (around £35?), but it's not really a premium bourbon. For a good sipping bourbon from the Russell family grab a bottle of Wild Turkey Rare Breed (around £55), easily findable and maybe the best value quality cask strength bourbon out there. 

That and Four Roses Single Barrel are bourbon must try's, and are bottles I try to always have in stock.

I did the same with a bottle of George T Stagg. It was after Brooks had mentioned it, I must've spent a month umming and ahing over the price but I loved it to bits. You just can't get a bottle these days besides those imported through the secondary market - and expect to pay £1000+

Anyhoo, speaking of bourbon... Got a tenner off a couple of bottles - Eagle Rare and Elijah Craig Small Batch. It's been a few years since I last bought Eagle Rare and now I remember why. It is the most okay of mid-priced bourbons. Thin with no lasting presence, flavour is okay. For my tastes Elijah Craig SB is better in every regard and great for a daily drinker at the price I paid.

Four Roses Small Batch Select is a new one to me and a big step up from those other two. I'm sure at some point I may have mentioned that I adore Four Roses Single Barrel so I thought I'd spend a tenner more to try this stuff out. Predictably, it's fantastic. More complex than the SB but still packing plenty of those trademark dark chocolate and black cherry flavours. That's another available and well priced Four Roses win for me. 

My Old Perth has arrived!

Much like the Ximenez edition it's not a patch on the OG cask strength one. Not a bad drop obviously but I'm sulking a bit. Could've bought 280cl of Abrachan for the same price!

CRISIS AVERTED

It's well nice.

Excellent work, that sounds lovely.