Single Malt Report: Kilchoman Summer 2010 Release (3yr)

Since I imparted so much blog love about The Daily Pint yesterday, I thought it appropriate to report on one of the whiskies that I'd tried there on Wednesday: the infant Kilchoman Summer 2010 Release.

According to the Scotch Whisky Association (a very real, very serious organization), a barley- or grain-derived Scottish spirit must age in oak casks for a minimum of three years before they will allow it to be labelled a "Whisky".  Some distilleries are selling younger products, but are calling them "new make" instead of whisky.  A lot of that new make is basically Scottish moonshine, unless it's been thrown in a barrel for a few months to a year.  Reviews are mixed about new make's quality and some distilleries do better than others, but new make definitely allows the drinker to have a chance to taste the spirit itself, free of oak influence.

But once the three years of maturation are up, distillers can bottle it, slap on a whisky label, and take it to market.  I've had quite a few great 10 year singles and a couple decent eight year singles.  I did have one failure of a seven year.  There have likely been some younger malts in the no-age-statement drams that I've sampled.  But that's as young as I've gone, especially since it's so damned difficult to find anything younger than 10yr in The States.

And now, here's Kilchoman.

Source

Built in 2005, Kilchoman was the first new Islay distillery in 124 years.  They began distilling in 2006, keeping the production small (about 5% the capacity of the average distillery, 1% of the size of Diageo's Roseisle distillery).

What's really admirable about these folks (led by Anthony Wills) is that everything is done on site.  The distillery is surrounded by a farm that grows 100 TONS of barley for their product.  They do their own floor maltings by hand on site.  Their barley malt distillate residue is fed to the cows on the land.  And when the whisky is ready (no carmel color, no chillfiltering), it's bottled by hand right there on the premises.  This is old-school, roots whisky production.

How can a whisky nerd resist?!

Distillery: Kilchoman

Bottling: Summer 2010 Release

Age: 3 years

Maturation: First-fill bourbon barrels

Region: Islay

Alcohol by Volume: 46%

Apparently The Daily Pint had "a glut" of these bottles so they were selling drams on special during Robert Burns Day.  The price was so low that they may have been selling it at loss.  I should have just offered to buy an entire bottle.

What they were selling, and what I so excitedly ordered, was the Summer 2010 Release.  As Kilchoman has been doing a release each season, this was only their 4th bottling.  It wasn't yet four years old when bottled, so this was by far the youngest whisky I've ever tried.

Okay, I'm going to spoil the ending up front.  This was fantastic!  I didn't want to disturb it with water.

The color is lighter than the lightest Italian Pinot Grigio you've ever seen.
The nose had a pleasant mellow peat.  Some plastic.  A little oak.  Some pork.  Dried grains.  But mostly something clean and fresh, maybe the spirit itself.
The palate was light but rich.  Some apple juice and toffee.  The mellow peat.  Very vegetal.  Then a little nutty.  And brown sugar.  Something lingered in the back of my mind, "This tastes familiar.  What is it?"  Then it suddenly hit me.  The mix of the vegetal, grains, nuts, and brown sugar......My mom's zucchini bread!
The finish stuck around for some time.  More of that vegetation, toffee, and zucchini bread.

This one was fun.  I've been checking around to see how the pros feel about it.  They've been reporting notes of wet leaves, forest, and flowers (the vegetal thing); cookies and fresh fruit pie (sensory sensations perhaps paralleling the zucchini bread?).

This is a very different whisky than any of the other Islays.  And the bottlings are still so young.  I can't imagine how incredible Kilchoman 12yrs will be, but we'll have to wait until 2019 for that.  Of course, in youth this whisky could be at its best.  If you can handle a little peat smoke, I'd say keep an eye out for any of their bottlings.

Pricing - Prices are all over the map, $60-$65 is probably the best range

Rating - 92

Whisky on The Westside

I hope that everyone had a good Robert Burns Day or Beer Day or Wednesday or Hump Day or Birthday or however you chose to label yesterday.  I had a really good whisky day on The Westside (and at home).

The geographical make-up of The Westside of Los Angeles differs depending on whom you talk to.  I define it as such:

South of The Valley
North of The South Bay
West of West Hollywood
East of The Ocean.

