From what I’ve heard it’s been a lovely sunny day on Islay today while it’s been mostly cloudy with quite a lot of rain in West Berkshire where I am. Still, I managed to get in a 10 miles exercise walk along the Kennet and Avon Canal in 2 hours, 28 minutes and 55 seconds. As a reward I’m treating myself to an Islay and Scotland treat tonight:
Scottish Strawberries and Laphroaig Islay single malt whisky
One of my Islay standards, the good old trusted Laphroaig 10 yo. Together with some Scottish strawberries (from Angus if I remember correctly). What’s your treat tonight?
Happy Easter 2021 (even if it’s a bit late). Had a nice afternoon walk in the sun in West Berkshire earlier, spotting around 30 Mute Swans in a field as well as several Red Kite along my route, which was a mixture of well known (to me) paths and a new path I hadn’t been on before. Now, about 45 minutes after sunset and with the last light of the gloaming slowly fading away, it’s time for a well deserved Islay Easter dram and some chocolate:
Islay Easter dram (and some dark chocolate and cocoa truffles)
I picked the Bruichladdich distillery Port Charlotte MRC: 01 2010, one of my favourite Islay single malts. The “standard” Port Charlotte 10yo is one of my regular go to Islay whiskies, this one I think is the even better (and unfortunately pricier) version for special days.
For the chocolate I’m treating myself to a Lindt Lindor dark chocolate 70% minimum Easter egg with some dark chocolate truffles. While on a chocolate per ££££ basis these Easter eggs are a bit of a rip off compared to regular chocolate bars there is something strangely satisfying about breaking up a chocolate Easter egg and eating the crumbled chocolate, so it’s something I’m treating myself to once (or twice, Christmas is similar) a year.
I hope you’re having a nice Easter with whisky, chocolate and Easter walks in the sunshine. What’s your treat this Easter?
As I’m starting a long weekend, a belated bank holiday weekend, this evening (taking a day in lieu after having to work on the August bank holiday Monday) I thought this is a good time to enjoy a special beer:
Ardbeer, the Ardbeg Smoky Porter
The beer in question is (or better, was, as I’ve finished it by now) the Ardbeg The Shortie Smoky Porter, a one off release as far as I understand. It’s also sold out by now, at least on the Ardbeg website (there might still be places you can get it, I don’t know). The Whisky Exchange blog has a nice post about it with a lot of background information.
While not the type of beer I usually drink (I prefer Golden Ales and Pale Ales) I quite like this one. It has a nice smoky taste, but it’s not overpowering to me. Just the right amount. A bit heavier than the beers I usually drink, but again not too much. I think I’ve got five cans left (minimum as well as maximum purchase was two boxes of four cans), I’ll enjoy them slowly over the coming weeks or even months.
Just enjoying a wee dram of Laphroaig Cask Strength (Batch 009) Islay single malt after a few Scottish real ales (from Drygate, Harviestoun and Fyne Ales. Unfortunately Islay Ales don’t ship to the mainland at the moment) earlier. So there’s nothing better than watching a nice video from an Islay visit with plenty distillery tours in December 2019:
I hope you’ll enjoy the video as well, maybe with a wee dram or two?
If it hadn’t been for the Coronavirus I would have been out and about this weekend, warming up for the Islay walking week in a week’s time. But obviously neither of that is happening or will happen. So I thought I should have at least some treat. During my last shopping trip I decided to raid the Easter egg aisle even though the chocolate is vastly overpriced in comparison to a normal bar of the same chocolate. But I found something I thought a bit different. Yesterday evening I decided to let some of my Twitter followers pick which one of two Bruichladdich valinches I should open. Here’s the outcome, here’s what I enjoyed today:
My Islay Easter dram from Bruichladdich (and some chocolate)
The whisky is a Bruichladdich Port Charlotte heavily peated Islay single malt, SHC: 01, 2006. Cask 2134, first fill sherry. Distilled 4/Oct/2006, aged 11 years. My bottle is number 918 of 1,134.
The chocolate is a “single origin dark chocolate teardrop”. Or to be precise, “an intense dark chocolate decorated egg in a golden shimmer using Fino De Aroma cocoa beans sourced from Colombia”.
I’m not going to bore you with tasting notes, my taste buds aren’t developed enough to do much good there. But I can say the whisky tastes fantastic, nice and fiery (that’s as far as I go). The chocolate is nice as well, although I didn’t taste anything different with the golden shimmer (which if I interpret the ingredients list correctly isn’t real gold anyway, but Iron Oxide and Titanium Dioxide. Sorry to disappoint you on that side).
Oh, and for those of you interested in the result of the poll, the SHC won with 17 votes out of 29. If I remember correctly it had an even higher lead earlier on, but the VOC pulled back a bit in the later stages (the poll was open for about 13-14 hours). I haven’t decided when yet, but there’s a good chance the VOC will also be opened at some point during or shortly after the lockdown.
An Gleann was founded by Jane Mitchell almost 15 years ago as a small cottage business on the Rhinns of Islay a couple of miles outside of Port Charlotte on the road to Portnahaven. As the name says, they make tablet, a Scottish speciality. Being on Islay there’s of course a connection to the famous Islay whisky with the Whisky Connoisseur series. I hope you’ll find something you like.
My first Islay 360° videos covered Lossit Bay and Kilchoman beach. But of course there are others recording those type of video as well: Sail Scotland has just published a whole series of 360° videos from a variety of coastal locations around Scotland. Of course there’s one of Islay as well, visiting distilleries and lighthouses, going kayaking and more:
While not in 360° there’s also an interesting video of a sailing yacht in the famous Corryvreckan whirlpool just north of Jura:
I hope you enjoyed both videos, I’m hoping to add another 360° video to my collection soon as well. Not entirely sure yet where it will take you, either to a popular beach or to one of Islay’s largest villages.
Happy New Year! The new decade is under way, although some things haven’t changed: Same as the last two decades or so I’m starting my new year with a brunch with an Islay single malt while listening to the New Year’s Concert from Vienna. Here’s what I’m eating and drinking today:
New Year’s Islay whisky brunch
This is what is (or as I’m writing this mostly was) on the table:
I’m not entirely sure how long I’ve had this bottle, but as it was distilled in 2003 and according to the label aged for 14 years I must have filled and bought it some time in 2017. It is cask no 917, a bourbon barrel, distilled 15/Oct/2003. My bottle is no 221 of 323, bottled at 56.8%.
May be a slightly unusual combination, but this is what I’m enjoying on Christmas Eve 2019: A Laphroaig Càirdeas Triple Wood with some Hickory Smoked Nuts (Almonds, Cashew and Macadamia). Just because I can and because I like it.
Smoky Christmas Eve with an Islay whisky
And that is pretty much all for tonight. Only thing left to say is: Merry Christmas to you, your family and friends and whoever you’re celebrating with!
