Sunday, August 20, 2006
My first posting
Since I messed up my first blog attempt, here's a quick link to the first posting I made.
Bowmore
As I mentioned before, Bowmore has become my favorite scotch. I now own, I think, seven bottles. Let me see if I can list them out:
- Bowmore 12 y.o.
- Bowmore 17 y.o.
- Bowmore Dusk
- Cooper's Choice 15 y.o. distilled in 1990
- Prime Malt 21 y.o. distilled in 1982
- Montgomerie 12 y.o. distilled in 1989.
- Bowmore Special Edition 1989 Cask Strength.
I haven't tried the last one yet, but all the others I have. The 12 y.o. is nice and peaty, great for every day drinking. The 17 y.o. is subtle -- a scotch I really have to be in the mood for. The dusk is finished in Bordeaux barrels, so it is the sweetest of the Bowmores. I bought this one in the duty free in Narita Airport on my way back from Thailand. Some people really think this is a nasty malt, but Michael Jackson (a legend in the whisky world) gave it high marks. I think it works really well as a digestif.
My favorite thus far is the Cooper's Choice. I bought the Cooper's Choice at Milroy's of Soho (a great source of choice whisky in London) and have not regretted the purchase. I'll probably dedicate some future blog to a tasting of this bottling, but it helps to have the drink in front of you. Right now I have the Montgomerie (oops, I already finished it), which has a more medicinal smell. It's quite different from the standard Bowmore 12 y.o.
Finally, the Prime Malt. We cracked this one open at work last Friday (occasionally on a Friday afternoon around 5pm we have a dram to ease us in the weekend, commiserate over the tough week we've had, and enjoy each other's company in a relaxed atmosphere). The 21 y.o. has almost got more peat than the 17 y.o., but that may be my imagination. It is very smooth, not dark, and drinks nicely neat.
If you haven't tried Bowmore yet, try some soon. It is well worth it.
Scotch
For those who know me well, I have tried whisk(e)y in the past and not been able to stomach it. Maybe it was cheap stuff tried at weddings, or Johnnie Walker Red (which I've subsequently learned is meant to be drunk with soda water), or perhaps my palate was not fully developed. Whatever the reason, until recently I have stuck to gin and vodka for my spirits (usually mixed with tonic water and lime, or occasionally in a tom collins).
For whatever reason that changed with our one year wedding anniversary last year. Leslie and I went to Cityzen at the Mandarin Hotel (a truly amazing dining experience) for our anniversary dinner. After the dinner we retired to the lobby lounge for a drink and I ordered some Glenfiddich 18 year old on the rocks (I can feel the Scotch-o-philes shuddering at my choice of ice with my scotch). End result -- I loved it. Maybe it took the two glasses of wine with dinner to ready my palate, but for some reason I really liked it. That led to buying a bottle at the Montgomery County liquor store (Montgomery County in Maryland has its own liquor board separate from the state -- what a country we have!). Then I bought some Macallan 12 y.o., some Talisker 10 y.o., and Bowmore 12 y.o. Why those bottles? Because they were all on sale. A good enough reason, I think, to buy some good whisky. Of all of them, I liked the Bowmore the best. The peaty, smokey flavor blew me away. It was lip-smacking stuff.
The real change, however, came with Christmas last year when Leslie gave me two Riedel scotch glasses. I continued to drink scotch with one ice cube in it. Then one day I tried some Macallan without the ice. I hadn't liked Macallan up to that point, but suddenly the glass opened up the bouquet and I smelled... honey! I had never noticed it before with the ice-chilled whisky. And since then (admittedly only about six months) I have taken to drinking whisky neat or with some bottled water (side note: NEVER, NEVER let a whisky snob tell you that scotch should only be drunk neat. This is not true. Master distillers will tell you that adding water to scotch helps open up the drink. Try a side-by-side comparison if you don't believe me).
In any case, that was my introduction to the world of scotch. Since then, I have acquired a few more bottles and tried a number more, but the Islay malts remain my favorites. In my next blog I will talk about Bowmore, which is my favorite whisky, which explains why I own seven different bottles.
For whatever reason that changed with our one year wedding anniversary last year. Leslie and I went to Cityzen at the Mandarin Hotel (a truly amazing dining experience) for our anniversary dinner. After the dinner we retired to the lobby lounge for a drink and I ordered some Glenfiddich 18 year old on the rocks (I can feel the Scotch-o-philes shuddering at my choice of ice with my scotch). End result -- I loved it. Maybe it took the two glasses of wine with dinner to ready my palate, but for some reason I really liked it. That led to buying a bottle at the Montgomery County liquor store (Montgomery County in Maryland has its own liquor board separate from the state -- what a country we have!). Then I bought some Macallan 12 y.o., some Talisker 10 y.o., and Bowmore 12 y.o. Why those bottles? Because they were all on sale. A good enough reason, I think, to buy some good whisky. Of all of them, I liked the Bowmore the best. The peaty, smokey flavor blew me away. It was lip-smacking stuff.
The real change, however, came with Christmas last year when Leslie gave me two Riedel scotch glasses. I continued to drink scotch with one ice cube in it. Then one day I tried some Macallan without the ice. I hadn't liked Macallan up to that point, but suddenly the glass opened up the bouquet and I smelled... honey! I had never noticed it before with the ice-chilled whisky. And since then (admittedly only about six months) I have taken to drinking whisky neat or with some bottled water (side note: NEVER, NEVER let a whisky snob tell you that scotch should only be drunk neat. This is not true. Master distillers will tell you that adding water to scotch helps open up the drink. Try a side-by-side comparison if you don't believe me).
In any case, that was my introduction to the world of scotch. Since then, I have acquired a few more bottles and tried a number more, but the Islay malts remain my favorites. In my next blog I will talk about Bowmore, which is my favorite whisky, which explains why I own seven different bottles.
I Ricchi sono i povori
Proving once again that blogging and drinking don't mix, I managed to create my first blog (epi-q.blogsport.com) without having a Google account, which meant I can't edit my first blog. Argh. So now I am starting again with a new blog (aptly named Epi-Q2).
So down to business. In my last post I promised a review of I Ricchi, a Tuscan-style restaurant here in the Washington DC. Leslie and I went there for restaurant week (a fabulous invention) last Wednesday. I Ricchi has gone with August as Restaurant Month, which means the menu of three courses for $30.06 is available all month. My advice? Forget about it. Even at that reduced price, I Ricchi is not really worth it. The wines by the glass are overpriced (between $10 and $13), the risotto was good, but pedestrian, my pork tenderloin was a litttle dry, and the salmon was ok. The one bright spot were the desserts, which were refined and light, but couldn't salvage the night. For $100 for two people including one glass of wine each, you can do a lot better in the nation's capital. And for Italian food here, we still think Notti Bianche (Washington Post review is hyperlinked) is top-notch.
So down to business. In my last post I promised a review of I Ricchi, a Tuscan-style restaurant here in the Washington DC. Leslie and I went there for restaurant week (a fabulous invention) last Wednesday. I Ricchi has gone with August as Restaurant Month, which means the menu of three courses for $30.06 is available all month. My advice? Forget about it. Even at that reduced price, I Ricchi is not really worth it. The wines by the glass are overpriced (between $10 and $13), the risotto was good, but pedestrian, my pork tenderloin was a litttle dry, and the salmon was ok. The one bright spot were the desserts, which were refined and light, but couldn't salvage the night. For $100 for two people including one glass of wine each, you can do a lot better in the nation's capital. And for Italian food here, we still think Notti Bianche (Washington Post review is hyperlinked) is top-notch.
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