Back in September there was a mini-gathering in St. Paul to celebrate my friend Rich’s birthday. Everybody brought a few special whiskies to share. I have to say these gatherings that Rich organizes every once in a while can be somewhat over the top. The whiskies brought to this tasting, for instance, included the Ardbeg Provenance and the Brora 35, 2013, as well as a couple of Talisker 30s, a Karuizawa and an exquisite, old indie sherried Caol Ila. I should add that despite the quality of whiskies on the table these are very laid back occasions; whether in smaller groups—as on this occasion—or in larger ones, you’d be hard-pressed to find a less pretentious group of whisky geeks. At the end of the evening there was some frenzied sample-swapping (which I may have had something to do with instigating) and I came away with a bunch of samples, large and small, of some very good whiskies, and also the 2014 Ardbeg Supernova. It’s also testament to the mellowness and character of the group that no one demurs when it comes to sharing prized and irreplaceable (not to mention some rather expensive) malts. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: November 2014
Coming Soon…
Ah, November: the ground will freeze in Minnesota any day now (time to get my garlic in the ground!) and it will be serious whisky weather for the next nine months or so. Of course, as you may have noticed, it’s always serious whisky weather around these parts. I see people complaining about drinking whisky in hot weather and say to myself, “this is why Richard Dawkins gave us air-conditioning”. I do have to admit though that there is far more pleasure to be had in drinking whisky by a roaring fire.
There were a few whiskies I’d thought I’d review for sure in October that I didn’t get around to: the Clynelishes, the Highland Park 18, the new Ardbeg Supernova; and the Black Bull 30 has been promised for quite some time now (since June, actually). Most of these will probably show up this month; though I’m only opening my bottle of the Clynelish 14 if I can finish five other bottles first—I’ve been trying to get to 50 or fewer open bottles for the longest time and I’m currently at 54. I’m hoping to continue to feature some reviews of “standard” malts so you can expect to see the Caol Ila 12 for sure. Feel free to nominate any of the others listed in the long list of possible below (I’m unlikely to get to more than 12-14 whisky reviews). Continue reading