Whisky : Edradour and a SMWS

I was up in the Highlands the other week, and it seemed sensible to drop into Blair Atholl and Edradour while in Pitlochry. Speaking of Pitlochry, we usually stay at the Moulin Hotel, which has the added benefit of a pub + food, and an attached brewery, but for various reasons we stayed at the Ellangowan Guest House.  We'd definitely recommend both of these places. The pub/brewery is all win, drink til late, stagger upstairs. But the EGH was lovely and quiet.

Anyhoo, the whisky. Blair Atholl didn't have any of their distillers edition, which having tried at Neil's I was keen to grab a bottle (and he to replenish supplies). Sadly they had none left. Their only single malt is nice enough - I'd add it to the Pub Whisky List - but nothing great. However, it is a lovely distillery and well worth a visit - 10 min walk from the Pitlochry train station.
They are one of the main distillers for Bell's, but the tour guide was very dismissive of that :) Afore ye go

And so to Edradour. They've become far less quirky, and far more tourist trap twee, which I think I remarked on last time I was up there (with Rich, Neil and Michelle).
But since it was a quiet time they were happy for me to just potter off to the tasting room.

10 year old Ballechin 
Nose: smoke, peat, honey, warming
Palate: warm, manuka honey, pepper, smoke
Finish: med-long
6.5/10 an interesting and moderately complex smokey whisky. I'd definitely drink it again.
Their website doesn't have a picture of this.

2003 Port Finish 
Nose: wine, alcohol, not very interesting
Palate: smooth and drinkable, not very complex, too young? quite zingy in the mouth
Finish: long and spikey
5.5/10
I think I'd avoid this, it seemed too young and lacked anything interesting happening.

2006 Super Tuscan 
Nose: warm rubber
Palate: warm smooth, taste of honey, spiky
Finish: medium hot
7/10
I liked this, again, spiky, but interesting.

13 year old Barolo 
Nose: sherry, warming, spiky
Palate: warming, sherried, manuka honey, complex
Finish: long
7.5/10
Being unimpressed with the three I'd tried, I randomly bought this one - it's good. Not as good as their 14yo sherry (the one in teh decanter), but good. Pleased I've got it.

SMWS 9.102 Gun cabinets and flying saucers (Glen Grant)
Nose: sweet, manuka honey, papaya
Palate: honey, warming, melons
Finish: long and warm
7.5/10
I liked this. Not a huge surprise given my love for GG :)

moi x

Movies: Chud II : Bud the Chud (1989)

Chud II : Bud the Chud (1989)
I haven't seen Chud I, but suspect I won't lose much there. The Chud research project is being terminated, thankfully there is extensive exposition. It was an enzyme creating zombies - of course. I should've known. But one has escaped. Chud on the loose. Chud be gone.
We've cut to a science class, with a class prankster, which by a bizarre and largely unexplainable series of events, has caused a cadaver to run away on a gurney down the street. To solve this the lads are going to find a replacement. Confused?
Chud the Bud goes for a wander around town, converting people to his way of life. Rich Hall (of QI, Whose Line is it Anyway, various BBC comedies/tourism things) makes a brief appearance as a barbers client.  While the army continues to look for the Chuds, the Chuds continue to look for beef. There are flame throwers, explosives, lots of wins! Bud also falls for the hero's girlfriend.

Movie review: Ghoulies III

I recently spent £8 on 32 movies. This seemed excellent value for money, I'm now finding out if it was...

Ghoulies III (Ghoulies go to college)

A straight to video release, it begins with a flashback to 21 years ago describing how the ghoulies came about. In a win, there's a hints of Bach's toccata and fugue (yeah that one), which is broken up with twinkly synth tunes. After our flashback we end up on a college campus, with attractive, excessively hairy (can one use hirsute for ladies?) young ladies running - through water fountains - while the nerds throw things. Much slapstick ensues. This movie is setting its credentials out early.

The Ghoulies arrive thanks to an English professor, obviously. There's a weird collection of art the directors think would be in a fratboy area: magritte, lechinstein, man ray - odd. Various fratboy pranks (it's 'prank week') ensue with the ghoulies taking the lead. Puerile and entertaining. 

