shopping help needed please

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 21:36:59 -0600, the alleged Douglas W. Hoyt, may have posted the following, to alt.drinks.scotch-whisky:

My *PERSONAL* choices would be:

Glenfiddich 15 51% cask strength sherry cask Highland Park 46% 1988 first fill sherry cask Murray McDavid Lagavulin 43% 1984 Pedro Ximenez Cask

But looking at your list, you'd prolly be happier with these:

Highland Park 46% 1988 first fill sherry cask Murray McDavid Lagavulin 43% 1984 Pedro Ximenez Cask Laphroaig 10 57.3% cask strength

HTH and HAND from a Laphroaig hater.

Regards, Rob

-- "Or better yet, use the Jack Daniels `shot and a chaser' glass. An honest admission of the true nature of Tennessee whiskey."

-- Bushido in alt.drinks.scotch-whisky

I would definately get the Laphroaig 10y.o. Cask Strength; God knows when it'll ever get to North America. I like the Lagavulin Distiller's Edition (I prefer it over the 16y.o.), and given that you're an American and it isn't available in the U.S., you might want to try it if you like Lagavulin. I've never tried the Lagavulin 12y.o. CS, but I'd get it if I came across it. I have a bottle of Glenfarclas 15y.o. open right now, and am quite enjoying it. Very well balanced. The Longmorn 15y.o. I'm a huge fan of (it's widely available here in Canada), so you might want to take that into consideration. The most underrated whisky from Speyside -- perhaps in all of Scotland -- in my humble opinion.

Regards,

Matt

"Douglas W. Hoyt" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...

I would say you should just go there, and pick what you find. But amongst their news-offers, I would definitely pick this one:

Besides this, I would go for cask-strenght and unchill-filtering (46 % or over), but I am unsure about the Glenfarclas 15 yo, wether it is unchill-filtered or not. The Unchill-filtered Collection from Signatory, and the corresponding 46 percenters from Murray McDavid, are bottlings I would definitely buy. The new OB Clynelish 46 %, is also something I would jump at.

Also (or perhaps, at first...), when in Amsterdam, I would visit the new Cadenhead-shop at Huidenstraat 19, 1016 ER Amsterdam.

OT: At Cadenhead's, you can get yourself some nice rum as well, definitely different from _any_ rum you have tasted. Try the Demerara 25 yo !

Regards Ivar Svensson Oslo, Norway

Douglas, I'm with Ivar, just go and look for yourself. The real joy of visiting Tons, though, is a trip into the basement to look through the whisky shelves -- ask for Ton himself and let him know that a friend sent you and that you'd like to browse through his stock in the basement -- this is where the good stuff is lurking. Be persistent and pull *ALL* the bottles off the shelf, to see what's behind, there are always a few goodies under some dust that have been forgotten and aren't on the website. I wouldn't be surprised, if you rummaged through the shelves hard enough, that you would come up with the second bottle of Macallan

10 Year Old 100 Proof, which Ton still sells for 58 euros. There were two when I checked last year and I only bought one. Can't be beat. At the top of the shelf there are also some tasting glasses, Glencairn Blenders glasses, etc, with distillery names. If you ask how much these are he might throw one or two in for free since they are promos from various distilleries. My two cents.

Johanna

PS: OK, one great one he had, was a SUC Caol Ila 9 Year Old... I think he also has some bottles open for tasting, certainly worth asking about this.

Can't be of much help, I haven't tasted these. And I may be answering too late to be of much help anyway. Just want to say,

"What a nice problem to have!"

I've had the US version of this, if it's the same. Interesting but not good enough to claim one of three spaces from the rest of these.

I've had this. It was very nice and I liked it quite a bit. But head to head with the OB 18, its thinness was apparent. If you're especially fond of HP worth it as a veiw from another angle.

Laphroaig and port wood? What a strange combination! I'm intrigued. Part of me would wonder if they weren't tarting up a cask to cover its flaws. I would love to taste this; but I'm not sure I would buy a bottle if I hadn't. The Malt Maniacs gave it a respectable rating though.

I would have to go for the CS Laphroaig, and one of the 12yo Lagavulins. If I wanted to balance against the peat my third would be the Clynelish or the Glenfarclas - if I didn't care I'd grab the Caol Ila because I like Caol Ila or the PW Laphroaig because curiosity got the better of me.

But I'm picking what I haven't tasted, not what I have tasted and found to be good. Good luck and do let us know what you picked - and eventually what you thought of them. I really enjoy reading your reviews.

Bart