Scotch Whiskey: A Rugged Drink for a Rugged Land

The NY Times ^ | 071603 | R.W. Apple

[Spottys Spurs]

Aye Laddie, The 15 year old Macallan is my favorite! Macallan will stop production of this in 2003 and replace it with The Macallan Cask Strength that will also only be available in the US. It's sure to be a SUPER-tasting one!

[AnAmericanMother]

I wonder what he could have accomplished if he had been sober more often.

"God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn't conquer the world."

It's as true of the Highland Scots (who are really Irish) as it is of the Irish that they have to watch it with the Demon Rum. I swear there's a gene in these bloodlines that confers both a hollow leg and real susceptibility to alcoholism. I've already warned my kids that with almost pure Highland blood on one side and half aboriginal Irish and half German on the other, they're going to have to really be careful. That was my excuse amongst my hard-drinking compadres in college, so I hope my kids'll use it too!

[Trajan88]

thristy = thirsty... I guess I need a drink :-)

Trajan88

[AnAmericanMother]

What I meant to say (and forgot) is that one of my Gaelic teachers did fieldwork for years in the Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland (west and east). She said she had never seen more hard drinking going on than in the Western Islands and mainland parts adjacent. One morning she was walking along the jetty at Lochalsh and saw two fellows sitting on the wall, drunk as lords. She went on up the street, and when she came back by about an hour later there was a knot of people on the jetty - these two fellows were so far gone they had fallen in and both drowned.

Like I tell my kids, you gotta watch those Celtic genes.

[yarddog]

I would also guess that the Western Islands have a very pure Highland Scot (Irish) genepool.

I have read that on a clear day, Ireland is visible from the highest point on Colonsay or maybe it is Oronsay which is connected except at high tide.

You have the exact same combination as my wife, three quarters Gaelic and one fourth German. A good combination. The Celtic good looks with a little of the German sturdiness.

[GRRRRR]

Been there...

Here's some trivia you might NOT want to know...much of the water used in whisky comes from the "wee burns" (creeks) that run by each distillery...the whisky is known to be "unique in taste" from each distillery...they say it's a combination of the peat, malting and such, but one ingredient that is part of the water is owed to the livestock that surround the creeks. Their "run-off" enters the creek too ya know...when we visited a distillery in the Highlands, the tour guide was quick to point out that they often did NOT draw water after a large rain...hahahaha....for obvious reasons.

The aging warehouse walls are often blackened, even though the walls start out gleaming white. After years and years of aging, the evapourated spirits "the angels' share" they call it, condense on the walls and turn them black...

Distillers in Scotland are not allowed to even taste the amber liquid, because all sips must be taxed...the master will open a locked box, with a sampling port in it. Two holes allow his hands into the box where he takes a sample of the in process gold and performs tests to determine specific gravity and alcohol content...with no tasting allowed until it's bottled and taxed, the end product is sometimes a surprise.

So, now you know the rest of the story, "sheep dip" never tasted so good!!

GRRRRR from Glasgow

[Fresh Wind]

I have never really cared for hard liquor, and whatever Scotch's I'd tasted did nothing for me. But, a few years ago, my father gave me a bottle of Pinch that had sat in a closet for decades, so the contents must have been something like 60 years old. I debated selling it unopened, but finally curiosity got the best of me. I tasted, fully expecting to hate it. It was the most amazing substance that had ever passed my lips.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's my kids who have the German and Irish. And they thank goodness seem to have received that Teutonic height -- all my family are "wee but wicked" - and constructed more or less like little fireplugs.

I have a little Irish but it's way back - the father of one of my gggg grandmothers. Also a touch of German even further back on the other side. But we're almost pure Highland Scot -- my father's people all stayed up in the mountains of Western Virginia and E. Tennessee and married each other, until they finally ventured down into E. Alabama and NW Georgia about the turn of the last century. My mother's people are mostly far more recent immigrants, straight from Scotland in the 1860s, with a touch of Ulster Scot from the coast of SC and Georgia.

But I have way too many folks with an overfondness for "a touch o' the craytur" on my family tree. So I sip my single malt from a Very Small Glass.

[AnAmericanMother]

As my dear father says, once it's been through the still it's all sterilized anyway, and "everybody has to eat his peck of dirt" - might as well have it in liquid form! :-D

I've been around horses and cattle all my life, so I'm sure I've ingested my share, and it's done me no harm. I don't care for sheep though -- just TOO stupid!

[VOA]

Lagavulin is all right if you like burnt iodine mixed with peat smoke . . . :-p

You are absolutely correct with that description.
I guess my inclusion of Lagavulin in my hypothetical "stranded on desert island"
case of single malts probably should have been:
two bottles for Lagavulin for occassional shock therapy and cleansing (actually
nuking!) the palate...
and split the rest of the case between Laphroig and Glenkinchie.

[AnAmericanMother]

So, now you know the rest of the story, "sheep dip" never tasted so good!!

Well, it's not my tipple, but if you insist . . .

[AnAmericanMother]

Yeah, I think a few drops of Lagavulin on the tongue would revive the clinically dead . . . if only to say, "Holy Jesus H. Christ, WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!?"

[Tijeras_Slim]

I'm also a big fan of Laphroaig, but I had a very interesting Irish whiskey recently. Conemarra. It also had the peaty and smoky flavor, which I have never come across in an Irish before.

[Archangelsk]

Well, I thought this thread would "peet"er out after awhile, but I guess I was wrong. :-)

[Archangelsk]

Because this thread has elicited such a response I decided to do a search to find the most expensive whisky that can be bought without showing up at an auction. Here it is:

The price in USD is 540.00. If you can top that please do.

[Joe 6-pack]

"There's nothing like Laphroaig."

Ever had Anbesol? Oban and Glen Dronach are far better...

[tdadams]

To each his own I guess. I love Laphroaig. I'm not crazy about Oban, but was fortunate enough to try some in Oban last October.

[Joe 6-pack]

The 12 year old is ok. The 14 is exquisite.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump
To read later

[gc4nra]

I am so so sorry!