Her Name is Rio ...

After hitting the Chinese New Year with a gusty tiger balm, it was time for Carnival! Woo hoo! Indeed, winter 2010 has proved a marvelous party season. And then Canada won the Olympic gold in hockey! just as it should be. (There will be more on that in future Whisky Break! maunderings, rest assured readers, rest assured.)

So, off it was to Rio for the Whisky Break! crowd, and the continued enjoyment of those dirty, dirty boys, Oban and Laphroig, half-brothers whose tale is not entirely without homology to that of Castor and Pollux -- both borne of mother Scotland, separated by contrastive sires.

But eno' o' th' pedantry! It was dirty kin party time in Rio.

Tiger Balm

Egads, Whisky Break's bumbling scribe has fallen off the reportage radar, and horribly so. But, fear not, gentle readers! Though reports of our international and cosmopolitan adventures have languished, that conspiracy of lassitude has been effectively quashed.

So, with that weakly exculpatory exposition, it now falls upon this WB entry to enrapture readers with our tastings of the Chinese New Year's smokey entries. The Year of the Tiger was rung in with a terrific roar, the roar of sterna ablaze with the liquid heat of raspy-fine single malts.

And pleasing heaters they were, as the heretofore undiscovered Laphroaig 15 finally went its glistering way to WB's many palettes, all of which were glazed with silky reward, and the Oban 14, which suffered a tad for the comparison with its sturdy Islay cousin. As the spoiled folks at Laphroaig tell us, Oban was competing for attentions with "the richer, more mature and succulent elder brother of the robust 10 Year Old." Indeed, we can hardly disagree. So rich and succulent, it left the otherwise fine Oban well in arears.

Nonetheless, with two bottles o' Scotland's finest, the WB! bade New Year Tiger a fond welcome with many a hearty toast, and with enough to spare to be enjoyed once more! We may be single malt gormands, but we do have a sense of relish, relish for more of these fine whiskies. And so it shall be!

We'll leave it to Laphroaig themselves to tell us that the Laph-15 is "esteemed and savoured around the world by a fortunate few." WB! considers itself fortunate, indeed. Get yours today!

A trip to Islay! The Motherlode

A nice article in The Independent travel section this weekend about the Hebredean island of Islay, you know, where they make Laphroiag! And other good stuff, too, but the Laphroaig distillery makes the appearance as the quintessential Islay malt house. Floor malting! Stacks of peat!

Really, there is one quibble we here at Whiskey Break might have with the article, at least its title, anyway. "Simple" pleasures? Maybe the rest of the island, but, nay, there is nothing "simple" about Laphroaig!

The Scottish isle of simple pleasures

An afternoon sparking with salty sunlight and in Port Ellen, a trim, white Hebrid-ean village hugging a sandy bay, a Jack Russell is barking excitedly at something – or someone – beneath the shifting waters of the harbour. I follow the terrier's gaze and there, just below the surface, is a set of eyes, saucer-like and dark, peering straight at me.

To see a seal on Islay, one of the jigsaw-piece isles cast off from the raggedy coastline of western Scotland, is not unusual. In fact, at Loch an t-Sailein (Seal Bay) you are almost guaranteed to find grey seals doing their onshore stretches. But to be close enough to shake a flipper is a fresh experience. And I don't need to be Doctor Dolittle to see what it wants. "If only I had a fish," I remark to a local on the quayside. (On Islay, the habit of talking to strangers is soon acquired.)

2010 First Light: Bunnahabhain 12

Well, folks, a first gathering of Whiskey Breakers in this new-ish year finally launched after holiday travels and the attendant resettling phase. In celebration of a WB! member's vault up the professional ladder, the Wise man divested interest in a bottle of a Whiskey Break! favourite; the nectarean Bunnahabhain 12.

As the distillery's own "tasting notes" inform us,

The nose offers a fresh and aromatic experience with a subtle whiff of smoke floating through the air. The taste starts with a light fruit and nut appeal that leads to a spectacular malty sweetness, finishing into a beautifully rich full-bodied, lingering experience.

