Wed. 17 June 2009, I attended a Scotch tasting at the Muddy Pig in St. Paul. What a tasting! It was brilliant and there was a bonus to it all which I will tell later. Speyside and Scott's selection of whiskies, rare whiskies.
We started off sampling Speyside 12 yr, a nice drinking whisky and made in a new distillery in Speyside. Nose was fruit, floral, vanilla, and toffee. Taste was malty, fruit, raisiny and slight peat. Finish was long and sweetish.
King's Crest, a 25 yr old blended whisky which was a real delight. An expensive whisky but it had lots of great nose and taste notes that I liked.
Bladnoch distilled 1984 bottled 2004. Nose light and floral, Taste peppery, malty. Finish light and sweetish and fairly long and pleasant.
Inverleven distilled 1979 bottled 2004. Nose citrusy and floral. Taste toffee, chocolate, and vanilla. Finish long, sweet, and fruit with a hint of vanilla.
Glen Mhor distilled 1978 bottled 2001. Nose has vanilla, fruit, and a hint of peat. Taste is sweet with hints of pepper and toffee. Finish is long, sweet, with hints of sried fruit and toffee.
Glen Rothes distilled 1980 bottled 2005. Nose is fruity and floral. Taste hints of nuts. Finish has long great finish, with fruit and nuts. It was a great delicious finish.
Longmorn/Glenlivet distilled 1971 bottled 2004. Nose has citrus and flowers. Taste is grapefruit. Finish was citrus, puckering, and long.
Aberlour distilled 1989 bottled 2007. Nose Floral. Taste spices amd cinnamon and vanilla. Finish was long, sweet, and malty.
Highland Park distilled 1986 bottled 2007. Nose iodine and malty with a hint of smoke. taste vanilla, peat, and fruit. Finish was long, sweet and dried fruit.
Bruichladdich distilled 1990 bottled 2004. Nose was sweet. Taste of toffee and vanilla. Finish nice and creamy.
Caol Ila distilled 1984 bottled 2007. Nose was all Islay smoke, peat, and malt. Taste smoke, sweet, and salty. Finish long smokey, peaty, Islay finish. This was my favorite and I have a bottle of this that I will drink.
North of Scotland distilled 1964 bottled 2003. Nose chocolate, vanilla, and a hint of tobacco. Taste chocolate, sweet, and malty. Finish was sweet and long lingering of the palate.
This was a splendid tasting of the Scott's Selection of bottlings. I was really pleased with the tasting and will probably buy some of the other bottlings.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
First few things May 29009
I had some Fettercairn 1824 and thought it very drinkble. I visited the distillery on Wed. after doing some hiking. Fin and I hiked up and saw some Pictish hill forts. We then went over to Fettercairn. The village still has its city gate which was very interesting. The whisky tasted of butterscotch and vanilla notes. The 10 yr old Jura was a wee bit harsh. Harsher than I suspected or knew.
At Loch Fyne Whiskies, I tried a few. I tasted the Living Cask. It was a bit harsh and woody. The living cask is a wooden cask of whisky that when it gets down to a certain level more whisky is added. The profile changes as new whisky is added. Next I tried was Teaninich 10 yr. This had some vanilla and berry notes. MacPhunn was tasted next. She had some sulphery notes in the aftertaste which was not pleasant. Three that I tasted and really liked were Ledaig 18 yr was the bottling of the year. Floral and sweet nose. The taste was spicy and nutty with a dry and delicate finish. Springbank 11 yr finished in a Madiera cask. Sweet delicate notes on the nose. Taste was dried fruit rich and berry like.The finish was long and sweet. The last one was the Mortlach 16 yr Flora & Fauna edition. This has a rich sweet nose like Christmas cake. The taste is just as rich and lingers a long while in the finish. The finish being rich sweet and dried fruit like.
Once on Islay, we had a welcoming dram of Arran 14 yr old. This was an easy drinking dram sweet, delicate, with vanilla and flower notes in the nose. The finish was sweet with a long finish.
