The third outing of our yearly trip to the Whisky Show in London. A cold (ish) morning, brisk, and the unwelcome discovery of no coffee on the train. Ah well, I wasn't likely to have any as we were pottering around Borough market before the show.
Monmouth was, as expected, packed, so we went to the coffee stall at the back of the market. It does make me happy having good coffee, shame I have to head to london for it.
After acquiring some chocolate to keep S happy, we wandered through the whisky shop, where I singularly failed to convince Alec to buy me expensive bottles of whisky. Bastard.
And so we queued. Or rather, I queued, and Alec ran his virtual news service.
This year we had decided we may go for quality rather than quantity, and thus not get too drunk (foolish thinking!). And, although ruining the experience for Rich, I'd decided not to make full tasting notes, rather just note what we'd drunk. Therefore the latter sections of this blog won't have the translational issues of previous years - where 'sweet' could be variously read as sweet / sushi / salmon / sordid etc.
Links to buy from our favourite indie booze store Loch Fyne Whisky as/where I coudl find them.
And so it begins...
Glendronach 14yo oak, very sweet, long finish 7/10
BenRiach 20yo, very very nice, long finish 8.5/10 [my notes say, buy a bottle] LFW
BenRiach 16yo peated, very nice 8/10 LFW
Glenfarclas 105 20yo, sweet sherry lovely, all the goodness of the 105 but subtle, mature - 9/10
Adelphi blend hey it's cheap, it tastes damn good, and it gets my thumbs up
Adelphi Springbank salty very long 8/10
Adelphi Macallan light pretty typical Macallan, not really liking this one 6.5/10
Glen Moray 16yo kinda light 6/10 LFW
Glen Moray 25yo (new cask sample) - mushroom!! 8/10
Glen Moray Chenin blanc, I liked htis, shame I can't seem to find it anywhere 8.5/10
Glengoyne - first bottling 7/10
Note, Glengoyne have just refreshed their lineup and website, worth a look...
Glengoyne - 18yo 43% which is replacing the 17yo. Hints of apple, but still sherry goodness. Very tasty 8.5/10
BBR Clyneish 1997 14yo 7.5/10 it appears Clyneish are improving...
BBR Aberlour Cask #3919 quite a kick on this one
BBR Glenlivet 1973 (tho I think the link is the 74) 8.5/10
BBR Cognac XO spicy 8/10 I keep meaning to try more cognac, but get sucked into whisky instead...
Kilchoman Single Cask exactly what I want from an Islay dram, cask strength, ballsy, great 8.5/10
Brora 35yo - this is what I spent my dreamdram token on. I love Brora.
Nose: sweet, lovely floral, marshmallows, sarsparilla
Palate: sweet, floral
Finish: mid-long, absolutely wonderful.
I'm biased, but 10/10
Johnnie Walker Double Black (£35) 7/10; Platinum (£70) 6/10
hey we've no excuse other than it was something we wouldn't normally drink. the double black was much better than expected.
Talisker 25yo
Nose: dead
Palate: quite nice, interesting, smooth
Finish: short
8/10 yeah before this I didn't like talisker, but this was very nice
Talisker 30yo LFW
Nose: very oily; Palate: sweet, saltiness;
9/10 - my notes say 'fuck!!!!' as this totally blew my preconceptions of Talisker out of the window. But at £250+ I wont be having it in my collection anytime soon.
Caol Ila 25yo LFW (think it was this one)
Nose: great. petrol, rubber, salt, rhubarb, custard
Palate: sweet, salt, peat ??
Finish: peat, short
8-8.5/10
Balblair 1979 nofinish 5/10
Balblair (I think) 12yo doublewood very nice, the notes either say very sweet or hairy sweat, your call 7/10
Balblair New spirit. Quite smooth, not nearly as exciting as the Kilchoman, but in interesting.
Dalwhinnie Rum Caribbean not much flavour, very sweet 5/10
Dalwhinnie Single barrel 15yo
Benromach 30yo apples! but very nice 8/10 LFW
Linkwood 25yo G and M 9/10
Strathisla 1970 apples on nose, leather and sherry notes, oak, lingering sherry, short-med finish 9/10
English whisky company Chapter 12 Sherry cask 46% 8.5/10
English whisky company Chapter 11 peated 8/10
Penderyn Madeira - very sweet, green apple, and something indecipherable 6/10
Penderyn peated, very weird 4/10
Glenrothes John Ramsey bottling 9.5/10
Glenrothes 1995 LFW
Glenrothes 1988
Basically, you can't go wrong with Glenrothes. Never had a bad one...
