Christmas in Chicago

December 26, 2024

So this year, a bonus that neither Liz nor I got sick. Last year, we had the chance to make some rounds, but things got cut short due to Covid.

While I’m glad we got some extra time with my sister’s family this year, it was nice to have our own little Christmas, back home in Chicago.

Of course, there was a lot of whisky as gifts. L to R:

A 17 year old Glengoyne single cask, from Old Particular (I can’t recall ever seeing Glengoyne from an independent bottler before). This was one of Liz’s earliest, favorite distilleries.

A 14 year old Bunnahabhain, finished in a sherry Octave cask. Another one of our favorite distilleries, that we got to visit on our trip to Scotland

Adelphi is one of our favorite independent bottlers, something we got introduced to by Charlotte from the Malt Room in Inverness. As it turns out, Adelphi (which in a previous life was a distillery) also owns a distllery: Ardnamurchan. Liz is particularly fond of their cask strength bottle.

Ingelred was a bit of a gamble. A newer independent bottler I hadn’t heard of, this is a 15 year old Ben Nevis, aged in a Bourbon cask and finished in a PX Sherry cask.

Another gamble: Mosgaard, a Danish distillery. We got to sample a really nice French whisky that Kirt brought, during our Thanksgiving in Whitehall, and this got me to wanting to explore whisky from other countries.

A few other fun items/gifts: a Garmin watch (for me, who seems to be on the precipice of getting serious about running). A small bar of Jean Luc Picard’s “Make It Soap”. A Star Trek daily calendar. And a rather regal looking chicken coffee mug, with tiny little feets.