It was offered by our German friends Gregor, Michael, Dagmar, Rainer, Sabine, Frank, and Kersten. They were staying at Torra cottage.
At Loch Fyne Whiskies, I tried a few. I tasted the Living Cask. It was a bit harsh and woody. The living cask is a wooden cask of whisky that when it gets down to a certain level more whisky is added. The profile changes as new whisky is added. Next I tried was Teaninich 10 yr. This had some vanilla and berry notes. MacPhunn was tasted next. She had some sulphery notes in the aftertaste which was not pleasant. Three that I tasted and really liked were Ledaig 18 yr was the bottling of the year. Floral and sweet nose. The taste was spicy and nutty with a dry and delicate finish. Springbank 11 yr finished in a Madiera cask. Sweet delicate notes on the nose. Taste was dried fruit rich and berry like.The finish was long and sweet. The last one was the Mortlach 16 yr Flora & Fauna edition. This has a rich sweet nose like Christmas cake. The taste is just as rich and lingers a long while in the finish. The finish being rich sweet and dried fruit like.
Once on Islay, we had a welcoming dram of Arran 14 yr old. This was an easy drinking dram sweet, delicate, with vanilla and flower notes in the nose. The finish was sweet with a long finish.
It was offered by our German friends Gregor, Michael, Dagmar, Rainer, Sabine, Frank, and Kersten. They were staying at Torra cottage.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Islay 2009, Feis Ile
Scotland. The Inner Hebrides islands of Islay and Jura are destinations of an annual pilgrimage of whisky drinkers, collectors, and connoisseurs. There are 9 distilleries on the two islands; Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Jura, Kilchoman, Laphroaig, Lagavulin. For lovers of Scotch whisky with iodine, salt, peat, and smoke, this area is heaven on earth. I will be describing my experiences of drinking whisky for 16 days in May and June 2009.
Monday, May 4, 2009
May first things
It has been 8 years since my wife Ann died from cancer. I miss her very much and think about her everyday. The grandchildren are growing and Nic and DeDe are older. Nic and Angie have a wonderful family. DeDe is doing well as a wine sales person. I am doing well. I thank the Lord everyday for having known Ann and having two wonderful childrfen with her.
Arborfest was lots of fun. Thom and I played bagpipes and I had an awful lot of Surly Smoke to drink. I think I need to stay away from that beer. Both times I have had it, I have drank way too much of it. It was a good fest. Saw some people I knew, James, Martha, Adam, Carol, Cathie, Jeff, Brian, Bob & Big Frank from Fitgers, Andre, Jeremy, and Brenda from Barley John's, Damian, Bob McKenzie, Mike from Schell's (he's a sales rep). Next day I was feeling a wee bit rough.
I gamed (Guns of Liberty) at Brent's with Mike, Ron (John's dad) & John. It was loads of fun. Especially rolling so well against Brent. My Jaegers chased his rifleman battalion out of the woods. We saw the backsides of those boys a couple of times. We loaded up our left and crushed his right. He called it a draw at the end of the game, however, in any regular set of rules a brigade with most of the regiments at under 50% would be gone from the field. He had one regt. still at full strength and 3 at 25%. The flank was crushed and it was all over except for the crying.
I then went to Townhall and Thom and I played for the blessing of the Maibock. They had a regular blessing service and we piped in the padre. Afterwards, we ate and drank at the expense of the Townhall. It was a good time. Good beer, good conversation and good food all of it made for a very memorable evening.
Sunday, I worked in the yard and then K and I went to the Living Green Expo. We stayed for two hours and left. We madesome contacts and got some ideas. We bought a few plants. I bailed on the piping at the May Day parade with Doug and his group but there is only so much I can do in a day.
