... of Men and Monkeys

Two very interesting links to Ancient Chinese Distillation

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed007p1962.3?cookieSet=1

http://www.sytu.edu.cn/zhgjiu/u4-2.htm

... I hope you find these intersting.

... First 'official' Malt Spirit out of Lewis for over 160 years.

... the first Isle of Lewis Single Malt will appear in a wee Glasgow Bar soon .

Away from Corporate Marketing glitter and fanfares, this is old-school, Gaelic Spirit of complete originality and although only two years old not officially Whisky yet, is the first home-spirit out of Lewis for over 170 years.

... excellent stuff !!!

Legal Lewis whisky will make history

• 

• The new make spirit will pack a punch

Chris Watt

Published on 21 Feb 2010

A Stornoway-born Glasgow publican is preparing to make whisky history by bringing home a cask of the first spirit to be distilled legally on the Isle of Lewis in more than 160 years.

Mike Donald, manager of Glasgow’s Sub Club and head of marketing for music bar MacSorleys, is setting off tomorrow on a 600-mile round trip to secure the only cask to leave Lewis free from the threat of the dreaded excise man since killjoy prohibitionists demolished the island’s sole distillery in 1844.

The “new make” spirit is only two years old, and will not officially become whisky for another 12 months, but a handpicked group of drinkers will be given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to taste the new dram when Mr Donald returns to the city on Thursday.

Made by the purpose-built Abhainn Dearg distillery in Uig, the Spirit of Lewis whisky, as it will be known, is described as “intensely floral” and “extremely drinkable” in its underage spirit form.

Drinkers should be warned, though, that at 65% abv, the new make spirit packs a punch that will take the breath away from even the hardiest of Scottish tipplers.

Mr Donald will be joined on his quest by colleagues Mike Grieve and Paul Crawford, the owners of MacSorley’s bar, and photographer Brian Sweeney, who will document the three-day journey.

The bar’s island-born marketing manager said it was fitting Abhainn Dearg should make its debut at MacSorley’s, a Glasgow bar with more than 100 years of heritage as one of the city’s best-loved Highland haunts.

“I’ve been doing a lot of digging about the history here,” said Mr Donald, “and the thing that kept coming up was that it was a real Highland bar, a home away from home for Highlanders.”

The owners of Abhainn Dearg – meaning “red river” in Gaelic – have agreed to release a 40-litre cask to MacSorley’s, which took its name from the publican who opened it in 1899.

Handy Hint Idea for all merry maltsters, by Alex in Australia.

Hand hint!!

Hello Ralfy!

Firstly, kudos on your videos, they are chock full of valuable insight and a healthy enthusiasm that is inspiring people to go on a whisky journey!

I just thought I would share a handy hint with you.

This tip comes from the perfume industry. As you know after nosing a whisky a couple times in the space of a minute, the smells seem to get less sharp with each subsequent sniff! This is because your olfactory epithillium (unsure of the spelling!) is becoming 'habituated' to the smell of the whisky. Habituation happens to all your senses it means they are getting used to something and thus not reacting with the strength they had originally (think of when you hear a sudden noise and you get startled, but then if the noise was to repeat over and over, you would not be startled again).
Anyway, you always see in perfume stores a little bowl of coffee beans, this is supposed to 'reset' your nose so that all the perfumes you are sampling dont blur together.
Obviously when nosing whisky we want to be free from all other strong smells including coffee because, unlike perfume, the scents in whisky can be subtle.
And now for the trick! Instead of smelling coffee beans, take a big whiff of your own skin. Sounds weird but your natural scent (which is basically odourless) will reset your nose.

Try it. Nose a glass of whisky a few times in a row and then take a big whiff of the crook of your elbow (you can simply smell your arm or hand when in public so you dont look so odd!) and then come back to the whisky. You will notice that your nose isnt dulled anymore (and therefore letting you adequately nosing the whisky over a period of time).

