Dram-atics   

The whisky world as seen by an eccentric Bavarian exile

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Wednesday May 25th 2011

A dram fine evening

or "Maniacs out on the town again"

I always like to think it will be a special evening when fellow Malt Maniac Oliver Klimek and I head out to meet in Munich at our favourite whisky location for an evening of whisky chat and dramming. Last Thursday turned out to be such an evening and yes, it was special as you will probably agree when you see the drams I sampled.

An Inchgower 1982, 28y at 56.2% abv from BBR was my first choice of the evening and what a start it was with immensely floral butterscotch and aromatic sandalwood with a slight hint of lavendar on the nose. The palate was also floral with some black pepper and lavendar, but it really needed water which brought out some more great floral and herbal notes on both nose and palate. A long finish was most welcome with this truly excellent whisky.

Caperdonich 1969, 38y 'Cross Hill' from Jack Wieber at 46.4% abv was my next choice and offered floral malt and wood on the nose, plus something which I can only describe as 'very Caperdonich". The palate continued where the nose left off with something akin to toffee, malt and butterscotch but all just "not quite so". The finish was medium to long and quite aromatic. Now don't get me wrong with my 'not quite' descriptions, I am not complaining as this was another excellent and quite amazing whisky.

Ben Nevis 1967, 41y at 49.4% abv was my third selection and although a little expensive, I just had to try this one as I do like older expressions from Ben Nevis. Roasted chestnuts marinated in aged amaretto greeted the nose, then after some minutes something slightly vegetal appeared. The palate was dry with massive herbs, in fact this was very reminscent of soem of the currently fashionable herbal liqueurs. The finish was long and quite dry. This was a good whisky, very good, but very different too, perhaps moving in style towards an old rum.

Longmorn 46y from G&M at 53% abv was my fourth selection and what a selection it turned out to be. I was hoping for lots from this and was not disappointed, especially by the rather light and floral nose eminating from this mahogany-coloured gem. There were also figs, prunes and aged oak marinated in a grand old Armagnac. After some minutes the nose exploded to turn even even richer and more aromatic. Rich and creamy wood, blackcurrants, black cherries, red grapes and a hint of blue touch-paper (from fireworks) enahanced the palate and followed by a very long finish. Very long! An exceptional whisky!

Arram Machrie Moor 46% abv was my last dram 'for the road' so to speak, although 'for the train' would be more accurate in this case. Anyway, this was my first chance to try this whisky and to be honest I was just a little disappointed. Maybe it was wrong to try and follow the other excellent drams, especially that Longmorn? I found lots of fruit in this whisky, it was smooth too, but hardly peaty. I guess I need to revisit our favourite bar sometime soon and try this before the rich gems like the Longmorn 46y!

So, another evening of Maniacal dramming is completed and what an evening it was! The Arran was a slight disappointment, although I should have known not to try and follow that Longmorn. The Ben Nevis was maybe not quite what I expected too, but it was a very good whisky, just not one of my 'greats'.

In order of preference I place them as such; 1st Longmorn 46y, Joint 2nd Caperdonich & Inchgower, then Ben Nevis and finally the Arran Machrie Moor.

Slàinte Mhath and thanks Oliver for another great evening, I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Monday May 2nd 2011

Keeping an Ad-Free site

or "Don't bug me with adverts"

In Autumn 2009 when I repositioned Whisky Emporium as a home for my tasting notes, musings and other whisky features I took the decision not to accept any advertising. This wasn't a difficult decision as traffic was low and nobody was knocking at my door waving currency of any flavour in my face. To my absolute delight, traffic has increased somewhat since then and I'm now faced with quite regular requests to place adverts on my site.

Before I go any further, let me categorically state that my "Wall of Friends" is exactly that; a wall or pinboard of websites related to whisky or Scotland, the owners of which I consider to be friends, albeit sometimes in an online way. These are all sites or even companies that I can personally recommend and I have never received any remuneration for including them. In fact if any of them, suggested it they would be immediately removed.

I could easily include some adverts on my tasting note pages, perhaps advising where my readers could find and buy those whiskies, in fact many other whisky websites and blogs out there do exactly this. Good luck to them, I'm not against adverts so long as they aren't too intrusive, but this is just not the direction I personally want for Whisky Emporium, at least for the forseeable future.

But what about other forms of advertising that may not be so abvious? You wouldn't believe the requests I am regularly offered; gaming companies wanting me to 'hide' textual links in articles that I write. Other companies wanting me to put similar textual links into my whisky collecting page, perhaps suggesting alternative means of 'investing'.

Even a casino recently asked me to write an article about finding whisky in casinos, obviously with a link to their casino website, for which I would be handsomely rewarded.

I could indeed write various articles along these lines and earn enough money to more than pay for my web-hosting and possibly even all my internet connection fees, but this really isn't the direction for me. I'm proud of my still increasing reader numbers and the fact that Whisky Emporium is a 100% personal website which expounds my often cranky personal thoughts and musings, occasionally poking a little harmless and gentle fun at corners of the industry too.

This is the way I will remain for as long as I am possibly able, which is the long-term, but your own thoughts are welcomed if you wish to comment. If you do comment, I will, as always, not publish any personal details such as e-mail adresses, only the poster name that you request.

Sunday May 1st 2011

The Whisky Knights set out on a great adventure in Japan with Nonjatta this month as we discuss Socialites, cheap blended whisky, premium whisky and our perceived abilities when it comes to our palates.

Month

Jan. 2011