2022 is almost in the books. The end of this year and the beginning of 2023 are going to feature a lot of travel. We’re headed back to Los Angeles at the end of the month for 10 days or so. And we’ll spend most of January in India. And in March I’ll probably be off to either Hong Kong or Seoul for another 10 days on work. Keeping up with the regular schedule of posting on the blog is going to be a slight challenge. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Looking back to November, here are the top 10 posts in terms of page views, from #1 to #10: Eating at Hmong Village; Shopping at Hmong Village; Hyacinth III; Chicken Curry with Fennel; Shrimp Curry with Tomatoes; Las Cuatro Milpas; Double Dragon Foods; Christmas Lima Beans with Coriander and Roasted Cumin; Desi Vibes; Bukhara. Once again, that’s 10/10 food posts with five restaurant/meal reports, two food shopping reports; and three recipes. The most-viewed booze post was once again ranked #11 (my review of the George Dickel 13, Bottled in Bond) and there were a total of 15 booze posts among the top 50 most-viewed posts. It’s very clear what my readership is trying to tell me: post more about booze! And so I will. The usual long list of potential reviews for the month is below—as always I welcome your nominations (in the comments) to the shortlist.

Food-wise I will have a report on eating at Hmongtown Marketplace in St. Paul and, if all goes well, probably on dinner at Spoon & Stable (where we have reservations a week from this weekend). Maybe another Mexican meal and another South Asian meal as well. I’ll also be posting my usual quarterly roundup of favourite restaurant dishes and the 2022 edition of my Twin Cities metro South Asian restaurant rankings. And who knows, I might actually post my last Hawaii meal report from early July and at least one of my Ireland meal reports from late July. Let’s see how it goes. And, yes, recipes on the remaining Thursdays of the month.

With that, here’s the booze reviews long list. t’s all single malt whisky this month. A bunch of possible weekly themes: Highland malts; Speyside malts; sherry cask malts; Caol Ila; Glenallachie; Campbeltown Hand-Fills from October; Diageo distillery exclusives from October. See what catches your eye.

1. Ardmore 12, 2006 (SMWS 66.139)
2. Ben Nevis 18, 1991 (Mackillop’s Choice)
3. Bladnoch 20, Cow Label
4. Bunnahabhain 6, 2013 (SMWS 10.202)
5. Caol Ila 10, 2009 (Single Malts of Scotland)
6. Caol Ila 12, 2008, Bordeaux Finish (DS Tayman)
7. Caol Ila 13, 2008 (Old Particular for K&L)
8. Caol Ila 17, 1991 (Single Malts of Scotland)
9. Dalwhinnie 12, Distillery Exclusive, October 2022
10. Dailuaine 10, 2008 (SMWS 41.116)
11. Glen Elgin 16, Diageo Special Release, 2008
12. Glen Garioch 12, 2008 (Old Particular for K&L)
13. Glenallachie 15
14. Glenallachie CS, Batch 2
15. Glenallachie CS, Batch 3
16. Glenburgie 21, 1993 (Cadenhead)
17. Hazelburn Hand-Filled, October 2022
18. Inchgower 11, 2007 (Signatory UCF)
19. Linkwood 19, 1997 (Alexander Murray)
20. Longrow Hand-Filled, October 2022
21. Oban 11, Distillery Exclusive, October 2022
22. Royal Lochnagar 14, Distillery Exclusive, October 2022
23. Springbank Hand-Filled, October 2022
24. Teaninich 12, 2009 (Thompson Bros.)