Glenglassaugh NEW! but sadly i can't read my notes :D I have a feeling the next release is called Evolution, but whatever it was, I gave it 8.5/10
Glenglassaugh 26yo 40% bloody nice, but I already knew that
and possibly something else, the notes are illegible. It appears to be a Glen something.
All in all a very very good day. We managed to get home (an achievement) with minimal damage to anyone else. And I survived Freshers Fair on Sunday morning, although it's fair to say I'd rather have been lying in bed.
Love, B
15 October 2012
14 October 2012
Life@45rpm
Periodically Thurs Night Music Night gets a thematic makeover, last week I decided to go with everything had to be at 45rpm, hence Life@45rpm.
Out of a sense of wanting to share the excitement with everyone, here's the list of what was played, along with some videos where (in)appropriate.
This worked so well, and I've still a large number of 45's which weren't played, that there could be another night or two in the future. Sadly for listeners, not much more cheese of the Alf/The Firm/Europe/Spitting Image level, so some cheap second hand purchases may have to be made.
Rush - Time Stand Still 12"
Fish - Suits (ok, so it's an album, but the vinyl was pressed for 45rpm)
Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender 12"
Queen - I'm going slightly mad 12" [with the brilliant Lost Opportunity]
Marillion - Lavender 12"
Talk Talk - Living in another world 12" (orig)
Alf - Stuck on Earth 12" [best 25c 12" I've bought]
Dire Straits - Twisting by the pool 12"
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls 12"
Pineapple Thief - Sherbert Gods 7" [I can see what he was trying to achieve, but it's also pretty clear why he disowns this!]
Admiral Fallow - Beetle in the box 7"
Trembling Bells - New Year's Eve's the loneliest night of the year 7"
Europe - The Final Countdown 12"
The Firm - Star Trekkin' 12"
Spitting Image - Santa Claus is on the dole 12"
Queen - Breakthru 12"
Marillion - Sympathy 12"
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the pleasure dome (12xztas7)
FGTH - Power of Love (12ztas5)
Love, B
Out of a sense of wanting to share the excitement with everyone, here's the list of what was played, along with some videos where (in)appropriate.
This worked so well, and I've still a large number of 45's which weren't played, that there could be another night or two in the future. Sadly for listeners, not much more cheese of the Alf/The Firm/Europe/Spitting Image level, so some cheap second hand purchases may have to be made.
Rush - Time Stand Still 12"
Fish - Suits (ok, so it's an album, but the vinyl was pressed for 45rpm)
Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender 12"
Queen - I'm going slightly mad 12" [with the brilliant Lost Opportunity]
Marillion - Lavender 12"
Talk Talk - Living in another world 12" (orig)
Alf - Stuck on Earth 12" [best 25c 12" I've bought]
Dire Straits - Twisting by the pool 12"
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls 12"
Pineapple Thief - Sherbert Gods 7" [I can see what he was trying to achieve, but it's also pretty clear why he disowns this!]
Admiral Fallow - Beetle in the box 7"
Trembling Bells - New Year's Eve's the loneliest night of the year 7"
Europe - The Final Countdown 12"
The Firm - Star Trekkin' 12"
Spitting Image - Santa Claus is on the dole 12"
Queen - Breakthru 12"
Marillion - Sympathy 12"
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the pleasure dome (12xztas7)
FGTH - Power of Love (12ztas5)
Love, B
Gigs: Karnataka
I got hooked on Karnataka a couple of years ago when they played as a support act at the Summers End festival. As happened to at least three bands I discovered that year, they promptly imploded. In the spirit of Steve Austin (or dolly), they've been rebuilt. And so I toddled along to their gig on Friday in Leicester.
The wins
Hayley, the new vocalist, is brilliant. Power, passion, and technically seems to absolutely nail it. I'm not a huge fan of female-vox as they can get a bit screechy (I'm all about delicate). But she's perfectly in tune, and didn't push her voice to painful limits.
Gathering Light material and older stuff sounded fab, really gutsy.
