Rum

 Rum, not a spirit I know much about, other than dump it in cocktails and try and get over those student rum n coke days.

Santisima Trindidad de Cuba 3YO

• N: light, menthol, grapefruit, mint
• P: light, tasty, menthol, grapefruit
• F: hot, short-med, 

6/10 very sweet.

Santisima Trindidad de Cuba 7YO

• N: sweet, pineapple, vanilla, minty
  
• P: peppery, vanilla
  
• F: med, vanilla
  

6.5/10 

Bayside Rum co. 

Uses kumara as base 

• N: musty, woody, PVA 
• P: vanilla, peppery, hint of wine
• F: long

6/10

La Progresiva Cuban Rum

• N: light, dark sugar, molasses
• P: molasses, sugary, vanilla
• F: med-short, peppery

8/10 i liked this one 

Black Tears Cuban Spiced Rum

• N: vanilla, spicy, cocoa, chocolate
• P: spicy, dry sweet, coffee, chocolate
• F: short

8/10 really liked this, and i can see it working in a espresso martini

El Dorado 12YO

•  N: demerara sugar 
• P: spicy, molasses, coconut
• F: long, peppery

8/10 wasn't expecting the coconut but it made for an interesting taste

El Dorado 15YO

• N: sugar, vanilla, wood, solvent
• P: vanilla, demerara sugar
• F: med

7/10 possibly more elegant than the 12yo but not half as interesting. fantastic colour in it tho.

Pleased I went, I'm not sure I'll rush to another one, but it had more variety than expected. and I can see myself using spiced rum in cocktails...

What have I been drinking? 2018

Yes, it's been awhile. No, I have no excuses.

First up, what have I been drinking? Untappd helpfully sent me this....(user = sphenodon if anyone wants to stalk me)

This first one is a bit misleading as it counts all beer, so if I had a flight of four beers (150ml), that's four beers. So it's not quite as bad/good as it looks...

I like that around 75% of the beers I drink are different. Which is reflected in the very limited number of multiple checkins, but I do rather like Bird Dog :)

No surprises here.

This is a little unfair with Emersons 4m30s walk from the office door.

The Portsider is about 100m from home. Commodore is where I stayed when I arrived back in NZ.

Next? Music listening review, then possibly by 2018 Top10 albums.

I am, possibly, going to do a monthly opera blog. Although I'm running out of January. Sigh.

me x

Whisky Cabal 16 - the final countdown

We're doing this live. Or trying to. This may make the notes more decipherable, or less. no idea.... i may give up. it's very exciting.
Update: I'm tidying up some of the links and adding in more comments, overall I think the live tweeting/blogging worked ok, certainly easier to read my notes that way...



First up:
House of Commons - no.1 Scotch Whisky 40%, bottled about 1977/78. but unopened.

nose: paint stripper, methanol, scary, 3 day week,
palate: absolutely nothing there,
finish: burn, methylated vanilla, aftertaste of sick,

1/10 (for the bottle)
Update: fair to say this was appalling. Buchanan's were awarded the contract to supply the HoC back in the 1880s. I'd be sticking to beer or wine. Couple of links about the whisky here and here.

Dalmore 12 yo
nose: rubber, sweaty socks,
palate: caramel,
finish:  very very short
3 (B), 4(R+G), 5(A)/10

Update: It's not complex, it would be ok as a pub whisky. Distinct improvement over the HoC tho'.

Arran - 1996 53.9% single cask - sherry finish
nose: sherry, fruit, xmas cake, vanilla
palate: warm, nice, sherry, wow, honey,
finish: med-long, warming,
7-7.5(B)/10

SMWS 28.25 Sweet, nutty, personality 23yo, d25/6/1990 1/237, refill hogshead, ex bourbon, 51.9%
Nose: caramelised sugar
palate: fruit salad, melon, walnuts,
finish: very hot, and melony,

Addition of water
brings out bourbon on the nose, lime, melon, citrus, definitely needs water.

It's a Tullibardine, and it's very very nice with water.
no water: 5-6/10
water: 8/10

Arran - 17yo 46%
nose: sherry, caramelised sugar
palate: i want more, honey, grapefruit, tangy citrus, apple - cooking,
finish: med-long

Light, tasty, and brilliantly balanced.
8-8.5/10
Update: surprisingly consistent rating by us compared to last time we had it. huzzah!

