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Star letter - Casks galore I've just read John Rose's letters page in issue 71 and in the last letter he advises a reader on where to buy a cask of whisky. If he had read Whisky Mag's own online forums recently he would also have been able to advise that Bladnoch offer cask sales. In fact, a group of forum members recently bought a cask, number 200 which we will bottle in nine years in the year of Bladnoch's 200th anniversary, and full details can be found on the forums. We will be hoping to regularly club together in this way and would welcome any readers who have not discovered the forums to do so if they are interested in sharing a cask.Mark Connelly Scotland Why collecting?I am an avid collector of walking sticks and canes, finding them aesthetically pleasing and infinite in their variety and provenance. I have also been an avid reader of Whisky Magazine since its inception. In that time I have constantly been puzzled as to what the attraction is to a collector from amassing unopened bottles of whisky.I understand the miserly tingle of pointing to something "that cost £2000" but even that seems to miss the point of the bottle and its contents.After all, if I purchase a stick, with exquisite craftsmanship and in excellent condition, that is 400 years old, then I expect to pay a lot at auction; but it remains basically what it has always been - something fine to hold and use. By contrast if whisky is basically to be drunk and relished thereby, the collector is denying its raison d'etre by keeping it in a bottle to gaze at. Presumably once it is opened a rare bottle, however heavenly the whisky, loses all auction value to a collector. The meaningful thing for him or her, therefore, appears to be only bottles and labels not whisky.Christopher Dyer England ENTRY OF THE MONTH The best letter in each issue wins a bottle of Berrys'Blue Hanger 30 Years Old. It offers soft citrus aromas that are intermingled with leather, custard and pears, which lead onto an elegant butterscotch and orange peel palate with a dry smoky finish.The bottle will be mailed to the winner if their address is within the EU.Given regulations, winners from outside the EU may collect their prize from Berry Bros. & Rudd in London at a convenient time to the recipient.