Guitarist was on fire for the older stuff
The losses
Sadly the Y theatre was too big for the number of punters, although having a doors time of 830 and the band turning up onstage at 840 seem to have caught some people out as more turned up about 20 minutes in.
There did seem a number of people upstairs, and most were buying CDs so hopefully not too damaging for the band.
Guitarist seemed out of tune, I'm all for bending notes, but the plan there is for them to resolve correctly - this seemed more of a problem for the new tracks, so maybe it's a work in progress.
The new tracks, they didn't grab me. Bits of the new stuff later in the set seemed better, but none had the hooks of Gathering Light. At times it all seemed a little AOR, not bad, just not grabbing me.
Sound was muddy and unbalanced. And this wasn't just me, ended up talking to a couple of other people who made the same comment. Ian's bass was very muddy, which was unfortunate as all the cool runs in their music got lost. Keys were also very low in the mix. To a certain extent
Overall, an enjoyable gig. I'll probably get the new album when it comes out (2013) to see how things improve in the studio. I was disappointed by the new material, but hey I'm more than happy to wander down for a gig. I'd recommend going along to the rest of the tour...details here.
And a sample :
The wins
Hayley, the new vocalist, is brilliant. Power, passion, and technically seems to absolutely nail it. I'm not a huge fan of female-vox as they can get a bit screechy (I'm all about delicate). But she's perfectly in tune, and didn't push her voice to painful limits.
Gathering Light material and older stuff sounded fab, really gutsy.
Guitarist was on fire for the older stuff
The losses
Sadly the Y theatre was too big for the number of punters, although having a doors time of 830 and the band turning up onstage at 840 seem to have caught some people out as more turned up about 20 minutes in.
There did seem a number of people upstairs, and most were buying CDs so hopefully not too damaging for the band.
Guitarist seemed out of tune, I'm all for bending notes, but the plan there is for them to resolve correctly - this seemed more of a problem for the new tracks, so maybe it's a work in progress.
The new tracks, they didn't grab me. Bits of the new stuff later in the set seemed better, but none had the hooks of Gathering Light. At times it all seemed a little AOR, not bad, just not grabbing me.
Sound was muddy and unbalanced. And this wasn't just me, ended up talking to a couple of other people who made the same comment. Ian's bass was very muddy, which was unfortunate as all the cool runs in their music got lost. Keys were also very low in the mix. To a certain extent
Overall, an enjoyable gig. I'll probably get the new album when it comes out (2013) to see how things improve in the studio. I was disappointed by the new material, but hey I'm more than happy to wander down for a gig. I'd recommend going along to the rest of the tour...details here.
And a sample :
12 October 2012
Gift horse articles in the news
You can't make this stuff up, courtesy of France and the USA. Two stalwarts of quality news.
Yes, I'm not sure the word 'euro' makes any difference there either. The key, and brilliant, points to this story:
- person is unemployed
- the bill was more than 5000x the GDP of France
- "...told by shrugging staff there was nothing they could do."
The real bill was E117.21.
Which the company eventually let her off paying. Damn socialists.
Todays vital lesson, don't try cooking squirrels with a propane torch.
Sadly the winner who did this isn't a contender for the Darwin awards. But the potential is there, go team Propane Squirrel !!
Coming soon, possibly a book blog, a whisky blog, and a music blog.
No really, I'm feeling in a bloggy mood.
2 October 2012
iphone and i'm not dead
In the wake of the continuing Samsung v Apple court cases:
I'm waiting for the pr0n industry to sue over the iPhone6.
xx
I'm waiting for the pr0n industry to sue over the iPhone6.
xx
4 August 2012
Elderly Promming Ninjas
This is a cautionary tale: Beware elderly Promming ninjas.
(for non-Brits, this is the BBC Proms, as in the classical music series that results in the (in)famous Last Night at the Proms, the 'kerchief wearing, Union Jack waving, Land of Soap and Water night of all things British - well English anyway).
I was down for a few Proms gigs (Mahler and Stravinsky mainly), went for a wander around my usual haunts on Saturday, including getting some Asafoetida which no matter where I am, proves difficult to find. Thanks to the Borough market for supplying it.
Headed to the Proms, thoroughly enjoyed it, and felt twinges in my foot during the second half. Meh, thought I, a manly man, simply a grumpy muscle. Things got worse during the night, to the point where I couldn't sleep, so had a shower figuring if it was muscular that should relieve pain.