We went over to DeDe's where she had made a beautiful dinner for us. We had artichoke dip, crudites, another dip, bread, gnocchi, salad, lovely cucumber infused water, and tomatoes. For dessert, she made us a cheese cake with cherries in Chambord liquer, and drizzled with strawberries liquified. It was so good. Before this lovely dinner, we all pitched in to help DeDe on her yard. Usually, it is me and Damian and Ava helping DeDe but this time we enlisted everyone Nic, Angie, Katherine, Ted, and me. We did a lot of work. Some plants were damaged but the yard is in good shape.
Arborfest was lots of fun. Thom and I played bagpipes and I had an awful lot of Surly Smoke to drink. I think I need to stay away from that beer. Both times I have had it, I have drank way too much of it. It was a good fest. Saw some people I knew, James, Martha, Adam, Carol, Cathie, Jeff, Brian, Bob & Big Frank from Fitgers, Andre, Jeremy, and Brenda from Barley John's, Damian, Bob McKenzie, Mike from Schell's (he's a sales rep). Next day I was feeling a wee bit rough.
I gamed (Guns of Liberty) at Brent's with Mike, Ron (John's dad) & John. It was loads of fun. Especially rolling so well against Brent. My Jaegers chased his rifleman battalion out of the woods. We saw the backsides of those boys a couple of times. We loaded up our left and crushed his right. He called it a draw at the end of the game, however, in any regular set of rules a brigade with most of the regiments at under 50% would be gone from the field. He had one regt. still at full strength and 3 at 25%. The flank was crushed and it was all over except for the crying.
I then went to Townhall and Thom and I played for the blessing of the Maibock. They had a regular blessing service and we piped in the padre. Afterwards, we ate and drank at the expense of the Townhall. It was a good time. Good beer, good conversation and good food all of it made for a very memorable evening.
Sunday, I worked in the yard and then K and I went to the Living Green Expo. We stayed for two hours and left. We madesome contacts and got some ideas. We bought a few plants. I bailed on the piping at the May Day parade with Doug and his group but there is only so much I can do in a day.
We went over to DeDe's where she had made a beautiful dinner for us. We had artichoke dip, crudites, another dip, bread, gnocchi, salad, lovely cucumber infused water, and tomatoes. For dessert, she made us a cheese cake with cherries in Chambord liquer, and drizzled with strawberries liquified. It was so good. Before this lovely dinner, we all pitched in to help DeDe on her yard. Usually, it is me and Damian and Ava helping DeDe but this time we enlisted everyone Nic, Angie, Katherine, Ted, and me. We did a lot of work. Some plants were damaged but the yard is in good shape.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Guinness 250th Anniversary beer thing
I found the 250th anniversary Guinness underwhelming. It does not have the good bite and full body and taste of the extra stout. It is better than the draught Guinness which is pure shite. This beer is definitely not in the same category as the Foreign Extra Stout, or the Special Extra Stout (Belgium only), or the Nigerian export. Actually, the Guinness' I had in Asia or the Caribbean are much better than this. I was really hoping for something really good. Perhaps they would have been better off resurrecting the porter. The porter is the beer that made the Guinness fortune and reputation. Now that would have been a real great idea. I guess Guinness has too many bean counters at Diageo looking at the bloody bottom line. With so many really good stouts and porters made in America and especially here in the Twin Cities, spend your money here and forget the Guinness 250th.
State Law Librarian Things
Well, I did not get the position as acting state law librarian. The search team decided to put Judy Rehak in as acting State Law Librarian. Good choice, she will be really good for the library. She is a good patron and knows everyone in the library. She will lead impartially and well. I am especially glad DL did not get the position. It seemed he thought of himself as the 'chosen one' to lead the library. A real prat who is full of complete tosh.
I had not really thought about applying at first, however, nudged by my colleagues, I went for it. In the process, I realized I did have the potential to lead the library and do a good job.
