Siren song

[Lee]

Does anyone have a bottle in their collection that seems to call to them to open it? Have you resisted because it's a collectable or because you can't readily replace it or you already have too many open bottles? For me it's the Ardbeg Uigeadail which I've heard so much about. I made a resolution to finish my open bottles before I opened any more. Might be the first broken resolution of the year!

[les taylor]

MMMMMMMMM Good posting Lee I have a lord of the Isles which cost me £100 it now costs £150. Every now and then I open the lid give the bottle a stroke, put it back and shut the lid. ooowwwwwwwwwww.
Don't know for how much longer I can resist. But I won't give in today.

[dram_time]

A Balblair 38 y/o OB.

It sits on the shelf at eye height, I can't miss it. I might buy a second one this year just to open it up and see.

Also a Scapa 25 y/o/OB.

Think i will wait till my boy is 25. And, if he can stand to be arround his old man, we will crack it open.

But don't they say you should never meet your hero??? incase you are dissapointed??

Dt.

[vitara7]

les, you can still buy the ardbeg loti from harvey nicks for £120

[Muskrat Portage]

Lee:
Mine would be a Signatory GLEN ALBYN 1974 (58% abv) for myself. This is a bottling which I''ve owned since Sept 30/03 and have safely stashed away but which I do retreive from time to time and undress lovingly with my eyes. This being a bottle from the distillery in the Eastern Highlands which was closed during the 1980's auditor assault and is now a parking lot, I'm somewhat leery of opening it at present.

As Dram_time so succinctly puts it;"you should never meet your hero" ,part of the apprehension may very well be that it's an indifferent bottling and the anticipation probably outweighs the actual product. I tell myself that I'll open it when I find a second one, but I'm not looking too hard, especially as it is past the arbitrary $200.00 limit I've now imposed on myself.

There is a second one, a Douglas Laing PORT ELLEN 21yo (1982) CS that I've had since April 23, 2004 cask 482, from a bottling of 660. I've still got a 22 year old PE CS (1979) open to finish first, but this one will be enjoyed before the Glen Albyn, I am sure as I really enjoy PE for special moments. Port Ellen having closed in 1984, I'm interested in seeing what was being produced two years before closure.
Muskrat

[Reggaeblues]

Lee,

Mine is a 500ml 14 YO Macallan unfiltered cask strength "to pour furthur" (it sez on the tube)laid down in 1989, 59.2%. i think it was known as "ESC Cask 4" from cask no. 552. It retailed, early '04 for £75...and that's a half -litre. It has an as yet unbroken blue sticker over the lid on top of the tube, with bottling dates on it.

I actually won it at a whisky tasting weekend by Macallan at Turnberry in Scotland, a gift from my whisky-hating girlfriend!! the prize was one of several. this one was for inventing a whisky cocktail - the first "seminar" so to speak. Before you ask, we were using Grouse! I created a sort of Baileys - like drink with fresh cream and peach Scnapps that i called "Bill's Brother."

I had already been given the remains of the bottle used at the tasting. It was lovely!( I had delivered a lengthy eulogy on it, after which another lady at the tasting said: "It tasted like petrol to me...")

Do I drink it? Let it gather value and sell it? Wait 'til i have another child and crack it open to celebrate? HELP!!

...and it just keeps on winking at me everytime I approach my collection, glass in hand.

As does the remains of my Ardbeg '77.

[Deactivated Member]

ReggaeBlues:
Macallan Cask 552 is ESC V and an excellent investment for the future.

Distilled 1989, bottled 30.11.2003 at 59.2%, selling during late 2004 and throughout 2005 for just over 100 GBP I expect it to have increased a little more during 2006.

Nice One!
MT

[Deactivated Member]

Two possibles from my own collection would be a Strathisla 1960, 37 y/o and a Talisker 1955 (35cl) 38 y/o CS.

Plus I guess I would really like to sample a few of my older Rosebank bottlings.
But they are worth too much money to open.

MT

[vitara7]

one id love to try but the chances of replacing it are practicaly ziltch, is the rare malts 1969 glenlochy... i dont know, theres just somthing about that botle...

[Mr Fjeld]

I'm dying to open a Port Ellen.

[Deactivated Member]

Re. Port Ellen;
I only ever tasted one so far, but I have just scheduled one of my (business) bottles for my next Whisky & Food evening in February.

I am really looking forward to that one, a CS 25 year old!

[Mr Fjeld]

I have only tasted two Port Ellens myself MT. One was a so so Gordon & MacPhail bottling but the other was simply fantastic! Di Blasi was kind enough to let me taste his Port Ellen 3'rd release and I think it's one of the best whiskies I've tried so far!

I think/hope you'll enjoy it too

........and the price for Port Ellens aren't half bad compared to many other "living distillery" expressions of similar age.