Give it a go Ralfy and let me know what you think! Feel free to mention it in one of your videos if you feel that it works!

Alex.

... thanks for that excellent pointer Alex, .... interesting stuff.

... ralfy.

Johnny does his first Whisky Review

Life, as they say imitates art/whisky-stuff and Johnny here has offered his own personal compliment, .... and excellent stuff too. Go Johnny !!!

Whiskey Review #1 Johnny (Ralfy video response)

Ralfystuff youtube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/ralfystuff

Ralfy's website

Website:
http://www.ralfy.com

-- Please read this --
Whiskey review video, this was purely done for fun as they say "art imitates life" and I hope that Ralfy who has been more than informative about Whiskey and Whisky to me to help jumpstart my taste buds with regards to Whiskey and Whisky finds this perhaps amusing, flattering and although this ties into amusing I hope he finds it as fun to watch as it was to make.

I in NO WAY wish to formally impersonate or take credit for this idea it is strictly a parody and tribute in its intention. Please see www.ralfy.com both linked above.

It's the 14th February, and the YEAR OF THE TIGER !

... the metal Tiger to be precise, and this means an assertive year ahead for bossy but well-intentioned people.

Meanwhile, I hope you will fill your glass (with a malty !) and toast to the health of Planet Earth, and after this formality, enjoy this little Tiger-stuff, and learn to bouncy bouncy too.

lorry loads of Whisky stolen under cover of night.

Whisky theft from local yard

Feb 12 2010 by Jackie Grant, Dumfries Standard Friday

THIEVES made off with whisky worth £250,000 from a Locharbriggs lorry depot situated only metres from a police station.

Two trailers full of Grant’s whisky were stolen from Currie’s European between 6.30pm on Wednesday and 4am on Thursday.

Shocked Currie’s operations director Alister Cook described the theft as “unbelievable”.

He said: “We’ve worked very hard to put in place a 24-hour security system and will just have to wait for the police investigation to reveal how this has been able to happen.

“There can be 100 trailers in the yard at any one time, so it’s difficult to say whether the thieves just got lucky.

“The yard is right next to Locharbriggs Police Station.”

Finance director Stephen Turner added: “We are anxious to find out what happened and just feel extremely disappointed. The whisky was for onward shipment to Europe and we’ve had to explain to the customer what’s happened.”

Detective Inspector Graham Kerr, the officer leading the investigation, is appealing for people with information to come forward.

He is particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have been in the area of the yard, which exits onto the main A701 road running through Locharbriggs and Heathhall.

He said: “It’s difficult to say whether the thieves had any inside knowledge at this stage, but they turned up at the yard with two cabs before driving away with the trailers.

“The container type trailers are yellow with the Currie’s insignia on the side and contained 26 pallets of Grant’s whisky each, which had been delivered to Locharbriggs from the Grant’s warehouse in Bellshill. One contained the standard size 70cl bottles and the other was full of litre and a half bottles.

“It is a significant value of whisky, not including the value of the trailers themselves.”

Police were interviewing Currie’s employees yesterday in an attempt to get to the bottom of the theft.

Detective Inspector Kerr added: “We are currently trying to speak to everyone who has been in and out of the yard in the last 24 hours.

“You would need to do a fair bit of planning to carry out a theft of this magnitude, particularly when there is 24-hour security at the gate.

“Hopefully it won’t be long before we find the trailers dumped somewhere, which will give us a lead with the investigation.”

....... if you are offered cheap bottles in the Pub, be warned, they may be stolen Scotch.

... discovering Shackleton's Whisky-stash !

Synesthesia hearing Malts, seeing Peat-taste

... Synesthesis is a rare but intrequing form of condition where the natural conections of brain nerve-cells become intertwinned, isolated, wrongly connected and produce the phenomenon of people hearing numbers, seeing sounds and tasting colours. ..... odd !

Peter from Hungary makes a 'Caramel' List.

