Well, 2023 is almost in the books. Even with a month to go, it’s been a banner year for traffic on the blog, in terms of both page views and visitors—but I’ll say more about all that in my year-end post at the end of the month. Before that, here is one last look ahead to a month in 2023. This is a transitional month in some ways as I’m off to first Bombay and then Seoul at the very start of 2024, and won’t be back till the end of March. I’m not taking any samples with me for review while I’m traveling. This means all whisky/booze reviews for the first three months of the year have to be completed before I go. That sounds like a lot, but I’ve been steadily building up a back log since mid-September and already have enough reviews done to take me through the first week of February. The rest should be done before the middle of December. What this means is that for the next three months I can offer you a steadily shrinking list of themed options to choose from. By the time March 1 rolls around, there’ll only be four themed weeks left and there won’t be a choice then. So make the most of it while you can.
Actually, there isn’t a big choice to make in December either. That’s because I’ve already indicated that I’ll be reviewing the rest of Diageo’s Special Release slate for 2023 in the first two weeks (see here for my reviews of the Talisker and here for the Lagavulin). But you can weigh in on the remaining two weeks if you like.
Here’s the full list:
- Two more weeks of Diageo Special Releases. These are already lined up.
- Two weeks of Campbeltown, one focused on Glen Scotia and the other on Springbank.
- A week of Ben Nevis.
- A week of Caol Ila.
- A week of Highland Park
- Two weeks of assorted peated whiskies.
- A week of assorted sherried whiskies.
- A week of rums from Foursquare.
- Three weeks of mezcal.
- Another week of Compass Box.
- A week of assorted highland distilleries
- A week of Speyside distilleries.
If you have a particular interest in seeing some sooner than the others, please write in to the comments below.
On the food front, I’ll be finishing up my Italy reports this weekend, and hope to be done with Ireland by the middle of the month. And with leftover New York City reports by the end of the month. There will be weekly Twin Cities reports every Tuesday as per usual. And then for three months in 2024 all you will get is restaurant reports from first Bombay and then Seoul. Cooking content continues to be featured on Instagram.