Movie Reviews: Savage Island & 976-Evil II

Savage Island (1985)
Um, where to start, plot I guess. Woman slave gang mining gems, sends in plant to break out the prisoners, leader then goes after the big boss. Lots of flashbacks and voiceovers.
Lots of boobs. Not much else. Oh hang on, lots of appalling over dubs. Acting, well the trees and general scenery win that. Worth watching ? well no, not really. worth having on in the background while pottering around? hell yes.  It also has Linda Blair, in one of her less famous roles.

976-Evil II (1991)
Starts well: cute babe swimming, phone rings, she ends up in with a stalactite through her. Non sequiturs abound.  Cue credits. A killer is on the loose, it maybe linked to the possessed phone. This is made clear (?) at a strip club, where our hero is looking confused, moody, leathery and responds brilliantly to the threatening phonecall with 'go fuck yourself'. Genius. There is a lot of hair, and glasses being whipped off while making serious points - CSI Miami would be proud.
"you sure as hell need a miracle, and i don't think god owes you anything."
After that, things get a bit confusing, but our hero pops up occasionally and does sleuthing, his name, we learn, is Spike. The evil teacher is now flogging stuff on TV., which leads to a zombie version of this wonderful life - that was quite inspired actually. Then some more odd scenes, inclduing truck/motorbike chases with continuity issues. the special effects make highlander look cutting edge...

Movie: Junior 1984 (aka "A Cut Above")

I'm currently reading the Bleeding Skull book (a 1980s trash-horror odyssey) which has caused me to go Bgrade hunting. And really, that's what's YouTube is for.

Can't remember if this one made it in thebook, or it was a random find. And I use that very loosely. Junior (A cut above) from 1984 likens itself to the texas chainsaw massacre. Which, to the point where hillbillies are in both movies, that's true. It's also had an eventful VHS release life with references to Junior ; A Cut Above; and Hot Water.

Two 80's babes get out of jail and move to a small town, where the hicks don't want them. Since they're on the waterfront, there's lots of excuses for skinny dipping, and the (almost) dead mother of 'Junior' lives opposite them on the lake. junior spends most of his time complaining to her. She also gives the LGBT community a bad name.
There are moments of brilliance, such as using a bikini top to create a molotov cocktail. Junior demonstrates planning skills now by leaving dead/decomposing bodies around, and is now using a chainsaw - so two ticks in the TCMassacre box, he's got a nice line in fedoras too. There's potential in that lad.

So, summary? superb 80s mishmash bgrade, boobies, no graphic violence :( very limited comedy. but doesn't outstay its welcome.

Bruce Soord & Sweet Billy Pilgrim

Went along to the Sweet Billy Pilgrim with Bruce Soord [pineapple thief] as support last night - well it was a 20mins down the road.
Venue was nice, even nicer was the keg of brakspear bitter. So quiet pint before it kicked off.

Bruce was playing some tracks from his forthcoming solo album, with Darran from Godsticks (who we caught many years ago at a festival). Sadly there was a backing track of drums and bass, and it was a very synth drum sound. Think it would have worked better with just the two of them. Songs sounded really good, pushing more towards the Wisdom of Crowds stuff than Magnolia, which suits me since I havne't really clicked with Magnolia.

Sweet Billy Pilgrim: I went into them having heard about 2 minutes of a video. I came away quite sold on them. Bit hard to describe them, folk / indie, they're on KScope which doesn't help much either. At times rambling, in a controlled way, and very talented - umm Johnny Flynn meets Pulp meets, err, I dunno. Here's a video, and on the strength of hte gig, I'll be picking up the new vinyl from Burning Shed. CD here. Vinyl here.

Rugby World Cup Predictions

We're two weeks out from the world cup that matters. None of those flouncy eat biting hair product dependent round ball twats.

I thought I'd throw out my predictions for those getting out of the first round. Although obviously my first prediction is that I'll be drinking some beer. [where some is a number between lots and ummm lost count].

