What dram is in your quaich?

[ForresterModern]

I generally put a little water in my A'bunadh, mostly to cut the alcohol burn, or even drink it on the rocks. To me it has a variety of rich flavors dominated by the sherry in the finish. It's a great after-dinner malt.

DrinkUpNY wants $81 for it, and then there's the shipping. It used to be free, if you bought at least $100 worth of booze, but now it is very expensive. So please, by all means, if you find a better buy please let me (us) know.

John

John,

I still take mine neat, one of the few cask strength that I still can that way, as the sherry finish seems to hide the burn a bit with that full mouth flavor.

I will be in Virginia early next month and see they have A'bunadh for something like $70 plus what it would cost me in shipping. New Mexico has laws similar to Kentucky in that you cannot receive mail order liquor from out of state retailers, but I do not believe there is any restriction on a private citizen sending a bottle. Will do some checking.

[mookien]

Jeff: Actually, retailers can ship liquor into New Mexico. I buy a good bit of my scotch that way. See, for example, ....

http://www.klwines.com/state_legality.asp

If you can find some A'bunadh in Virginia for that price, please let me know. Now, if only VA doesn't have laws that prohibit them from shipping it to me.

John

[ForresterModern]

Jeff: Actually, retailers can ship liquor into New Mexico. I buy a good bit of my scotch that way. See, for example, ....

http://www.klwines.com/state_legality.asp

If you can find some A'bunadh in Virginia for that price, please let me know. Now, if only VA doesn't have laws that prohibit them from shipping it to me.

John

John

abc.Virginia.gov is the website but it specifically says they do not ship from the ABC state stores or the website. If they have it in stock I could pick some up and ship it to you next month when I am there for a family event.

Kentucky does not allow mail order liquor to come into the state, but then they are generally cheaper than our neighboring states anyway. Their big problem is with getting quality and variety of stock.

Will keep you posted as to my search here and in Virginia.

[ForresterModern]

Tonite's dram was Signatory Vintage independent bottling of Braes of Glenlivet 32 year old originally casked in 1974 and bottled in 2006 at cask strength 56% alcohol. This is one very vibrant beast, one of the few that I actually prefer to put a few cc's of spring water into after taking my first taste neat just to prepare my mouth. Then it becomes quite palatable, albeit still a mouthful. Other than its powerful strength it has no particularly distinct flavors except maybe a bit of iodine and smoke. Definitely a highland tasting whiskey despite being from the loftier parts of the Speyside district being on record the highest altitude scotch distillery in the country.

Interestingly this distillery was opened by Chivas and Glenlivet nearby its namesake in 1973, so this vintage 1974 32 year old is an early run from their first year in production. They have never made an official bottling of their own product, although a variety of secondary bottlings are available (Signatory, Gordon McPhail, Douglas Laing, and others). After 1994 the name changed to Braeval to minimize confusion with regular Glenlivet. Most of its product went into Chivas Bros blends up until 2001 when it was sold to Pernod and promptly mothballed. Pernod reopened it in 2008, but lord only knows where its product will go once it starts exiting the aging barns in the next few years. Hopefully into some nice single malts of official or secondary bottlings with a bit of age in them.

[mookien]

John

abc.Virginia.gov is the website but it specifically says they do not ship from the ABC state stores or the website. If they have it in stock I could pick some up and ship it to you next month when I am there for a family event.

Kentucky does not allow mail order liquor to come into the state, but then they are generally cheaper than our neighboring states anyway. Their big problem is with getting quality and variety of stock.

Will keep you posted as to my search here and in Virginia.

Jeff: Thank you for thinking about me and for your generous offer. But, that's a lot of trouble for you to have to go through, so I can drink a bottle of malt, even a great malt like A'bunadh. I'll probably just pay another $10 and get it from DrinkUpNY.

Anyway, it's not exactly like I'm sitting here parched with thirst. While my inventory has shrunk somewhat as I have culled malts of lesser interest to me, I still have 36 different malts in an inventory of 57 bottles. So, I think I'll survive. Thanks again for thinking about me though. Slainte!

John

[ThistleDown]

Bowmore 15 'Darkest' tonight. We must not speak ill of the dead -- we used him well; but Bowmore has finer than this chocolate yin.

[ASinclair]

Tonight, it's Highland Mist Blended Scotch Whisky "A blend of Highland, Lowland, Islay and Speyside whiskies, aged for thirty-six months and originally selected for the home trade." This pale amber, oaky and earthy with a hint of vanilla smelling whisky hits the tongue burning and burns even brighter as it goes down. Note: It is very inexpensive.


Slainte!

[ASinclair]

I was at the Bethabara Highland Games in Winston-Salem, NC, USA all day and had the XMARKS Quaich continuously charged with Old Pulteney 12. Um-Um good!

Slainte mhath!

[Domehead]

Hail Hail!
I don't believe I've ever contributed to this thread before, largely because my tastes are predictable: Caol Ila 12 in the fall & winter; Dalwhinnie 15 in the spring & summer.
Anyway, this past Robbie Burns Event, we enjoyed The Balvenie Doublewood. Anyway, here in Upstate, the weather has finally broken. Therefore, this very afternoon, I purchased my first spring bottle - The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask.

[ASinclair]

Hail Hail!
I don't believe I've ever contributed to this thread before, largely because my tastes are predictable: Caol Ila 12 in the fall & winter; Dalwhinnie 15 in the spring & summer.
Anyway, this past Robbie Burns Event, we enjoyed The Balvenie Doublewood. Anyway, here in Upstate, the weather has finally broken. Therefore, this very afternoon, I purchased my first spring bottle - The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask.

I've had the Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask, and it is lovely. But I absolutely adore the Dalwhinnie 15! Um, um, good!

Slainte mhath!