12/25/08:  Thank you, Santa!  Sitting under the tree this morning?  A bottle of BenRiach 21 year old Peated Authenticus.  Had a dram after lunch, it was very, very nice!  Not as peated as I thought it would be, but still a kick for a Speysider.  I'll get detailed tasting notes up before too long.  Thanks, Santa!!  You rock!

10/15/08:  Just picked up a Caol Ila 18 today.  Very nice weekday dram.  Mildly peaty, pine tar tang, some sweetness down below.  Nice smooth finish, good mouthfeel.  A good buy!

10/13/08:  Wow!  Two updates in one month.  Must be some type of new record or something.  Anyhow, just a few updates on the hooch front.  One, that A. H. Hirsch I found wasn't the A.H. Hirsch I thought it was, rather, it was a Hirsch Reserve American Whiskey.  I picked it up anyhow, but haven't opened it yet.  I also picked up a bottle of Glenlivet 15 year old French Oak and from the Wine Library in New Jersey, I added a bottle of Murray McDavid Mortlach 1993 bourbon/Syrah finish single malt.  Haven't opened that one yet, either.  Soon, soon. . .

10/5/08:  Okay, okay, okay - I know it's been a while since I updated this site.  I haven't been neglecting the collection, just the reporting.  I'll give you a quick update on the new additions.  Added another bottle of Macallan 12, courtesy of Dave, our realtor who sold us the condo in Denver.  Thanks, Dave!  I also added a bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask, a bottle of Four Roses Single Barrel bourbon, and I found a bottle of A. H. Hirsch 20 year old Reserve bourbon that I'm going to pick up this week.  Yeah, I know - it ain't single malt - but fall is in the air and I have officially declared it bourbon season in Colorado. Lastly, I recently attended a single malt scotch tasting sponsored by Sovereignty Wine and Spirits here in the Springs. We sampled some fine whiskies, including Bunnahabhain 12, 18, and 25, some Ledaig, and several others I'd need to check the flyer for. There was also some fantastic food and cheese. Can't wait for the next one (hint, hint, Ivars!)

6/11/08:   Picked up two bottles today - an Oban Distillers Edition and a Scapa 14yo.  Haven't yet opened either one, but looking forward to it!  I also found a Flavor Map online that I had been looking for for quite a while.  Someone posted it on WhiskyMag.com on the forums, and it's a good guide for choosing potential new whiskies.  Of course, you need to watch the tasting notes as well, but it's a good place to start.  You can find information on the map on Loch Fyne Whiskies website (https://www.lfw.co.uk/main.html) if you're interested.

5/08:   Had to go to Parkersburg, so I took along the Macallan 15 FO and the Ardbeg 10 - the Ardbeg wasn't that popular with the crowd there, but the Mac FO was a hit.  Enough so that we drained the bottle!  Acquisition this month was a bottle of The Dalmore Stillman's Dram 28yo.  Nice flavorful dram - I'll post detailed tasting notes sometime after the kids leave for the summer.  PS -n the Mac 15 FO - the price has risen to about $100 per bottle; I don't think it's worth more than about $75-80, so if you're looking for a nice Macallan, I'd save a few more bucks and pick up a bottle of the 18 year old Sherry Oak in the $130-150 neighborhood.  Well worth the extra dollars, I think - especially if you find it on sale.

4/21/08:   Always something new, I guess.  On the recommendation of an acquaintance who is also a scotch lover, I picked up a bottle of The Macallan Amber - this is a liqueur bottled at 25% ABV and is infused with maple and pecan - sounds odd, but it comes HIGHLY rated.  Should be good on the rocks, or in your coffee on a cool winter evening.  Can't wait to try it.  I also found a bottle of Talisker 18yo on the shelf, priced only $3 more than the 10yo - I even asked the guy at the store if it was mis-priced, he told me that he'd asked the same thing and that it was properly priced.  Hell, I grabbed it - it was a good $15-30 cheaper than you'd find it in most stores, so why not, right?  Tasting notes to follow soon!

4/15/08:   Yep, it's that time of year again - time to send our poor, destitute federal government a nice check to help fund our 14 seconds of the war in Iraq.  But I digress.  Thought I'd use the ritual sending of the check as an excuse to try another bottle.  This time I ventured back onto Islay for a nice bottle of Ardbeg Ten.  One of their younger expressions, but still a nice dram.  I've started keeping tasting notes on Peat Freak's Notes, so I'll see if I can link to the generated HTML file or something so I don't need to keep a separate page for notes.  I'll toy around with it for a while and see what transpires.  Meantime, back to the Ardbeg!!