Though I now live in Long Beach, I had lived on The Westside for almost eight years.  Getting in and out of The Westside is never a great experience due to the ever-increasing side street traffic, so visiting my favorite spots out there is a pain in the arse even when I just lived 5 miles away.  Now I live thirty miles away.  The roundtrip drive takes two hours at minimum.

Sadly I didn't discover The Westside's whisky potential until after I'd moved eastward.  And now it's difficult to access it at all.  But I made the trip out there yesterday to hit two great whisky spots.

---

The Daily Pint - 2310 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica

I've referenced The Pint several times in this blog, usually regarding free whisky tastings.  It has a sturdy divey bar look and a very laid back vibe (except on whisky tasting nights), so it always feels like it's far from the LA Scene.  A positive.  But it has one thing really going for it.

It carries almost 200 single malts.

There's a list here, but there are dozens of drams that aren't on it.  I know that for a fact because I had two yesterday that aren't part of the list and saw many many more.  Their collection of independents - Signatory, Cadenhead's, Scott's, Chieftain's, etc - is just outrageous.

I had my first cask strength whisky here (thank you James!) two years ago and I remember it promptly numbing my face.  (To all you whisky noobs out there, please hit your first and second cask strength drams with a little bit of water in order to work your nervous system up to the point where you can do it neat later on.  Educational!)

Source

The prices here are decent, definitely less than the outrageous rates charged by the famous downtown Seven Grand.  And I had a tremendous malt yesterday, on special, that I swear they were selling at a loss.  They've also started a Single Malt Club which will get members a 10% discount.  I just joined yesterday!

They also have about 30 beers on tap and I've heard nothing but raves about those.  Of course, my eyes rarely stray from the official malt bottlings in the upper tier and the indies in the back.

Source

For all of their Scotch holdings, they don't have particularly good whisky glasswear.  So if you go there to try a rare or independent or expensive or dreamy dram, I recommend asking them to pour it into their little curvy tequila glasses.  Those are shaped like mini brandy copitas and do a good job at focusing the flavor and nose.

If you're looking to test out a single malt before buying a whole bottle, I heartily recommend this place. Especially if you live on The Westside.

---

Beverage Warehouse - 4935 Mcconnell Avenue, Culver City(-ish)

I'm almost thankful that I didn't find this place until we were about to move down South.  This place is like Candyland.

When I walked in the door, I almost had a nervous breakdown.  I almost went potty.  I am not exaggerating.

It is a warehouse full of beverages.

Here's a pic of the outside entrance:

Source

I will not show you a photo of the liquor shelves within because they're downright pornographic (and I also can't find a pic to steal from the Internet).  Hundreds of whiskies.  Hundreds of tequilas.  Hundreds of vodkas.  Hundreds of gins.  Hundreds of rums.  And the beer selection is crazy.

Their prices are great, possibly the best in Los Angeles County.

They do tastings (wine or whisky, usually).  Their staff is nice.  And I'm really digging their selection of minis.  If you go, pick up a mini of Highland Park 18 and Macallan 18; they're priced 30-40% lower than I've ever seen, so I picked up one of each yesterday.

Like I recommend with a Las Vegas trip, leave your high limit credit card behind when you go here.  But unlike Vegas, you really need to be sober when setting foot in Beverage Warehouse.  Keep your wits about you or else you will walk out with a full paycheck's worth of liquor in tow.

I'd say that's what qualifies as "good stress".  So, stop by the Beverage Warehouse and feel free to turn somersaults in the aisles.

---

I had a great time hitting these two spots.  Didn't even mind the traffic for once.  Didn't spend much money either.  Now if someone could just bring these businesses out to Long Beach...

'Tis Robert Burns Day

Source: wikipedia!

Today is Robbie Burns Day, often celebrated with a supper of haggis, dancing, poetry reading, and whisky toasts.  I would have loved to have gone to the LA Scotch Club's celebration, but it's in Pasadena and I know for a fact that I would not make it home alive.  So I'm going to have a dram or two at The Daily Pint and read some Scottish poetry at home.  I'm haggis-free this year......so far.

Widely considered in Scotland as their best home-grown poet, Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759 and passed on a short thirty-seven years later on 21 July 1796.  Often writing in the Scots tongue, he fashioned straightforward Romantic poetry influenced by both old Scotch folk songs and contemporary social concerns.  He's held in particular fancy by the Scottish people since he'd grown up hungry and poor amongst multiple failing farms before his strong passionate artistic voice led him out of the squalor.