Douglas - Speyburn 9yo, 1/457 bottles, 46%
nose: rubber, medicinal, socks
palate: light, fruity, tangy,
finish: medium
Very quaffable, camping trip whisky,
6-7/10

SMWS 26.89 An exotic tearoom experience 27yo, 56.6% refill butt ex - sherry 1/485
nose: fruit salad, .lemon, pineapple, tea,
palate: zingy, more fruit, tangy,
finish: medium
quite vigorous for 27yo whisky,

Clyneish: i like. 'ees nice, yet another tin-arse moment
9/10

AnCnoc - Flaughter 46%
nose: salt, bacon, peat, tobacco
palate: peat, medicinal, salt, smoke, green apple,
finish: medium

8/10

and that ends the live blogging. we're off to repeat a couple of them for my (possibly) final tasting with the cabal.

love B and the Cabal.

in more positive news

Pitlochry. Love the place.

We headed up after a quiet wee xmas party with N+S in the proghof. [quiet maybe a matter of opinion].
Having been dragged up there by N a couple of times, I already knew of the Moulin Hotel and the distillery Edradour. I may have mentioned them before. So figuring a quiet time ignoring people over xmas was a plan, we stayed at the Moulin Hotel. They have a brewery. This a very good thing as they brew Ale of Atholl and Old Remedial. The latter, although a heavy killer, is one of my favourite beers. The pub food is also very good.

It snowed on the 23-24th, and rained, but hopes were low for a white xmas. Indeed it turned out to be blue sky, followed by rain. Not really what we were expecting.

N+S turned up on the 26th, and so we made ourselves comfortable in the pub. This worked well. Some drams were had. This also worked well.

Sadly Edradour was closed (although an offer was made to open depending on when we were there - which didn't quite fit, oh well), and I had no major desire to head to Blair Atholl distillery this time. Mainly as we'd stocked up at the quite superb booze shop in Pitlochry, DrinkMonger - one of the royal mile whisky shops. Great whisky, beer, wine - well ok, great booze up.

Even better, very limited mobile (no 3g) and wifi. Ahhh bliss.

me

Whisky Cabal 9: where no bottle is killed

The gap between this, and the previous cabal meeting ( July 2012), conclusively proves we are incapable of organising a piss up anywhere. Sure, we'd made some beerfests and the whisky show, but cabal meetings? pah. useless. oh hang on, we had an unofficial one before xmas.
Due to the (un)seasonal snow, we were one drinker short, thankfully the remaining three were prepared to take some for the team. Go us.

As usual links for purchase go to our favourite lads at Loch Fyne Whisky. We've got to the point where we run bets on how quickly they'll get our order in the post, 6 hours has been the worst, and generally its 1-2 hours. These people understand our need for booze.

You'll notice our usual range for gradings. This is related to one of our number who complains about standardisation, and is at heart, a contrary bugger. Impressively, it's not me.

Harris 12yo Cask 4519 183/260 : Blair Athol : 58.6%

Nose: PVA glue, bourbon, ester-y
Palate: fighting yet smooth, sweet, citrus, fizzy, 80s sweet, oak
Finish: warm, honey, smoke
7-8 /10
Addition of water made it less fighty, but didn't really change the flavour of rating. An interesting dram, quite drinkable, but possibly bottled a little young?

Blair Athol is the mainstay of Bell's, but don't let that put you off.

G & M Mortlach 15yo 43%

Nose: meat (?), sulphur, egg, wet heather
Palate: warm, sherry, light, lemon, lilac sweets
Finish: short
6.5 - 7 /10
We like Mortlach, and the 15yo is a great easy drinking dram. Not very sherried (for a Mortlach), but it's a great introduction to good whisky.

