Hi Ed i may be very tempted to open it soon :-)
I'm not really a fan of Blue, but the scotch glass in the eBay listing below looks very cool and unique. The thick rim of the glass seems like it would be really nice to drink out of, though I'm just guessing because I haven't tried it. I have no relationship with the listing or seller, just happened upon this by accident -> Johnnie Walker Blue Label rocks glass | eBay
just poured a glass of johnny walker green label 1st generation. excellent. best blended scotch i have had in a while.
Having worked in the bar industry for 8 years there isn't much I haven't tried. That said my current favorite technically isn't Scotch. But if you can still find the Hibiki 12 I can't recommend it enough.
But it is a whisky, and not a whiskey...Hibiki 12 is very good; Hibiki 17 is a great drink; not available in many spots in the USA, but I have connections to get a bottle now and again. The 12 is aged in port casks, which makes it distinct and quite smooth. Sadly, though, with the enhancement in their quality, the prices have skyrocketed. Yamazaki 18, which went for $125 only a few years ago, is more than double that now. There are other Japanese choices, though, that are almost as good at far lower prices. Amongst them are: Nikka Yoichi, still under $100 USD Nikka Taketsuru (NAS); about $65 USD Hakushu single malt, about $60 USD Yamazaki 12, about $95 USD
Ken, Balvenie has been our scotch for many years. Still owned and managed by the descendants of William Grant and his sons, the family that founded it in 1892, year of my mom's birth. We drink the 12 year-old double barrel, our celebration whisky is the 'bottled by hand' 15 year-old Single Barrel and there lies a story. Since forever the 15 year-old was bottled at 50.4%. Some years ago I drove over to Arlington VT where state liquor stores offered very attractive pricing. Picked up a bottle of the 15 year-old and noticed that it was marked 'bottled at 47.8%'. Perplexed I emailed my question to the Distillery and some weeks later had a call from a man who said he was Balvenie's rep in VT. They had indeed changed to 47.8%. He had been nice enough to call around to all the state liquor stores in Vermont and while they listed their inventory as 50.4%, none had an actual bottle of the 50.4% Single Barrel. BUT, he said, he saw in the State Liquor Authority inventory one Balvenie promotional item for display at the bar of restaurants: a wooden stand with three Balvenie bottles, a 10-year-old, a 12 year-old 'Double Barrel' and a 15 year-old Single Barrel' of 50.4%. He could sell it to me for a reduced price that, if one deeducted from it the normal cost of the 10 and 12 year old bottles, the 15 year-old 50.4% cost me about $24. We've been drinking the 47.8% and keeping that 50.4% bottle as a souvenir of the good times. P.S. I have a bottle of 30-year-old Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey, a "Very Special Reserve of Unblended Pot Still Pure Malt" that I bought at the Distillery in 1983. It was put down in 1948 and bottled in 1981. Unopened, evaporation has dropped the level of whiskey to an inch below the neck. I am willing to put this bottle in the hands of another whisky lover, but must be able to come fetch the bottle here in Saratoga Springs or the Albany New York area him(her)self. Any serious offers? send PM wow! just looking back at that - 1948! almost 70 years ago. Cardinals beat the Red Sox in the World Series. the State of Israel was born. Harry Truman was getting re-elected President
Du-oh! I meant to say the Hibiki 12 is aged in plum wine casks, not port (force of habit, I suppose). Sorry, Bob H
Really interesting story, and very rare bottle. Knappogue Castle was bought by the Andrews family in 1951 or thereabouts, and your bottle appears to be a one-off made for the family by the original distillers (in fact, the scarce references to it note it was specifically made for Mark Andrews, the grandfather of the current generation of owners). The "1951" 30-year old is highly regarded and rare, so I'd have no idea what yours might be worth. If you don't mind, post a photo of the label so I can see how intricate they got on it (the 1951 is pretty cool, and originally came in a burlwood box. My understanding is the family used casks from the 1940's to create it, and dated it ceremonially after the year of purchase. The whiskey inside could be from as early as WW2). Thanks, Bob H
Bob, the label on the back of the bottle has a lengthy description of 'uisge beatha' and states: "Each bottle is numbered and reserved for the Honorable Mark Edwin Andrews of Knappogue Castle." When I have a chance I'll post photos of front and back labels.