4/11/08:   Well, my birthday's still over two weeks off, but the missus (the greatest wife in the world!) already picked up my birthday gift - you can see it just about in the middle of the bottom row - yes, that's right - a 30 year-old Macallan!!  Can't wait to crack this baby open!!  Thanks, honey!!

4/2/08:  Picked up a bottle of Aberlour a'Bunadh recently.  I LIKE this stuff.  I guess I just have a proclivity for the more sherried whiskeys (within reason, and at certain times.)  I mean, there's always time for a Lagavulin or a Bruichladdich, but I think my collection tends toward the mellower, sherry finished types of whisky.  Hey - it's all good!!

3/28/08:   Not much news on the single-malt front this month, really.  The only new addition to the collection was the Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength.  I wanted to add a Glenfarclas to the cabinet, but I couldn't decide between the 17yo and the Cask Strength.  They both had good reviews on the whiskey boards I frequent, and they were within $20 in price, but I figured that out of all of the single malts I have in the collection, there was nary a CS among them.  Soooo - decision made.  I have the bottle sitting on my desk right now, and I think I'll add some tasting notes on this one, oh, in an hour or so.  :-)   Might be time for a new photo of the cabinet -- and here it is!!  I reordered everything alphabetically, and I included the Irish since I only have four or five bottles.  I included a photo of the bottom of the cabinet as well - this is the non-Scotch/Irish stuff, i.e. Bourbon, clear liquors, and cognac.  There's some off the wall stuff here, but sometimes, well, you just want to have something different!

2/21/08:  It was a VERY interesting time for pursuing single malt perfection.  To begin with, I was fortunate enough to travel to Las Vegas with Annemarie last week.  My first night, I stopped at StripSteak, a restaurant in Mandalay Bay Casino.  I felt as if I had died and gone to single malt heaven.  They have about 120 different malts in stock, and a 50 - yes, fifty- page menu.  They had drams ranging from about $10 to over $350.  Yes, you read that right - three hundred fifty dollars US for ONE SHOT of Scotch.  Needless to say, I was much more restrained than that, but I got to try some fantastic drams.  In addition to the Bowmore Darkest and and Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or I bought (very generous pours, thank you very much, Chris!!), I was also treated to samplers of several different malts, some of which aren't even sold retail in the US!  I wasn't taking notes (although I probably should have!) but I recall having a taster of the Dalmore 28 yr. old "Stillman's Dram", a Caol Ila 18, I believe an Auchentoshan, and possibly a few others.  I found the staff to be very knowledgable about their single malts, and it was a completely enjoyable experience.  I'd recommend an evening of malt madness at StripSteak for anyone heading to Vegas.

Our impromptu tasting session resulted in my buying a few more bottles once we got back, including my Macallan 1861 Replica and a 15 yr old FO.  I also picked up a bottle of Bowmore Dusk, the Bordeaux/Claret finished Islay malt.  I'm hoping to try this one out this evening.  Mmmmmmm. . .

1/1/08:  Ya gotta love Santa, too - he was nice enough to bring Bill a few nice bottles of whiskey.  One was a 2005 bottle of Midleton Irish whisky.  This is one of the highest rated Irishes on the market; it comes blended in small batches and each bottle is hand numbered by the master distiller.  He also brought a bottle of Bruichladdich Moine Mohr single malt Scotch.  This one is triple-peated and goes down real smooth - after the initial "wow" after the first sip!

12/07:  We also sampled some of the different Glenfiddich offerings when I was in Virginia in December.  I think the favorite was the 18 year old Ancient Reserve - a bit more $$ than the 12 and 15 year olds, but definitely worth the difference, IMHO.

