Whisky and Diwali

I have been lucky enough to be invited to Whyte and Mackay HQ this

week! The event is to celebrate the 30 year olds win at the international spirit's challenge and Diwali, the Indian festival of light.

If you have seen Richard Patersons website recently (www.themasterblender.com), you would have noticed he has been busy pairing Indian food and Scotch whisky. You can watch his youtube video here. http://tinyurl.com/yk3kwyr

Diwali is a national celebration in India with the most significant spiritual meaning being the celebration of "the awareness of the inner light". As we can imagine plenty of food will be be consumed during the fireworks. Lots of sweet "nibbles" and street style food.

I'm looking forward to seeing the sample room at Whyte and Mackay and listening to Richard talk us through each of the W&M range. This, of course, will be especially good with the food treats for Diwali! I'll take plenty of pictures and do a full report on here after the event. Be sure to keep an eye on Twitter as i'll keep you updated as the night progresses. Might even nip down the "Nevis" for a few drams afterwards.

In the mean time, If you have any questions you would like me to forward on to Richard, drop me a line.

Craig

Dalmore Sirius SOLD OUT

After only one week since it's release, Dalmore Sirius is sold out. There were only 12 decanters from the premium brand Dalmore. Each one with a heavy price tag of £10,000. The Sirius vintage is drawn from a single cask dating back to 1951.

You can't help but wonder if many, if any, of these bottles will be opened. Is there someone who has purchased one to savour and enjoy the fantastically precious contents? For me and everyone else in the real world, we can only imagine what the experience would be like. We'll just have to read the tasting notes! In the mean time, enjoy one of Dalmore's other fine whiskies! They're all good.

Craig

Linkwood 15 Gordon MacPhail

My first Malt review, and quite a fitting one. The Linkwood distillery is the closest one to where i live. When i say close, i mean a stones throw! The first time i tasted this particular bottling was around a year ago, courtesy of my Mother in law!!!! It was the only bottle she had and i was spontaneously introduced to my malt neighbour. Looking a little into the history of this distillery i found some interesting facts.

When the distillery reopened after the second world war, the manager was so worried about affecting the quality of the spirit that he forbade the removal of any spiders webs in the distillery.

Only 1% to 2% is marketed as single malt. The rest going into blends such as Bells, Dimple and Johnnie Walker.

I bought a bottle from the Gordon MacPhail shop for £30 on special offer. It wasn't that special as you can grab one online for approx £33. Here's what i think.

On the nose: I can only describe this as a fruity, whisky scented candle. Odd i know however, i get a sweet candle wax smell from it. Not unpleasant, just a bit different.

Palate: Smooth yet subtly spicy mid-way. Bertie basset from liquorice allsorts with a fudge tinge. Rich

Finish: Long, woody but soon dries the mouth.

All in all an enjoyable dram. Personally, it needs the water to open up the flavours. A bit too spicy/woody without. However, the whole point is to have it like Burger King, "Your way".

Enjoy, Craig

Whyte & Mackay Balmoral Chicken

I love this recipe. Chicken stuffed with haggis, wrapped in parma ham/bacon with a whisky sauce. So easy to make and make sure you've got plenty of tatties for mopping up the sauce! I've used Whyte & Mackay's special blend for the sauce due to the big, rich, fruity flavours. It's only these flavours that are left after cooking, the harshness of the alcohol disappears against the cream.

Ingredients (for 2 people):

2 skinless chicken breasts

6 slices of Parma ham or bacon if preferred

about 100g haggis

a little unsalted butter

Sauce ingredients:

150 ml Beef stock

100ml double cream

2 tbsp W&M special blend

40g unsalted butter

Salt and pepper

Pre heat oven to 200 degrees C. Place the chicken breast flat on a board and slice open a flap the length of the breast. Roll the haggis into a sausage shape and pop it in the chicken. Press the chicken closed. Lay a double size sheet of tin foil on a baking tray. Now put 3 slices of the ham/bacon per chicken breast flat on the tin foil. Place the chicken breast onto the ham and pull the edges over to cover the chicken. Brush with melted butter and grind a little pepper on top before covering with tin foil and popping in the oven. This will cook for 30 mins but make sure to uncover after 20 mins to allow the ham to go crispy.

