Favorite Whiskey?

Yeah and maybe I'm the only one...but I don't think n they're THAT great. They're good, but not as insanely good as everyone is making them out to be, at least that's my opinion.

 

Boy did I make a mistake and drop $55 on a bottle last night. Bought a bottle of Ardbeg 10 year old Scotch. I think it was Ralfy's Scotch of the year 2016.
As soon as I opened it I knew I had made a mistake by the smell (old wet ashtray). Now I thought I wanted to try a smoky peated Scotch. Boy was I wrong. I poured a small glass hoping the taste for 55 bucks would be better than the smell. Wrong again. Reminded me of a beer I grabbed and took a big swig of years ago that a friend had been using to dump his cigarettes into all night. That with a bite. I don't mean to bash and some of you may like this, but definitely not my cup of tea.

 

they are definitely a love then or hate them kind of whiskey. At least you know now! Too bad I'm not near by I'd take that bottle of your hands for ya. I love Ardbeg

 

I agree. When I bought the bottle of Hibiki 8 months ago I paid $56. Now the same bottle at the same Liquor store is $91

 

Lol, I feel your pain. Post 2155 - I tried to warn you!

 

I have 2 bottles of Hibiki and 1 Blantons, still in their boxes. Bought them up when I first started drinking nicer stuff and they were/are hard to get, so I grabbed a few when I could. As I tried other stuff I realized the same thing as @Ensemble88 - nice but not spectacular. The exception would be the first bottle of Blantons I got. That was spectacular. Unfortunately bottles thereafter were a let down so I stopped chasing it. One of these days I'll open up the bottle I have and see if I got lucky. I chalk it up to the perils of single barrel bourbon- it's a gamble.

 

I hear that love or hate. Got a guy trading new unopened bottle of 12 year old Highland Park for it.

 

May the odds be ever in your favor! Even pappy's has gone down in quality. Their 2014 and 2015 releases were way better than the following years when I got to do their 23yrs side by side. Age statements will keep going away as they get greedier and diluting with younger whiskey.

I love HP! That's a good trade mate.

 

Loved that AE cask I’d have paid 3 for it bc you can’t find it in PA.

And that Henry McKenna 10 is a great value-priced bourbon.

 

I haven't tried enough to draw that conclusion yet. But you may be correct. Just the scarcity draws the allure of obtaining them.

 

I have yet to have a Japanese whisky that I didn't think was at least 'good' with many exceeding that. They are closer in profile to scotch than anything, so if that isn't your cup of tea, then they might not work for you. The common denominator in all of them is how clean they all taste. I suspect water selection is a more considerable factor for Japanese distilleries than some other places.

Yamazaki 18 is excellent and the 12 is very good. Nikka Coffey Grain is really good as well. I have a bottle of Nikka From the Barrel that I brought from overseas before they started selling over here and it is really nice stuff, too. Hibiki Japanese Harmony is good and readily available.

Hakushu 12, Togouchi, Suntory The Chita. They've all been pretty good, to me. I suppose the one I've liked the least is Nikka Coffey Malt (as opposed to the Coffey Grain).

I'll probably keep the Japanese Harmony and the Nikka From the Barrel on the shelf (now that the latter is sold stateside) as much as I can.

It isn't necessarily that Japanese whiskies as a whole are getting super inflated in price, it is that the age stated stuff is starting to become coveted. The Japanese have experienced a boom due to the quality of their whiskies and they simply don't have enough whisky aging in the barrels to keep up with demand on the age stated product. That is why things like the Yamazaki 12 & 18 are seeing reduced production and why stuff like Hibiki 12 & 17 are discontinued altogether (Hibiki 17 only very recently so).

Anyone that has one and knows what they have will likely charge a premium.

All whiskey is going through it, though, due to the rising popularity. Bourbons, scotches, ryes, etc. are all seeing their prices creep up and seeing previously easy-to-find bottles suddenly become rare.

If you want to get out of the bubble, you have to look at things like rum and cognac/armagnac. Similar levels of care, proof, aging, and quality of product, but for much cheaper since the demand isn't currently there. I suspect the whiskey bubble will burst at some point and one of those two spirits will bear the new burden. Wish I had a crystal ball to know which armagnacs to stock up on for future trading .

 

Hope everyone in Anchorage is ok. There is at least one person with priorities in order...

 

I'm an Ardbeg fan but I can understand your dislike, if you don't like, no one should hold it against you. Drink and be merry.

 

Anyone in the Sacramento area want to buy (or trade something non-peaty!) for a Lagavulin 16 - only an ounce or so gone? I paid approx $70, would sell for $40?

 

I’d be all over it, if not for the 3,000 miles between here and Sacramento

 

bought a bottle of Corryvreckan last year and honestly can't handle it. so I'm giving it to a British client who has a thing for smoky singles. I think he'll be happy. i do love the 10 year though and I'll be getting a refill soon.

 

I understand why the whiskey is getting more expensive. Japan's stock is the smallest because they are the new kids on the block. Supply/demand and all, but I'm not paying 3x more for japanese whiskey just because there's less of it now. The quality of the product hasn't changed, just the scarcity. And there's way better scotches for $200-300 then a 12yr or 15yr old Japanese whiskey. See what I'm saying? It's not that they're bad, but the quality isn't dictating the price anymore.

Gin and Rum are the next spirits to boom. I'm guessing gin because the age time is shorter and a lot of companies that want to produce whiskey come out with gins and/or vodkas to pay the bills while their whiskey matures. So by proxy to the whiskey industry, gin will take off (since vodka had no flavor). Good rum still can take a fair amount of aging. El Dorado 15yr for example. Wheras most gins don't even have age statements.

That's my somewhat educated guess.

 

Yes, all this I've heard. My friend educated me on this. He has a large surplus of all these, and known the value to increase.

My question is,, which you seem to agree, is this all just a phase? Vodka was seemingly popular a decade ago it seemed. We are foolishly anticipating maybe tequila would be the next "rare thing." And I do need to learn about rum haha so that is a cheaper avenue.

 

Blantons and Ive got Basil Hadens 10 year at the house right now

 

I don't want to answer for bvbull, but personally I don't think there's nearly the variety of flavor like whiskey has in any other spirit. But who knows, maybe that'll change. in the meantime, bottoms up! Sorry if I sounded like a jerk bvbull (you can tell which one I am)