Burns Night dram

[Richard A]

So tonight is Burns Night and a dram in honour of the great man is the least I could do. (Well, and possibly think of how some in this group might think that Parcel of Rogues fits the current Scottish leadership as well as it did that of Burns's day.) But back to drams - there are definite experts on those in this community. It's looking like a Tomatin Legacy, a Glenmorangie or a Laphroaig - what do people think?

[g-one]

Very much enjoyed some (non legacy) Tomatin last night, so I'll go with that.

[Arneb]

I'd go with a Laphroaig. If I can chose between peated Whiskies, I'll usually go for Talisker or Lagavullin, but that does not do Laphroaig justice. Glenmorangie is never wrong, but maybe a bit well-behaved if you want to honour a poet. Never had Tomatin. I've heard it said somewhere that all Single Malts beginning with T are crap - and I've heard it said, with equal passion, that that saying is utter, prejudiced shite.

You can't really go wrong here, can you? Is 'all of the above' a choice?

[Richard A]

LOL the answer to the final question is: not on a school night! Tomatin was the final choice, but I may have a Laphroaig at the weekend.

Enjoyed listening to Luke Kelly singing a Parcel of Rogues. He may not have been Scots, but if you listen to "For What Died The Sons of Raisin?"(which he wrote), you'll know he understood what Burns meant.

[Lianachan]

From your three choices, I’d go for the Tomatin. Glenmorangie is nice enough, but utterly unremarkable. Laphraoig is just Lagavulin for beginners.

I’m actually just back in the door from a very long archaeology board meeting, and am actually having a Jim Beam!

Burns.... meh. No great cultural affinity here. Cha b' urrainn e fiù 's Gàidhlig a bhruidhinn!

[Richard A]

Stimmt, das konnte er nicht. But for good or ill, Burns Night has been portrayed as the closest thing to a Scottish national day, so when I remember, I lift a glass of the good stuff for it.

Tomatin it was in the end - and very nice too. Hmm, Laphroaig Lagavulin for beginners, eh? Well, it's one of the few whiskies the Missus also enjoys, so maybe I should get a bottle!

[Lianachan]

Laphraoig make a “quarter cask” which is lovely. As is perhaps indicated, it is stored in casks a quarter of the size of normal, modern casks. They do this because in the good old days, casks were indeed about that size as they were easier to transport on pack horses. It also has the benefit, if you’d think of it like that (I do), that more of the spirit is in contact with the wood of the cask. Consequently, their quarter cask is a lot less peaty and more woody than their normal whisky. Recommended.

Lagavulin is, hands down, the finest peaty whisky though.

[g-one]

I'll second the quarter cask. It's the most popular choice in my group, pretty much the default 'house scotch' now.
Will have to see what is available in Lagavulin though, as it has only been occasional.

[Lianachan]

I'll second the quarter cask. It's the most popular choice in my group, pretty much the default 'house scotch' now.
Will have to see what is available in Lagavulin though, as it has only been occasional.

Cool! Our local Tesco, where 99.9% of our shopping is done for convenience, doesn’t ever stock quarter cask.... and when it does have Lagavulin is is prohibitively priced. My wife, despite being a professional archaeologist, cannot abide whisky so my whisky budget is firmly set at £0 pa anyway. She loves bourbon though. Pah. I am, though, happy to report that this isn’t the only uncharacteristic aspect of her as an archaeologist. For now, she also remains beardless.

[Richard A]

Yes, Lagavulin is, I see, decidedly expensive. And Sainsbury's doesn't stock Laphroaig quarter cask either. It does, I see, stock Bunnahabhain, which it says is, although Islay, unpeated. Good price though. Returning to Speyside, Tamnavulin's on special offer, I see, which always encourages an experiment. Mixed reviews. Thoughts here?

[Arneb]

Never tasted it. Starts with a T, right?

[Мастер]

Yes, Lagavulin is, I see, decidedly expensive.

Just had a bottle with the masons.

[Lianachan]

Never tasted it. Starts with a T, right?

Errr.... not that many posts ago you expressed a fondness for Talisker.