That didn't work. So poked at it. This located the (very) sore part, and from my years of explaining anatomy (badly) to impressionable 1st years, I figured I'd broken a metatarsal, or in language the Brits will understand, the footballers injury. I pottered off the hospital early Sunday morning, managing to split between the drunks leaving, and the kids sports injuries coming in (result!). My diagnosis was treated with a patronising grunt.
Poking was done, until I called time on that. An Xray of the offending foot, and voila, vindication ! Go me. Since I had a reasonably heavy Sunday and Monday, a cast was slapped on, pain relief drugs provided, and a stern warning provided not to put weight on the cast, or get it wet.
I crutched (is this a verb?) off, promptly got caught in a London mini-torrential downpour (mini in time, not torrential-ness), caught a bus, then had to cope with the tube. The tube is distinctly unfriendly to people with: suitcases, wheelchairs, crutches, indeed any minor ambulatory ailment is ruthlessly exploited.
As you'll have guessed the cast was a bit of a mess even before the Proms that evening. Pain was present, and so that magic elixir, booze, was employed. Things improved dramatically. Great gig.
So what caused this eventful cast inducing break? I'm putting it down to those grey haired elderly classical loving prom going retired ninja's.
A more prosaic view could be me slipping when getting out of bed, slamming the great toe against the door, and causing merriment to S and I since it didn't hurt, rather it just looked dumb.
Love, your new favourite grumpy cripple, B
(for non-Brits, this is the BBC Proms, as in the classical music series that results in the (in)famous Last Night at the Proms, the 'kerchief wearing, Union Jack waving, Land of Soap and Water night of all things British - well English anyway).
I was down for a few Proms gigs (Mahler and Stravinsky mainly), went for a wander around my usual haunts on Saturday, including getting some Asafoetida which no matter where I am, proves difficult to find. Thanks to the Borough market for supplying it.
Headed to the Proms, thoroughly enjoyed it, and felt twinges in my foot during the second half. Meh, thought I, a manly man, simply a grumpy muscle. Things got worse during the night, to the point where I couldn't sleep, so had a shower figuring if it was muscular that should relieve pain.
That didn't work. So poked at it. This located the (very) sore part, and from my years of explaining anatomy (badly) to impressionable 1st years, I figured I'd broken a metatarsal, or in language the Brits will understand, the footballers injury. I pottered off the hospital early Sunday morning, managing to split between the drunks leaving, and the kids sports injuries coming in (result!). My diagnosis was treated with a patronising grunt.
Poking was done, until I called time on that. An Xray of the offending foot, and voila, vindication ! Go me. Since I had a reasonably heavy Sunday and Monday, a cast was slapped on, pain relief drugs provided, and a stern warning provided not to put weight on the cast, or get it wet.
I crutched (is this a verb?) off, promptly got caught in a London mini-torrential downpour (mini in time, not torrential-ness), caught a bus, then had to cope with the tube. The tube is distinctly unfriendly to people with: suitcases, wheelchairs, crutches, indeed any minor ambulatory ailment is ruthlessly exploited.
As you'll have guessed the cast was a bit of a mess even before the Proms that evening. Pain was present, and so that magic elixir, booze, was employed. Things improved dramatically. Great gig.
So what caused this eventful cast inducing break? I'm putting it down to those grey haired elderly classical loving prom going retired ninja's.
A more prosaic view could be me slipping when getting out of bed, slamming the great toe against the door, and causing merriment to S and I since it didn't hurt, rather it just looked dumb.
Love, your new favourite grumpy cripple, B
8 July 2012
Cooking with Bruce : Of marinades and slaw
Hey look, that incredibly popular occasional series 'Cooking with Bruce' is back. Brilliant!
i've decided to explore marinades a bit over the coming weeks, so this will act as a record of what I play with. This has been driven by a strange stirring for the sauce/marinade used on pork ribs, which is odd, as I hate pork ribs. So the following will be using vege's, but can be applied to meat, since that's where I'm ripping the ideas from.
Oh and in a gadget update, I've got a blender. For me, this counts as a massive gadget update, since my kitchen is oddly gadget free.