G & M Mortlach 21yo 43%

Nose: sherry, spicy, honey, leather, salt
Palate: chocolate, honey, cinnamon, fruit, cakes
Finish: warm, lingering

8.5-9 /10
Ahhh yes, that's more like it. I repeat this story too often, but the first real whisky i bought was the 21yo Mortlach. I was at the whisky shop in Heathrow and the final call for our flight, Frances was dragging me out, and I was about to buy the 15yo as I'd just tried that, and the guy said for an extra fiver, get the 21yo. He was right. Very very right.
I do like my Mortlach. The two SMWS bottles in my cupboard support that thesis.

Glendronach Cask Strength 54.8%

Nose: sweet sherry, condensed milk, caramel, leather in a sports car (sorry, that was mine), butterscotch, xmas, ginger, lemons
Palate: sultanas, coriander and tandoori, aniseed
Finish: medium-long, very tasty, long warm, apples/sultanas
9/10
Yes, all three of us agreed.
This is a bloody stunning dram. Go forth young 'uns and buy, a bargain at just under £50.

Longrow - Rundlets and Kilderkins 51.7% 11yo

Nose: salty, bacon, smoke, reminded me of the 16yo Lagavulin
Palate: honey, salt, warm, peaty
Finish: long, salt, long standing tingle
8.5 - 9.25 /10

Don't ask about the .25, just don't.
This is year 2 of the R & K range, last year was the Springbank (also favourably reviewed here). The advantage of the smaller casks is that the whisky matures quicker as more liquid is exposed to the oak, and so picks up flavour quicker. Very very nice whisky, island-like without being overpowering.

Arran 53.9% Cask 1968 21 / 263
dist: 11/12/96  bot: 1/10/12

Nose: sweet tea, sherry, dessert wine, nutmeg, spices
Palate: aniseed sherry, wow
Finish: very very long, warm, happiness
9/10

The Arran distillery has become a bit of a favourite, there was a concern they were bottling a little young - but they are definitely hitting the sweet spot now. This was an utter corker. And yes, all three of us agreed. Twice in one evening.

Cask Strength and Carry On: Benriach 22 / 296 16yo 55.2%
Dist: 1996 bot: July 2012
Nose: sherry, salt, xmas cake, lemon/lime,
Palate: chilli, aniseed
Finish: long, spicy, fiery

7-7.5 /10
This from great lads at the Cask Strength blog who are aiming to work their way through the alphabet (C, for Cutty Sark, has just been released).
We liked this, but it suffered a bit following two blinders, it seemed a little vigorous to me - maybe it needed a few more years in the cask? Wouldn't turn down more of it tho'...

Talisker Storm 45.8%

Nose: salt, bacon, smoke
Palate: sweet, prawn cocktail, raspberry
Finish: short, peppery
6,7,8 /10
This divided our group, we'd all been looking forward to trying it. Especially me, after my recent conversion to Talisker at the Whisky Show (admittedly their 25 and 30yo expressions).
I gave it the 6, as I found it one-dimensional. It's good for what it is, but it lacked anything after the initial flavour hit.
I'll still try more Talisker, as those old ones were winners.

Port Charlotte PC10 59.8% 

Nose: phenol, salt, smoke (but only a little)
Palate: sweet, Fuck, huge, salt, honey, tangy, citrus, pepper
Finish: long, salt, pepper

9.5 - 10 /10
Yeah, they've done it again. It's a stunner. Absolute belter. We kept this as the last whisky as we knew it would cut through anything else we'd had. And it did. Bloody hell it's good. And scary. No links as it had pretty much sold out before release (make me an offer if you really want a bottle...)

B

Whisky tasting - somewhat impromptu

Countryfile was on, and somehow that inspired me to taste some whiskies - or rather drink the miniatures I had lying around.
Oh for regular readers, Loch Fyne Whiskies have a new website, mmm pretty booze.

Glencadem OB 15yo 46% - a freewee sample from LFW

Nose: fresh cut grass, hint of salt, manuka honey
Body: warm, manuka honey, full mouth feel, hint of salt, lemon
Finish: med-long

7/10, ok so 5ml isn't a lot to do a decent taste with, but on sample i'd say it's worth checking this whisky out. sweet but with a hint of bitterness, quite full in flavour for a 46%. Seemed damn good to me.

