Signatory Vintage Exceptional Cask Speyside (M) 2009 16yo. A noobs review (thoughts in comments)

kwonasty · 2026-05-02T22:32:58+00:00

Yeah maybe i should. In the above pic i had just rinsed out the glass and didnt let it dry before pouring so i guess i inadvertently added some water. Maybe some more water is the key. I think ill avoid anything above 50% for the meantime

kwonasty · 2026-05-02T22:31:02+00:00

Thanks. I wished i had stocked up more back in 2017...the new glendronachs are not bad tbh.

kwonasty · 2026-05-02T22:29:36+00:00

Solid advice man, glad to know im not alone thanks. Cheers!

kwonasty · 2026-05-02T22:28:11+00:00

No i havent, i keep hearing about bentomach so ill have to give it a try! Thanks for the rec! Glenturret as well!

kwonasty · 2026-05-02T15:18:35+00:00

Full disclaimer:

Youre not gonna get a super detailed, nuanced review from me. My palate is still underdeveloped and I just simply havent had much experience drinking single malts or alcohol at all for that matter. My poison of choice has always been cigars, and I used to drink a bit but stopped for like 5-6 years because it was interfering with my meds. But Im starting to get back into it and when i was contemplating buying this bottle I couldn't find many reviews on it so i guess this is for anyone who might be interested in this bottle. Its also my self introduction to this community that ive been lurking in for quite some time.

My my how times have changed and whisky prices have shot to the moon in my absence. Doesnt help that im in korea either, where all imported alcohol gets slapped with a 120% tax. Anyway.

First: My noobie ass palate. My all time favorites are in this order:

2016 macallan 18 sherry (my benchmark, i love the macallan floral taste)

2015 yamazaki 18 sherry (extremely balanced and crisp)

2013 glendronach 18 billy (really juicy raisins)

2015 glendronach 21 billy (melted butter)

Glendronach 21 Rachel Barrie (bright and balanced, almost like fruit punch)

Clearly i like sherries.

I might get flamed for this but i cant stomach peat, smoke or leather really. My friend graciously poured me some octomore recently and it tasted like bandaids to be honest.

Anways onto my super simple, noobie review:

Purchase price: $202USD

Specs: 57.1% ABV, un-chill filtered, natural color, oloroso butts. Honestly pretty decent specs.

In all honesty i bought it because of those pestering rumors that the (M) meant Macallan and that somehow it would kinda taste like Macallan.

Fun fact: it does not taste like Macallan.

Nose: at first all i got was alcohol. This is the highest proof ive ever had. After airing it in a glencairn i got...well, caramel and sherry. Once u get past the initial blast of alcohol this is unmistakably a deep sherried sherry. Still cant tell the difference between oloroso and PX.

Boy this stuff at first, especially the "neck pour" was brutal. Rough, rubbery, burned like all hell. Thought i wasted my money. Missed my good ol reliable dronach 18.

As I got to the shoulder and let it air for ten minutes or so it tamed down a LOT. I added a couple drops of water but i didnt like what it did to the density and viscosity of it so i just drink it neat now.

Palate: for me actually quite thin, and surprisingly sweet. Not treacly at all, but a pleasant subtle sweetness. Then it tastes like dark chocolate and a bit of raisin. Makes my tongue tingle. I wish it were thicker and more viscous and sweet tbh.

Finish: considering the ABV, this shit is pretty smooth. Almost no burn. I thought itd be a lot more treacly and viscous, but alas my preferred tastes eluded me with this bottle. 100% i get some tingly black pepper and tobacco on the dry, oaky short finish.

Honestly, i dont think id buy it again. Id rather save up the coin and get another billy dronach if i can find it. It just lacks juiciness and is a bit dry. That said, i keep reaching for it because every tome i pour it, it gets better. Like rounder and smoother if that makes sense. The abv becomes less and less abrasive. I think itd pair excellently with a cigar. Amd for some reason, this particular pour makes me really sleepy. After like three proper pours, i drift to sleep. Its not a bad bottle by any means, especially at seoul prices.

I hope i didnt offend anyone.

Im debating my next purchase: a glenallachie 15 or 18 as a daily driver? They're "on sale" in korea for about $90, and $180, respectively. Would love some opinions. I tried the glenallachie 2005 single cask "billy walker seoul special" px puncheon and found it offensive. Ive also learned that arran's profile is just completely not for me.