His "Scots Wha Hae" was the unofficial Scottish anthem for a long time too.  Here in The States, we would know him from "Auld Lang Syne."

You know what?  You should really go to the official Scotland-run Robert Burns site where an actor gives a cracking turn as Robbie himself, detailing the history of the man.  It's great edutainment!

So in honor of Robbie, please enjoy your evening.  Safely.

Source

Also, it's National Peanut Butter Day

EAT:

(Source)

...if you don't have allergies and all.

Odious Oscar noms (2012 edition)

I'm going to do as little griping about this year's nominations (listed below my opines) as possible...

Best Picture - Thankfully the Academy changed the rules for this award, stating that there would no longer be ten required nominations.  Only films receiving 5% of first place votes in the nomination process would be nominated.

Be sure to note the time so that you can
fire up "Super Troopers" on Netflix instead.

So we've got nine nominees.  BIG improvement.  Why should a film that only 1 out of 20 Academy members deem the best receive a nomination?  Why should it share the ticket with the film that gets 50% of the votes?  More importantly, it would be much appreciated by EVERYONE if they released the actual voting results.  Everyone except for the producers of the film that got 5%, I suppose.

I'm a bit shocked by all of "Moneyball"'s nominations.  As a baseball stat freak and a film nerd, I enjoyed it thoroughly.  A good smart piece of entertainment.  But a Best Picture nominee?  It's good but not that good.

"The Tree of Life" is that good.  I'm very happy to see the Academy nominating non-linear avant-garde cinema.

"Midnight in Paris" is dynamic and electric in the time travel scenes yet flat and shallow in the contemporary ones.  But we fans of the film can't get those great scenes with Hemmingway and Dali out of our heads.

"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" was liked by no one.  Not many folks are seeing it and it had the worst critical response of any nominee in HISTORY (per Metacritic scores).  Even Rupert Murdoch's New York Post thought it was exploitative pablum.

Ultimately, though it looks like a battle between "The Artist" and "Hugo", two cinema-loving pieces of cinema.  Could be much much worse.

Best Director - I love that lineup.  The Academy will never nominate Lars Von Trier out of fear of what he'll say and do.

Acting Awards - Jonah Hill?  Really?  He was quite solid but it wasn't that complicated or demanding or interesting of a role.  On the other hand, Brad Pitt was great in "Moneyball" and "The Tree of Life". 

It's nice to see Jessica Chastain nominated, but for "The Help" and not "Tree of Life"?  The Academy again proves it likes EXTREMELY LOUD rather than incredibly close when it comes to performances.

Foreign Language Films - Damn, I should watch these.

Feature Animation - Many thanks to Pixar for releasing "Cars 2".

Feature Documentary - This is where I get angry.  Breathe slowly and deeply.  Okay.

I am very happy to see Wenders's "Pina" on the list.

I'm just going to assume that "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" and "Nostalgia for the Light" weren't submitted to the Academy this year.  Or is it because they're not American docs?  Herzog's "Cave" was an enormously important piece of cinema that beautifully documented a pivotal moment in human intellectual and artistic development.  And it's the best use of 3D that I've seen yet.  And "Nostalgia" was not only just beautiful and educational, but it was deeply emotional and perfectly paced; the best film I saw outside of "Tree of Life".  Neither of these films (along with Herzog's "Into the Abyss" and Morris's "Tabloid") even made the 15-film shortlist.  I have nothing nice to say about that.

Writing - Good to see Sorkin on there because he's a ninja.  I'm glad that Beau Willimon got nominated.  It was his script "Farragut North" that Clooney's company had purchased, then tweaked into "Ides of March".  I liked "Farragut"; very Washington insidery and wonky.

"Extremely 9/11 & Incredibly Hanks" did not get a writing nomination.  Neither did "The Help".  Yet both picked up best picture nominations.  I'd go into a diatribe about them not deserving a Best Pic pick if they can't get a Writing pick, but then again "The Tree of Life" didn't get nominated for Best Original Screenplay.  Apparently a volume of poetry about God cannot compete with a woman taking a sh*t in a wedding dress.

Thanks again, Academy!

