Ardbog - The Very Short Movie

With Ardbeg Day 2013 now on the horizon we are seeing a stream of promotional materials being released in one way or another as talk spreads of what is coming. Of course if your a official club member and or remote guest and read the last post you would know 'Ardbog' is the theme, and if you are a Ardbeg fan, and not attending the  'Feis Ile' Islay Festival of Malt and Music (on Islay, Scotland), then you would have signed up for the day here (how's that for a never ending sentence). Even so in the meantime if your into short films with interesting effects, a bit of fun, and of course you like Ardbeg this one is for you.

Of course Ardbeg has been known for a long time time to be a bit quirky but it is good to see not all distilleries are fuddy duddy in approaches to marketing. Be sure to dash over to Ardbeg TV on Youtube for other past and quirky movies.

Das Baron

Do you dig Ardbeg – Ardbog Day 2013

It is an Ardbog Party

 It's Arbog Day! Yep you read that right Ardbog. What is Ardbog you are asking? Effectively it is a day nominated by Ardbeg to celebrate Ardbeg world wide ie. Ardbeg Day. This year it is themed Ardbog Day and to quote the official Ardbeg website below is the extract on what this years Ardbog Day is all about.

"…this year we are honouring the peat bogs of Islay with the launch of our Limited Edition bottling called Ardbog. To celebrate the launch, henceforth Ardbeg Day 2013 will be known as Ardbog Day! We all dig Ardbeg so the theme of Ardbog Day is archaeology and it’s an opportunity for Ardbeggians all around the world to get together and raise a dram in honour of all things Ardbeg."

For those in the know Ardbeg Day is part of the 'Feis Ile' Islay Festival of Malt and Music which runs on an annual basis. 2013 see the Feis Ile begin 26th May and run until 1 June. All distilleries on Islay take part including the sister island of Jura with each day seeing one of 2 distilleries open it's doors as official hosts of the day. Some day I want to get there for the festival but for those also wanting to go, accommodation on the island is very limited so booking a year in advance, basically on the day the event dates are released is essential.

Current press release image of Ardbog

Additionally to celebrate Ardbog Day a special edition whisky is also released aptly named 'Ardbog'. This years expression 'Ardbog' is bottled at 52.1% ABV and matured for ten years in American oak ex-bourbon barrels then finished in rare ex-Spanish Manzanilla sherry butts. Internet gossip notes reveal 'Ardbog' to be "distinctively salty in texture that accentuate the salty, briny flavours already prevalent in the whisky". Sound serious.

With events held world wide, for those unable to attend Feis Ile, we see Australia's Ardbog Day celebrated in Sydney on the 1st June at Centennial Park. Anyone can register and it is free to attend but places are strictly limited so get on board if you can. Official details of location and bookings taken form the Ardbeg website are as follows:

Venue: THE PARK
Address: Superintendents Residence, cnr of Oxford Street and Lang Road, Centennial Parklands NSW 2021 (entry via Paddington Gates)
Date: Saturday, 1 June 2013
Time: 12:30pm - 3pm
RSVP: ardbeg@moet-hennessy.com.au or 02 8344 9987 (places strictly limited)
Dress Code: Tweed

There will be games, drams and the Ardbog Big Dig, so reserve your place now!

Maybe see you there, my place is booked and ready to go.

The Baron

Baby got back and no doubt about that – Jura Revamps Packaging

Jura's revamped packaging lineup

Not this this is breaking news as it did happen a short while ago but it will be great to start seeing these packages filter into the shelves at your local.

Jura has revamped it packaging (again). If you recall the original packaging from a few years back was grey and somewhat drab. A couple of years ago, as we saw the profile grow and more signature expressions hit the shelves in common Jura went through branding overhaul from packages to website, and it looked great. Now is by far the biggest step to date with some real WOW being added to the family as a whole. Thankfully we have seen the unique shapely bootylisious bottle remain. Love those curves.

