That Kavalan Vinho Barrique story brought a tear to my eye. Was the event located at a restaurant or in a house or out on a street?
Voted Number one in the world by those that matter a few years back.
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Was at a house. Yes… I recall it winning that award. It seems to be more readily available now.
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I was wondering about that. I tried to buy it two or three summers in a row, before heading to Canada, and it was never available or had a several week/month waiting list. Haven’t tried lately.
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I’ve seen it at a couple different places recently, I think you’ll have a pretty good chance of finding it.
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Yeah, seems likely - but it’s at a price point that matches “Ah, here’s a nice gift for my father’s birthday (and he’s incidentally just helped pay for our tickets to Canada)”, and not really a price point for “something to swig on my own at night”.
Hmm. I was hoping to buy a Lego pirate ship set this month. Lego or Kavalan? Or, more likely, “Good evening dear, remember how it’s our turn to treat my family for a nice dinner?”
(And no, the in-laws have zero appreciation of whiskey, so they are NOT getting any of a Kavalan bottle! Not praising or shaming them - just pointing out it’d be a waste.)
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You forgot ‘boss’
Available for $3250 at 酒條通.
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Something I’ve been discovering over this holiday is… whisky and pomelo really complement each other nicely… I’m loving sherry-finished whisky with mouth-watering juicy and fragrant pomelo. Try it!
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Taste pairing! I recently did some of that myself. This whisky is decent enough but I found it not as sweet as I wanted and bit more spicy on the finish that what I was really after. We had some of this dark chocolate from Costco sitting around. Bada boom bada bing. It was wonderful.
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Speyside, can’t go wrong, figuratively.
I agree - chocolate with whisky is wonderful… a double dose of guilty pleasure! Good dark chocolate, with a hint of orange or salt seems to work for my taste buds… heavenly 
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I’ve grabbed this Japanese Suntory a couple times recently, and both times did not have a good feeling the next morning. But I’m still giving it a chance.
That’s my bro in law’s go to whisky. It’s been a while but I don’t remember the hangovers being an issue.
So what was the impact of Covid on these islands and on the whisky they produce?
These three important whisky islands – Arran, Islay, and Jura – were completely sealed off during the British lockdown. The only ferries that arrived were delivering supplies (99% of what sustains the islanders arrives by boat).
The only people allowed off-island were those with medical emergencies.
As a result there were no cases of Covid-19 on the whisky islands, even though Glasgow and Cumbria on the mainland nearby were badly hit.
That is not to say the islands didn’t suffer, however. As non-essential industries, all distilleries in Scotland were obliged to close by March 29, 2020.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/scotland-whisky-islands-covid/index.html
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I’m curious to hear how this tastes.
Metallica infused whiskey “sounds” good 
Music was “used to enhance Metallica’s latest “Sweet Amber.””
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Reminds me of the Trooper Iron Maiden beers.
I am recommending against Lauder’s Reserve Blended Scotch Whisky. It’s a budget whisky- really budget at a bit over 600 nt for 1 liter on sale (I believe 900 nt normally). The bottle doesn’t say much but I’m guessing some Sherry cask aging is going on.
On the nose, maple or honey and a bit of spiciness from what must be the grain whisky. The taste is again sweet and even malty. The finish is where things go downhill. It’s almost a saccharin taste. It’s like they added too much grain whisky and tried to hide it with Sherry cask aging.
I can drink it, but not too much in one sitting.
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They had a selection of Kavalan at Costco recently. My wife was very impressed. They let you try each one. I don’t know. At 2,500 nt and up for the better ones, I feel there are alternatives at that price range I would prefer.
Back to reality. Got these two bottles on sale for 1,111 nt at a 橡木桶 outlet. I got the batch #1 and #5. Both good and flavorful. This is a limited edition of Speyside single malts. I highly recommend taking advantage of this sale while it lasts. About 800 nt per bottle if purchased separately.
No age statement and there’s a bit of spiciness as a result, but of course this becomes less noticeable after a few glasses!
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