---

Best Picture

• “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) A La Petite Reine/Studio 37/La Classe Américaine/JD Prod/France3 Cinéma/Jouror Productions/uFilm Production, Thomas Langmann, Producer
• “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) An Ad Hominem Enterprises Production, Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
• “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. Pictures Production, Scott Rudin, Producer
• “The Help” (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
• “Hugo” (Paramount) A Paramount Pictures and GK Films Production, Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
• “Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Pontchartrain Production, Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
• “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Columbia Pictures Production, Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
• “The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight) A River Road Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined
• “War Horse” (Touchstone) A DreamWorks Pictures Production, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Directing

• “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) Alexander Payne
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Martin Scorsese
• “Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) Woody Allen
• “The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight) Terrence Malick

Actor in a Leading Role

• Demián Bichir in “A Better Life” (Summit Entertainment)
• George Clooney in “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight)
• Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company)
• Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (Focus Features)
• Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn” (The Weinstein Company)
• Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
• Nick Nolte in “Warrior” (Lionsgate)
• Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” (Focus Features)
• Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (Warner Bros.)

Actress in a Leading Role

• Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” (Roadside Attractions)
• Viola Davis in “The Help” (Touchstone)
• Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
• Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady” (The Weinstein Company)
• Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn” (The Weinstein Company)

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company)
• Jessica Chastain in “The Help” (Touchstone)
• Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” (Universal)
• Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs” (Roadside Attractions)
• Octavia Spencer in “The Help” (Touchstone)

Animated Feature Film

• “A Cat in Paris” (GKIDS) Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
• “Chico & Rita” (GKIDS) Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
• “Kung Fu Panda 2” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) Jennifer Yuh Nelson
• “Puss in Boots” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) Chris Miller
• “Rango” (Paramount) Gore Verbinski

Foreign Language Film

• “Bullhead” A Savage Film Production, Belgium
• “Footnote” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Footnote Limited Partnership Production, Israel
• “In Darkness” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Studio Filmowe Zebra Production, Poland
• “Monsieur Lazhar” (Music Box Films) A micro_scope Production, Canada
• “A Separation” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Dreamlab Films Production, Iran

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Screenplay by John Logan
• “The Ides of March” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (Focus Features) Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Written by Michel Hazanavicius
• “Bridesmaids” (Universal) Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
• “Margin Call” (Roadside Attractions) Written by J.C. Chandor
• “Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Woody Allen
• “A Separation” (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Asghar Farhadi

Art Direction

• “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Production Design: Laurence Bennett, Set Decoration: Robert Gould
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” (Warner Bros.) Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
• “Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics) Production Design: Anne Seibel, Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
• “War Horse” (Touchstone) Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography

• “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Guillaume Schiffman
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Robert Richardson
• “The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight) Emmanuel Lubezki
• “War Horse” (Touchstone) Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design

• “Anonymous” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Lisy Christl
• “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Mark Bridges
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Sandy Powell
• “Jane Eyre” (Focus Features) Michael O’Connor
• “W.E.” (The Weinstein Company) Arianne Phillips

Documentary (Feature)

• “Hell and Back Again” (Docurama Films) A Roast Beef Limited Production, Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
• “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” (Oscilloscope Laboratories) A Marshall Curry Production, Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
• “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” An @radical.media Production, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
• “Pina” (Sundance Selects) A Neue Road Movies Production, Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
• “Undefeated” (The Weinstein Company) A Spitfire Pictures Production, TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” A Purposeful Production, Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
• “God Is the Bigger Elvis” A Documentress Films Production, Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
• “Incident in New Baghdad” A Morninglight Films Production, James Spione
• “Saving Face” A Milkhaus/Jungefilm Production, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
• “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” A Supply & Demand Integrated Production, Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing

• “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight) Kevin Tent
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Thelma Schoonmaker
• “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Christopher Tellefsen

Makeup

• “Albert Nobbs” (Roadside Attractions) Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” (Warner Bros.) Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
• “The Iron Lady” (The Weinstein Company) Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)

• “The Adventures of Tintin” (Paramount) John Williams
• “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company) Ludovic Bource
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Howard Shore
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (Focus Features) Alberto Iglesias
• “War Horse” (Touchstone) John Williams

Music (Original Song)

• “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
• “Real in Rio” from “Rio” (20th Century Fox) Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Short Film (Animated)