According to widespread reports (though it seems no one is actually referencing quotes they claim to have), the packaging for each bottle tells a particular story of the island (have not seen a package up close), features its own colour pallet (clearly visible), and when lined up in order a panoramic island profile is revealed (also clearly visible). Setting aside the top three sales pitch points replicated by everyone, I'll put my neck out and actually just say who cares because it looks great well done Jura! At this time, this revamp is yet to be revealed on the Jura website and I personally found out about this news via the Jura Facebook page.

Jura Origin up close

All too often we see swings in the market where bottles, labels and packages are changed for no other reason that for the sake of change. Jack Daniels vs Wild Turkey as a resent note. Thankfully in this case, even though I loved the sophistication of Jura's previous lineup, the colour variations and intricate details add that additional depth of field so well deserved of such a good whisky. Metrosexual? maybe. Feminine? Certainly but with such a flavour profile like silk and shaped like Marilyn Monroe Jura is certainly a girl. Baby got back and no doubt about that.

Slainte Jura for staying true to your product and here's to your continued success in an ever congested market.

The Baron

Hot to Trot - The Mint Julep

Whilst living in the United States for eighteen months, I discovered the Mint Julep. Seeing it is the first Saturday in May, it seems only fitting we talk about this traditional Kentucky Derby day drink.

My take on the Mint Julep

The mint julep is a cocktail which contains a muddled and heavily iced mixture of bourbon, mint, sugar and water. It is a 'tea-style' cocktail, somewhat similar to a mojito in its construction. For those who live in northern states of Australia, I find the mint julep is perfect for the hot and humid conditions. My craving usually starts once the mercury starts rising and believe me, it is a craving.

My first experience with the mint julep occurred whilst on a trip to Washington DC, where in the Round Robin & Scotch Bar of the Willard Hotel you'll find the bar tender, Jim Hewes, making the best mint julep in DC (see below). I loved it so much we frequented this bar multiple times during trips to Washington DC from our temporary home in Summit, NJ.



The Willard Hotel is one of DC's more famous hotels and is traditionally where the Australian Prime Minister stays when visiting the US capital. Australian flags adorn masts outside the hotel when they are visiting, as we discovered on one of our trips. If you are ever in town, make the trip and be sure to try the The Willard Hotel's signature drink.

Mint Julep ingredients

The National Geographic has a summary of the recipe, but I have added my own version below:

Ingredients:

1. one-quarter cup of Maker's Mark bourbon
2. one-quarter cup of San Pellegrino sparkling water
3. a full teaspoon of caster sugar (more to taste)
4. 8-10 mint leaves
5. 2 cups of dry crushed ice
6. a thin strip of lemon peel (optional)
7. a straw
8. a glass from the freezer

Process:

1. add the mint leaves, the teaspoon of sugar and half of the bourbon to the glass
2. using a muddler (or the end of a rolling pin), muddle the mixture until it forms a tea
3. add half-a-cup of crushed ice and half of the sparkling water, keep muddling (this time using the heel of a butter knife)
4. add the rest of the ice, trying to keep it tightly packed
5. pour in the remaining bourbon and sparkling water, stir again
6. taste the cocktail, it shouldn't be sour, its very easy to under estimate the sugar so add more to taste
7. optional: garnish with a sprig of mint and a dusting of sugar (plus the lemon peel if using)
8. apparently you then put the straw in just behind the mint sprig, so you get a whiff when sipping

Share and enjoy,
The Diplomat

Park Avenue Liquor, New York

Window Display at Park Avenue Liquor 

Work recently sent me on a three day flying visit to New York. Thinking of picking up a bottle of bourbon at the airport on the way home, I sent a message to The Baron and The Diplomat asking for some suggestions. My only knowledge of bourbon is based on the Hudson Manhattan Rye I tasted Whisky Fair a couple of years ago. I remember enjoying the Manhattan Rye, but sampled it towards the end of the night, so what it tastes like sober is anyone's guess......

The Baron suggested I check out Park Avenue Liquor which claims to have the biggest range of whisky in the USA. Checking online the shop wasn't located too far from my office, so in the half hour between my last meeting and cab to the airport I ran through the Manhattan rain to check out the shop.