....Peter from Hungary has made a 'Caramel List' in order to try and clarify (!) a little of this big gray (brown !) area in which Malt Distilleries add caramel (E150a) to their whiskies, and also, which Distilleries pass their Malts through chill-filter machines to clarify the final resultant whiskies, and save them going a little cloudy when ice or water is added.

Basically Peter e-mailed many Distilleries asking the same questions, and for those who replied, their response has been organized into the following e-mail to me from Peter.

Read and learn, ... excellent stuff Peter !!!

Péter to me

4 Feb (2 days ago)

Hello Ralfy,

Here are the short notes of my "detective work" about caramel and chill filtration. Although, i could not ask every distillery, like the ones that Diageo owns, but is think that their situation is no question about this. Other thing is, can we believe to these answers? I hope so...

Aberlour: some contains caramel (i think all), and all are chill-filtered. A'bunadh is non chill-filtered.

Ardbeg: no chill filtration, and co caramel (Blasda is chill-filtered).

Ben Nevis: the 10 is coloured and chill-filtered only on rare occasions, the cask strength is un-coloured, and un-chill-filtered.

BenRiach: no caramel at mature spirits. If non chill-filtered, it's labeled.

Benromach: the majority has no caramel (i think all malts are un-coloured).

Bladnoch: no caramel and chill-filtration (just on special occasions, i think we do not meet these).

Bruichladdich: no caramel and no chill-filtration.

Bunnahabhain: chill-filtered and coloured, but they are trying to avoid these in the near future. (Let's hope so!)

Glenfarclas: no caramel, but chill-filtered.

Glenlivet: coloured and chill filtered. Nadurra is non chill-filtered.

Glenfiddich: coloured and chill-filtered.

Glengoyne: no coloured, but chill-filtered.

Highland Park: chill-filtration is only below 46%, filtration happens at at +2 degrees C. Only the old bottling of the 12 is coloured.

Macallan: chill filtered (+4 degrees C). Other reply: no colour, no chill-filtration. (?)

Tomatin: 15, 18, 25 has no caramel. 18 is non chill-filtered. Others are coloured and chill filtered.

Tullibardine: no caramel but chill-filtered.

So, this is it. Good enough, or some correction is needed?

Regards,
Peter

No correction needed this all makes good sense ! ... and thanks to you Peter from all the viewers.

'Advanced' Whisky Trail ( Evening Class in Glasgow )

John Lamond, Master of Malt, Co-author of The Malt Whisky File (and all-round booze-Guru) is the one in charge of the World's first Evening Classes on the subject of Malt Whisky in all it's permutations.

He maintains strict discipline with blind sampling, challenging malty questions, and copious academic detail on our favorite Liquor, .... Whisky.

If you know what 'Acrospire' is, then you may stand a chance of acquiring entry into this academic echelon of attainment.

For all students who graduate (having passed a written exam !) from the Whisky Trail Course held over eight weeks and lasting two and a half hours per session, ... there is now the option of the ADVANCED COURSE, (i.e. difficult/demanding anorak stuff with regular blind nosing/tasting/tears/tantrums/more tasting) .......which merry old me is currently attending in a state of panic/joy/frustration/joy, with up to a dozen like-minded disciples of maltdom !

John prove's to be an articulate, engaging and committed Tutor who brings decades of considerable experience to the role. We don't just love him for his regular supply of whisky samples, but also for the range of information we pick up night by night.

The current, Inaugural Advanced Course is over eight weeks, meeting on a Tuesday night at the College of Commerce in Glasgow, ..... and should you feel up to this Malty Challenge, then you may wish to consider John's next First Level Course, ..... information to be found at www.johnlamond.com ... and remember, life's too short for 'what-if's' so if an Evening Class appeals to you, ... go for it.

.... I ralfy-recommend it !

Justin's Journey with Whisky

... Justin commenced on a Journey recently down that Whisky-road so well trodden by so many feet.