While that's in the oven, you can get on with the sauce. Put the stock into a pan and reduce by 50%. Now add the cream and bring to the simmer. Add the whisky and stir in the butter bit by bit. Season with salt and plenty of pepper. Serve with new potatoes and veg of your choice.

Enjoy, Craig

Royal Salute 21 blend

Chivas Regal Royal Salute 21

Royal Salute is a leading prestige Scotch whisky, launched on the 2nd June in 1953 by Chivas Brothers in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation. Queen Elizabeth was presented with the first bottle of Royal Salute, decorated with her royal crest. All Royal Salute whiskies are aged for a minimum of 21 years, which allows the whisky to develop a rich and complex flavour.

The flagons are available in three colours, inspired by the jewels in the Coronation crown: sapphire, ruby and emerald.

This Whisky is produced at the Strathisla Distillery in Keith, Speyside. The oldest working distillery in North Scotland.

I was fortunate enough to get a bottle/flagon of this from a friend at work. The ceramic flagon is very nice and the velvet bag touch oozes a classy feel. However, i had my reservations as i had not enjoyed many blends prior to this one.

Initial impressions, the whiff of Cadbury's fruit and nut that hit me instantly when i opened it widened my eyes! No harshness from the alcohol, just sweet fruity chocolate. It's a lovely rich golden colour. As you would expect with a blend of this standard, the taste is very complex. There are far too many flavours for my amateur palate to pick out but the experience is a great one. Rich, powerful flavours. I am well aware that this whisky is expensive however it offers a great introduction to non whisky lovers. The taste a creamy smooth! So smooth in fact, i've yet to taste a smoother whisky. Such a rich long finish that the pause between sips causes a warm smile to appear on my face. Yum.

I've no intention to add grades/scores to my posts as i do not possess the skills required for such an art. I can only write of my experiences and say........ i like this one....... alot.

Craig

Stornoway Benedict

I've always loved Eggs Benedict, if you haven't tried it i seriously recommend! This recipe adds a scottish twist by including a slice of Stornoway black pudding between the ham and poached egg. This adds a fantastic peppery feature to the dish and complements the smooth sauce and salty ham. Any Hollandaise sauce recipe will do but i'll include the one i used.

Ingredients (per person):

Half an english muffin for toasting

Slice of black pudding

1 large egg

slice of ham/bacon/parma ham

light dusting of paprika.

Sauce:

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar

2 Tbsp water

6 Peppercorns

1 Bayleaf

125g unsalted butter

2 Egg yolks

Squeeze of lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

The main effort in this dish is in the making of the sauce. Add the white wine vinegar, water, peppercorns and bayleaf to a pan and reduce to approx 1 tbsp. While that is simmering away, separate 2 eggs and keep the yolks in a bowl. When your reduction is complete, strain into the egg yolks and whisk lightly. Place the bowl onto a pan of simmering water and add the butter a knob at a time lightly whisking as you go until melted. As this is happening, pop your muffin in the toaster, pop your egg in to poach and fry the black pudding for 2 mins either side. Remove your sauce from the heat, add a squeeze of lemon and season to taste.

When everything is ready, place the Muffin down first and stack the ham, black pudding and egg on top. Drizzle the hollandaise sauce over it and garnish with a light dusting of paprika. serve immediately!

This is great as a breakfast/brunch the morning after the night before or as a starter when friends are round. Hope you enjoy, Craig

Best blended whisky in the world

Congratulations to Richard Paterson, Whyte and Mackay's master blender. His 30 year old whyte and Mackay has just won the best whisky award at the International Spirits Challenge in London. I hope to give this one a try soon!

Have a look here http://www.youtube.com/user/masterblenderrichard#play/all/uploads-all/0/bzwKrkl_8-Y

A work in progress

Stand by everyone, i'm just working on some exciting(!) content to get my blog up and running. I'll be writing about my new discoveries in the world of Whisky along with my love of simple tasty food. In my opinion, the perfect dram or plate of food is the one you enjoy the most. Speak soon.