Hard to believe the summer’s already over. This month saw us take our first post-covid steps towards pre-covid life as a family. We made a brief road trip to Kansas City—the meals from which I began to document yesterday. Next weekend we will be off to Madison, Wisconsin for another brief road trip, delta variant permitting (and I do hope it permits as our hotel reservations are nonrefundable). Unlike in Kansas City, I do not think we will be eating in anywhere unless a restaurant has outdoor seating. We will bring dinners back to our hotel room and take lunches to lakeside locations. Whisky drinking, thankfully, happens only in the secure confines of our own house and so the whisky reviews will continue unconstrained. This month I am in the unusual position of not having a single set of notes already written; and so I invite you especially fervently to nominate whiskies you’re more interested in from the long list below to the short list so I can make some decisions about what to review tonight. On the restaurant reviews front I will have a review on Tuesday from a fine dining restaurant in St. Paul. We also have reservations in a couple of weeks at another place in Minneapolis. The rest of the month’s regular restaurant reviews will be filled out by reports from more casual places in the Twin Cities metro. I hope to finish up the Kansas City reviews on the weekends—which means any Madison reviews will have to wait till September. There’ll also be a recipe a week as usual. Look later today for a poll to select which those will be.

1. Aberlour 25, 1995 (Old Particular for K&L)
2. Ambassador 25 yo, Blend
3. Archiestown Adjacent/Dailuaine 22, 1998 (OMC for K&L)
4. Ardmore 20, 1997 (SMWS 66.138)
5. Ardmore 21, 1997 (SMWS 66.146)
6. Ardmore 22, 1997 (SMWS 66.174)
7. Behind the Highlander/Craigellachie 14, 2006 (Hepburn’s Choice for K&L)
8. Below Bhainidh/Mortlach 13, 2007 (Hepburn’s Choice for K&L)
9. Ben Nevis 20, 1997 (Berry Bros. & Rudd)
10. Ben Nevis 20, 1997, King of the Hills (Old Particular)
11. Ben Nevis 25, 1991 (Signatory)
12. Bunnahabhain 26, 1987 (Archives)
13. Caol Ila 11, 2008 (53.345)
14. Campbeltown Blend, circa 2014
15. Dalmore 18, 2001 (Cadenhead)
16. Inchfad 15, 2005 (Cooper’s Choice)
17. Inchmurrin 17, 2003 (SMWS 112.68)
18. Ledaig 13, 2007 (SMWS 42.50)
19. Linkwood 9, 2010 (Old Particular for K&L)
20. Loch Lomond 18
21. Longmorn 18, Whisky Show 2011
22. Old Pulteney 15, 1982, Cask 1300
23. Perhaps Speyside’s Finest/Glenfarclas 28, 1992 (Hepburn’s Choice for K&L)
24. Unnamed Islay 28, 1992 (Signatory)
25. White Horse, 1950s release