It is a journey of discovering more about whisky, people, life, our chemical senses of smell and taste both rational and emotional, ... and about understanding and appreciating the power of Distillation to condense and concentrate flavours from the World that surrounds us.

Here is an articulate example of the content and quality of e-mails I receive regularly at ralfy.com

I think it is worth mentioning that World Whisky needs young customers like Justin and the Industries smart-movers will make Whisky Festivals available, affordable, open access, and less elitist (the word some Distillers love to use is 'exclusive') and thereby attract a new generation who's long term spending will be based on a positive and engaging initial contact with the Whiskies.

Reply

Justin to me

25 Jan (8 days ago)

I've been reading about and exploring scotch for about a year. I began
drinking beer and homebrewing from my 21st birthday. So my first
libation love was certainly beer. I'm now 23. However, I'm still
relatively inexperienced and I've only had around 15 different whiskies.

Your videos are best concerning scotch I've found so far. Most of my
initial learning came from malt maniacs. It's nice to see someone sit
down and talk about various topics about whisk(e)y and give a
review as well. I especially enjoy your videos when you give some
scotch trivia or history along side your review. I appreciate your
ruminations, and I hope you continue to create videos. Your video has
inspired me to begin my own tasting log, and soon I will begin logging
most of my drams.

I'd like to give you some more details about my experiences and in
hopes of some feedback to what you think I could try to broaden my
scotch horizons. Feel free to skim as this may not be of interest to
you. Today I went to the liquor store and purchased a couple more malts
(Laphroaig quarter cask, and Ardbeg 10). As of this moment I have
savoured Blacklabel, Redlabel, Aberlour 12 Double Matured, Glenlivet
12, Macallan 12, Balvenie 12 Doublewood, Balvenie 15 Single Cask,
Highland Park 12, Ardbeg 10, Bruichladdich 10, Springbank 10, Talisker
10, Laphroaig 10 and Laphroaig quarter cask.

I really have enjoyed different aspects of all these scotches. There
hasn't been anything I've outright disliked. I don't necessarily prefer
any one flavor type over another. Recently I have been having Ardbeg 10
the most often. What a dram! I love the complexity and extreme finish
that lasts for hours. Balvenie 12 Doublewood is what I've had most
often. Mostly because it's cheapest at 32 dollars a bottle, and I
personally have found it to be a damn decent dram for the cost. Outside
of scotch I've had a few different whiskies, but I've enjoyed scotch
the most.

Is there anything you would recommend that I try to expand my budding
connoisseurship? Thank you for your time and consideration. Continue
the great work!

Reply

Ralf to Justin

27 Jan (6 days ago)

... hello Justin, boy-oh-boy !!! the Scotch Whisky Industry loves people like you spending so generously on Malts, ... well it is a lot of fun too so long as we don't become alcoholics.....

Personally I see where your coming from here, like so many others we understand what an eventful journey Whisky is . Each bottle like a masterpiece hanging in a gallery, or a small but important music collecton.

.... so my main advice to you would be net-search information including the Malt Maniacs and check-out forums like whiskywhiskywhisky.com and for Malt-tips go to www.lfw.co.uk and 'search' ACE, the resulting list is a good one.

Richard the proprietor is very knowledgable. Don't forget Whisky Festivals if you can attend them.

.... and good luck to you Justin.

... ralfy(.com)

PS .... may I use your mail as a 'whiskystuff' feature ?

Justin to me

27 Jan (6 days ago)

Thank you for your reply. Feel free to use my previous mail as a whisky
stuff feature.

There's a whisky 'extravaganza' coming to my state in April. I've been
considering attending, but the tickets are a bit pricey for me $135
(83.6 pounds).

http://www.singlemaltextravaganza.com/index.html

Perhaps I'll decide to go. I do have a point and shoot camera. I
suppose I could get pictures from the event for you if you're
interested.
I also need to mention that because of your tip I started putting
a cover on my glass after I finished drinking instead of washing it.
It's amazing how much aroma remains. It's also help me understand and
identify the difference in the smoky scent that a lot of the peated
whiskies share. It's interesting that some of the different peated
whiskies have a little different smoky smell. Some smell like straight
peat while others have a more charcoal fire or a camp fire smell. I
would have never discovered this without you tip. Thanks a lot! I think
anyone appreciating whisky should be using a lid on their used glasses.