Chinese 5spice style marinade
4 garlic cloves chopped roughly
ginger - thumb of, roughly chopped
100ml dark soy sauce (or mix of dark/light)
100ml hoisin sauce
50ml honey
1t chinese five spice powder
1T sunflower oil
Blend all these. Roughly chop your veges, I used capsicums, carrots, quorn, chillis - so pretty much what was left in the house. Combine marinade and veges. Bake at 200C for 45mins.
Thai slaw
Carrot, peeled then grated
2x celery stalked, finely chopped
1-2c red cabbage, grated
1 red onion, grated
1 chilli, finely chopped
mint
parsley
Dressing
1T rice vinegar
1T palm sugar
2T lime juice
2T fish sauce
1T chilli sauce
(combine and mix)
Mix slaw, toss dressing through slaw.
Serve the veges/marinade on rice and shake some sesame seeds over it. Slaw on the side baby.
B x
i've decided to explore marinades a bit over the coming weeks, so this will act as a record of what I play with. This has been driven by a strange stirring for the sauce/marinade used on pork ribs, which is odd, as I hate pork ribs. So the following will be using vege's, but can be applied to meat, since that's where I'm ripping the ideas from.
Oh and in a gadget update, I've got a blender. For me, this counts as a massive gadget update, since my kitchen is oddly gadget free.
Chinese 5spice style marinade
4 garlic cloves chopped roughly
ginger - thumb of, roughly chopped
100ml dark soy sauce (or mix of dark/light)
100ml hoisin sauce
50ml honey
1t chinese five spice powder
1T sunflower oil
Blend all these. Roughly chop your veges, I used capsicums, carrots, quorn, chillis - so pretty much what was left in the house. Combine marinade and veges. Bake at 200C for 45mins.
Thai slaw
Carrot, peeled then grated
2x celery stalked, finely chopped
1-2c red cabbage, grated
1 red onion, grated
1 chilli, finely chopped
mint
parsley
Dressing
1T rice vinegar
1T palm sugar
2T lime juice
2T fish sauce
1T chilli sauce
(combine and mix)
Mix slaw, toss dressing through slaw.
Serve the veges/marinade on rice and shake some sesame seeds over it. Slaw on the side baby.
B x
6 July 2012
Whisky Cabal 8: SMWS and a couple of hangers on including Glenglassaugh
We realised some time had passed since our last (group) whisky imbibing, mainly as we are really bad at getting organised. But we made it happen, we made it real.
Glenglassaugh Revival 46%
The first whisky released from the newly restored Glenglassaugh distillery. Alec and I have followed them at Whisky Shows, and become quite addicted. Ok, very addicted.
They did bottle their first cask, but that was going for around £100, so we said no to that. But picked up the Revival, a snip at £35.
Nose: sultanas, pears, sherry, strudel, hint of sulphur
Palate: honey, warm, caramel, nutmeg, wasabi (yes, thank you Dr Death)
Finish: caramel, long, very long, warm
7.5 /10
We liked this a lot, it's a very nicely balanced whisky, you'd guess speyside, but you wouldnt guess how young it was. Basically, it all bodes very very well for them.
GO BUY IT.
SMWS 66.32 "Roly Poly Pudding" 13yo dist 1998 1/752 bottles 58.6% refill ex-sherry gouda
And back to our usual SMWS bottles, this one from the Ardmore distillery.
Nose: sherry, citrus, cookie dough, spritzic, sweet
Palate: very smooth,honey,
addition of water
Nose: burnt carbon, increase sulphur
Palate: sweet, honey, tangy
Finish: long, and builds in heat
7/10
We liked this, but it didn't thrill us, and wasn't as good as the Revival.
SMWS 39.85 "A whisky to dream about" 29yo dist 1982 1/274 bottles 57.4% refill hogshead ex-boubon
This from Linkwood. Who I've got a softspot for.
Nose: citrus, tangy, lemonade, tiramisu
Palate: lemon, citrus, tiramisu, grapefruit, lime
Finish: medium-long, honey, dry
This one split the tasting panel, admittedly we're known for disagreement, and discussions on the finer points of grading do last for hours. But as this was only whisky number 3, we weren't too split.
7.5 - 8 /10
On no account should you add water. This brought a grading of :
4/10
SMWS 39.82 "Suede shoes walking through clover" 13yo dist 1997 1/603 bottles 60% ex sherry refill butt
Look at us, vertical tasting on Linkwoods!