[Lianachan]

There are a variety of Tamnavulin bottlings, usually on offer in Tesco too. They are generally on the good side of ok, if that makes sense, and some are actually very nice. I can’t remember which, of course, but they’re worth a go.

[Arneb]

Never tasted it. Starts with a T, right?

Errr.... not that many posts ago you expressed a fondness for Talisker.

I was referring to my other post about Scotch whiskies starting with a T having a bad rep, unjustly, but yes, I should have added '...except Talikser'.

[Richard A]

And you did, to be fair, say in that original post what you thought of such an attitude. Though such prejudices can be deep-seated. I long took the view that whisk(e)y was only to be taken seriously if it was from Scotland, Ireland, the US or Canada. Mind you, it's not just me - I think I said on another thread that when I commented to one of the staff in the Scottish Whisky Centre in Edinburgh that I'd never heard of any of Lowland whiskies, his response was that I hadn't missed much!

Slowly I'm opening up - you introduced me to a fine Japanese whisky once and trying Penderyn in a pub in Mid-Wales proved much more pleasurable than I feared. (Brecon gin, on the other hand, was not.) There's even a whisky distillery not so far from here, on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, but I've not tried their produce yet.

But returning to whiskies that begin with a T, when I do try this one, I'll report back. Talisker I don't need to experiment with - it is indeed excellent! But I enjoy trying new things: the I'm not (at least in that sense), a peasant. ("What the peasant doesn't know, he doesn't eat - or in this case drink.")

[Arneb]

I've had some excellent Japanese whiskies, and I challenge anyone who says these whiskies can't be taken seriously to a blind tasting in my house. OTOH, I've also tried one or two German whiskies, and they were awful. You know, expensive, with fancy bottles, nice stories about the ouside loner who wanted to do things the right way and was shunned out of the indurstry blablabla - but awful.

[g-one]

I've also had some fine Japanese single malts.
And since Auchentoshan is now owned by Beam Suntory anyway, I always try to pronounce it as if it were a Japanese word.

[Lianachan]

I like a lot of bourbons, and some Irish whiskies. Penderyn is ok. I find most Japanese whiskies taste too chemically for me. I’ve tried some English whiskies (years ago, awful) and I struggling to think to a decent lowland malt. This isn't Highland hubris, I really can't think of a good one, though I presume they must exist.

[Arneb]

BTW, what is the correct pronounciation of Auchentoshan?

[Lianachan]

BTW, what is the correct pronounciation of Auchentoshan?

It's as it looks really, although of course the ch is fricative and isn't pronounced as a k.

Och-an-Tosh-an

[Arneb]

Nice. That's about the way I pronounce it. Being German, I love me a good ch fricative. My main insecurity was if the "Au" was pronounced oh (as in old) or ow as in owl. And the stress is on "tosh", right?

[Lianachan]

Nice. That's about the way I pronounce it. Being German, I love me a good ch fricative. My main insecurity was if the "Au" was pronounced oh (as in old) or ow as in owl. And the stress is on "tosh", right?

Ah..... the o is pronounced aw really, sorry, my Gael genes assumed everybody must know that. Yeah the ch fricative is great! Yeah, stress is on the tosh.

[Richard A]

I can confirm that Arneb has a) indeed challenged me to a blind tasting of Japanese whisky in his home and successfully made the point and b) never offered me German whisky. To be honest, I didn't know Germany produced whisky. I mean, why would it? It produces a range of fine fruit brandies - and even, in defence of them, gave rise to case that every EU law student learns. Given its expertise in winemaking, it probably produces fine brandy as well, though none immediately come to mind. It produces a spirit, Jägermeister, which is not the finest, but does the job it was designed for, i.e. keeping out the cold of an Alpine winter. (I imagine its export as a "bomb" dropped in a pint of beer resulted from Allied/NATO troops getting hold of it.) So why would Germany attempt to produce whisky?

But then, why would France, with its expertise in producing an equal range of fine spirits, attempt to produce vodka? And then, when it discovered it wasn't great at it, continue to do so?

[g-one]

BTW, what is the correct pronounciation of Auchentoshan?

You can find Brian Cox doing any (Scotch) on youtube. Here's Auchentoshan.

Watch on youtube.com