I know lots of animal adjectives… Love the difference between ‘hirudine’ (referring to leeches) and ‘hirundine’ (referring to swallows).
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I’ve a bottle of Cardhu gold reserve which I haven’t much enthusiasm for. It was 26 quid reduced from 42. I think 26 is plenty
Yes, I hear you. Cardhu, smugly insipid, is the Gwyneth Paltrow of single malts.
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I’ve free passes for Middleton tour…doing it this Saturday. Do you get to sample much?
Nice presentation but disappointing contents
Do not know. On a to do list — but not done so far. Let me know what it was like, if you have time.
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For sure…
Midleton
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Ok, mate.
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Is the Midleton tour in Middleton?
If so take your Princess and bring her for dinner in Sage afterwards.
Yeah … actually good shout, i’ve been there before and it was pretty good.
Would you be in favour of a splash of water in your Ardbeg?
I’ll give you the short answer and @Malarkey can embellish. The theory behind water addition in small amounts is it releases the smoky generating molecules which are normally bound to ethanol. Ardbeg hardly needs more smoky flavor so I personally wouldn’t, but I would add a splash to most whiskeys. Obviously not tap water, water from a local spring would be ideal.
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No, not in Ardbeg. My experience is that peaty whisky gains little from water. You could make a case for a drop — and I mean a drop… — in cask strength Ardbeg. Even then, I would be wary. I like to take my time with cask strength whisky, because it takes longer to open up, and there is no taking back out the water.
Besides, I am not big on water for whisky. Maybe a drop in Black Bush, which seems to suit it. Fruity sherried drams, the more robust ones such as Glenfarclas, can benefit from a touch of water. Or at least not suffer from it.
Another excellent sherried example… I had the Gordon & Macphail 15yo Mortlach in Nancy Blake’s last Wednesday evening. Delighted to come across it, if only because you rarely see Mortlach in a bar and because this particular bottling has been discontinued. Did not add any water but doing so would hardly have interfered. Lovely drink, rich but delicate, like good ginger cake:
Another delightful malt of this type is Linkwood, where a drop of water opens up the floral nose without thinning the flavour:
https://www.gordonandmacphail.com/our-whiskies/whiskies/dl-linkwood-15-years-old-43/
A lot of my posts here are right Pseuds Corner fodder…
Are you pondering whisky because the hurling nerves are at you?
He’s from Derry, hardly anxious about the hurling.
Very well put. There we certainly agree.
Now that you mention the science, I had read of it in Phillip Hills’ Appreciating Whisky. But I guess our palate had already made the important assessment. Smoky peaty whiskies, flavour wise, already have plenty going on.
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Ah… I had some notion of Limerick. Maybe everyone is from one of four counties for the weekend in it…
Yes but the rest of the 28 would only have mild anxiety compare to the all out panic attack that is just peeking around the corner here. I have no idea how I’m going to pass the next 8 hours but Shane’s post has my mind drifting in a certain direction.
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The reason I ask is because I just picked up a bottle of 10, the last time I had Ardbeg was in Italy last September. I was poured a third of a glass and charged a few euros, I drank half without water and half with. The water definitely opened it up, but it was hot and I was after any amount of pints, vino alla spina and grappa.
I’ll enjoy the hurling without getting too excited. I’ll keep my powder dry for supporting anyone but tyrone in the football
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And rightly so. I do not know what counts as the most soporific drop but, thinking about it, Redbreast would be a nice shout…
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