Nose: spritzic, burnt, coffee, pepper
Palate: cloves, pepper, nutmeg, caramel, turkish delight
Finish: long, warm
8.5/10
Addition of water produced more salt on the palate and : 5-6 /10
This one was a lucky dip by the tin-arse cabal member, he who keeps getting brilliant whiskies by random selections.
Aberlour A'bunadh Batch: 37; 59.6%; Spanish oloroso sherry butts
I threw this in to scare the crap out of the cabal.
Nose: sherry, fudge, oloroso sherry, "manly dram"
Palate: sherry monster, raisins, prunes
Finish: long, sherry
11/10
"The Nigel Tufnel : for when you need a little bit more"
"Co-op: God with food"
"Arghhhhh...."
"I've had weaker sledgehammers to the face"
Basically, £37 of extreme sherry.
SMWS 64.36 "Marshmallows in a duffle bag" 7yo 1/257 bottles 60.3% 1st fill barrel ex-bourbon
This from Mannochmore, who we have had some love towards in the past...
Nose: sweet, sherbets, 'love hearts', marshmallow
Palate: vicious bananas, fizz bombs,, pineapple
Finish: massive
addition of water
Nose: wet sheep-lanolin
Palate: parma violets
8/10
This whisky was appreciated by the panel, and was best summed up as:
"Barely legal evil whore"
SMWS 125.59 "Spun sugar on polished wood" 10yo dist 2000, 1/620 bottles, 59.7%, 2nd fill ex-sherry butt
From that little known distillery, Glenmorangie.
Nose: wood polish, heavy, full bodied [who wrote this crap?]
Palate: smooth, warm, happiness, manuka honey
Finish: short
7/10
But we agreed it's the best Glenmorangie we'd had. None of us are fans, it's too light, too emasculated. This at least demonstrated they can make interesting whisky, even if it's then suppressed and mixed to boringness for retail.
SMWS 71.34 "Rabbit, ginger, and treacle tart" 13yo 56.8% refill gourda ex-sherry
This from the Glenburgie/Glencraig (closed) distillery.
Nose: bread and butter pudding, caramel, toast (maybe, can't quite read it), wood polish, chocolate, apricots (again, maybe), ginger, manuka honey, malt loaf, sulphur
Palate: sweet, oaky [so how did we get so much on the nose, and write nothing on the palate?]
Finish: warm and long
Again, split the panel:
neat: 5-7/10
water: 3-4/10
Not liked by the panel. Our notes describe it as stunning on the nose, and vicious on the palate. A marmite whisky.
There we have it. We all survived.
B (on behalf of the cabal)
PS: we had the wrong SMWS code for Roly-Poly pudding, it should have been 66.32 - amended 17 Dec 2013
Glenglassaugh Revival 46%
The first whisky released from the newly restored Glenglassaugh distillery. Alec and I have followed them at Whisky Shows, and become quite addicted. Ok, very addicted.
They did bottle their first cask, but that was going for around £100, so we said no to that. But picked up the Revival, a snip at £35.
Nose: sultanas, pears, sherry, strudel, hint of sulphur
Palate: honey, warm, caramel, nutmeg, wasabi (yes, thank you Dr Death)
Finish: caramel, long, very long, warm
7.5 /10
We liked this a lot, it's a very nicely balanced whisky, you'd guess speyside, but you wouldnt guess how young it was. Basically, it all bodes very very well for them.
GO BUY IT.
SMWS 66.32 "Roly Poly Pudding" 13yo dist 1998 1/752 bottles 58.6% refill ex-sherry gouda
And back to our usual SMWS bottles, this one from the Ardmore distillery.
Nose: sherry, citrus, cookie dough, spritzic, sweet
Palate: very smooth,honey,
addition of water
Nose: burnt carbon, increase sulphur
Palate: sweet, honey, tangy
Finish: long, and builds in heat
7/10
We liked this, but it didn't thrill us, and wasn't as good as the Revival.
SMWS 39.85 "A whisky to dream about" 29yo dist 1982 1/274 bottles 57.4% refill hogshead ex-boubon
This from Linkwood. Who I've got a softspot for.
Nose: citrus, tangy, lemonade, tiramisu
Palate: lemon, citrus, tiramisu, grapefruit, lime
Finish: medium-long, honey, dry
This one split the tasting panel, admittedly we're known for disagreement, and discussions on the finer points of grading do last for hours. But as this was only whisky number 3, we weren't too split.
