Injuries

Arrived back from 5 days at my buddy Jim's caravan at Wemyss Bay. A HUGE caravan site with thousands of caravans, but his is tucked away in a secluded corner; the weather was fabulous, so we had a good time.
Went over to Rothesay (one must when one is doon the watter), visited Rothesay Castle - an impressive ruin which must have been pretty impregnable in its prime with ten feet thick walls. We ate lunch in a very good restaurant - Brechin's Brasserie: small, friendly, no chips!, good food and reasonable pricing. Will definitely go back!
Also ate at the revamped Nardini's in Largs: again, very impressive decor, service and food and not, despite what was suggested, expensive.
Came home, set to recommence work on the fence and was struck down by the Winter Vomiting Virus. Had to spend the next day in bed, very unpleasant and uncomfortable.
Finally got back started work on the fence rebuilding on Wednesday. Weather great, learning as I go along, pleasing results, still not venturing too far from a toilet.
Was due to attend the launch of the Old Pulteney sponsorship of Jock Wishart's Row to the Arctic last night, but it was called off by the grounding off all flights to and from the UK by a cloud of volcanic ash emanating from and Icelandic volcano which was heading this way. Our good weather meant that it wasn't being blown away fast enough. Heard today that 23,666 flights across Europe had been cancelled yesterday and today by the cloud.
Was greatly assisted by my father-in-law, who knows about these things, in the dismantling of our garden shed. It has to be dismantled so that a digger can come in and excavate a 3 metre deep hole in the search for our foundations. It is our intention to have a sunroom built on the northwest corner of our home and, despite the fcat that the house is only five years old, neither the council planning department, nor the consultant engineers who consulted in the original build have records of how the foundations were laid. Incompetence or what? So a hole has to be dug to confirm what the architect thinks, that the house is built on piles, or stilts sunk into the clay.
Anyway, pa-in-law aided me in about 45 minutes to do what it would have taken me two days to do.
Late yesterday afternoon I twisted my knee preventing myself from falling from the fence into the trench at the side of the garden. Today can hardly walk. Looks like the fence is going to take longer than two weeks to rebuild.

Lunches

My daughter played her first concert as a member of the training band in Hillfoots Music for Youth at Tillicoutry Village Hall, a delightful 1930s art deco edifice. 83 kids, many of them playing muiscal instruments in public for the first time. They were quite well kept together by their conductors and they were pretty close to the tune, if a little slow.
She also took part in her primary school's team in the Scottish European Educational Trust's Euroquiz - and won the Clackmannanshire heat. They now go onto the National finals at the Scottish parliament in Holyrood in mid-May.
Had lunch with Ian Williams, a friend in Skelmorlie on Monday. Snow overnight in various parts of the country, but here in Tullibody, just cold & windy. Ian is a great chef, the food was stunning. Had to leave early though to get back in time for Kirsty coming home from school, even then, was about 20 minutes late.
Lunch on Tuesday at Stirling's Riverhouse restaurant, c/o Forth Valley Master Composters, of which i am one. Fodd, better than I expected, some imagination in the kitchen and the ability to put that imagination onto the plate. At £6.95 for 2 courses, also very good value.
Last night, the wind built up, we had a very disturbed night and now, at 10.30 on Wednesday, it continues unabated. Overnight, we lost about 35 metres of fence. Other areas of the country are receiving large quantities of snow, with roads blocked, jack-knifed lorries, etc., but we have trees down and fences destroyed. A couple of years ago, I had a quote for replacement of the fence, as I think that the larchlap fencing is dreadful and, at that time, it was going to cost me £2,500.00. I now have time to do it myself, I hope, so we shall see how much it will cost.

Scotch Whisky Trail Course ends

The spring 2010 season of courses is now over with the final night - and the EXAM!! - of the Scotch Whisky Trail Course last night. I always seem to get a good bunch of guys and gals who are there to enjoy themselves and to pick up a wee bit knowledge about the cratur. The exam scores last night were very good. Taken as a whole, at 73%, they probably had probably the best average score in the 11 years I have been running the course.
The examconsists of 50 multiple choice questions and 3 whiskies tasted blind, with one mark being given for correctly identifying whether the whisky is a blended whisky or a single malt and 5 marks for correctly identifying the brand. The tasting side of it is really just for fun and doesn't count towards the final percentage.
We finished up with a fairly comprehensive tasting of Japanese (and other) whiskies, with samples from Yamazaki, Chichibu, Hanyu, Fuji-Gotemba, Karuizawa, Yoichi & Hakushu, not forgetting Glann ar Mor, Mackmyra, Bakery Hill, Sullivan's Cove & Kilchoman.
Today I have been down to more mundane things - decorating the bathroom. I HATE painting skirting boards! I need a dram now.