There is a local craft distillery that makes single malts. I don't
think they can be found much outside the US. The distillery is called
stranahan's. I don't know too much about them other than they get their
mash from the beer brewery next door and they currently only mature for
two years prior to bottling. I'll be going on a tour there soon. My
camera could record very short videos, and I can take pictures as well
if you'd be interested in having some of that content for your site.

http://www.stranahans.com/index.php?q=home

Ralf to Just

27 Jan (6 days ago)

... thanks for that Justin, .... $135 ? for how many drams ? ... say 20 drams of quality stuff = $6.75 each for a shit-load of educaton/information/access/sippin

Probably cheaper than a rock concert ! .... and the pictures e.t.c. .... well why not your own Site ?

"Justin's Journey with Whisky".blogspot.com !!!

I will check out the Stranahans !

... regards, ralfy(.com)

Justin to me

27 Jan (6 days ago)

My own site? Well maintaining one takes time, and
I'd like to make a general food related site. Eventually I'll set up a
website, but for now, why not get you some additional content? You
already seem to have a bit of a following. I'm a bit of a foodie and
would like to make one that's more general. Alas, right now I have too
many things on my plate to start a website. I'd also prefer to develop
my own. I'm a bit of a nerd and have the skills to create my own
website, rather than using blogspot.

Anyways, $6.75 still seems like a lot per dram. Hopefully I'd get to try
more twenty. Lagavulin 16 is only around $2.80 per 30 mL if I have it
at home. The biggest thing that I think about in regards to the whisky
festivals is I wouldn't want to get smashed, but it almost hurts my
soul to think about spitting out whisky. Hopefully I'd get to taste
more than twenty drams, but swallowing that amount is impossible. Oh
almost heartbreaking thinking of spitting perfectly good whisky in a
spittoon.

On Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:24:00 +0000

- Show quoted text -

Ralf to Justin

27 Jan (6 days ago)

... well all the best in your malt-adventures, and if you get a site up and running, let me know and I will do a feature !

... ralfy

Happy Birthday WhiskyStuff !!!

... I can't believe that's a Year gone already, it just goes to show the John Lennon was right when he said "life is what happens to you whilst your busy making other plans".

So a big thanks to you all for your continued appreciation of this 'Stuff' and be assured that there is plenty more 'stuff' to arrive here.

... from the archive

Thursday, 29 January 2009

A Brief Introduction.

My name is ralf,
in the year 2000 my dad gave me a bottle of whisky as a present, just a wee thank-you for
my taking him in the car down to Wemyss Bay and over on the Calmac ferry to the Isle of Bute to visit Mount Stewart, followed by a return trip via Colintraive and Inverary back down Loch Lomond to Glasgow.
As I remember, it was an excellent day out and even the sun was shining which is a rare event in any Scottish summer. As a dark rum and tonic drinker, the whisky was, well, ............ a demanding experience !!! but shortly after he left me to return to the Isle Of Man, I had no choice but to drink the whisky as I had run out of rum. The whisky and tonic tasted fine ! till I ran out of tonic and had no choice but to finish the whisky with water, and as the level in the bottle went down, less and less water.
On finishing the whisky, I stared at the empty bottle of 12 y.o. Bunnahabhain and the next day at the local
supermarket, passed on by the rum and the tonic and instead bought my first bottle of Single Malt.
The Bunnahabhain lasted a week, and then I bought 6 varied single Malts, ............... and now it all
seems such a long time ago.

How time flies !


This is my Blog principally about whisky, but occasionally about some other, related things.