[Muskrat Portage]

Christian:
Just hop across the pond, that would be a good enough reason to crack the second and do a H2H tasting in my books.
Peter

[vitara7]

was toying with the idea a few weeks back of opening a port ellen first release, but then i seen how much there now going for, i changed my mind

[Deactivated Member]

The one I will open for the event will be a D. Laing (Advance Sample) 25 y/o.

But I am also looking longingly at that "2nd Release" on the shelf.

No, I tell you, NO!

[Lawrence]

I have a Tullibardine 1973 that's been calling to me but I will wait until it has back up (ie, another bottle of the same which should be shortly).

[TheLaddie]

Nope. All the bottles I have bought intended for comsumption are now open.

I had my Port Ellen OMC 22yo unopened for nearly a year waiting for the right occasion (with no idea of what the right occasion would be) until a few months ago when I opened it to toast my late Grandfather when he passed away. Just seemed right to use my best bottle for the purpose.

Bought some Rosebank F&Fs yesterday wondering what it would take to make me open one of them. In the end, it took a couple of hours...

[Lee]

TheLaddie wrote

Bought some Rosebank F&Fs yesterday wondering what it would take to make me open one of them. In the end, it took a couple of hours...

I like your willpower or lack thereof!!!!

[vitara7]

its a couple of hoours longer than i would have lasted

[Mr Fjeld]

Christian:
Just hop across the pond, that would be a good enough reason to crack the second and do a H2H tasting in my books.
Peter

Hmm, now where did I put that suitcase

[TheLaddie]

TheLaddie wrote

Bought some Rosebank F&Fs yesterday wondering what it would take to make me open one of them. In the end, it took a couple of hours...

I like your willpower or lack thereof!!!!

Well, the missus wanted me to put the kids to bed, read them a story and eat dinner before I could escape to my private tasting area: first tastings must not be interrupted!

[Di Blasi]

Yes, I have a CC Ardbeg 9y 1996 single cask #917 46%, a nice shorter, fatter bottle different than their normal bottles, bottled for Le Maison du Whisky, I was very tempted to open a month ago, but I never did. It cost me about 40€, very reasonable, and was brought back from a friend visiting Paris in December '05. I have a good feeling it could do well in the future, but I'm so curious!
And also 1 of my 2 bottles of Ardbeg Young Uigeadail murmurs to me whenever I go visit my bottles in the whisky cellar, and I'm not sure which one it is. I've decided that one will be opened on my 5th anniversary of living in Bergen, (since this is where I fell in love with Ardbeg, and whisky!) coming up in March. But we'll see if that really happens or not.
I'd also like to open one of my 2 Rosebank Flora and Fauna.
And my George T Stagg!
Bruichladdich 10y, bottled in the early 80's! That might get opened this month! But I'm scared too!
And Old Pulteney 1983 Single Cask #6181!!!
And Rosebank Whisky Galore 15y Single Cask!!!
Help!! What to open, what to save??

[Wave]

All my unopened whiskies sing out to me when I open my whisky cabinet, it's like a regular chorus line!!!


Cheers!

[adogranonthepitch]

two months ago, I went to the cabinet, and grabbed the Secret Stills 1.1 50yo Talisker and opened it just for the hell it .......

was it worth it .....

yes and no

Yes, because you will never get to try such an old Tally..... and

No, becuase you put it on such a pedestal, you think it is going to such a fabulous dram. Definately a talisker, but extremely woody.

Anyway, Gordo aka Spirit of Islay would be proud of me as the year before I opened a Ardbeg Provenance. I can tell you that was worth every penny.

Trust me guys, do drink some. the amount of people I have spoken to who have retired, got bored of their collections and just sold them. What if you got run over by a bus. Your Mrs would either sell them to one us lot at a cheap price on ebay or mix them with diet coke.

There is a balance between collecting and drinking.

[vitara7]

i to thought the talisker 50yo secret stills was very very woody... but great value for a 50yo talisker... imagine how much more expensive it would have been had diagio bottled it....

[Deactivated Member]

Mine is a Douglas Laing Old & Rare bottling of Tomatin 40yo.
I got it for my 40th birthday (so many years ago ) - and for some reason I can't bring myself to open it no matter how hard it shouts at me.

[Frodo]

Arran 10yr...

[Deactivated Member]

Hi Frodo,
I included the Arran 1996 OB in a recent tasting and it was very well received. I personally was quite surprised at the quality of this malt, it is certainly a nice dram.

I also have one of the 10 year Anniversary decanters available which is just beginning to sing this song, but as yet I am managing to resist.

But maybe only until a (not too distant) future tasting!

[Frodo]

Yeah, I think Arran is one of those whiskies (like Balvenie) that is just easy to like!