Yes! That seems to have hit the sweet spot. Or, at the very least, it's a description we here at Whiskey Break! would be hard pressed to refute. Indeed, we fully concur.

Whiskey Breakers took note of the latest news on Pluto and decided to check out reports that the now former planet is getting redder, some 20% redder. "Seasonal changes," we are told. Or Pluto's reaction to it's 2006 demotion finally making it's way earthward, an expression of clear anger at humanity's fickle nature?

Not to fear Pluto! Note the colour of the enraged surface of Pluto and the glorious Bunny-12. This is not a coincidence. Whisky Break! stands in solidarity!

News Flash! Major Antarctic Find: Shackleton's Whisky Stash Unearthed

Exciting news, people. Exciting news.

It's just like when they find a Van Gogh in an attic somewhere, only better. Because it's Whisky!

Five crates of Scotch whisky and two of brandy have been recovered by a team restoring an Antarctic hut used more than 100 years ago by famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.

Ice cracked some of the bottles that had been left there in 1909, but the restorers said Friday they are confident the five crates contain intact bottles ''given liquid can be heard when the crates are moved.''

New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust team leader Al Fastier said the team thought there were two crates and were amazed to find five.

Current distillery owner, drinks group Whyte & Mackay, launched the bid to recover the Scotch whisky for samples to test and decide whether to relaunch the defunct spirit made by distiller McKinlay and Co.

The question now becomes: how does the WB tribe get our trembling hands upon some of this Mackinlay’s “Rare and Old”?

More ...

Modern Marvels: Laphroaig

Here's a little educational blurb to tide over readers of our humble Whiskey Break! outlet, while holidays and trips hither and yon come to a wane. See the making of one of WB!'s back stop standards of nectarean gold, Laphroiag, as Modern Marvels takes a tour of the distillery.



Indeed, we here at Whiskey Break! do agree that Scotch is a modern marvel.


Cheers, folks! And into the New Year.

2009: Let it snow ...

The Dam has donned the marvelous winter wear we like to call snow. And marvelous it has been, with canal skating looming on a not so imaginary horizon, while local Whiskey Break carousing the more appreciated for a frosty chill in the air, something the golden nectar is well suited to battling.

This quick update has been supported by the delivery of the WB's holiday merry-making documentation, the aforementioned suspect producing the goods. Which meant that it thence fell upon this outlet's whinging amanuensis to punch up the picture from the WB's last Whiskey Break! of the year and one which saw our humbling tribe performing all manner of pagan ritual, i.e. attaching sparkling inorganic matter onto a "platform" of organic matter.



Happy New Year! from Whiskey Break!

'Twas the nigh

It was a somewhat quiet, sincere whiskey break this eve. What with most soon tossing off hither and yon for festivus, a somberish tone was the order of the end of the day. A pair of fine notes were on tap, the benevolent triple distilled Auchentoshan Classic (not sure what the coconut means) and the lovely 12 year Bunnahabhain. Down the silky sisters went, amid various tales of restive holiday travel, woe, or otherwise. Mostly woe, though.

Nonetheless, we've got a grand fine coat of snow here now, and hopefully it will hang around for awhile. This is, at least to this blog's wastrel scrivener, much preferred to the usual local conditions. Hope springs forth from this weather development! Stay cold! Skating on the canals! Gads, that would be grand. An entirely appropriate winter wonderland experience, despite the Copenhagen summit.

So, there it is, folks. The final whiskey break of the year has passed (we still await a photo of our Christman tree decorating whiskey break, and the culprit who reads this will know who he is). But anon, gentle readers. We sally forth, witlessly and not, into the new year of 2010. 2010! Imagine.

Weren't we supposed to living on Mars by now?

Barbarians at the Gate!

At first, we at Whiskey Break!™ thought to head to the Jura Mountains -- lovely to be sure, and a goodly haunt for swaggering Breakers! But, nay, this would not be our bucolic setting in celebration of the Jura Scotch we were hoisting this week end's day.

Nor would it be the actual Isle of Jura, whose website would indicate that the Isle of Jura is entirely devoted to making Jura Scotch Whisky. [scrivener note: I am not making this up.]

