Was supposed to be forming part of a panel at the MacRobert Centre on Friday evening as a part of Take One Action's film festival (http://www.takeoneaction.org.uk/) which the Co-operative is sponsoring. The film was to have been Even The Rain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbpdeI0ugGc), but the film didn't arrive at the MacRobert, so the evening was cancelled. On the Saturday at Ashfield Village Hall, just to the north of Dunblane, the film was There Once Was An Island (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlFVJBZfsBY) and this film had arrived. Ashfield Village Hall serves a community of about 30 homes and has amazing facilities for such a small community. The film shows how global warming has impacted into the life of these remote islanders and how the sea level rising has caused half of the islanders on this low lying atoll to leave. We are left in no doubt that the remaining islanders will either have to leave or die. There was a panel discussion afterwards, with myself, a woman from Christian Aid and a chap from SCIAF. They were showing another film in the evening, viewing of There Once Was An Island had started at 4.00 p.m., but I was unable to stay for that - domestic commitments. I played a dozen holes of golf on Monday morning! First time on the course for about 8 months because of the poisoned foot and the bad weather. First thre holes were abysmal, ball going everywhere, but as I got into it, I improved. Finished with a par 3 on the winter 18th, which is the summer 18th at Braehead Golf Course. My wife siffered pleurisy a few weks ago and went down with tonsilitis last week. She went in on Monday morning, but only managed a half day, exhausted. he had Tuesday off. I, meanwhile, had Week 6 of the whisky course - Marketing & Brand Devbelopment. Once again, i talked too much - my students seem to enjoy my course, as you can see from the photo - and it was 9.15 before I finally got out of the college.
HP are putting out regular limited edition bottlings and the most recent of these, the Valhalla Collection, was presaged by a week of small parcels containing runes and cryptic clues along the lines of: "Few are chosen to drink with the gods. Open this pouch with bravery in your heart. The secrets of the runes will be revealed as four days pass and you will be rewarded for your valour." and "Lightning strikes. He is amongst us. The earth trembles as it yields to his hammer. Only the brave remain." Finally at the end of it all, a larger parcel with a sample of THOR. To quote from their press release, "Thor represents the first coming for Highland Park's stunning Valhalla Collection; a range of unique whiskies, released annually, taking inspiration from the legendary Nordic gods of old. Not for the faint hearted, only those brave enough to accept the challenge of Thor shall be rewarded with the ultimate experience; a whisky of divine power." The packaging is pretty impressive, echoing the "fearsome contours of a traditional Viking long ship". It is also a pretty impressive whisky, with more obvious peat than HP's usual. see my tasting note at http://www.johnlamond.com/HighlandParkThor.pdf. With Scotland's recent focus on a referendum towards independence from England, is this a case of Highland Park leading the Orkney bid for independence from Scotland?
I must remember to take my camera next week. Tuesday was week 3 - Maturation - and most enjoyable from my angle as well. The class is supposed to start at 6.30 pm. and finish at 8.30 p.m. I regularly over-run and we get chucked out of the building by the janitor at 9.00 p.m. because he wants to go home. Tuesday was am good example of this, I spoke for too long and, after pushing everyone out of the door, finally left the college at ten past nine. Must become more time focussed - and keep in the janitor's good books! This week, the students tasted 8 whiskies demonstrating the effects of wood on the spirits: Auchentoshan Three Wood (tasted Auchie 10 in week 1), Glenmorangie Lasanta (tasted Glenmorangie Original in week 1), Glenlivet 12 and Glenlivet 15, Macallan 12 Fine Oak (Tasted Macallan 10 Sherry in week 1), Glenfarclas 10, Glenfaclas 15 and Laphroaig Quarter Cask (tasted Laphroaig 10 in week 1.
The latest running of the course started on Tuesday. Pleased to see some women back. After the past couple when it has been all male. Not quite sure of their backgrounds, the college yet again got the applications wrong. The student listed was of 16 students, the register was of 18 and the class was of 19 with one no show. Student Services? Quite an animated bunch with more feedback than from 2010's entry level students, I'm looking forward quite excitedly to the rest of this spring's course. Trying to get a visit to Deanston, visitor centre doesn't open until after the course, but trying nonetheless as, in 14 years, the course hasn't visited Deanston. We'll see.
