Published in Whisky Magazine Issue 60 on 10/11/2006.
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Malt moments
Some months are just packed with events you just want to savour,says Rob Allanson
Well an incredible amount has happened since the last issue of Whisky Magazine hit the stands.
There has been a lot of what you could call ‘malt moments’.
The first, and most life changing, has to be that I have joined the great fatherhood club.
Not the only birth in the whisky world as Scott Davidson, of Glencairn Crystal fame, has also become a father for the first time, so life has indeed changed for the pair of us.
Although I had wonderful visions of heading home from the hospital and cracking open some magic malt (with my wife’s blessing), life intervened.
I got back, opened a beer, managed half of it and promptly fell asleep.
So much for the malt moment.
However I redeemed myself on a recent trip to Speyside. There is something about getting up to this wonderful region of Scotland and having a dram or two.
There is a hard to explain, but very appreciable factor drinking in the heart of a dram’s creation. The weather, the landscape and the people all combine to make for some wonderful moments.
First to the Macallan. Sipping a Fine Oak 18 year old in the newly refurbished Easter Elchies House, it was easy to realise that this particular trip was going to be a bit special.
The next day lived up to the first. I know there is the saying about waiting for the sun to go over the yardarm before drinking, but when you are at Glenfarclas with George Grant at 9am and he offers something special…well who can refuse.
This family run company is consistently punching above its weight and producing some cracking whisky – the 1990 George offered, despite the early start, confirmed everything about this exciting producer.
Next Gordon and MacPhail. Deep in the bowels of the company is the sample room.
Hundreds of bottles line the shelves here, looked after by Euan Mackintosh The mind and the taste buds boggled as Euan asked if I had seen the barrel of Mortlach 1938 stashed in the warehouse, while reaching for the sample bottle.
Well what can you say. A true privilege to taste such a venerable whisky that has not suffered from its years in the cask.
A brief spell with Euan Shand and Mark Watt at Duncan Taylor, seeing their small but perfectly formed bottling line and storage area, unusually housed in a former ice cream warehouse, made me realise a decent drop can come from the most unexpected places.
Ok now I know some of these experiences are something that the position of Editor affords, but just standing in Speyside among the distilleries is something we can all enjoy, and something we should do.
Pilgrimage to the birthplace of our favourite malts helps with our understanding of the good stuff.
The smell of a dunnage warehouse, the throb and roar of the stills especially if they are direct gas fired, the wonderful fruity smell of the spirit running off and, if you can, walking among the barrels of sleeping whisky, all add up to really appreciating the malt you sit down with or share with friends.
Throw in the passion and knowledge of the people you meet at the distilleries and the next time you sip the amber nectar, believe me, you look at it in different way.
Let’s face it, even just drinking whisky outside in the snow, rain, sun, fog or mulchy leaf smell of autumn can open your senses to something else in the whisky you call friend.
Try getting out of the ordinary and see if it brings something extraordinary…go on it can be fun.
By Rob Allanson
Section : From the Editor
Page number : 5
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