Clynelish OB 14yo 46% - a freewee sample from LFW

Nose: salt, turps,
Body: warm, tangy, liquorice, honey, full,
Finish: tangy, but short

6/10 Clynelish frustrate me. So close to Brora, and yet so far away. Why?! Admittedly this one seemed quite interesting, and the 5ml didn't give me enough to really judge, I suspect I'd like this one if I bought it - so maybe the older Clynelish get, the better they'll be? They're certainly getting up to the age of some Brora's so fingers crossed.

Glengoyne Single Cask 21yo Sherry Butt cask: 1391; 52.2% miniature


Nose: sherry, lemonade, light
Body: sherry, almost over-powering, honey, tang, pepper
Finish: very warm, but oddly light,

7.5/10 Ok, so it's a sherry monster, but it's also a lot lighter than expected. I've got a bottle of 21yo SC, which I may taste after this, but his is too much sherry, too little complexity. If you want a sherry monster, which had wonderful flavour, go for the Glengoyne TeaPot Dram (see review - search for scotch on my blog).

and in the spirit of research, I've dug up my 21yo Glengoyne for comparison.

Glengoyne Single Cask 20yo Spanish Oak Sherry Butt; Cask 1384; Bottle 426/592. 54.2%


Nose: sherry, smooth, polished wood
Body:  smooth, sherry, honey (bitter), complex, warm, hint of musty [in a good way],
Finish: long, very long, warmth which grows, honey, lovely.

9.5-10 /10 Incredible the difference between the two really, more evidence of the variety between casks. And why you want to bottle at the right time, was that one year too long?

B

Monkey balls

Don't ask why, but I just came across a recipe for a cocktail 'The Monkey Scrotum'.

mint
1 part lemon juice
1 part cointreau
1/2 part dark rum
dash bitters
tsp brown sugar

Instructions

Crush the mint with the sugar and add the lemon juice. Top up to half of the glass with ice. Pour rum and Cointreau over ice and mix thoroughly.

Now I'm sure you all appreciate where I could have gone for pictures...

Booze, the British tot of Rum

The tot of rum to British naval lads was stopped 40 years ago. And the last remaining casks of rum have just been bottled and are available for sale (a mere 600 pounds here).

But for general interest, it's worth reading this.
Background on the term grog and how booze was used in the Navy.

Trivia: naval rum was poured out in 1/2 gill portions. A gill was 1/4 of a pint, or 0.142 ml - except in some districts where it's a half-pint (quarter pint was a 'jack'). As a term, it's interchangeable with 'noggin', but only in the south of England, those wacky northerners, and their gratuitous intake, have a noggin as 2 gills.

This actually caused me to do some digging around the OED to see where these words came from. Gill first popped up in 1275, even Johnson used it (each man called for his own half-pint of wine, or gill, if he pleased) in 1773. Interestingly, the Channel Islands apparently had a different measure for a noggin, with pots (half-gallon), quarts, pints, gills (quarter of a pint), and noggins (an eighth of a pint).

The word gill derives from the latin for a wine vessel, as does gallon, possibly.
Noggin may be derived from Knag (a measure of a barrel), but the gaelic and irish (noigean and noigin) are derived from English.

Gill is also used as a familiar or contemptuous term for a woman. Must remember that.

Noggin seems to date to later, OED lists first usage as 1588. The now more common usage of noggin, as head, dates to 1769 (boxing slang), but it doesn't take much to work out how that came about.

Obviously, as in evolution, these all post-date first usage.

Ohhh, Australasian war slang (Korean and Vietnam), noggy - asian soldier.

there you go, education for the day.

Oh Brewdog, how I love you

Scotlands favourite indie brewer, Brewdog, has reclaimed the strongest beer title (at 55%) and, to make your drink that wee bit special, is putting the bottles in dead animals.

Read it here.

These limited edition bottles go for a measly £500. I've ordered a dozen, should be a good stomach pumping Sat night.
Highlights of the article include the alcohol focus chick describing this as a 'cheap marketing' stunt. Hmmm , she obviously gets paid too much.
Also the Advocates for Animals (whats that, a bestiality club?) suggests no one would spend money on something that gruesome. Uhuh.

me

Cooking with Bruce: mulled wine and muffins

I realise that most of you are desperately hanging out for my 'best-of 2009' blog, patience dear readers, it's on the way. I can reveal that Susan Boyle did not make the #1 position, but that's all I'm exposing now. 


