Black Label’s not bad !
Chivas Regal ?
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I enjoyed Chivas Regal 18 year old, 12 YO less so. Ballantines 17 YO is sublime, if a little pricey. But don’t overlook Bells, Whyte & Mackay or Famous Grouse, all damn fine and perfectly good everyday drams.
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Theoretically a blender tries to create a whisky that only has highlights and no blemishes. Bit like a perfume or cognac. In practice, it doesn’t always work like that.
Any road, here is my xmas whisky as the Talisker earmarked for that occasion has evaporated during nightly music sessions 
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Yes I remember reading that Johnny Walker Black Label (another cracking blend) is a blend of around 40 whiskies. Over time, as availability of certain malt and grain whisky fluctuates, a blender has to gradually reduce one component and tentatively introduce another in order to maintain the overall profile of the blend. A hugely skilled occupation and I believe the top blenders have their olfactory system insured for millions.
Anyway enjoy your Aberlour. I think it’s a cracking, good solid single malt. Aberlour was also one of the best distillery tours I ever did. I came away with a self-filled, distillery only bottling of a Sherry cask, and bloody lovely it was too.
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My daily favorite is Highland Park 18, likewise Highland park 21 is same but better, Hibiki 17 is most refined whiskey I’ve ever had, truly another experience, problem is you can’t get it so you have to settle for Hibiki’s Harmony which is not same, but very nice.
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Highland Park 18. Consistently one of the best whiskies on the planet. Perhaps a little indulgent as an everyday dram but everyone deserves to taste it at least once in their lives.
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Yup big fan of Black Bush, a cracking blend, especially at the price. Bushmills is one of those distilleries I enjoy young. The ten year old single malt is wonderful, with a lovely green apple crispness. I much prefer it to the more sherried 16 or 21.
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I got one of my friends a bottle of Highland Park 25yo for his silver wedding anniversary. Didn’t get to taste it though!
But I did get to share a bottle of Glenfarclas 40yo with my Uni pals last year 40 years after we graduated.
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Bowmore No 1
Someone else is enjoying it because I sent them a bottle as a thank you.
Yup, that is the end of the line. I am going to miss you my friend, you did have a sharp edge at times but I loved your general worldliness, mouthfeel and peppered opinion.
RIP
I might as well hit the sack now
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My mum recently gave me a photo of my step-dad, who is from Northern Ireland, happily drunk at the distillery during a tour.
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If you ever visit Bushmills, don’t expect some quaint little Irish distillery. It’s a huge, industrial operation with a large car park full of tourist coaches, churning out thousands of litres. Damn good whisky tho.’
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People very kindly bought me a 25 year old Orkney Malt to “celebrate” 25 years with one company , and I have never had the opportunity to share it (and I’m not drinking it on my own)
Whenever I have people for a meal ( not this year) it’s wine - and so it sits.
I’ve got a few bottles stashed away that I bought several years ago for a modest sum. Their value has increased somewhat in the intervening years and I always found an excuse not to open them. Then, a few years ago, a dear colleague died aged only sixty. It made me re-evaluate my life. Don’t forever put things off until tomorrow because sometimes tomorrow doesn’t come. I am currently enjoying the whisky as it was intended to be enjoyed, not sitting in the back of the cupboard.
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As a dedicated whisky drinker and more specifically malt whisky drinker I have to confess that tonight I succumbed to the charms of a French brandy enhanced by ginger wine. My dalliance will be short lived and my allegiance returned to my true love. Those damn Frenchies. Turning a mans head.
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More of a rum/ bourbon drinker…
I will be enjoying a few van brunt over the festive period…happy Christmas to all
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Currently I have one of these on the go.
I had one of their 46% Caol Ila bottlings a few years back and you could still taste the peat the next morning, in a good way. This isn’t quite as intense but the label gives a clue as to what happens if you over indulge.
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Surely you’re not trying to pass off a Rye Whisky from NY as being a Bourbon ? 
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