Thanks - The Irish gov't should pay you to take to them for display IMHO. The Irish (very similar to the Gaelic) word uisce or uisge is the root word that causes us to call it "whiskey". It's pronunciation of "oosh-ca" or thereabouts was later written as "uiskie" in the middle ages, and then anglicized to the common word of whisk(e)y now. Beatha is loosely translated as "breath" as in "breath of life", thus the Scottish/Latin aqua vitae, e.g., water of life. Language is cool... Bob H
I was fortunate enough to work for bar/restaurant owned by someone who wanted to offer as many Japanese whiskeys as possible and would scout duty free stores and everywhere between. The Nikka selections are also very good. But agreed on the prices. For a while Costco was selling Hibiki Harmony for about $50. Should have stocked up.
Bob, I've spent my life with language, most of the time as a lawyer wordsmithing, and in my 'spare' time writing short fiction and verse. I adore language. I accept the Irish gov't's offer to acquire my Knappogue bottle and am awaiting arrival of the Aer Lingus business class tickets for SWMBO and me. I've visited Ireland six or seven times, the first in 1957 as a young ensign, watch officer and legal officer of U.S.S. Intrepid. As I've written in another thread, with a friend I've applied to be accepted to run the Mille MIglia 2017 and acquired a fully-restored, rally-prepared 1954 TR2 to run it. We're on the Waiting List. A prefatory Irish sojourn carrying the precious whiskey to Dublin [N.B. the Scots spell it without the 'e'] would be perfect.
I've always felt that a life well lived was one with remarkable memories; if so, yours is one that truly fits the bill. I write more non-fiction & edit student work, all professional stuff...when not choosing which single malt to accompany me in that effort. I lived in the UK in the 1990's, and am going back and forth now for another academic foray; I began to drink and collect Scotch after visiting the distilleries & seeing the artisanal pride they took with the creation of their whiskies. I should have picked up a case of Macallan 25 years ago at $100 a bottle when that was possible...
ah yes, Sir Robert, the would-a, should-a, could-a! In 1960 at a London cocktail party I met a young couple, Midge MacKenzie and Peter Henry, Midge was an incipient film-maker, shortly went on to have a friendship with Francois Truffaut and others, later came to New York City where she started film-making. And we met a few times for cocktails. Peter dealt in antiques and was a car guy. We got on well since a couple of years earlier when I was on active duty in the Navy, I had raced a Triumph TR3. Peter told me a friend of his was having some financial pressure and looking to sell his pre-WWII Bugatti which Peter said he had personally driven on the M1, then the only motorway, and it handled well, was in splendid condition and was dead steady at 120 mph. Friend needed to get 2800 quid, then about $4200, for the car. I could taste this car I wanted it so badly but I didn't have $4200. The car was one of three type 57SC Atlantic alloy-bodied coupes, one presently in Ralph Lauren's collection, second in the Mullen Museum in Los Angeles (reportedly the Mullens paid $40 Million for it) and the third is in the Bugatti Museum in Molsheim. I don't regret it - had I bought the car I'd likely have sold it within a couple of years when someone offered me $12K or $15K and thought I'd made a real killing. :-( And this afternoon I'm going to fetch from winter storage the lovely blu TdF Maranello you see in my avatar.
Had a blind whisky tasting tonight with some friends which we do every few months. The theme tonight was 18 years or older. The favorites were the Macallan 18 and the Glenfiddich 21. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am a Macallan fan as well. It was my favorite of the bunch. Glenfiddich 21 was second. It was fun to taste them blind and decide our favorites without knowing which was which.