Napa Valley Rocks tasting

Attended a Napa Valley tasting at Calistoga in Rose Street Lane North last week. Michael Honig from Honig Vineyard & Winery, Daniel Bailey from The Jones Family Winery, Molly Kenward from Tor Kenward Family Wines and Peter Franus from Peter Franus Wine Company presented to a small group of what seemed was mostly wine educators, although some restauranteurs and retailers were also there, along with Tom Cannavan from wine-pages.com.
Some VERY good Cabernets: the 2006 Jones Family "The Sisters" Cab Sauv was impressively rich with ripe blackcurrant and a slight waxy note to the smoky oak; chocolate features in the flavour along with elegant oak, with spice & pepper on the finish; The 2006 Jones Family Estate Cab Sauv was also big-bodied and solid with good levels of tannin and acidity supporting dark fruits and a tail which is very long, impressive and elegant.
Other than these two, we tasted Cakebrook Cellars' 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Cuvaison's 2007 Carneros Chardonnay, Honig's 2008 Sauv Blanc, Honig's 2006 Cab Sauv, Tor Kenward's Mast Vineyard 2003 Yountville Cab Sauv, Cimarossa's 2003 Mount Howell Cabernet, Franus's 2006 Brandlin Vineyard Mt. Veeder Zinfandel and Franus's 2005 Brandlin Vineyard Mt Veeder Mourvedre.
Of these, the whites, in particular, were lowish in acidity, I could be kind and say that they had soft acidity, but I suspect that the grapes were left on the vine to achieve ripeness and complexity at the expense of the acidity and Sauvignon Blanc needs acidity, it needs bite.
The Mt Veeder Zin was a bit closed on the nose, though had rich and ripe dark fruits, with elegant vanilla and solid tannins on the palate with a bitter note on the tail.
The Mt Veeder Mourvedre was a bit of a revelation though:deep, ripe, soft redcurrants and some liquorice on the nose, the palate was big, ripe, rich and plummy exhibiting good acidity and tannins, with a long, impressive, floral, perfumed tail. Really quite yummy.

Scotch Whisky Trail Certificate Course week 7

The course last night was a trip for the students to Glengoyne distillery. A couple of them had been there before, at least one had NEVER been to a whisky distillery, never mind Glengoyne!
A great night, looked after by Louise & Callum. Stuart had looked out some samples for me to deliver to them showing the effects of different woods on maturation. We sampled:
a 3 years old Glengoyne from a first fill Oloroso European oak hogshead at 63.5%: medium-bodied, rich and Sherried with rubber/nuttiness and a little apple; with water, it became bigger with tangerines and some perfume.
a 12 yo first fill Oloroso American oak butt at 58.2%: Richer, with more toffee, honey and apple; with water, a distinct ceral note of Sugar Puffs breakfast cereal opened out.
a 19 yo second fill Oloroso European oak butt at 55.8%: a wee bit dumb on the nose, showing a little toffee & not much more; with water, it really opened out with fresh citrus, lemon/lime, honey and apricot.
and finally, Glengoyne 21 yo, the current bottling, which is all from a mix of 10-12 casks of first fill Oloroso European oak at 43%: Sherry nuttiness leaps out of the glass with a dense beeswax note and a little perfume; with water, the beeswax becomes softer, with notes of furniture polish and some apple and peach.
A great way to demonstrate the effects of the different woods. With the beeswax and fruity characters of the European oak and the definite cereal characters of the American wood.
Another great night!
The students now have to sit the exam next week.

Advanced Course continued

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. 2^nd February, 2010 Regionalisation – 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.

Adanced Whisky Course

The Advanced Whisky Course is now into its seventh week and going amazingly well. I was not 100% convinced that it would work as well as it has. Looking into the minutiae of whisky is not everyone's cup of tea, but it seems that the students on the first running of the course like it.
This week was easy for me, the students had to deliver a 15 minute address on some aspect of whisky. We had chill-filtration, profiles of Auchentoshan and Glenfarclas (including a sample of the 1958 from the Family Casks!), an Italian whisky club, poetry and art & whisky. Wonderfully imaginative and very good and in-depth research involved by the students. I was impressed!
The entry level course, The Scotch Whisky Trail Certificate course has just had its 6th week and again, a good bunch of students, a couple of publicans, a whisky writer, two restaurant staff and the balance of aficionados.
Scotland's weather has improved, it has ben very stable over the past week with blue skies and sunshine, although it is cold out of the sunshine. As I look west just now, the sun is sinking over Stirlimng Castle and the sky is picking up a rosy glow, soon to be purple, gold and many other colours.