• “Dimanche/Sunday” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production, Patrick Doyon
• “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” A Moonbot Studios LA Production, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
• “La Luna” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Enrico Casarosa
• “A Morning Stroll” (Studio AKA) A Studio AKA Production, Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
• “Wild Life” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)

• “Pentecost” (Network Ireland Television) An EMU Production, Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
• “Raju” A Hamburg Media School/Filmwerkstatt Production, Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
• “The Shore” An All Ashore Production, Terry George and Oorlagh George
• “Time Freak” A Team Toad Production, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
• “Tuba Atlantic” (Norsk Filminstitutt) A Norwegian Film School/Den Norske Filmskolen Production, Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing

• “Drive” (FilmDistrict) Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Paramount) Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
• “War Horse” (Touchstone) Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing

• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony Pictures Releasing) David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
• “Moneyball” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Paramount) Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
• “War Horse” (Touchstone) Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects

• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
• “Hugo” (Paramount) Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
• “Real Steel” (Touchstone) Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
• “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (20th Century Fox) Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Paramount) Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Metaphor of the week: The baby porcupine and the mug

I've struggled with Story on many of my writing projects, but last week was terrible.  Almost terrifying.

I'd like to think I'm fairly decent at the screenwriting process.  I've been doing it for many years on many many projects.  I know that working the story through usually takes shape in the form of a puzzle.  And I work on it and work on it and work on it, then I move on to the next step.

But last week, ugh.  I woke up every day facing a project that I couldn't crack.  The puzzle had become multi-dimensional, its instructions in a language not yet invented.  Every day.  Going at the problem from multiple directions.  Deconstruct, reconstruct, visualize, literalize, simplify, expand.  Silence.  Panic.  Try again.  Try again.  Try again.  Weeks like that shake one's confidence in one's ability, skill, and general mental acuity.

But this is a new week now.  I look forward to new and better challenges.  And I can look back with some objectivity thanks to this video which clearly illustrates my last week of writing.  A baby porcupine's breakfast sits at the bottom of a mug...


(Discovered via The Daily What)

Single Malt Report: Bidding Bye-Bye to a Bowmore Bottle

My favorite new single malt that I tried last year was the Bowmore 16yr 1994 Signatory bottling that I'd purchased at Royal Mile Whiskies (London) last May.

I completed the bottle on Friday to celebrate the end of a crummy week.  There was one (sizable) drink left in it:

Because the bottle had been open for about eight months, the whisky had plenty of time to settle and because it was less-than-half-full for at least three months, there was a chance for oxidation to set in and change (some say ruin) the whisky.  So, this final drink would also be a chance to document the flavor changes caused by these chemical reactions.

Here is a recap of my notes from early October:

Color - between ginger ale and chardonnay
Nose - (neat) softly peated, medicinal/band-aids (but less so than Laphroaig), cowhide leather; (w/water) peat and medicine fade, but menthol moves forward
Palate - (neat) Peaty but smoothly so, light cream and sweet potatoes; (w/water) Peat smoke
Finish - (neat) hot stuff, cayenne pepper hot, lingers and lingers and lingers; (w/water) cools down, black peppery

I enjoyed it because the elements were so well integrated into the whole.  It actually taught my taste buds how to like peat.

---

Now at the tail end of the bottle, eight months after it was opened, it had clearly transformed into a whole new creature.  Now keep in mind, I only drank it neatly, but did so over a period of 60 minutes.

The color remained the same.  Thank goodness.  I'd be worried if that had changed.
The nose had grown, if you will.  It was spirity and grassy.  Sea air had joined the soft peat and band-aids.  It was oakier, some burning paper.  Around the edges there was some rotting fruit sugars as well.
But all of that did not prepare me for the flavor.
The palate was enormous.  Barbecued peat and barbecued seaweed were massively upfront.  Something like salted pork, too, and maybe maybe some weed (if I knew what weed tasted like...).
The finish was sweeter than the palate.  Some of that BBQ lingered, but there was regular peat smoke too.  It was very dry, very vegetal.

Wow, it had really changed!  It's not just my developing taste buds.  The nose was softer.  The palate was rougher.  The finish was drier.  It had developed a completely different character than any other Bowmore that I've tried.  It was like an Arbeg, but barbecue as opposed to soot.

Very complex and enjoyable.  It was an excellent final act.

(ratings remain the same)
Pricing - Bargain at $70
Rating - 93