Todays cooking with Bruce brings you a very tasty mulled wine recipe, culled from various websites, a cheeky norwegian, extensive tasting, and what I had in the kitchen. I also provide a use for the leftovers from mulling (is that a word? who knows, it is now) in the form of muffins - just for Bek. Not that she reads this. Oh well. 

1 bottle of red

3T madiera or port (this was 3s (ish) of tipping port into the pot)

1/2c brown sugar

1/3c raisins

2 sticks cinnamon

6 whole cloves

1 grapefruit peel

1/4c slivered almonds

1 bay leaf

grated nutmeg

1/4c vodka (or brandy, since I was low on vodka)

mix all but vodka, simmer 2-3 hours, just before serving add vodka. drink extensively. 

The problem with this recipe is that it leaves you with leftovers, raisins, almonds etc. Oh woe, whatever is to be done? Muffins. Muffins are to be done. I have no idea on the actual amounts of ingredients used.

50gm butter

1/2c brown sugar

cream those two and mix an egg in.

1.5c flour (possibly a mix of wholemeal and standard, but I had no wholemeal), some baking powder, raisins, almonds from the mulled wine, few spices. Add milk and mix to a dropping consistency, bake 15mins at 180C. Makes 4-6 depending on your manliness.

B

Xmas drinking pt1 - not very pisht post

 The beginning of the day, one champers down and currently watching Flight of the Living Dead aka Zombies on a Plane. The plot, such as it is, is quite easy to follow and should appeal to all drunken bgrade fans. Scripting writing makes pr0n dialogue look like Bennett, and the less said about the acting, the better. For all that, it's fun - and more importantly has zombies, hot babes, guns, and a plane. Not enough nudity to be excellent, so it'll get a very good rating from me. Sadly my booze is now empty and I must away for a refill. Damn scientists killing everyone. But there's a nun, she still got clothes on too, but maybe hot. And a prisoner, and a US air marshall. They have guns. and now metal - oh yeah baby. I liked that fact the hot babes got bitten first.

Food intake update:
2 cups coffee (freshly ground havana beans)
1 glass champagne
2 english muffins with egg, salmon and horseradish

oohhh woohoo the captain got bitten!

B

ps: in keeping with the 'rules' no editing allowed on these posts so if they dont make sense, blame someone else.
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane

Dollhouse

Mildly pishd posht.

I like Dollhouse, I like how it's developing. And it's got Alan Tudyk. I like how joss keeps re-using his actors. Respect.

And what a great character Tudyk has :)

back to the rose. I sense whisky in my future, along with a crap movie. Fast n Furious may be an option, or Call of Cthulu for classic crap. Oh decisions. Better drink more.

b

Quizzage!!!

Big night for our music quizzage team last night, the regulars all turned up, we were pumped - as we'd found a $5 spirits pub beforehand. G-blonde saw that the QualityHotel on Cuba had specials on, so we went. This place was scary, it looked and felt like a waiting room for judgement day. It was so impersonal as to have become a cliche of itself. Awesome. the bartender, Corry, seemed nice enough and was ok with us just yelling orders to him :)

I headed to the pub to find us a seat (good plan, all bar one of the tables had been taken) while k-dawg and G-blonde got food.

We came second after some stunning rounds, particulary on 90s dance music - admittedly S2H and I weren't the best there (I did know Mark Morrison return of the mac...released about the sametime as his jobness came back (1996 and 1997 respectively!!)). But go team !!!

Final song was Meatloaf, which led to a Steinman walk home - well after the Tragically Hip had finished (the superb Fully Completely). Went for Bad for Good. Which is pretty good description of the album over all :)

Again, huzzah team!!!

Love, B

NZ Election night

How bloody boring is the TV coverage. I have a cold, but even then the nutnumbingly inane crud has driven me to booze.
I tried beer: a very nice trappist (Rochefort) then a Mac's Sassy Red (overrated).

So I've turned to my drink d'jour. Edradour 24yo; Brora 24yo (Dun Bheagan). i might go and watch a movie instead. Or go to sleep, which will be better for me.
Stupid feckin' idiots.

B.