The Arbuturian: Sipping Speyside
http://www.arbuturian.com/2012/speyside
Cocktails in the afternoon
An afternoon of cocktails and Japanese whisky history was the theme last week.
WoWed by the World of Whisky
A new awards ceremony this autumn is to celebrate world whisky.
The W Club: The Secrets About Blending
http://www.thewclub.co.uk/miss-whisky-the-secrets-about-blending/
A visit to Strathisla
With its twirling water mill, sharp-peaked pagoda roofs and cobbled courtyard, the distillery at Strathisla looks ever so misplaced beside a busy roadway in Keith, Scotland. It should, one feels, appear by a drifting river in a forest in the hills.
It has been around since 1786 and is most famous now for producing whisky for the Chivas Regal brand – some of the best known blends in the world.
I arrived during the recent Spirit of Speyside whisky festival by way of the Keith & Dufftown railway – an historic train that rumbles shakily along a thin track through forested valleys for 11 miles. It’s a beautiful journey, made ever-more enjoyable by the friendly, Dungaree wearing conductor and a wee dram given out during the trip I was on (though not, I’m told, available at all times of the year).
Chivas Brothers has owned the distillery since 1950. But some traditions go back far further. Whisky is made using water from the nearby Brew Hill spring, which has been supplying it since operations began.
The distillery is medium-sized, with eight wooden washbacks made from Oregon pine. Fermentation takes 54 hours, before being distilled on two sets of stocky, globular copper stills. The new make comes off at 68% and the short stack makes for a heavier flavour.
Many of the casks are kept off-site in Elgin, while full blending is done in Paisley. Around 1,000 casks of various whiskies are stored in the stone warehouses on-site, but I was unable to take any photos as it is against policy.
After the tour, I headed to the tasting room to sip a few drams. As I was driving, I mostly nosed the whiskies.
I much preferred the Chivas Regal 18 year [...]
Dr Kirstie McCallum
Dr Kirstie McCallum, Global Brand Ambassador, Burn Stewart
The haunted Isle of Jura
A recent trip to Jura proved both spooky and tastebud satisfying!
Like father, like daughter
When I was 17, my dad gave me plane tickets to Colombia. It was my grad present.
Now, this might seem a bit of a strange thing for me to be divulging to you. After all, Colombia isn’t exactly famed for its whisky.
But the basis behind this story is that my dad gave me a present far removed from what other kids got. It wasn’t a car or a grad ring. Instead, wrapped up within those plane tickets was a message: go and follow your dreams, take a risk, and have fun.
So, despite the obvious dangers of heading to a rather fractious country, he saw me off on the plane and let me spread my wings. It couldn’t have been easy. You see, my mom passed away just as I was reaching my teenage years, so my father had the arduous task of seeing me through those highly emotional times on his own. I can only imagine that, therefore, letting his teenage daughter go to South America was more nervewracking for him. But he let me do it nonetheless.
What he instilled in me was to take chances. And I’ve been trying to do that ever since. Writing about whisky, for example, was a dream. But my father taught me to take risks – the road less travelled, if you will – to achieve what I wanted.
Therefore, this father’s day I wanted to tell you that little tale in the hopes you take a minute to reflect on what your fathers have done for you. Hallmark card sentiments aside, I couldn’t have become what I am today without his wise words and lack of judgment about my choices (going to university on the other side of [...]
The life of a whisky sommelier
Angelo Gobbi, The Athenaeum Hotel's whisky sommelier, has one of the world's coolest jobs.
Glenfarclas family tales
A visit to Glenfarclas proves it's a family business, through and through...