I hope that you all have had a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Christmas for me was good, Santa was very generous, but at New Year, I was hit by the winetr vomiting bug. I only had one dram at Hogmanay - it was at midnight and I only had the one, a normally very pleasant Aberlour a'Bunadh, which I didn't enjoy very much at all. Fortunately, the nausea only lasted around 24 hours, so the rest of the season was enjoyed thoroughly! Scotland has been batterd, bruised and beaten by the wind in the past few weeks. I can never remember a succession of winds as strong or sustained as we have experienced over the past 6 weeks or so. Many trees down, 30,000 electricity customers cut off at one point, people without power for 3 days. In 2012, we are supposed to have the technology to prevent all this happening. Glenmorangie released Artein on 4th January. Artein is the third release in its award-winning Private Edition range. Artein is the Gaelic for "stone" and the name links together the distillery's hard water supply from Tarlogie Spring with the stony soil of Sassicaia's vineyards in Tuscany's Bolgheri. ‘Artein’ is an assemblage of 15 and 21 Years Old Glenmorangie, finished by extra maturation in these Supertuscan wine casks. I think that it is a great addition to their range (see my tasting note on my website) and, in my experience/opinion, supertuscan casks have done a fabulous job of finishing the whiskies they were involved with. I am very humbled to have been voted "Whisky Man of the Year 2011" by whisky bloggers www.whiskyboys.com.
Scotland is being buffeted by rather strong breezes at the moment. A gust of 165 mph was recorded around 3.30p.m. on Cairngorm this afternoon and the worst is yet to come so they tell us. Many roads closed - either snow or trees down - Tay, Forth & Erskine bridges all closed to ALL traffic and Friarton & Skye bridges closed to high sided vehicles. The A66 is closed because of overturned vehicles, there are 2 overturned at the Rest And Be Thankful, Byres Road in Glasgow is closed, others such as the coast road south of Skelmorlie are flooded. 80mph winds blowing across the country with gusts higher than this. All Scotland's schools were closed by 12.30p.m. On a more enjoyable note, Aldi released their 40yo Glen Marnoch Single Speyside Malt today. 3000 bottles between 450 branches. I visited Stirling before 10, no stock and one of my students, Alan Hall, said there were no bottles in Kilmarnock. The bottle was on Aldi's shelves (when it was there) for £49.99 a bottle. I have heard that there are already bottles on ebay at £300.00. Just think of the extra profit Aldi could have made!
It has been a VERY wet November here in Scotland. So much so that now the soil is saturated, literally can't absorb any more rain - and it is still falling! Result? The M8 to the west of Stirling was flooded this morning with drivers having to be rescued from their cars by firemen. The road between here and Causeawhead in Stirling is flooded and impassable, as are the road to the east of Dollar, my wife's route into school, the unclassified road between the B9140 and the A91 into Alva. There is every expectation that more roads will be closed as the day goes on. Many train lines are also flooded and closed. Listening to Radio Scotland's Roads Report, it seems that some people have spent as much as 4 hours stuck in, or near, flooding. The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency are saying as I write that they expect water levels to rise for the next 3 hours. This is as bad as last year's snow and ice problems. We should call for Keith Brown's (Scotland's Transport Minister) resignation! Last night's Parents' Night was successful, Kirsty seems t be doing well, even very well. She obviously takes after her mother rather than me!
Down to Dumfries yesterday for Drambusters' inaugural Whisky Festival. Drambusters is the whisky club organised by Dumfries whisky shop, T.B. Watson Ltd. in the town's English Street. This was a good wee festival, held in the Cairndale Hotel with 18 or 20 whisky companies (and me) taking part. I signed a few books, spoke to a LOT of people from all over: Carlisle, Kent, Glasgow, Germany, California as well as Dumfries. At most such festivals I have been to there seems to have been an upper age. At this one, that was exceeded. Possibly because I was situated at a central pillar and had no fewer than 3 seats, none of which I was using, I spoke to 4 people who were in excess of 80 years of age and 1 who was 92. That made an age spread of 74 years! Met up again with Robertson Wellen, a whiskyphile Californian who runs a great guest house in Dumfries called "Ferintosh". The only hotel/guest house/b&b I have ever been at where I was left a small decanter of single cask single malt whisky by my bed! http://www.ferintosh.net/index.htm The three members of the Bavarian Whisky Pipes were staying with Robertson while they were in Dumfries. The weather was appalling and my drive home was fun; strong winds, pouring rain and amateur drivers crawling up the road from Dumfries to the M74. Still I did the 95 mile return journey in an hour and 40 minutes. A steady 73 mph on the M74, M73 and M90, great thing cruise control!
Well, that's the first running of the Advanced Whisky course - and now the students are asking me to write the Advanced Advanced Whisky Course! No, I don't think so. The whole thing has worked a lot better than I thought it would.
With a course content like:
1.Characteristics Arising from Distillation and Fermentation
An examination of the characteristics which arrive through foreshots and/or feints, metallic, sulphury and off-notes, their causes and manifestations. 2/3/4 distillations.What makes a good whisky?Beyond subjectivity.
Group blind tasting organised by tutor
2.Beyond Maturation.