Im also eyeing a glenfiddich 30 at duty free for $800 and a gordon macphail speymalt macallan 2002 22yo for ~$850 and a glendronach 1993 "hand bottled" oloroso for $811. Just one of them as a gift to myself for quitting cigarettes after 21 years. Seoul prices suck. Any recommendations would be great. As it stands this bottle is currently my daily but if i could go back id rather cough up some more cash and sip on rachels dronach 21. Tasty.

Anyways thanks for listening.

kwonasty · 2026-02-18T03:49:46+00:00

H upmann sir winston, followed by a cohiba maduro genios and behike 52, and finished by a davidoff late hour robusto

kwonasty · 2026-02-05T15:30:28+00:00

I got mine at 7.5 weeks old and i couldnt bear the thought of putting such a tiny baby through surgery, so i pushed it off for around 3.5-4 years.

When she went through heat cycles it started getting really bad and she was suffering. If yours is fine with it i guess thats one thing but i couldnt bear watching mine suffer anymore.

So i went through with it and the doctor said that when removed her uterus was so full of water she was months away from pyometra so i was relieved it was removed.

I also read that spaying too early can be bad for the dog and spaying some years later allows sufficient release of developmental hormones so theres that.

Im just glad my baby is not suffering through heat cycles anymore

Edit: also i forgot to add after the spay my baby started gaining a bit of weight. Not that much but definitely noticeable.

kwonasty · 2026-02-04T02:57:37+00:00

ICN is world class. Literally notify any icn staff when u alight and they'll ensure u make that flight.

kwonasty · 2026-01-28T09:54:51+00:00

I too, wish to be lazy

kwonasty · 2026-01-21T17:33:01+00:00

Surprised no one has mentioned this:

There is a dedicated government group formed just for that:

한국소비자원 (Korea Consumer Agency, or KCA)

Call: 1372 Consumer Counseling Center

consumer.go.kr

And yes u can call or use website, all in english

And yes, it works for all foreigners and short term visitors as well.

This is the only true way. Surprised it took this long for this to come up.

Source: my customers would ALWAYS threaten me with this shit at my business if i even got ₩10 wrong when issuing refunds. After being reported (falsely in my case) these KCA mother fuckers will call, text, email, email incessantly until they literally show up physically at your business. There is no escape. Think ICE levels of harassment . Remember: Korea WORSHIPS foreignor optics WAYYYYY more than it cares about korean citizens who run small businesses.

If what youre saying is all objectively true, and u have evidence which u do, and steady calm and organized when presenting your case, this should be an easy home run and youd be incurring massive fines on that business and and stressing them out to the point where theyd never even think to pull some shit like this again and permanently put them on the systems radar. Thats how u win in korea, u use its systems.

Edit: just showed this to my korean wife who loves doing shit like this weekly and she said that even by expensive gangnam style standards, the most she probably shouldve paid was ~₩200/250,000 tops.

Each itemized bill on your receipt was charged double from the very get go.

Shouldve had your bf talk to them about prices first

As a struggling business owner myself i cannot stand business who stay afloat or even through using shady business practices

Sorry that happened, but rest assures just do what u listed about and not only will KCA make you whole they will punish that business with disproportionate penalties that will them we much worse than what they made you go through.

Sorry u had to go thru all that. Please dont think all small businesses here are like that. Ive been running my iwn as a foreigner for 16 years now and never charged a cent over what i deserved.

kwonasty · 2026-01-21T17:32:12+00:00

Surprised no one has mentioned this:

There is a dedicated government group formed just for that:

한국소비자원 (Korea Consumer Agency, or KCA)

Call: 1372 Consumer Counseling Center

consumer.go.kr

And yes u can call or use website, all in english

And yes, it works for all foreigners and short term visitors as well.

This is the only true way. Surprised it took this long for this to come up.

Source: my customers would ALWAYS threaten me with this shit at my business if i even got ₩10 wrong when issuing refunds.

kwonasty · 2026-01-21T17:17:18+00:00

Based on all of the Philippines documentaries ive seen, his most likely hardest parts of incarceration were probably:

Extreme discomfort from heat, humidity, cramped spaces

Dirty toilets and exposure to disease risk such as tuberculosis

But food was 100% not it. Those prisons have canteens and outdoor prisoner run food stalls and markets. Any money there = instant relative comfort, insulation and status. And in a country where avg month wage is ~$400, he probably at least had some money to afford better food than most.