Did I really and truly want it? No and then ... yes. I wanted to lead the librarian into a new direction using some of the new web 2.0 technology. I probably will still do that. I am very excited about the Twitter account for the library. Now I need to act on the MySpace and Facebook. The extra money would have been nice. I worked hard but neglected to tell them what I really wanted. This is now all in the past and the library will survive as it has in the past.
I had not really thought about applying at first, however, nudged by my colleagues, I went for it. In the process, I realized I did have the potential to lead the library and do a good job.
Did I really and truly want it? No and then ... yes. I wanted to lead the librarian into a new direction using some of the new web 2.0 technology. I probably will still do that. I am very excited about the Twitter account for the library. Now I need to act on the MySpace and Facebook. The extra money would have been nice. I worked hard but neglected to tell them what I really wanted. This is now all in the past and the library will survive as it has in the past.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
April Vacation Things Pt. 1
Recovering still from the epic drive down to Orlando and back. It was a great trip, long but great. We had some amazing food down South. They are without a doubt the best place to go for real regional cooking. The bbq, the veggies, and the grits all are sooooo good. We had a good deal of eating Southern food with a few exceptions.
The first night we stopped in LeRoy, Illinois. The first place we stopped for real Southern cooking was at Swett's http://www.swettsrestaurant.com/ in Nashville. Chicken was the specialty and you could have it fried or rotisserie. Both were really good and the sides of cornbread, greens, squash, sweet potatoes, and mac & cheese were tasty. When we walked in some people going in, looked like a man and his mom, said it was the best place in Nashville. Rated by the tasters **** out of five. Afterwards, we stopped and saw the only full scale reproduction of the Parthenon (Athens). It was very cool.
That night we stopped in Decatur, Alabama.
The next day we stopped at the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama. The grotto was created by a monk from the Abbey of St. Bernard's http://www.avemariagrotto.com/index.php?cPath=159&osCsid= This grotto is a must see. The amount of time and dedication to this work was amazing. He did miniatures of famous buildings from all over the world, mostly religious. He does a miniature of the city of Jerusalem. It was all very cool. We also stopped in the Cullman Flea market bought some things. I bought whoopie pies from some Amish ladies, excellent. We also grabbed a snack of tacos. They were made with pulled pork and they were rated by our panel as a ***** treat. We arrived in Orlando at 10:30 that evening and katherine was there awaiting our arrival.
The following day, Kat and I went to Winter Park http://www.ci.winter-park.fl.us/
and the Skrades went to Wet & Wild. K and I sought out Vegas Cafe home of the Cuban sandwich. It was closed. We went across the street to Chan's for dim sum and it was very good. Rated **** by our impartial panel. K and I took a boat ride for an hour. It was very relaxing and then went to the Morse Museum http://www.morsemuseum.org/home.html This for me was one of the best things on the trip. They have an incredible collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass and art. They also have his Byzantine Chapel http://www.morsemuseum.org/collection/tiffany_chapel.html which is an amazingly beautiful, reverent work. It was created for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. They also have a nice painting collection and an American decorative arts collection from 1870-1920, roughly. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant Saigon not far from Chan's on Colonial Drive. We had a very tasty oriental meal. Rated *** 1/2 by our expert panel.
Nex day we went to Universal World http://www.universalorlando.com/index.html?__source=ps.yssp.tlp and spent the going on rides and walking around. I went on two rides that were completely different than what I usually do. The Revenge of the Mummy and the Simpson's Ride. I thought I was going to lose it both times. We also went to four other things Disaster (Nic was picked as an extra), Jaws, Horror Film techniques, Terminator 3D, Shrek 3d, and Universal City Walk. After a long day of walking we decided to stay close to our hotel, Best Western Universal. In the evening we went to Kobe Japanese Steak House and had a teppanaki meal which was very good. Rated **** by our non-partisan panel.
