Whisky's always been my drink of choice, but initially with coke or lemonade and ice. The first time I went into a London pub I asked for a whisky and coke and the barman sneered back,
'what sort do you want?'
'well, what've you got?'
'Bells, Paddy, Famous Grouse'
'Bells'd be great, thanks'
'that's not whisky it's Bells'
I puzzled over this for ages, (almost as long as I puzzled over 'a blind man walking past a fishmonger's says "Hi Girls"', and why it was funny. Well it was funny to a group of teenaged boys in the 80s) the day I realised I blushed so hard it made my hair curl (at the whisky remark, not the fish joke).
Oban has a distillery in the centre of town, on the main street. It's been there since 1794 and is either the oldest town based distillery or the only one, I tend to glaze at the interesting historical fact bits. It's between the white building and the short building next to the yellow building on the photo in the post below below. Around 8.15amish, it lets out a big sweet whisky vapour cloud which drifts up Jacob's Ladder and filters through the fir trees to McCaig's Tower (the colosseum on the top of the hill).
A couple of years ago Andrew Jefford, author of Peat Smoke and Spirit, visited our bookshop for an evening of readings from the book and whisky-tasting and general bonhomie. That was when, for the first time, I really appreciated the difference between Bells and coke and a good, solid Bowmore with a dash of room temperature water, a frisky Talisker or a smoke soaked Lagavulin.
Bowmore distillery on Islay.
But, even though I live in whisky world I'm finding it difficult to buy some specific bottles for a friend. There's a whisky supermarket chain called The Whisky Shop, but its range is limited in a way its prices are not. A fantastic local deli, The Kitchen Garden, has a good selection and can order even more, and each distillery has its own retail outlet. But it's striking how few places specialist places there are. I wonder if it's the same with cigar shops in Havana, chocolate in Hoogstraten or record stores in, what's the name of that place where they make the best music in the world? It's on the tip of my tongue, erm, erm, oh yeh, that's it, Manchester.
7 comments:
So how do you rate our local tipple, Bushmills? Or is that simply out of the running as it ain't Scottish?
Not my tipple at all, whisky, I prefer port or sherry. Though whisky is wonderfully warming on a freezing winter's night.
I don't think they're as smokey as the Scotch I like. I particularly like the Island and Islay whiskys, the seaspray breeze and earthy smoke is what turns a pleasant drink into an experience for me.
Speyside or Lowland and some Highlands not so much (water is too clean!) and not a huge Bourbon fan either (too treacley).
Bowmore do a lovely Sherry cask whisky.
I'm not Scottish, my family's a bit Irish and a bit English and they live in Wales. It's not the heritage that influences me, just whether I like the taste or not.
In winter I always drink whisky straight, usually Bushmills (which unfortunately you cannot find very easily in Greece) or Glenfiddich...
Personally, I like Bushmills because it has "soft" taste...
From the other hand, on summer I prefer vodka with lemonade or a bottle of Corona with a slice of lemon...
And my new favorite for the summer is vodka - martini bianco - lemonade that has a bitter taste
Hi klearchos of the beautiful photos! I've never been a vodka fan, I can't taste anything. For summer I'm very naff and love a Pimm's punch!
Surely once you throw coke in, one proprietary blended Scotch (Bell's, Grouse, Teachers, JW, Chivas) tastes much like another?
I went through a single malt phase, but I suddenly started disliking the peat. Now I prefer brandy, preferably Armagnac. Is that poncy?
Exactly. As a teenager, with coke, I couldn't tel one whisky from another. In my 20s it would be with Canada Dry, still not much to choose. And for a pub social drink, I'll often still have a whisky and dry, like a cordiaL.
Armagnac is very grown up.
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