UK trumpeter Matt Halsall with Mario from Mario’s bar
Another tale of European travel.
I was in Genoa in the northern part of Italy a week or so back, and as is my way, I decided to go looking for a single malt. To my delight, it seemed that every bar in town had a genuine Scottish single malt whisky.
To my dismay, they all carried the same single malt whisky, it was cheap, abundant, a mere 5 years old – and not one I’d encountered in Britain.
I was a little surprised to find it somewhat unremarkable. I thought it’d be downright awful. Still – it was 2am, I was hanging out with musicians, I didn’t know the Italian for “no ice, please”, and they were pouring generous measures. I was delighted to find a single malt at all – not least of which one that was perfectly palatable.
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- Published:
- June 30, 2009 – 8:59 pm
- Author:
- By Dubber
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I’ve been doing a little travel lately, and have found myself in some interesting places. And while the travel itself wasn’t whisky-related specifically, I did take it upon myself to at least inject a bit of a whisky theme into the proceedings.
I was in the North of Holland doing some (un)consultancy and was taken out to dinner in Leeuwarden by my hosts. I thought I’d check the wine list to see if there were any interesting drams to be found – and sure enough, Frysk Hynder was on the list.
It’s the only Frisian single malt there is, and production numbers are small – as low as 77 bottles a day. The lid has a distinctive horse statuette sticking out of it, so it’s hard to miss if you do ever encounter it – and there is glassware specifically made for it.
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- Published:
- June 28, 2009 – 8:49 pm
- Author:
- By Dubber
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So, the paternal readership of this will probably be curled up on the sofa with the Sunday papers and a dram in their hand… Doesn’t get much better than that really, eh?
But wait…. Yes it does!
We’ve just been alerted by the lovely people at Jura Distillery, that they’re offering a trip for two to Jura Lodge.
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- Published:
- June 21, 2009 – 9:53 pm
- Author:
- By Clutch
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In some circles, known as simply ‘The Nose’. Richard Paterson will bring a wealth of experience to tomorrow night’s proceedings.
Richard’s worked with Bruichladdich, Tamnavulin, Tullibardine and Tomintoul, and now heads up the selection process for what goes into the finest blends in the Whyte & Mackay portfolio, and also cask selection for the single malts of Isle of Jura, Dalmore and Old Fettercairn.
This is a great chance to ask someone with true industry expertise any burning questions you have about the blending or cask selection process.
Richard Paterson will be joining us from 8:30pm GMT online, so make sure you’re there…
You’ll find all the action under the usual hashtag, #twhisky.
- Published:
- June 11, 2009 – 9:00 am
- Author:
- By Clutch
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Join us in an epic battle, which will basically consist of trying to get though this colossal list of whiskies…
We’ve all done it; thinking we know best and turning our noses up at the proffered dram from a bottle that says BLEND on it. But there’s more to it than that.
Vatted, Malt, Blend, Grain – the distinctions will be made, compared and contrasted, and hopefully explained. We’re out to investigate these fickle beasties properly this time, without the aid of cola or Canada Dry, and I already know that there are some that would give even the pricier single malts a run for their money.
As ever, we’ll be tweeting live, going through the tried and tested format of nose/palate/finish under the #twhisky hashtag, so spread the word (and the cost – if you rope a couple of mates in…) and get your weekend off to a sociable start, with a wee bit of knowledge and a couple of opinions thrown in for good measure…
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- Published:
- June 8, 2009 – 3:13 pm
- Author:
- By Clutch
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