The Skrades went to the other half of the Universal Theme Park and I took Katherine to the Airport. We stopped at Vegas and split a sandwich and I drove to Winter Park to search out more museums. I stopped at the Cornell Museum in Rollins College, $5.00 and the Orlando Museum of Art, $8.00. The Orlando MOA wasn't worth the price of admission. The best things I saw were the African art mostly textiles, Aztec and Zapotec art, and a very nice collection of netsukes. Rollins had an exhibit of portraits of ladys from around the turn of the century 1900 and a small exhibit of Delftware. We are lucky to have a very strong art scene in the Twin Cities.
That evening we went for pizza. It was okay. It was rated *** by our discerning panel of judges.
To be continued....
The first night we stopped in LeRoy, Illinois. The first place we stopped for real Southern cooking was at Swett's http://www.swettsrestaurant.com/ in Nashville. Chicken was the specialty and you could have it fried or rotisserie. Both were really good and the sides of cornbread, greens, squash, sweet potatoes, and mac & cheese were tasty. When we walked in some people going in, looked like a man and his mom, said it was the best place in Nashville. Rated by the tasters **** out of five. Afterwards, we stopped and saw the only full scale reproduction of the Parthenon (Athens). It was very cool.
That night we stopped in Decatur, Alabama.
The next day we stopped at the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama. The grotto was created by a monk from the Abbey of St. Bernard's http://www.avemariagrotto.com/index.php?cPath=159&osCsid= This grotto is a must see. The amount of time and dedication to this work was amazing. He did miniatures of famous buildings from all over the world, mostly religious. He does a miniature of the city of Jerusalem. It was all very cool. We also stopped in the Cullman Flea market bought some things. I bought whoopie pies from some Amish ladies, excellent. We also grabbed a snack of tacos. They were made with pulled pork and they were rated by our panel as a ***** treat. We arrived in Orlando at 10:30 that evening and katherine was there awaiting our arrival.
The following day, Kat and I went to Winter Park http://www.ci.winter-park.fl.us/
and the Skrades went to Wet & Wild. K and I sought out Vegas Cafe home of the Cuban sandwich. It was closed. We went across the street to Chan's for dim sum and it was very good. Rated **** by our impartial panel. K and I took a boat ride for an hour. It was very relaxing and then went to the Morse Museum http://www.morsemuseum.org/home.html This for me was one of the best things on the trip. They have an incredible collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass and art. They also have his Byzantine Chapel http://www.morsemuseum.org/collection/tiffany_chapel.html which is an amazingly beautiful, reverent work. It was created for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. They also have a nice painting collection and an American decorative arts collection from 1870-1920, roughly. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant Saigon not far from Chan's on Colonial Drive. We had a very tasty oriental meal. Rated *** 1/2 by our expert panel.
Nex day we went to Universal World http://www.universalorlando.com/index.html?__source=ps.yssp.tlp and spent the going on rides and walking around. I went on two rides that were completely different than what I usually do. The Revenge of the Mummy and the Simpson's Ride. I thought I was going to lose it both times. We also went to four other things Disaster (Nic was picked as an extra), Jaws, Horror Film techniques, Terminator 3D, Shrek 3d, and Universal City Walk. After a long day of walking we decided to stay close to our hotel, Best Western Universal. In the evening we went to Kobe Japanese Steak House and had a teppanaki meal which was very good. Rated **** by our non-partisan panel.
The Skrades went to the other half of the Universal Theme Park and I took Katherine to the Airport. We stopped at Vegas and split a sandwich and I drove to Winter Park to search out more museums. I stopped at the Cornell Museum in Rollins College, $5.00 and the Orlando Museum of Art, $8.00. The Orlando MOA wasn't worth the price of admission. The best things I saw were the African art mostly textiles, Aztec and Zapotec art, and a very nice collection of netsukes. Rollins had an exhibit of portraits of ladys from around the turn of the century 1900 and a small exhibit of Delftware. We are lucky to have a very strong art scene in the Twin Cities.
That evening we went for pizza. It was okay. It was rated *** by our discerning panel of judges.
To be continued....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)