hope all fellows have good St Andrews Day today!!!
got the mini tartan shirt on in honor of my family
oh and i'll prob be watchin Braveheart tonight to ! ! !
Oh no ! Cue tartan jackets and trousers from the trads.
Some say always go for a single malt, but there are some excellent blends, Ballantines 21 year old, and Johnnie Walker's Gold Label are both prime examples. Forget the Blue Label, its a marketing gimmic, and not half as ancient as Johnnie Walker would have you believe.
The most complex tastes: Speysides - Macallan, Ballantine's are winners.
The most peaty and seaweedy: Islay - Laphroiag being the most popular.
Then you have Lowlands and Highlands which a lot of people think are rather bland, but Highland Park and Auchentoshan are pretty damn good.
There's also a number of modern style whiskies worth contemplating: Arran, Scapa, Jura, all from the islands.
Some say drink neat, some say with half and half whisky and water. Depends on the taste.
Then you have the effects of ageing and different barrels, in short a lifetime's worth of exploration.
My mission this christmas is to get hold of some Glenfiddich 30 year old and some extra rare and old malts from the '60's.
There's only one nation that produces whisky and that's Scotland, all the rest is whiskey and not as good, only the Japanese whisky is equal.
Had wir haggis (Macsweens excellent veggie one), neeps and tatties at the weekend. No kilts, no tartan jackets, no bagpipe music.
Black Grouse is what's on the go at Maclennan Castle at the moment.
Springbank indeed should not to be forgotten, they also produce another named one, Hazelburn if I remember rightly, excellent stuff. One quality of Springbank I've noticed is that it retains essential parts of its taste even when diluted heavily with water.
Talisker - a fiery daemons drink, I often share a wee dram with my humunclus.
And we should not forget that Winston Churchill imbibed sufficient whisky during WWII to beat the nazi scourge.
Those state owned liquor-stores in New England are like the last bastion of prohibition, no wonder so many of you are into meta-amphet, its easier to get hold of.
Quite a few New Englanders told me about how bad it was, and I even saw outside a state owned liquor store. When I regailed everyone back in dear old Blighty, nobody believed me. Also how all the restaurants were basically closed by 9PM.
Last edited by formby (2009-12-01 13:14:48)
Fortunately, I get to Maryland fairly often. Liquor stores there are privately owned and the size of supermarkets. I take advantage of the variety and stock up.
Not so very long ago, though, Pennsylvania Liquor Control agents would sit in unmarked cars outside of Maryland liquor stores. If the spotted a car with PA plates leaving, they'd follow across the border, stop the car, crack open and pour out the booze and issue a hefty fine.
We can finally order booze by internet. There was a big lawsuit funded by major California wineries to break those prohibitions.
Last edited by formby (2009-12-01 13:31:05)
Southeast Pennsylvanians do much the same thing with Delaware. No sales tax. Dupont basically funds the state.
Last edited by AQG (2009-12-02 12:32:41)
God bless the Dupont corporation for napalm and agent orange.
well that, and the prohibition of cannabis in the US.....though they were just part of a team effort on that one, to be fair.