Well, you guys have talked me into it.
I rarely vat whiskies. In the rare past occasions, it has been because there was a combination of very unique whiskies that I wanted to try. My most recent experiment, about a month ago, was the Cadenhead Longrow
9yo and the OB sherry Wood Expressions Longrow 13yo. Very different Longrows, both CS of course, but with divergent, and VERY strong cast influences. I half expected it to be a disaster. It was not as good as either alone--but these ARE two of my favorate post '74 Longrows--but it was still exceptional. Most important, it was quite unlike any of the 30 or so Longrows I've ever tried.
I'm not inclined to combine the dregs from glasses people have already drank from... so far, when I've hosted tastings leftovers have been quite uncommon... but combining the dregs of bottles into a "living cask" bottle has captured my imagination.
I suspect I will start with the last 1/5 bottle I have of Samaroli No Age, since it is already a vatted malt. I'll add primarily the last
1/5 or less of bottles that I'm not especially fond of. Alone, this might not create a great vatting (although it's likely to improve them...) so I'll also add the last 1/5 of great, but easily accessible malts as they near the bottom. I'm thinking here Ardbeg 10, Laphroaig
10 (or CS), Highland Park 12 (or 18), and Longmorn 15 as I always keep these on hand.
I don't want to sacrifice the the last couple drams from exceptional, hard to find malts (usually indie bottlings), but might do so occasionally, when I have a new, but similar expression from that distillery.
What do you think?
Your friend, John