Pool A: Australia, England, Wales, Fiji, Uruguay
Pool of death. And if I were an England supporter I'd be getting pretty concerned... I suspect Fiji will come last, but there's a good chance they'll damage a few of the opposition quite badly. So that's worth watching. I haven't watched Uruguay since, probably, the last world cup - so Fiji may fancy their chances there. But for those going through, Australia (probably topping the pool) and Wales. As a team Wales haven't gelled yet, but the signs have been looking very good and they're very well conditioned. Go Wazza.... I also get pissed off reading the 'rebirth of english rugby' commentaries every time they win a match, so would be fine seeing them get kicked out at this stage.

Pool B: South Africa, Samoa, Japan, Scotland, USA
Interesting pool for position 2. Obviously SA will top the pool, but all the others have a reasonable chance to come second. USA have come on a lot in the last 4 years, Japan have their ring-ins, Samoa suffer from not playing as a team that often, but their players are experienced, and Scotland appear to be peaking at the right time. They should have won against France last night, but lacked the ability to shut the game down, but as a team without huge stars (although the Gray brothers, Denton, and Cussitor are damn good) they're a good bet for the dark horse. (*)

Pool C: NZ, Argentina, Tonga, Georgia, Namibia
NZ to top the pool, and probably Argentina for second. Georgia looked OK last time I saw them, but I can't see them troubling Argentina who now have the four nations game experience.

Pool D: France, Ireland, Italy, Canada, Romania
France to top, they're looking very good - and appear to have settled on a line-up that includes Michalek (which is unfortunate for everyone else). Sadly I expect Ireland to take the second spot. I find them very boring, but they do the basics well, and keep winning. I'd like Canada to go through :)

So them's me picks. Nothing too controversial there, except for England.

(*) yes I'm biased due to the quantity of the national product I consume

Pub Whisky Guide

It was mooted during Cabal meetings that we produce a pub whisky guide. Essentially a list of whisky we liked that you may see in a pub. Yeah, didn't want to push the concept too much there.

This list became mythical. I promised many times. I never delivered. 

And yet, now, as I sip some Braes of Glenlivet (BBR bottling) and watch Scotland v France, here it is. Yes. The griffin lives.

To help, your default answer is likely to be Lagavulin 16yo, as it's easily available, and brilliant.

