I mentioned physical items on my desk that needed sorting. My tasting notes from Whiskyfest comprise some of them.
I'm not going to go into details about the whiskies I tasted; here, instead, is a summary table:
| Distillery | Expression | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Ardbeg | 10 year | Drink |
| Ardbeg | An Oa | Buy |
| Ardbeg | Dark Cove Committee Release | Buy |
| Ardbeg | Kelpie Committee Release | Drink |
| Ardbeg | Grooves Committee Release | Drink |
| Balvenie | 21 year portwood | Buy |
| Balvenie | Peat Week | Drink |
| BenRiach | 10 year | Buy |
| BenRiach | 10 year Curiositas | Drink |
| BenRiach | 21 year | Drink |
| BenRiach | 21 year Temporis | Buy |
| BenRiach | 12 year Triple-Distilled Horizons | Drink |
| BenRiach | Cask Strength Batch 2 | Drink |
| BenRiach | 2005 Peated Port Single Cask #2683 | Buy |
| Bowmore | 18 year Manzanilla | Buy |
| Bowmore | 25 year | Buy |
| Four Roses | 2017 Limited Edition Small Batch | Skip |
| Glenmorangie | Spios Rye Cask (2018 private edition) | Buy |
| Lagavulin | Distiller's Edition 2001 | Buy |
| Laphroaig | 25 year | Buy |
| Laphroaig | 27 year | Buy |
| Linkwood | 19 year cask strength | Skip |
| Maker's Mark | Cask Strength | Skip |
| Maker's Mark | Private Select | Skip |
| Oban | Distiller's Edition | Buy |
| Old Rip Van Winkle | Pappy 20 year | Skip |
| Old Rip Van Winkle | Pappy 23 year | Skip |
| The Tyrconnell | 15 year Madeira cask | Buy |
| The Tyrconnell | 7 year | Drink |
| The Tyrconnell | Madeira cask (no age) | Drink |
| The Tyrconnell | Sherry cask | Skip |
| The Tyrconnell | Port cask | Skip |
It's important to note that while I tasted all of these whiskies, but I did not drink all of these whiskies. I went with a friend, and we shared tastes; the pours were generally very small; and we went to seminars for three distilleries, spreading those tastings out over 45 minutes each. The whole event lasted four hours.
Also, Whiskyfest provides a metric shit ton (a shite tonne) of food. Good food. Heavy, fatty food.
But now you have more context for why I did nothing of commercial or professional value over the weekend.
And yeah, as much as I want to buy some of these, I'm not likely to shell out the $1,000 for the Laphroaig 27 next time I'm at Binny's.
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