7.5 - 8 /10
On no account should you add water. This brought a grading of :
4/10
SMWS 39.82 "Suede shoes walking through clover" 13yo dist 1997 1/603 bottles 60% ex sherry refill butt
Look at us, vertical tasting on Linkwoods!
Nose: spritzic, burnt, coffee, pepper
Palate: cloves, pepper, nutmeg, caramel, turkish delight
Finish: long, warm
8.5/10
Addition of water produced more salt on the palate and : 5-6 /10
This one was a lucky dip by the tin-arse cabal member, he who keeps getting brilliant whiskies by random selections.
Aberlour A'bunadh Batch: 37; 59.6%; Spanish oloroso sherry butts
I threw this in to scare the crap out of the cabal.
Nose: sherry, fudge, oloroso sherry, "manly dram"
Palate: sherry monster, raisins, prunes
Finish: long, sherry
11/10
"The Nigel Tufnel : for when you need a little bit more"
"Co-op: God with food"
"Arghhhhh...."
"I've had weaker sledgehammers to the face"
Basically, £37 of extreme sherry.
SMWS 64.36 "Marshmallows in a duffle bag" 7yo 1/257 bottles 60.3% 1st fill barrel ex-bourbon
This from Mannochmore, who we have had some love towards in the past...
Nose: sweet, sherbets, 'love hearts', marshmallow
Palate: vicious bananas, fizz bombs,
Finish: massive
addition of water
Nose: wet sheep-lanolin
Palate: parma violets
8/10
This whisky was appreciated by the panel, and was best summed up as:
"Barely legal evil whore"
SMWS 125.59 "Spun sugar on polished wood" 10yo dist 2000, 1/620 bottles, 59.7%, 2nd fill ex-sherry butt
From that little known distillery, Glenmorangie.
Nose: wood polish, heavy, full bodied [who wrote this crap?]
Palate: smooth, warm, happiness, manuka honey
Finish: short
7/10
But we agreed it's the best Glenmorangie we'd had. None of us are fans, it's too light, too emasculated. This at least demonstrated they can make interesting whisky, even if it's then suppressed and mixed to boringness for retail.
SMWS 71.34 "Rabbit, ginger, and treacle tart" 13yo 56.8% refill gourda ex-sherry
This from the Glenburgie/Glencraig (closed) distillery.
Nose: bread and butter pudding, caramel, toast (maybe, can't quite read it), wood polish, chocolate, apricots (again, maybe), ginger, manuka honey, malt loaf, sulphur
Palate: sweet, oaky [so how did we get so much on the nose, and write nothing on the palate?]
Finish: warm and long
Again, split the panel:
neat: 5-7/10
water: 3-4/10
Not liked by the panel. Our notes describe it as stunning on the nose, and vicious on the palate. A marmite whisky.
There we have it. We all survived.
B (on behalf of the cabal)
PS: we had the wrong SMWS code for Roly-Poly pudding, it should have been 66.32 - amended 17 Dec 2013
30 June 2012
Another 10,000 rocking in the free world
And hello all !
Loving the English weather. Its summer, and today is alternating between sunny and heavy rain, with a delightful background of muggy and strong wind. Brilliant. Admittedly it is Wimbledon, so business as usual.
Eventful week of floods at work, the local town, and indeed much of the country. Summer Rocks !!!
Another 10,000 tracks on the last.fm account, the last one (80,000) was in Feb, oohhh look self-referencing, go me.
So what's been amusing my ears over the last six months?
Top Artists
In order 1-10: Marillion / Pet Shop Boys / Queen / tom Waits / Jethro Tull / Rush / Bob Dylan / Radiohead / Dream Theater / Elbow
Just realised my furniture restoration images havent been uploaded, so that could be this weekends work...
me x
Loving the English weather. Its summer, and today is alternating between sunny and heavy rain, with a delightful background of muggy and strong wind. Brilliant. Admittedly it is Wimbledon, so business as usual.
Eventful week of floods at work, the local town, and indeed much of the country. Summer Rocks !!!
Another 10,000 tracks on the last.fm account, the last one (80,000) was in Feb, oohhh look self-referencing, go me.
So what's been amusing my ears over the last six months?