Slainte, B

Name	Nose	Palate	Finish	Rating	Comments
Aberlour A’bunadh	sherry, fudge, oloroso sherry, "manly dram"	sherry monster, raisins, prunes	long, sherry	11/10	"The Nigel Tufnel : for when you need a little bit more""I've had weaker sledgehammers to the face"
Adelphi Private Stock Blend	hints of socks, bananas, muscatels	christmas cake, salty	long	7/10
Ardbeg Uigeadail	peat, smoke, rubber, phenol, medicinal	salty, long, sweet	long	7-7.5/10	Very quaffable, this is the sherry finish (kinda) from Ardbeg
Arran Cu Bocan (Sherry Cask)	rubber, dark chocolate, 'sweaty crotch', 'choc salty calls' Jayne (firefly): 'smells like crotch'	chocolate, peat	zombie finish. there's nothing there and then it sneaks up	7.5 (A) - 8/10	Quaffable session whisky (will go on the now mythical pub list)
Arran Malt 10yo	rubber, spice, manuka honey	more flavour, honey, pepper, hint of salt, aniseed (grows)	med-long, salt, aniseed	5-6/10
Beunnahabhain - Provenance	chocolate, sherry, xmas cake	musty, sherry, xmas cake	med-long, very smooth		to quote Dr Death, it was 'imminently chuggable'
Cardhu 18yo	sherry, raisins, caramel, xmas cake	sherry, dry, high cocoa chocolate	med-short	6-6.5/10
Dalmore 12yo	rubber, sweaty socks,	caramel	very very short	4/10	It's not complex, it would be ok as a pub whisky
Glen Moray 16yo	Fragrant, caramalised sugar, sweet, root ginger, marshmallows,	weak, sweet, hint of christmas cake, warm	citrus, oak, short	6/10	diet whisky’
Glenfarclas 10yo 105	caramel, maple syrup	huge taste, caramel notes	massive	9/10
Glenrothes 1994 16yo	grass, sweet toffee, sherry, very sweet	sweet, tasty, citrus, sherry, toffee, kinda chewy	med length, tingly, sweet, hint of pepper in finish	7/10	very nice
Glenrothes 1994 Signatory 17yo	toasted marshmallows, burnt fireworks, rubber	sultanas, tangy, honey, cloudy lemonade	med-long	7-7.5/10	very very drinkable. You cannot go wrong with this baby
Jura Diurachs Own 16yo	sweet, chocolate, oranges	chocolate, sweet, seaweed/sushi, xmas	med-short	7-7.5/10	very quaffable
Lagavulin 16yo	dry, aniseed, soap, apple, bourbon, oxidised metal	salt, bacon, sherry, smoke, carame	long, dry, superb	9/10	SUPERB
Old Pulteney 17yo	incr alcohol, coconut, bright, reminded me of a Springbank	empty, rum, too light, salt, dry	medium	6.5/10
Scapa	parmesan cheese, sweaty sock, salt, sweet, vanilla, light	drinkable, salt, seaweed, sweet pancake	medium, warm	6/10
Springbank 10yo 100 proof	leather, old, edradour-ish; paint	tasty, smooth, meaty	ash, toffee, rum, long	9/10
Springbank 15yo	salt, bacon, sweet, fruity, cheese	caramel honey, kinda soapy	medium	8/10
Talisker Storm	salt, bacon, smoke	sweet, prawn cocktail, raspberry	short, peppery	6,7,8/10
Tomintoul 12yo Portwood	peaty but light, watery	sweet, salty, port	short, sweet	5/10	very light
Tomintoul 16yo	parmesan cheese, old wood chips, cut grass	good fighty, tangy, lemon, bourbon, thick mouth feel	short, manuka honey	6.5-7 /10	very drinkable
Tullibardine Port Finish	port, rubber, raisins	port soaked raisins	medium	6.5-7.5	very quaffable

Glenrothes Vintage Cask Reserve 40%

green grass, bourbon, shiitake mushrooms (that earthy smell)

light, warm, honey, quaffing, fruity

short, bit bland

5/10

King Frederick II of Prussia

march was my last post? really? Sheesh.

Anyway, King Fred II of Prussia had some great quotes, here's a beer / coffee inspired one:

It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the country as a consequence. Everybody is using coffee; this must be prevented. His Majesty was brought up on beer, and so were both his ancestors and officers. Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war.

Cooking with Bruce: Vege (or Pork) Chipotle and Pinto beans

Been awhile between drinks eh? Today's recipe was a total win for dinner last night. The recipe was for a pulled pork thing, but it works well with vege (courgettes, etc). I've adapted it to use chipotle chilli rather than the paste they'd suggested (dicks!).

0.8kg pork shoulder steaks, cut into 3cm pieces or equivalent in vegetables

Salt and black pepper

4 tbsp olive oil

2 large onions, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp smoked sweet paprika

2 tbsp ground cumin

1.5 finely chopped smoked chipotle chilli soaked in boiling water

800ml tomato passata

60ml cider vinegar

45g soft brown sugar

2 x 400g tins pinto or black beans, drained and rinsed

To serve

1 red onion, chopped

2 avocados, sliced

A large handful of fresh coriander

A handful of cheese, grated

1 Season the pork with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan with a lid, over a medium-high heat. Brown the pork, in batches, for 1–2 minutes each side or until browned all over. Remove and set aside.

2 Reduce the heat to low, add remaining olive oil, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook until softened.

3 Add the spices and chipotle and cook for a few minutes. Add the passata, vinegar, sugar and pork. Add a good sprinkling of salt, cover with a lid and cook for 1 hour or until the pork is tender. Keep the heat low so the bottom doesn’t burn and stir every 15 minutes or so.

4 When the pork is fall-apart tender, add the drained beans and warm through. Serve in small bowls topped with the onion, avocado, coriander and cheese. If you want it to stretch to 8-10 people, serve it with rice.