A Dram for Seth.

Today, I remembered very vividly a conversation I had about 6 years ago with a South London Estate Agent, when moving house from the chaotic streets of Camden in the north of the city, to the leafy suburbs of Dulwich.

'Oh, it's basically baby central round these parts,' she jovially pointed out, as we passed by scores of young couples out for a walk with their prams and push chairs, all aglow with contentment and pride.

If i'm honest, at the time, I really didn't get the 'baby thing'. All I wanted was some peace and quiet; somewhere away from music venues, tourists and occasional knife-wielding drugged up nutters, complete with 12" scars, running down the length of their chests. Camden was a playground for those in pursuit of a more hedonistic lifestyle and I was most definitely done with that.

Since then, South London and the surrounding suburbs have claimed quite a few more of our great friends, eager to settle down and plan their lives together. And I am definitely getting a little broody.

The 2nd of November was a very special day for two particular friends of Caskstrength - Jonny and Melda Simon. Baby Seth Simon was born and today, I popped round to see the little fella, now just 10 days old. Like his dad, he has lots of hair and in the years to come he'll no doubt develop his father's razor sharp wit, as well as a discerning palate for single malts, fine dining and music.

To celebrate, I grabbed something from the Caskstrength cabinet, which I'd been itching to open. A couple of years back, I picked up a Coopers Choice Highland Park, distilled in 1981 and bottled in 2008. Having tried a small sample at the Whisky Shop in Dufftown, I remember it being a real cracker, so to uncork it and raise a glass to another little cracker feels like the order of the day.

Highland Park - Coopers Choice - Distilled 1981 - Bottled 2008 - 26 yo - 46%

Nose: Incredibly light and zesty on the nose. I suspect that the cask must be a 2nd or 3rd fill, but it is all the better for it, as aromas of coconut, sliced vanilla pods, a faint waft of aromatic, floral smoke and plums fill the nostrils. Given time, blackcurrant notes a hint of oak and freshly baked bread come to the fore.

Palate: Very oily on the palate, with that classic HP blackcurrant 'n smoke coating the tongue. Golden syrup notes, tinned peaches and tinned sweetened cream also arrive after a few seconds, alongside a malty note and a hint of herbal tea and Manuka honey.

Finish: Drying oak notes, with a lingering but light aromatic smoke, some iodine notes and lemon zest.

Overall: Oily, fruity, floral and deliciously smoky. A fine example of an independently bottled HP. The oak is definitely there, but fortunately, all the other great hallmarks of this Orkney powerhouse outweigh any criticism.

As Jonny and I pop outside to smoke a brace of celebratory cigars and sink another dram, I raise a glass to little Seth. The HP has excelled, working brilliantly with the Backwoods Originals we're smoking (and their wonderful sweet vanilla smoke) and it is a privilege to spend time with a great mate, who is going to make an excellent dad. Well done guys and hopefully we'll be back here with another freshly cracked bottle in 18 years time for Seth to try.

Please Sir. Can I have some (Bow)more...?

Last night, we hosted a charity whisky tasting in aid of the Japan Society and their remarkable support for the Japanese Tsunami relief efforts; 5 sensational whiskies, one as a refreshing highball cocktail and the rest as smooth sippin' drams. It was a wonderful evening of music, dancing, great raffle prizes (and a private whisky tasting from us as the booby prize...) and refinement, very much in a vintage style. The venue was the Central London members club Home House, situated in the manicured and well kept Portman Square, just off London's busy Oxford Street.

Leaving post-11pm, the bright lights of the city outshone an almost-full moon. Car after car sped by, headlights shining out but having little effect. London was alive, but an image of a world as far flung from Hebridian island life as one can possibly imagine.

Late last week, we found ourselves on Islay ready to visit one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, whose origins stretch back as far as 1779 - (just don’t tell the folks at Glenturret!) Bowmore.

Landing at Islay Airport is always an experience. The windsock appears to be starched into a horizontal position, pointing the way north to our destination. Like many of its Islay counterparts, Bowmore is a distillery steeped in tradition- and with sensational views across Loch Indaal, it is a wonderful experience to step back from the grind of everyday life and gulp in deep breaths of the salty coastal air, mixed with a heady and gently intoxicating peat smoke, which the distillery is famous for.

Our guide for the day was Eddie MacAffer, Distillery Manager and all-round legend in the world of Islay single malts. Before guiding us on an in-depth tour of the workings of the distillery, part of which you can see in the video included at the bottom of this post, we took a trip out to visit some of Bowmore’s many peat bogs. Trying our hand at a little bit of peat cutting, anyone who has experienced this first hand will get the sense of trepidation we approached the task with; when you’re being scrutinised by none other than ‘Ginger Willie’ (another of Bowmore’s near legendary employees) the idea of cutting a neat slice of peat, majestically tossing it over one’s shoulder, whilst trying not to slip into the bog makes the whole process quite tricky.

At one point, Joel (whose cutting skills left a great deal to be desired) very nearly toppled into the bog... Imagine the shock of finding a preserved Harrison in a couple of thousand years - historians still trying in vain to unlock the purpose of the Oxford United Supporters badge he so proudly wears.

