Discovery

Yesterday afternoon was spent in the company of the Son&Heir. involving  diverse activities such as cataloguing the serial numbers of my paltry gun collection (“Dad, this is so sad —  you have got to buy some more guns!” );  beer and poutines at the local pub;  and finally, a little Scotch-tasting back at home.  I’d bought this particular single malt at Total Wine a while back, intrigued by the label, but held back tasting it until suitable company showed up:  ergo, the S&H.  And what a joy it was:

Glen Fohdry has a good pedigree — for me, anyway, as I love Speyside Scotches — and this  “double maturation” thing intrigued me.

Great googly-moogly:  what an excellent Scotch.  I’m not going to go all Scotch-snob on y’all;  I’ll leave that to the S&H, who detected a “strong port finish” (unsurprising, given the casks) but never mind the taste (which is wonderful), just the smell of the stuff puts it in the Top 3 on the Kim List of Desirable New Scotches.

Run, do not walk to your nearest Total Wine store (I think it’s a “proprietary” or “tied” Scotch, i.e. exclusive to Total Wine), and grab a bottle or two for yourself.  I think it’s a product of the Speyburn distillery, but I’ll have to check.  Whatever, it’s brilliant stuff.

No need to thank me;  it’s all part of the service.


Glen Fohdry makes different cask finishes, apparently, such as this one (matured in American casks):

And there’s the usual array of vintages (12-, 21- and 29-year-olds), all of which I plan to try soon.

But it’s going to take a lot to wean me away from the “French cask” stuff, I promise you.

Applause

…for the pub owners involved in this little hoo-hah:

AN “obnoxious” group of drinkers were branded “entitled little toddlers” by a furious pub owner after they complained about staff online.

…and you must follow the link to enjoy the whole thing fully.

What amazes me is that the complainers aren’t a bunch of youngins, who as a group have been known to behave appallingly (I speak from experience);  instead, they were people in their 40s and 50s., celebrating someone’s 50th birthday.  Read the owner’s description of the night’s festivities, and marvel at the staff’s restraint.

Me, I would have tossed their uncouth and un-mannered asses out onto the street probably about half an hour in.

Back To Basics

SOTI I saw this as a cure for a hangover:

Okay, this looks like something an expensive hotel would serve, just to build the tab.  Here’s my revision:

Adding anything but ice or water to booze makes expensive booze taste like cheap booze, and the more extraneous shit you add, the worse.  Don’t ask me how I know this.

If you really want to have food wrapped around booze, pour a glass of anything into a bowl of cold minestrone.  It won’t make you any sicker than a Bloody Mary, and is much cheaper.  Don’t ask me how I know this, either.

And if you MUST have a Bloody Mary:  vodka + tomato juice, with maybe a little salt and pepper.

   

That’s It, I’m Voting For Biden*

I mean there’s only so much a man can take, when faced with this situation:

[Britain’s] international Trade Secretary welcomed an announcement by US trade representative Robert Lighthizer that Washington would not go ahead with a threatened extension of the tariff regime that would have affected gin and blended whisky.
And in a ‘modest’ easing of the tariffs, Mr Lighthizer said products such as shortbread would now be exempted as the two sides continue to seek a resolution to a dispute centred on planemaker Airbus.
But duties on top-quality single malt whiskies – which are made from a single batch of malted barley – remain in place at 25 per cent.

Shortbread?  Shortbread?  Who gives a shit about shortbread (a.k.a. compressed sugary sawdust) when Glenmorangie is being taxed to the skies?  Twenty fucking five percent?

And let me warn our esteemed President and “trade representatives”:  raising taxes on Sipsmiths and J&B would make you no different from the high-tax-loving Democratic Socialists.

HANDS OFF MY BOOZE!


*Just kidding.

Backyard Boozer

I’d seen mention of this place before, but Reader BradC sent me the full scoop on this wondrous creation:

Lockdown has forced many pub lovers out there to source other forms of entertainment. Some have decided to do bar crawls at home, while others have used Zoom calls to have a drink with their buddies. There are also those who have decided to forgo drinking at all and picked up new hobbies. However, the most creative solution came to the Crabs family, who realized they needed to get a pub built in their garden.
After consulting with Amy, who is the mastermind behind Octavia Chic, and her husband, plans to create a garden pub were made. It took around three weeks for Amy and her husband to complete this project and the result took people’s breath away.

I want one of these.  I want it badly.  If I had a backyard, this would be assembled and running in about a week.  And you’d never see me again.

My question is how Longtime Friend Mr. Sorenson (Reader TrueBrit’s hubby) has not had one of these installed yet.

In fact, the only thing wrong with the place (other than not having Wadworth 6X on tap) is that it’s missing a brass foot rail.

And Southern Comfort on an optic… hand me mah smellin’ salts, Martha.

Go there and drool over the pics.

Indecision

I have been informed that for Father’s Day this year, I am allowed to choose what breakfast to be served.  My choices are English, or American:

I know:  First World Problems.