A look at wood types and the inherent characteristics of various oaks; what previous inhabitants of the casks give to or take from the whisky; storage conditions; “good” and “bad” results – too old and too youthful.Focus on one whisky with a look at various ages of that whisky.
Students to bring three aromas in containers for class to identify blind.
Group blind tasting organised by tutor and group note taking
3.2nd February, 2010Regionalisation – Does it Exist?
An examination of the flavours inherent in the makes of various distilleries; identification of regional characteristics; examination of primary, secondary and tertiary flavours with comparison with Diageo’s map, S.W.C’s wheel and John Lamond’s Aberlour Whisky Wheel.
Individual blind tasting and group note taking
4.Glasses and Their Influences
Comparison of Schott, Riedel & Glencairn.Different flavour characteristics emphasised by different glasses
Blind tasting from various glassware
5.Brand and Craft
Examination of independent bottlers’ influences on flavour; chill-filtration; 40/43/46/cask strength; e150; grain species – yields versus flavour?
Blind tasting of non-whisky spirits supplied by students and written appraisal of tasting
6.Visit to Edrington’s Lab
Biochemistry & gas spectrometry – what are they looking for?Reduction water quality, either at cask filling or bottling.Water problems at the distillery – low or contamination.
7.Open Week
Each student to give a 10 minute presentation on some aspect of whisky.Followed by an open discussion and appraisal.
Blind tasting with each student giving a detailed written appraisal of four whiskies.
8.The Market
How is it controlled?Is it controlled?Who controls it?Politics, trends, influence, the auction market – and fakes; other World Whiskies.
Blind tastings – each student to give a verbal presentation for five minutes on their chosen sample.
I was certain that some parts would work, but the whole thing went really quite magnificently. A lot was down to the calibre of the students, with the effort they put into their presentations being very impressive.
Week 8, for example, my intention was that they would merely present for 5 minutes on an expression of a whisky. I arrived with 8 whiskies (including Millstone 8 from the Netherlands and Yamazaki 10 from Japan) for them to taste blind. They each brought along a sample, which meant that we tasted 17 whiskies on the night. No wonder that the janitor was champing at the bit to get us out of the building so that he could lock up at 9.10 p.m. (the class is supposed to finish at 8.30p.m.).
Great night though.
After a night at the Hachioji Plaza Hotel, we had a European style breakfast of croissants and coffee in a cafe just up the road before catching the train into the centre of Tokyo. We wandered around the Ginza area, Jim was wanting to find the technology area which a Dutch professor in our hotel had told him about the previous day. We didn't find it, but the Ginza is full of Rolex, Prada, Tiffany, Armani, etc., all the BIG fashion names. We had a couple of beers and lunch at the Lion Beer Hall in Ginza Street. Then I had to get back because I was being interviewed by Mamoru Tsuchiya for an article in May's edition of "The Whisky World". Our flight back was fairly uneventful, apart from the problem of buying a couple of coffees in the departure hall. We were 30 odd yen short and I had to run down to an ATM to get more funds. Wonderful thing international banking, I wonder how much Alliance & Leicester will charge me for the privilege of changing currencies? Stopped off in Amsterdam's Schiphol for 3 hours and had sausages, chips & beans in an Irish pub! A change from all the healthy Japanese food for the previous week. Arrived home to snow - in the air and on the ground. Drove Jim home to Gourock and myself home to Tullibody, arriving at half past midnight. 25 hours' travelling. Sat down, supped on a whisky for 20 minutes and slept like a log. It's good to get back to your own bed!
Now into the fourth week, last night saw us into history of the industry up to 1850, having already looked at malt and grain production, the blend and maturation. The Scotch Whisky Trail Certificate Course is a good wee group of a dozen bar staff, private consumers, a ship's steward and a whisky writer. One, last week, announced that he had been to many courses over the course of his life and that this was "by far, the best course I have ever been on!" Made me feel good. The great thing about this course is that the students are coming in with already formed, pre-conceived ideas and the course opens their eyes to how good some brands (especially blends) are which they had previously discounted as poor. The Advanced Course, running for the first time, is very different and looks at some obscure areas of the industry from obtuse angles. The students taste whiskies blind and are becoming very proficient at identifying regional and local characteristics in the whiskies. They say that they are finding the course difficult which I am pleased about because have I found it dfficult to create the course materials. I certainly wouldn't iike the students to find things easy! Attached is a picture of the students enjoying themselves on the Whisky Trail Course.
ut only managed a half day, exhausted. he had Tuesday off. I, meanwhile, had Week 6 of the whisky cour
se - Marketing & Brand Devbelopment. Once again, i talked too much - my students seem to enjoy my course, as you can see from the ph
oto - and it was 9.15 before I finally got out of the college.
