Whisky

That’s right, there’s no ‘e’, or at least not in the country who invented the stuff!

I’ve always liked the idea of drinking whisky, but only since moving to Scotland have really begun to appreciate it as it really should be.  And I think it’s fair to say my taste in whisky has also matured, moving a little further afield than the classic, yet easy to drink Speyside’s to slightly more acquired Highland and Island drams.  That’s not to say I don’t still like a nice Speyside, just that they’re will be more than a bottle of 2 of other stuff in my drinks cupboard, at least over the festive period.

My partner (and mother of my child) always get me a bottle for Christmas, mainly due to the fact one of her friend’s partners works for Pernod Ricard and gets bottles very cheap at this time of year.  This year she got a bottle of 12yo Strathisla and a Glenlivet Master Distiller’s Reserve Small Batch for £25 and luckily I got to choose which one I wanted (the other a gift for her boss!)  I’d had a bottle of the Strathisla for a previous Christmas, so went with the Glenlivet (which also happened to be a litre bottle rather than 70cl, so a win-win!).

It’s lovely, and when looking online was made for the duty-free market (hence the size) and retailed for around $150!  A win-win-win 😀

I’d carelessly (or some may say foolishly) got down to just one bottle, a Glenfarclas 105 which is very nice, but at 60% volume, is a bit of a beast to drink more than a small dram of (at least without some water to tame it a little).  Luckily, the supermarkets have some great offers on whisky in the run up to Christmas, so I topped up supplies with a couple of non-age specific single malts from Tesco, both at £25 a bottle.  The first was a Dalwhinnie Winter Gold and the second a Cardhu Gold Reserve.  Very different drinks, but each very nice in their own way.  Neither a patch on the Glenlivet!

I think my favourite tipple of all time would be a 16yo Scapa that I got for my birthday 3-4 years ago, but the Glenlivet gets pretty close.  The most disappointing bottle was probably the most expensive I’ve bought, a birthday present to myself for my 40th – a bottle of Johhny Walker Blue Label, that although nice enough to drink, didn’t really warrant the $200 price tag or hold up particularly well against the Aberloh A’Bhunda I had on the go at the same time (which cost about a 1/3rd of the price).

Anyway, I’m off to sample some now, after all, it is Christmas 😀