I just got out of a meeting with Andrew Gray from Bruichladdich, and Chris Tridle from Winebow (the importer). We discussed the upcoming availability of several bottlings that aren’t yet available in the US. There were long discussions on the 125th Anniversary, the Blacker Still, the Celtic Nations, the La Fleurtation, and all the different expression replacements. They brought five bottles for tasting, but as I already sell three of them we just tried the Rocks and Infinity.

Their ten year is slowly running out of stock; it’s soon to be replaced by a nonvintage vatted called “Rocks.” The Rocks uses the entire range of Laddies from 4 to seventeen years. The barrels are bourbon, but the whisky is “ACE’d” in Grenache casks! The wine accent gives it a massive size in the mouth… one of the biggest mouth feels that I’ve ever found in a bottle. There’s a sharp oily note on the back that makes it great for cold, wet, weather.

The Infinity vats three different sherry cask vintages together. The peating is 15ppm; and the whisky has similarities to the Glenfiddich 15 Solera, but without the sluggish heavy notes. The bottling is named after the finish which “goes on towards Infinity.”

Also great news is that Bruichladdich is in discussion with the gent at Black Maple Hill (whose name I can’t remember) to see about bringing the Murray McDavid lines into the states.

The meeting was a delight, and Mr. Gray was a credit to his company. He gave me all kinds of interesting information that hasn’t been released publicly yet. Normally I’d spill the cup, but I think that I’ll wait until the distillery makes it common knowledge.

As a man it’s easy to discount a magazine that runs feature stories with titles like “Please your man…Again” and “The day my husband became my wife”, but on occasion there’s a great zinger of a story delivered between the ads for perfume and moisturizers.  The quality of writing that comes out of the larger women’s magazines is astounding if you’re not expecting it.  After educating myself over the last six months I’m willing to eat every bad thing I ever said about Redbook.

There is one downside to being a man who reads magazines marketed towards women.  My hands smell like a French Cathouse from all the scratch and sniff perfume ads.

Lately I’ve been trying to get into podcasts, and I can’t figure out why so many of them are just so awful.  A microphone + fleeting internet celebrity does not equal interesting.  Are there any good ones out there?

Last week, I just placed a special order for an ultra rare distillery bottling of both Lagavulin and Talisker.   What makes them so special is that they are both 30 years old.  That means that for thirty years those whisky barrels had to sit in a warehouse undisturbed; I’m always impressed when I see planning on that scale.  To be honest it astounds me.

For me fancy whisky bottles are an investment; I’ll buy them and shelve them until I open a small joint, or sell them to local collectors.

First off, I rarely drink at all.  It’s funny because I have a ton of liquor in my kitchen.  When you’re a bartender you just kind of pick up a bottle here and a bottle there.  One time I traded a Gamecube for one great bottle and eleven bad ones (and promptly sold the great one for my profit).

I thought that I’d record everything on the shelves because there’s an amazing dichotomy between the good and bad booze I have in the cabinet.    I’ve left off the minibar and the wine I have stored elsewhere.

Bring on the show!