The shop is pretty unassuming from the outside and it would be easy to walk straight past the place. In fact, when I lived in New York I walked past two or three times a week without ever realising it was there.

Australia's finest on display

When you enter the shop the first thing you see is the large selection of wine and it took my a couple of minutes to realise that the whisky is all located behind the counter. The whisky selection is the largest that I've seen in a shop. The didn't just have a couple of Laphroaigs or Glenlivets on display, but the entire range. It was just a shame that, being located behind the counter, it didn't encourage browsing. The prices of the whiskies weren't particularly attractive to a Brit either. I'm guessing that import duty must be quite high.

The didn't have many bourbons on display, but checking out their online catalogue they have a decent range at prices which are attractive to the tourist. I should have given some thought to what I wanted before going to the shop and asked if they had it in the stock.

On my way out of the shop I checked out the window display and spotted a bottle of Lark.

A Feast For Gentelman – D.T.W.C. April 2013 Wrap Up

Pouring the Bruichladdich Octomore 4.2 Comus

So on Saturday 20th April 2013 another D.T.W.C. has now come and gone and a good showing of club members was in force yet again. The evening was hosted by The Baron, and it was good to see so many faces and of course the special trip made from north of the border by The Diplomat.

It was certainly a night for Islay (not surprising) with Ardbeg 10yo, Laphroaig PX, Lagavulin 16yo and the nights whisky of choice Bruichladdich Octomore 4.2 Comus, followed by a Clynelish, Springbank 15, and a special bottle of Longrow CV.

From what I could tell (in between a tad bit of kitchen prep) was that the Bruichladdich Octomore 4.2 Comus went down quite well even at 61% ABV peated at 167ppm. I will review soon of course but the initial overview is a much more subdued Octomore than usual as the sauternes casks sweetness has greatly mellowed the intense peat. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the bottle went rather quickly considering its cash strength. The Bruichladdich Octomore 4.2 Comus is pretty much out of stock now world wide so if you manage to find a bottle snap it up. I managed to snaffle this baby from The Oak Barrel in Sydney.

The evenings meal was a spanking Italian Ragu with freshly on the spot made pasta (thanks to El Capitan for the assistance in getting it done pronto) followed by a warming Bread and Butter Pudding. A couple of members asked for the evenings recipes which are provided below.

 

Italian Ragu

I find this recipe adaption is perfect for a slow cooker but a slow top pot or oven set to simmer is just as good. Feeds 8 hungry guys when served with pasta.

Ingredients:

3 to 4kg of cheap cut meats sliced into thick chunks. A mixed combination is advised.

• Italian Pork Sausages
• Beef Spare Ribs
• Thick Cut Gravy Beef
• Osso Bucco

x2 400g Tinned tomatoes Diced
1/2 Wine (clean skin or $4 Dan Murphy's label perfect)
2 medium onions
x1 tin tomato paste/puree
x1 large bunch Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
Salt and Pepper (to season)
Pasta
Parmesan Cheese (for topping)

Preparation:

1. Cut all meat into large chunks and season with salt and pepper
2. Brown meat in large pot until almost all suffice pink is gone (you may have to do this in a couple of batches).
3. Remove meat from pot and caramelise onion
4. Add 1/2 bottle red wine to onion then add meat back to pot and bring until boiling then return to a simmer (that is a low heat only minor bubble movement in sauce)
5. Add tomatoes, tomato paste/puree and whole diced parsley to pot and simmer for minimum 2 1/2hrs. May go in oven if you chosen on lowish heat 160º or a bit less. Check regularly for simmering.
6. Check meat is tender and pulling apart easily. If cook pasta and strain of water.
7. Remove pot from heat and extract meat to a separate plate keeping sauce in pot. Add pasta to sauce, mix, then sprinkle with liberal amounts of Parmesan.
8. Serve pasta and meat separate and allow hungry wolves to pick the choice cuts to go with the pasta.

