July 2006
The first edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !
Caol Ila ...100 not out !
Unlike the English Cricket team Caol Ila has managed to hit 100 .......in SMWS Bottlings ! The 100th one is a 1993 12yo at 61.1% , i was personally hoping they would put out one of their wonderful 25yo's , a delightful dram , but this one has a good write up , described as "A Volcanic Fire Walk " it's supposed to be a smoky monster . If it wasn't for their output i would have given up on CaolIla a long time ago , The first Members Tasting i went to had the legendary 53.50 on it , a colossal 7yo , since then we've had all ages through to the 25yo's . Only the Caskstrength and 25yo O.B.'s have Matched the SMWS bottlings , a few other I.B.'s have come close but as they say "No cigar!" .
Bourbon Casked Laddies
Prior to the take-over in the year 2000 , i hadn't been too impressed by the offerings from the Bruichladdich Distillery , the only one that did anything for me was the 27yo "Stillmans Dram" , even if it was a heavily sherried one . Since the re-opening in 2001 i have been astounded by some of the releases , i have developed a love for Bourbon casked Laddies , i think it was the first Masterclass in 2002 that did it , that wonderful 1970 ! since then many releases have come and gone (Bourboned , Sherried , Ace'd ) but the bourboned ones have always been my favourites , though the Rum finished Tonga did throw a bit of a spanner in the works ! The Legacy Series 1 was a classic old bourbon Laddie , bags of vanilla , fudge and atlantic freshness . One of my personal Favourites is the "Sinnsear" , a 1988 valinch style special release , there have also been a few good valinches from the late 1980's including the recent "Drambusters" and "From Red to Black" . Gordon and MacPhails have released a cracking Bourbon "Cask" Laddie from 1988 , from two Hogsheads , it matches the Distillery releases , it's not often i go hunting a second bottle by G&M but i did with this one ! I've just noticed a 1990 release , need to find out if it's another bourbon one.....
I'm not into the "Enhancing" that Laddie are doing at the moment , if they want to do it fair enough but i hope they keep releasing the Bourbon Casked Whisky , i sure they will for us purists !
Robin Laing at The Black Bull , Blaydon 6/7/2006.
Last night we headed over the river to the home of the famous race
to see Robin once again perform on our patch . This time it was in the company of the
good people of Tynefolk , one of the many local folk groups .Robin performed two sets on
the night , the first being all whisky songs from “The Angel’s Share”
and “The Water of Life Albums” . We were treat to “Twelve and a Tanner
a Bottle” , “Willie Brew’d a Peck o’ Malt” and “Tell
Tale” amongst others , What makes it for us is Robins patter between the songs ,
he’s always got a story . “Our Glens” was given an airing (though no
mention of Bladnoch this time Raymond!) followed by a song I’d never heard before
that mentions every distillery on Speyside , some mean feat I’d say ! We had a trip
over to Islay with “Bruichladdich” and the newer “Don’t let Al
Quaeda get there hands on this” (downloadable here) ,
the 1st half was rounded off by “Whiskey and Women” including several added
verses.
The Second set was virtually “Whisky Free” , starting off with a true story
“David and Goliath” , a classic ballad about a dray man and his trusty
Clydesdale horse , followed by his ode to caffeine “Black coffee” . The
evening went on with “Laughing Boy” (about his son) , “Black
Clothes” (allegedly about his wife!) , “Islands” and “Donald
Cameron VC” , another true story about one of the submariners in the Midget subs of
World War Two . Last of the set was another song I’d never heard before , a Billy
Connollyesque song about a blow up doll , very funny if slightly naughty
……
We were given an encore , a whisky farewell ( well he had to ) of “Tak’ a
dram / A Wee Deoch an Dorus” . It was great seeing Robin again , even though it
doesn’t seem that long since the last time , always an entertaining night
!
The £2000 bottle of Ardbeg
By now the whole world and their mother must know about this bottle
of 1965 Ardbeg , when i was first told about the price i was gobsmacked but when you
consider the events leading up to it's release i'm not really surprised . LVMH are just
trying to maximise THEIR profits on what is a vary rare release , the last 1960's
Ardbegs i can remember were the Douglas Laing OMC 1967's (got one for £79 , bargain
!) prior to that there were only the Signatory Vintages and some Gordon and Macphails .
The last O.b. from the 1960's were the "Very Old" Ardbeg , which was 1966 or earlier if
my Maths is right ! Of course there has been a mixed response on the great World Wide Web
usually split between thoses who could see this coming with the way bottlings have been
sold at stupid prices on e-bay etc and those who thought it was alright to sell previous
bottlings at vast profit on said e-bay complaining loudest about the large price ! It
gave me a good laugh anyway seeing them being so hypocritical !!
You can read all about the bottling at the 1965 site and watch the video as well .
