Wednesday 23 March 2011

A ramble on remembrance...

Tough to remember the last run-of-the-mill dram I had. Tough to recall, in detail, most of them. The problem is, I suppose, that we remember the greats and the disastrous. I can recall the very best drams, the Springbank's from the 60s and 70s; the Glenfarclas 40yo; the Glenfiddich Aged over 40; the Springbank 1918; the... well, you get the message. Equally, I can remember the Old Rhosdhu; the High Commissioner; the (so-called) Thai Whisky (paint-thinner more like). In between these drams, everything can get a bit hazy.

Its not our fault, we can't help but remember the biggest and best and the poorest or worst. Describe to someone your favourite dish and its easy, now try describing to someone brocoli. I can go into great detail why I hate Sprouts but have difficulty waxing lyrical about a bowl of porridge.

There are currently anything up to 50,000 different bottlings of whisky available in the world. Yep, 50,000! What portion of this staggering amount of whisky falls into the 'memorable' category? A very small percentage (remembering that for Scotch whisky, only about 8% is bottled as single malt whisky, the rest as blended) - maybe 0.2% or perhaps as much as 0.5%. That means there's an awful lot of 'ok' whisky out there you're going to have to wade through before you get to the top or the bottom of the pile.

And here's the real problem for you: no-one can help you find the best or avoid the worst because it is completely personal. For me this makes it really hard to pick casks and I can only subject each and every cask sample I taste to one important question; 'would I buy a bottle of this'. As I often quip in my tastings, there are only 2 important things when sampling a whisky;

Do I like it?
Will I buy it?

So, more often than not you will find yourself commenting upon a whisky as being 'ok'. Occasionally it will be outstanding and memorable and hopefully rarely, it will be poor and therefore also memorable. The real fun, is finding your way!

What have been your best and worst?

Currently Drinking:
This arrived in the post today so was opened straight away. Smoky Marshmallow - another example of the extraordinary peated Bunnahabhain. Giving the rest of Islay a run for their money! Sue-poyb!

Currently listening to:

A truly classic album and the one that kept Rush in business, well, for the rest of their lives. Worth buying just for 'Passage to Bangkok'.

5 comments:

  1. Johan Baeckström The best one ever is so hard to point out, but the best one so far this year is actually your own bottling Glenlivet 1997! The worst (except for the Thai-thinner you describe so well) has to be a Ledaig no age statement I bought cheap in Denmark. "Public toilet" was one of the notes I took on it for example.. :-)

    Stijn Hiers: Ha... the best is hard to say. I had some wonderful 1960s Bowmores. But for personal reasons I'd say a 40 yo Glenglassaugh casksample. Worst is, without any competition, the Turkish Ankara whisky.

    David Stirk: Haha - if by 'Public Toilet' you are referring to 'Urinal Balls' then that is quite a common tasting note! Isn't it funny how the independent bottlings of Ledaig considerably outshine the proprietory ones!!
    Not had the Turkish one... thankfully!

    Stijn Hiers: I always wondered... how does one know how urinal balls taste like? :-/
    about an hour ago

    David Stirk: It was a long time ago and I was very hungry...

    Stijn Hiers: but had a fresh breath afterwards?
    about an hour ago

    Johan Baeckström: Haha, yeah thats exactly what I meant, and unfortunately with urin itself added to it.. :-)

    Johan Baeckström: And for the record, it was a note for the nose of it.. NOT taste! ;-)
    about an hour ago

    Jesper Johansen: Worst one: Probably Hillside from Rare Malts, it should never have been bottled... best one.... let me see....there are ...., and there are .... difficult, but one I always return to is a Caol Ila, matured in Sherry cask and at cask strength :-)

    Maltstock-l Whiskyclub Gathering: The best? The one shared in good company. impossible to pick just one whisky as the best. The worst... Tasmanian Devil10y by Cadenheads. I actually think there's reasonbly good stuff coming from Tasmania. But this one was matured for ten years in a cabernet sauvignon cask. That will kill any whisky. But the worst i ever tried is an old edradour bottling, the lenforres. Worst part is you only realize just how awefull it is when you swallowed it, so no chance of spitting it out any more

    Gal Granov: Johan : I've had the Ledaig and it was not that bad (NAS)... My worst I think was Slyrs Bavarian whisky. tasted like rotten metal, and not like a whisky...

    David Stirk: I've tasted the 10yo Tasmanian (I tasted it before it was bottled and rejected it... someone didn't after me though) - also had the 'experience' of the sickly Glenforres - bleuurghh. Other memorable stinkers were a Croftengea and an Edradour bottled by James MacArthur - sick, sick, sick!

    Johan Baeckström: Haha Gal, just because you say so maybe I WILL give it another try then... it´s still in my cabinet... untouched since my first try ;-)

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  2. You have no opinion on porridge, the food of the gods...well those with the head of goat anyway.

    Worst - Chinese food.
    Best - Porridge with milk and honey.

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  3. Aye, but porridge on its own is fairly hard to describe to someone who's never tasted it before. I love a bit of Chinese food myself (avoiding the seafood though...)

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  4. A friend of mine gave me a bottle of Loch Dhu and I swear it would make me sick - not queasy but I would catch a cold every time I had some. It was a pretty poor dram taste-wise as well.

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  5. Loch Dhu - bleuurgh! Very short-lived and for a good reason!

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