Top Artists
In order 1-10: Marillion / Pet Shop Boys / Queen / tom Waits / Jethro Tull / Rush / Bob Dylan / Radiohead / Dream Theater / Elbow
Just realised my furniture restoration images havent been uploaded, so that could be this weekends work...
me x
24 June 2012
Movies: Of black woman and ponds
The consistent rain implies that summer has arrived in the UK. therefore plans for a Saturday night consisted of movies.
First up was The Woman in Black, starring Harry Potter/Daniel Radliffe in a movie from the rebooted Hammer films crew. It's a ghost/thriller set in extremely Victoria gothic surrounds, piling atmosphere almost beyond cliche. Having said that, it works reasonably well. The plot is vague - it's never really explained why HP/DR needs to go to the small village, aside from to tidy up papers from a widower who had died sometime before.
There's a lot of 'look at this, it'll be important soon', and the music isn't subtle in signposting what will happen very soon now.
But, it's watchable, delivers some reasonable horror and HP/DR is a good actor. I'm not quite sure he had the gravitas to pull off the role, but given the entire movie is him - I think it must have worked as I wasn't bored.
Keeping with the horror vibe, we went for what turned out to be a very odd British horror-comedy, Black Pond. It's very character driven, and relies on dialogue rather than atmosphere.
A stranger enters the Thompson's house forcing the family to engage with each other for the first time in years. Their dog dies, and so the children come home, increasing familial interactions, and conflict.
The main story is told in flashback interviews which is how we discover the family were accused of murdering the stranger. Their responses to this rely on the middle class English stereotypes, of not really talking about it, or missing all subtextural clues in general speech.
The movie does wander off occasionally into a delicate psychedlic trance, which feels slightly forced, but does work well to emphasise differences between external and internal dialogue. I'm guessing it was this whimsical approach which prompted the Guardian review to say "If Syd Barrett had ever written and directed a movie, it might well have looked like this". I don't comppletely agree with this, as Syd's brand of psych was more abstract than what Black Pond achieves. Kermode also enjoyed Black Pond on it's DVD release.
Simon Amstell pops up as a psychiatrist, effectively playing the Amstell of Buzzcocks and Grandma's place. I think it works, although it does seem weirdly OTT comic for the rest of the more situational comedy.
Over all, for a debut, and cheap debut, it's great. And defintiely worth watching. Here's the trailer.
B
First up was The Woman in Black, starring Harry Potter/Daniel Radliffe in a movie from the rebooted Hammer films crew. It's a ghost/thriller set in extremely Victoria gothic surrounds, piling atmosphere almost beyond cliche. Having said that, it works reasonably well. The plot is vague - it's never really explained why HP/DR needs to go to the small village, aside from to tidy up papers from a widower who had died sometime before.
There's a lot of 'look at this, it'll be important soon', and the music isn't subtle in signposting what will happen very soon now.
But, it's watchable, delivers some reasonable horror and HP/DR is a good actor. I'm not quite sure he had the gravitas to pull off the role, but given the entire movie is him - I think it must have worked as I wasn't bored.
Keeping with the horror vibe, we went for what turned out to be a very odd British horror-comedy, Black Pond. It's very character driven, and relies on dialogue rather than atmosphere.
A stranger enters the Thompson's house forcing the family to engage with each other for the first time in years. Their dog dies, and so the children come home, increasing familial interactions, and conflict.
The main story is told in flashback interviews which is how we discover the family were accused of murdering the stranger. Their responses to this rely on the middle class English stereotypes, of not really talking about it, or missing all subtextural clues in general speech.
The movie does wander off occasionally into a delicate psychedlic trance, which feels slightly forced, but does work well to emphasise differences between external and internal dialogue. I'm guessing it was this whimsical approach which prompted the Guardian review to say "If Syd Barrett had ever written and directed a movie, it might well have looked like this". I don't comppletely agree with this, as Syd's brand of psych was more abstract than what Black Pond achieves. Kermode also enjoyed Black Pond on it's DVD release.
Simon Amstell pops up as a psychiatrist, effectively playing the Amstell of Buzzcocks and Grandma's place. I think it works, although it does seem weirdly OTT comic for the rest of the more situational comedy.
Over all, for a debut, and cheap debut, it's great. And defintiely worth watching. Here's the trailer.
B
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