If you are on a budget, I’d turn and run right now, before you get so intrigued as to find yourself unable to do anything but buy a bottle – or at least a dram (if you can find a pub that stocks it, which I doubt). The bottle that I’m taking a look at today doesn’t come cheap, you see, as it is currently selling around the £300 mark. If you do have the money to spend, however, I would definitely read on.
What makes whisky so interesting, and at the same time daunting, is the sheer range of variations, flavours, brands and expressions gathered under its banner. Even if you have your daily dram as prescribed by any doctor worth his salt, you can go a whole year without drinking the same dram twice. Not literally the same dram, of course – one would assume (hope, even) that you could go a lifetime without doing that, regardless of the frequency of your consumption. It follows, then, that you might go for months on end without revisiting the same distillery twice.
Having previously tried, and quite enjoyed, the 1997 expression of Balblair, I decided to treat myself to a miniature bottle of the 1989 when I saw it at the till the other day. It was the first time in quite a while that I purchased a miniature bottle, actually; I often find that I will drink them, enjoy them, and feel obliged to buy a full sized bottle – as you might imagine, it can easily turn into a costly affair!
I recently came across Square Barrel whisky, a concept that was first developed in the 1850’s. The idea behind this most unusual barrel shape was to make the transport of whisky onboard ships safer, which I would imagine it did, but the unfortunate consequence is of course that it will have been rather more difficult to move the barrels around (as any physicist or engineer will confirm for those of you in doubt, square barrels will be far less suitable for rolling on their side than their rounded counterparts). Anyway, the shape didn’t catch on too well and the innovative square barrel – which was also more difficult to make than a standard shape – failed to outmanoeuvre (see what I did there?) its round-cheeked predecessor.
Founded by John Duff, this Speyside distillery first opened its doors in 1876. Not exactly a newcomer to the scene, then, so how come you haven’t heard of it? Okay so that may be presumptuous, but a lot of people haven’t. This is largely because most of the whisky distilled goes into blends such as Haig, and what is released as a single malt hasn’t received much attention in whisky circles.
Glen Garioch‘s history is fairly typical for a Scottish whisky; first opened in 1797, it changed hands several times over its bumpy history, was mothballed at one stage and later reopened. Nothing spectacularly interesting so far as I could find. Far more exciting, at least in my opinion, is the design of the bottle and box of their 15 year old expression – a classic bottle Scotch bottle design, accompanied by a classy tartan patterned box, a combination that simply cannot disappoint. Unfortunately the whisky can, and did.
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