Jura

Welcome to
-- Isle of Jura --
Single Malt Scotch Whisky

And my favourite part,

You must be of legal drinking age in the country where you access this site.

Awesome. Now that is what we breakers call a website! Imagine the actual Isle! Nothing else matters. Sounds like a place Whiskey Break!™ definitely ought to visit. Especially so, considering just how fine the Jura proved to the palette. Indeed, all were in agreement: the Jura, and by extension of course, the Isle, was excellent fare, the 10yr carrying a medium-deep depth and mouth full of flavour. Yum.

But it was not to be, as attentions would turn toward prosaic events, both current and not so, and off it was to the Brandinburg Gate, where approaches anon the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.



A proposed toast imagined to have been once overheard at the time of the breach:

"Goodbye Commies! You're back to being Russians. So, still bad."

Cheers, folks!


[please forgive any attempt, inferred or otherwise, at geopolitical humour, failed or otherwise.]

Post-meridian

With this blog's humbling scribe finally off-loading a backlog of WB!™ reports, last week saw Whiskey Break!™ on the verge of the daylight savings roll-back to standard time. Which naturally meant a trip to the prime meridian, where conflicted calendar date space reigns supreme. Which is one way of saying that one side of the table was a day behind the booze train, and fighting to catch up.

And while time and other things may have been lost, rest assured gentle readers, the Scotch was not!

And, my, was there a pleasing palette of performers on stage that day. Some of the glorious Highland Park was carried over from our days on the decks at Scapa Flow, while new entries hit the table, with a fine offering of The Balvenie "DoubleWood," and the "Sopishticated Islay Single Malt," Bruichladdich. Lest the uninitiated wonder as to this label's quality and kind, Bruichladdich proudly announces itself with a single overbearing word: PEAT.

Question Time produce some consensus: suprisingly, the Bruichladdich proved weakest of the lot, though surely up against some stiff competition. WB!™ revelers nodded between the Balvenie and the Highland Park, with the firm and robust Highland Park getting the final nod on the evening.

Nonetheless, an extremely successful Whiskey Break!™ with some highly commendable entries. Here, kind readers, was the line-up, looking a little worse for wear at the end of a long day.


Cheers anon!

Scotch Flow, Scapa Flow

Betwixt the barrels of 14 inch guns with a view to the hulk of the HMS Hood might seem like an odd place for Whiskey Break!™ revelers to find themselves positioned, but fear and puzzle not, good readers!

We've never believed that function follows form. That's just something architects tell themselves because they have no idea how anything works. At Whiskey Break!™, our form clearly follows function, the function here being downing drams of the smashing Highland Park 12. And there really is no telling what form will follow from that. Rest assured, however, that there is some method to the oddness.

Scapa Flow, Britain's once "booming" naval shipyard, also happens to be near an institution whose function is considerably less damaging than turreted monster deck-guns: The Highland Park distillery is located in Kirkwal in the Orkney Islands and happens to sport a hillside view overlooking Scapa Flow. Don't those gun barrels make so much sense now?

Besides, Highland Park is located in neither the Highlands nor in an actual park -- though it has been argued that all of Scotland is, in fact, a park, one populated by peaty Scots who spend their grey, damp days brewing up the world's most varied and invigorating liquor. And for that, we thank them.

Into the Breach

In continuance of the miserable performance of Whiskey Break!™ 's shirking scrivener, it falls upon said same to once again regale anxious WB! followers with tales of far away lands and clutches of (usually) single malt.

Though not in attendance for the weeks-ago Whiskey Break!™ locals hinted toward a reportedly marvelous 12 year old Caol Ila, this blog's doused notary was informed that the "Ila" was a very fine selection, one those failing in appearance might like to have sampled. Happily, such ex post facto wishes were to be met the very next week, as we shall see in the follow-on posts.

Without attendance, reporting on that week's revelry is necessarily diminished. Nonetheless, WB!™ participants conjured up an excellent photo, complete with some creative additions: regulars offering a presence of spirit, we might say.

From the bonny gates of Southhampton!