 

Bread And Butter Pudding

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Loves Vienna Bread with crusts cut off (Vienna is light and fluffy and can be cut nice, thick, and ragged)
Butter (give a liberal buttering to both sides of cut bread)
7 to 8 eggs
1 to 1.2 Liters Milk
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Vanilla Essence
Nutmeg
1/2 cup Sultanas/Raisins

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C
2. Grease a large baking dish (you may want to do step 3 first to check size of dish first)
3. Cut/tear the bread into ragged pieces and lay all bread in at 45º to ensure dish is the right size
4. Beat eggs and then add milk
5. Add vanilla essence & sugar then continue to mix until thoroughly mixed
6. Pour mixture over the bread
7. Sprinkle sultanas/raisins and nutmeg on top
8. Place in oven and cook for 60 - 90 minutes (check every now and again.This is a custard but the tips of the bread should be browning)
9. Remove from oven and let stand until at desired temp is reached. Custard will thicken so advised to leave for around 10min.

Thanks again to all who attended and look forward to seeing you all in the coming months at the next D.T.W.C. hosted at El Capitains.

The Baron

D.T.W.C Event Wrap Up – 16th Feb 2012

The evenings lineup

On the eve of our coming D.T.W.C evening it might be worth wrapping up the previous event held on the 16th Feb 2012, now that the evenings host Snape has completed his whisky of choice review.

We saw the evening hosted for the first time at our more recent members abodes, Snape. In attendance we were graced with the faces of El Capitan, The Alchemist, The Baron, The Proxy, and Dog, with The Diplomat dialing in remotely.

On the menu was a delicious meal prepared by Snape being a New Orleans Jambalya and some corn thing he can't remember the name of but tasted ass hot delicious.

Though somewhat short in numbers the selection of whisky was top class:
Highland Park 1994 (Whisky of the evening)
Chivas Regal 18yo
Oban 14yo
Lagavulin 16yo
Glenmorangie Nector D'or
Laphroaig 10yo Cask Strength
Johhnie Walker Green Label (who brought that)
Laphroaig PX Cask (an outstanding addition by the Dog)
Talisker 10yo
K5 from Bhutan (This was an outright travesty)

The Laphroaig PX Cask

 The most outstanding whisky of the night trumped the Highland Park 1994 hands down which was the Laphroaig PX Cask donated by The Dog and consumed by all. I hope to see a review of this soon on the clubs site. You may see the Highland Park 1994 review by Snape here.

It would seem also that The Proxy is showing a bit of a trend to fall asleep at club meetings. Cheers for the entrainment Proxy even if we did have to talk a little louder than usual.

The Diplomat looking as youthful as ever

Thanks again to The Diplomat for dialing in and we will be excited to see you in person for the coming event.

Be seeing you gents soon!

The Baron

I can't compare but... – Highland Park 1994

Highland Park 1994

I'm new to the whole whiskey thing but I had heard good things about Highland Park so I was interested to try one so I asked the wife to grab the Highland Park 1994 during one of her international trips.

Highland Park 1994
Location/Region: Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland
Style: Single Malt
Alcohol: 40%
Available: Global Travel Retail / Duty Free

It came in nice smart packing and smelled great which for me is important sometimes more so than the taste but that's just me I think.

It had a caramel smokey aroma with slight nutty smell in the background like almonds I guess. Some of the other guys in the group commented on a cherry smell as well which upon a second look I would agree with as well.

After all the sniffing and smelling and dancing etc everyone grabbed a glass and most were underwhelmed by the taste. Personally I haven't tried any other Highland Park so I can't compare but I will say that of the small amount of whiskey's I have tried it wasn't my favourite, though I digress, taste or palate wise it had a slight caramel taste wound into a dry fruity taste that some members mentioned also had a cinnamon after taste. One thing I did agree with was that while it was underwhelming to the palate it was a drink you could run through easily as it was very smooth and had a warm smokey finish to it.

Overall if I had to rate it on the Hogworts wizard scale I would give it a 7.5 out of 10 as the type of whiskey to enjoy while zoning out after dealing with Potter and Wheasly all day. In other words something to drink casually not specially occasions a smooth drop you can enjoy without really thinking about it. Don't know if it's worth the price though as you need a place ticket to get it or a magic robe like me that allows you access to the airport.