Brand	Age	Region	Rating*	Open	Comments	USD
Midleton Very Rare	Blend	Irish	NR	Y	2005 Bottling	140
Jameson	Blend	Irish	NR	Y	A nice daily drinker	25
Jameson Distillery Reserve	12	Irish	NR	Y	Only available from the Jameson Distillery, Dublin	80
Clontarf Trinity	Mixed	Irish	NR	Y	Three various in a stacked bottle arrangement	30
Bushmill's 1608	NA	Irish	NR	Y		35
The Macallan 12	12	Highland	91	Y		45
The Macallan 12	12	Highland	91	N	Gift from realtor; in the condo in Denver	45
The Macallan Fine Oak 15	15	Highland	NR	X	Killed in Parkersburg, 5/08.  Price up to $100 now!!	75
The Macallan 18	18	Highland	94	Y	Wow!  Smooth, sherried, fantastic!!!	150
The Macallan 1861 Replica	NA	Highland	95	N	Collect or drink, that is the question!	230
The Macallan 30	30	Highland	95	Y	Birthday gift from the greatest wife in the world!	700
Glenmorangie Sherry Finish	12	Highland	85	Y		67
Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban	NA	Highland	87	Y		77
Speyburn	10	Highland	71	Y		23
Dalmore Cigar Malt	NA	Highland	81	Y	Hearty; good with cigars (duh!)	30
Dalmore Stillman's Dram	28	Highland	NR	Y	First tasted this in LV, only bottle I've found in Colo Spgs!	140
Oban Distillers Edition	15	Highland	NR	Y	D: 1992, B: 2007	68
Aberlour a'bunadh	NA	Speyside	86	N	Batch #18, 59.5% ABV	80
Aberlour a'bunadh	NA	Speyside	86	Y	Batch #21, 59.5% ABV	79
BenRiach Authenticus	21	Speyside	87	Y		170
Glenlivet	18	Speyside	NR	Y		78
Glen Moray	12	Speyside	NR	Y		35
Glenlivet French Oak	15	Speyside	NR	N	Not rated, but the 12 YO got an 87	55
Glenfiddich Solera Reserve	15	Speyside	81	Y		60
The Balvenie Doublewood	12	Speyside	85	Y	I rate this higher than the books; great after dinner.	50
Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength	NA	Speyside	88	Y		80
Mortlach	12	Speyside	NR	N	1993 MMcD bottling, syrah finish	52
Talisker	10	Skye	90	Y		56
Talisker 18	18	Skye	NR	Y	Voted "Best Whisky in the World" 2007 - we'll see!!	90
Ardbeg	10	Islay	85	Y	Less peaty than other Islays, but potent!	55
Bruichladdich Moine Mhor 3D	NA	Islay	NR	Y	A truly peaty Islay malt.  MUST be in a peat mood	67
Lagavulin	16	Islay	95	Y		75
Laphroaig Quarter Cask	10	Islay	NR	Y	Finally found this in Denver - good!	55
Laphroaig 30	30	Islay	90	N	Found this one in Denver, too - last one in the shop!	255
Bunnahabhain	12	Islay	77	Y		52
Bowmore Dusk	NA	Islay	86	Y	Bordeaux/Claret Finish	55
Caol Ila	18	Islay	86	Y		80
Springbank	10	Campbeltown	83	Y	This one rocks - HIGHLY recommended!!	63
Highland Park	18	Orkney	92	Y		83
Scapa	14	Orkney	NR	Y		41
Compass Box Peat Monster	NA	Vatted Malt	NR	Y	Not a single malt, but Bill & Ivars recommend it.	53
Compass Box Hedonism	NA	Vatted Malt	NR	N	Found a good deal on this one!	80
Suntory Yamazaki	12	Japan	80	Y	Great malt for the money!!	38
Four Roses Single Barrel	NA	Bourbon	NR	Y	Highly rated, good bourbon.  Rye and cinnamon.	44
Hirsch Reserve	20	American	5 star	N	Limited availability, can't wait to try it!	81
Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey	NAS	American	NR	Y	Distilled right here in Colorado	57

* - Ratings are from the Michael Jackson "Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch" fifth edition.  NA=No Age Statement, NR=Not Rated.

For the fun of it, here's the bottom of the liquor cabinet:

Well, I said I need to get more adventurous on the types of malts I'm drinking, and I've stepped out of the box a little.  I've left the highlands and Islay and gone to Speyside, Skye, Campbeltown, Orkney, and even Japan!   It's been fun so far - I've been adding my thoughts on some of these on the Tasting Notes page (see link below).   If anyone has any suggestions on a nice dram to try, drop a line on the guestbook (back on the home page) with any suggestions - thanks!!

Out of the stuff in the bottom of the cabinet, I can HIGHLY recommend the Daniel Boujou cognac.  This stuff is fantastic, and I'm not even really a cognac kind of guy (well, I might be now!!)  We haven't opened the box (bottom shelf) yet, but it's a 40 year old and is supposed to put the standard stuff to shame, which is gonna be tough to do, since the standard (Empereur) is rated 100 pts by most everyone.  Again, that's for a special occasion!