So there we are, 2022 is coming to an end, 2023 will come in shortly. Time for a last pick of Islay single malt whisky for this festive season. Decided to go with something special, something I hadn’t really expected to own and drink. After all there are only 3,000 bottles of it. Below is my very own bottle of it:
This is my bottle of the Bruichladdich Laddie Origins Fèis Ìle 2021. It is bottle 2,669 of 3,000 bottles produced.
If you think back this was during the Covid pandemic (not something we like to think back to, but still), when Fèis Ìle was a virtual festival. Around that time Bruichladdich had a monthly ballot to buy a bottle of their “valinch single cask” (as nobody could visit the distillery to fill a bottle). I had entered the ballot every month, but hadn’t been successful once. So when they opened a ballot for the festival I submitted my entry without much hope, thinking this will be majorly oversubscribed and I don’t stand a chance.
And yet to my surprise a few weeks later an email arrived in my inbox that my submission had been successful and I was a winner. Soon after the bottle arrived and 18 months later I’ve now decided to open it.
I’m enjoying a few drams of it tonight (and it is indeed a lovely dram I think, a worthy festival bottling) and will enjoy a few more tomorrow on New Year’s Day. Regular readers of this blog will know my routine for New Year’s Day: A walk along the canal in the morning. Then the New Year’s Day concert from Vienna while enjoying a nice brunch with scrambled eggs, sausages, smoked salmon and of course the already mentioned few drams. Another walk in the afternoon to a local pub for a New Year’s pint.
And on that note I’m signing off for today and this year, good night, see you in the new year!
Happy New Year from Colorado! I always enjoy your photos and posts.
This Article was mentioned on brid.gy
This Article was mentioned on brid.gy
Happy New Year 2023! By the time I post this the concert will be over and the food will be all gone, but it’s “same procedure as every year” (my German readers will understand, I think some others might as well now). As I’ve been doing for many years now I’ve been out for a New Year’s morning walk along the Kennet and Avon Canal, followed by Neujahrskonzert from Vienna with my New Year’s Day brunch and a dram or two of Islay single malt whisky:
New Year’s brunch and Islay whisky 2023The Islay whisky of course is the Laddie Origins I opened yesterday. The food was similar to previous offerings, scrambled eggs with roasted garlic pepper and spring onions, smoked salmon, sausages and homemade poppy seed rolls.
My sister Imke and her horse Brioso kind of joined in (can you spot them?), they and a few human and equine friends “celebrated” the New Year last night.
The Neujahrskonzert was beautiful as always, if you missed it I think you can watch/listen again on iPlayer/BBC Sounds. Some great music finishing with the traditional Blue Danube and Radetzky March.
I’m off for a nap now after all that food and drink, then (hoping it stays dry) out for an afternoon walk. If all goes to plan with a New Year’s Day pint in a pub on the way.
Share this:EmailFacebookTwitterTumblrPinterestWhatsAppRedditLinkedIn
Author: Armin Grewe
I blog about Islay.
View all posts by Armin Grewe