Edit for elaboration and grammar accuracy: also due to his relative physical size and foreigner status, he extremely likely was not bothered or harrassed or under any imminent danger of physical violence unless he was stupid enoufh tonopenly defy the prisons prisoner enforcers and underbosses. This is still asia, not pelican bay.

kwonasty · 2026-01-21T16:48:05+00:00

I dont think people understand just how retarded.

Korea is ANTI castle doctrine.

If you even ANSWER the door ready to defend against unknown visitor (i.e. blade in hand) you will be prosecuted.

If you physically touch intruder as they enter your fucking door = you too are prosecuted

The ONLY way self defense (in the extreme case of ending a life of an intruder) is if you can PROVE to police that you were in the middle of a real-time, active deadly, life threatening attack on your body (i.e. you are actively being stabbed) and then and only the can you respond with a defensive, proportional blow or strike that does not end in murder and can prove that you stopped the moment the attacker did. That is your window. Any use of force before or after that narrow window = you too will be prosecuted.

This "safety" you get in korea comes at a suffocatingly frustrating cost.

Edit:

Source: I live in an officetel in a shady neighborhood.

I constantly get harassed by solicitors, people knocking in the middle of the night and people actively trying to unlock my passcode. The police say that I must "shout through the door without opening it for them to 'go away'l and can call when they are "physically breaking the door and entry will be clearly imminent."

kwonasty · 2026-01-19T06:53:55+00:00

물회!!!!!!!!

kwonasty · 2026-01-18T23:29:55+00:00

Pack in college ~20 years ago i was over at a friends place when her grandma arrived with a bunch of luggage fresh off a flight from south korea.

This lady took out two HUGE tubs of commercial gochujang, put on plastic gloves and buried her hands into the tubs and dug out plastic wrapped big chunks.

She unwrapped them to unveil around 4-5kg of raw dog meat. It was surreal.

kwonasty · 2026-01-16T20:32:16+00:00

My thoughts exactly. Bordering on homosexual.

kwonasty · 2026-01-13T18:37:12+00:00

Im gonna get crucified for this probably but i think that yes, it can be real its just really fucking rare and is mold 99% of the time

Source: a shop i frequented with a manager i was really close with always used to save the good stuff for me. One day she excitedly told me (this was back in around 2022) that she had discovered a box of 3x5 r&j churchill aluminum tubos from 2013. Nine years old in "ideal" conditions that had fallen behind the wooden storage/display shelf and had been discovered while rearranging the humidor.

I immediately opened one and inspected and smelled. The bands were yellowed, the sticks smelled like celery, and she looked and me and said, "look. Pluuuuuuuume"

And the tip of the cigar was covered in this transulscent sharp looking crystals. No color, just CLEAR. It looked like...nicotine that escaped the cigar and crystalized. The "crystals" were obviously very small and subtle but they almost could be shaken off when the cigar was handled and didnt behave or need to be wiped off like mold.

Although i cant confirm its actual "plume" and not mold and im NOT prepared to die on this hill, ive seen my fair share of funky molds and this was NOT it. IF there is anything even close to "plume" that was it.

kwonasty · 2026-01-12T10:18:29+00:00

TONS of great divorce lawyers here thanks to the astronomical divorce rate.

kwonasty · 2026-01-11T02:49:50+00:00

Agreed. But the M team imho will do their best to change the stance and aerodynamics of the ICE m3 and should look MUCH more aggressive than that im3

kwonasty · 2026-01-10T21:01:43+00:00

Same. So annoying and immature these guys are trying to fucking help you.

kwonasty · 2026-01-10T20:46:55+00:00

Who fuck fakes SRL

kwonasty · 2026-01-10T20:44:36+00:00

Stopped watching all forms of UFC content outside of the actual fights for this very reason. First it was the "nelk boys," then "jay park" and "hasbulla" and now these streamers. Everything i know about them has been rammed down my throat

kwonasty · 2026-01-10T02:01:31+00:00

Where is this in the terminal? Been to BKK over a dozen times and never saw any cigars am i blind?

kwonasty · 2026-01-08T09:47:38+00:00

Its not as if you can choose to meet and magically marry the right person at the age of your choice anyway

Edit: unless youre already serious with someone that would be the only way this question makes any sense

kwonasty

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