Once the peat had been cut, it was time to make a trip to Bowmore’s water source. While the distillery is on the coastline, the water source- Laggan River is a long way in land and back in the distillery's distant past a channel was painstakingly cut by hand in 1841. It runs over 7 miles to deliver a plentiful supply and took over a year to cut. Eddie pointed out that the water actually gets less peaty along the journey, which we put to the test, enjoying a dram of Bowmore Darkest with water direct from the source and then another further on towards the distillery. A whisky, out in the open air, diluted with a little splash of slightly earthy water is as close to perfection as you'll get in our book...and Darkest doesn't disappoint; big dried fruits, subtle peat, with a hint of sweetness.

Returning to the distillery, we enjoyed a quick lesson in malt turning, before it was time to experience Warehouse Number One, the oldest continually used warehouse in Scotland and rammed with gems from as far back as 1957. (Oh how we’d like a night alone with those casks...)

The specific reason for this visit was to try the new 1982 Vintage Release. Limited to just 501 bottles, the release sits well between last year's 1981 release and the 1983 vintage - a very limited bottling, which is going to be released at next month’s Feis Ile. (Get ready for the openday queue folks...)

But beforehand, a few mouthfuls of some other gems from the burgeoning Bowmore cabinet.

First up: Bowmore's 'distillery only' bottling:

Bowmore - The Craftsman's Collection -Maltman's Selection - 3000 bottles - 54.6%

Nose: Big burnt caramel, notes of roasted meat, followed by swathes of smoke and juicy seville oranges.

Palate: More roast meat, sweet peat (with a hint of medicinal) and soft fruits, leading into drying oak. Moreish, but very direct.

Finish: Lingering notes of sweet peat and drying sherrywood.

Overall: If you happen to be passing by, be sure to try a sample of this in the Bowmore bar- it certainly hits home and won't to be to everyone's tastes, but if you like your peat and sherrywood in 3D, you'll absolutely adore it.

Bowmore - 1983 vintage - 501 bottles - 47%

Nose: Initial notes of highly aromatic fresh mint, dark toffee, gooseberries, watermelon sweets and daffodils.

Palate: PARMA VIOLETS. Yes - very much in CAPITALS. Enormously fruity/floral and perfumed, leading into clean malt, heather honey notes, soft, very gentle wood smoke and a slightly tropical note. A really eloquent and open palate, absolutely superb.

Finish: Baked banana, lingering vanillas and a dash of tangerine juice.

Overall: Unbelieveably fruity, but with a rich seam of sweet peat. The early 1980's seem to be a superb era for vintage Bowmore casks and this one sits right up there with the best of them.

Feis Ile Day Four (Part 1): "Mission (Almost) Impossible

Feis Ile Day Four: “Mission (almost) Impossible”

Part One:

“Caskstrength.net;

Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to acquire a bottle of Port Ellen - 1981 - Official Festival Release, available from 9am at Caol Ila Distillery.

This blog will self destruct in 10 seconds...”

--- GULP!!

With such and important mission, it was vital for caskstrength.net to plan ahead our morning journey to Caol Ila. The buzz across the island over the pervious few days surrounding this release was electric. Anyone would have thought the Beatles had magically reformed to play a secret free gig at Caol Ila’s still room. The only hard-and-fast facts were the venue for the release and the time of sale: 9am. We figured that, with such anticipation an early start was required. Rising at 5.40am to a gloriously sun drenched island with similes on your faces, we made our way through the Islay rush hour (which involved Neil herding sheep and large cattle out of the rural roads) across the island and down to Caol Ila. As we made our decent down towards the distillery, it was clear that a few other people had the same idea and a short queue had already formed with a truly international feel. Much like the 12 days of Christmas, it comprised of: “4 sleepy Swiss, 3 Whisky dealers, 2 distillery workers, and a handful of islanders.”

Although the glorious sunny weather prevailed, sadly a large part of the queue was in the shade of an office block. That coupled with the icy wind blowing through the Paps of Jura, it made for a cold and blustery wait. Thankfully At one point, a very friendly distillery worker, arrived with bacon rolls and tea, lifting everyone’s spirits!

Our previous Festival bottling purchases had led us to believe this could be a fairly competitive experience, but a real sense of camaraderie prevailed.
As the doors opened dead on 9am, it was unfortunately clear that a large proportion of the now very long queue now assembled would leave empty handed. Everyone (including the Distillery Manager) seemed shaky on the exact number of bottles available, with figures ranging between 115 and 200. However we were able to ascertain from one source that the numbering of the bottles was somewhat erratic with some numbers missing from the sequence and in one case, 2 bottles identically labelled (apparently both with the number 0007)

A special note of congratulations goes to the Swiss gent (who bore a striking resemblance to the great Ronnie Corbett) on being the first through the door. His sacrifice- arriving at the distillery at 8pm the previous evening!!!

Fair play to Diageo for pricing this bottling at a very agreeable £99.99p.

Mission accomplished; we left with beaming faces for a warming shower and some breakfast, each cradling a bottle of Special Release Port Ellen.