Oh and a few people myself included thought it tasted better with a drop of water.

Snape

What whisky vendors want from us – Blogging for us or them?

Here is a quick post I will open up to any members, non-members and other whisky bloggers (that may be reading this) about what your experiences have been in recent years with blogging becoming such a integral part of the promotions/advertising/social market.

Over last 12 months in particular our little club blog has been gaining some interest from whisky vendors in one way or another as we keep getting sent press materials for new releases, information about awards and so on from all walks of the whisky industry. This is all well and good and I like to read about it but the big question is "Who are we writing for, what do we get out of it and should we get anything out of it at all?". I am not asking for free bottles of whisky or cash for comments but it certainly seems strange that there is this expectation that we amateurs will do something for nothing while most of this whisky we are sent releases on is financially well out of the general public's reach. Simply they, the vendors, want free marketing and will craftily try to get it. With that comment it draws attention to why our club exists in the first place and that is to experience something we generally cannot afford. Possibly my opinion is skewed because our clubs blog site is specifically for our clubs members but I am sure we do not present ourselves as a free for all promotional website. We as a whisky club are not a magazine, we write not to gain attention or sell subscriptions, we write for ourselves as an extension of our communications with other club members .

At other times we have been offered tastings or have samples sent to us (more often this happens after a press release has been sent), only to find they never arrive with no further communications or at the last minute had the pin pulled. Why does it fall through? From my experience it always appears that it is the size of our club that matters more than anything. A vendor may find our blog site, not research enough to really know about us, but see we rank high enough, and so instigate a communication. We always set our terms though when talking about receiving whisky samples: If we choose to write about it then it will be at our discretion and uncensored while we will always disclose who and why the sample was provided.

Then in other cases whisky vendors have not liked what we have had to say and have puffed out their chests, screamed, shouted and vented in some very unprofessional manners. In the end does it really matter… If your product is bad then we as a consumer have a right to say it just as much as if we love it. Correct? So why do they carry on so. All they do is make themselves look like fools.

So there is 3 primary things that we get approached about by vendors from time to time that can impact what we sometimes blog about:

1. Free advertising – You write about whisky that means you must want to write about us too.

2. Tasting samples – Try before you buy or buy before you try.

3. Having our say – Amateur opinions that can outweigh any professional comment.

So really where am I going with this? Getting a bit lost I think and trudging up mud. In returning to the original question about "Who are we writing for, what do we get out of it and should we get anything out of it at all?", well that can only be answered by you and what you want. From my point of view in answer to the first part of the question, for our clubs site we write for ourselves and the return is our network remains strong and honest. In answer to the second part of the question my opinion (not speaking for any other club member) is a resounding NO we should not get anything out of it because we already control what we say, when we say it, and how we say it. If a vendor would like us to review an article or sample their product and comment our thoughts all well and good, as we will always be happy to accept the challenge on our terms.

In finalising if you would like to share your own experience please comment or even write us an email. For me I thought it something to share especially for those thinking of starting their own club or blog and not sure what comes with the responsibility (something we are still learning about also).

The Baron

Is someone watering down your whisky?

Big news in the UK last week was the decision, and then hasty reversal, by Maker's Mark to start diluting their whisky from 45% to 42%.

The chairman of Maker's Mark Bill Samuels Jnr was quoted as saying “demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it”. Which The Converted is translating as "we sold 16.9m cases of bourbon in 2012 and if we water down each bottle a bit, we'll be able to make a load more profit".

I'm pleased to say that The Diplomat's mint julep is safe as Maker's Mark reversed their decision after a large outcry from bourbon drinkers on the internet.

With the shortened ageing times bourbon makers have less of an excuse, but I've wondered in the past how whisky makers who prefer 10yo+ age statements are able to predict demand into the future. Could distillers have predicted the global whisky boom that has happened in the last 5 years? Perhaps it explains the trend towards new whiskies without age statements being released?

I'm not sure any other producers will be rushing to follow Maker's Mark following their PR disaster, but keep an eye out for someone watering down your whisky.