if God drank?
So if God wanted a drink what would he choose? I think He would prefer a drink worthy of some contemplation. Would He want a classic beer or perhaps a composite wine? Maybe it would have to be more complex than straightforward. Would a liqueur be in order, or brandy? No surely not brandy, but perhaps cognac. If not cognac, maybe it’s lesser known and sometimes overlooked cousin like the more humble armagnac. Jesus performed the miracle of wine at the wedding at Cana.
I am convinced if God did drink it would just have to be whisky! Simply put ‘it is the apex of drink’. Once you discover and appreciate whisky there’s nowhere to go from there but to the distilleries.
There is room for much discussion however. Wine is mentioned ‘arguably’ over 200x in the bible and ‘strong drink’ (ie whisky) is mentioned only about 19 times and this is mostly as a warning against abusing it. Barley however is mentioned 32x. Quite a case for wine, though after the initial hook of wine; I’m quite positive the graduate will inevitably ascend to whisky… I know God does not necessarily follow our lead but we are created in His image and likeness so our thoughts need to be considered. This nectar comes with a warning and as with most privileges comes the responsibility.
It is believed that the Egyptians practiced the art of distillation 3000 years before Christ but it was the Christian civilization that fine tuned things. The distillation of this ‘water of life’ or aqua vitae spread progressively through Europe, notably in Ireland and Scotland under its Gaelic name of Uisge Beatha or Usquebaugh, which eventually transforms into Uisge then Uisky, until becoming Whisky. Curing virtually any pain, it was then a medicinal potion which was prescribed as well as an ointment and remedy to drink. It was a long way from possessing the flavours and the subtlety of the ones we enjoy today until some of God’s caretakers (monks) assumed the job! These facts and virtues, literally miraculous, can justify its attributed name; the ‘Water of Life’ and should be the clincher for proof.
Now the Irish would have us know that God’s choice must be a ‘not so wee’ dram from Ireland. The Scottish distillers would want it known that He would go for a single malt. The ‘angels share’ takes about 100 million litres of their (scotch) product each year and this must signify the preference of heaven’s cherubs. Considering the quality product globally the question of what would be His choice of brands is the topic for another pondering. But considering brand names, a strong case could be made that it would just have to be ‘Maker’s Mark’.
I’ll drink to that!
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Be here tomorrow night for the 2nd annual Best Of Whisky Awards !
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from decanter.com
Drinks multi-millionaire Michael Domecq has been sentenced to 10 years for stealing more than US$14.6m from his own company – and tax fraud.
He has also been ordered to pay back more than US$4.5m.
According to reports, Domecq’s crimes were so complex that sentencing was delayed for two months in order to give him time to complete 17 years of tax returns.
The former president and co-owner of New York-based Domecq Importers, fled to Spain as US tax investigators and the FBI closed in on him during the late 1990s.
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from cnn news….
Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc., a unit of Fortune Brands Inc.(FO), said it sold the U.S. distribution rights for Dalmore Scotch Whisky to the brand’s owner, UB Group, for $58 million.
Beam Global said the transaction included Dalmore inventory it currently owned.
The pact also included a transition services agreement under which Beam Global’s Future Brands distribution joint venture will continue to handle the distribution of Dalmore.
Beam Global said the Dalmore brand generated annual sales of about $6 million.
Shares of Fortune Brands, a Deerfield, Ill., consumer product company, were up 26 cents at $73.86 in recent trading.
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…to go along with the “fun whisky quotes” page to the left
“Anybody who hates dogs and loves whiskey can’t be all bad.” (W.C. Fields, 1880-1946)
“Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.”(W.C. Fields, 1880-1946)
“The water was not fit to drink. To make it palatable, I had to add whisky. By diligent effort, I learnt to like it.” (Sir Winston Churchill)
“Beer does not taste like itself unless it is chasing a dram of neat whisky down the gullet preferably two drams”(Sir Compton MacKenzie writing in 1907.)
“Don’t you drink? I notice you speak slightingly of the bottle. I have drunk since I was fifteen and few things have given me more pleasure. When you work hard all day with your head and know you must work again the next day what else can change your ideas and make them run on a different plane like whisky? When you are cold and wet what else can warm you?”(Ernest Hemingway)
“Friendship is like whisky, the older, the better.”(Anon.)
“Give an Irishman lager for a month, and he’s a dead man. An Irishman is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him.”(Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi)
“The light music of whiskey falling into a glass - an agreeable interlude.”(James Joyce)
“I should never have switched from Scotch to Martini’s” (Humphrey Bogart’s last words)
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from… www.thefield.co.uk
With Burns’ Night looming, The Field investigates the pleasures of buying your own cask of malt whisky - enough to water a whole herd of haggis
Most MALT whiskies - even the big-name brands that boast their handmade, kilt-wearing credentials - are not what they should be. The average mass-produced malt whisky that you buy in Duty Free is made with zero passion by men in white coats staring at their distillery computers. Total brand uniformity is the name of the game. These whiskies are, of course, perfectly drinkable, but the stuff is invariably chill-filtered (which knocks the guts out of the whisky), then coloured with caramel and diluted. It is then packaged in a fancy tube and flogged at ruinous prices with a lot of spirit-of-the-glen marketing twaddle.
But whisky in its individual cask condition is virtually a different drink. It is utterly unmasked, at its own strength and with its own unique character. It is whisky for real men and women. Organisations such as the Scotch Malt Whisky Society offer special bottlings from selected casks. But have you ever thought of owning your own private cask, its individuality preserved - whisky the way God intended it?
Years ago I co-invested in a hogshead of Springbank, a real Rolls Royce of a malt from Campbeltown in the Mull of Kintyre. It is one of three survivors of a whisky town that once boasted more than 30 distilleries. I am now the proud owner of some 120 bottles of sublime 13-year-old malt. As a dram it’s not just good, it’s utterly ambrosial: a vanilla-tinted, creamy toffee, floral spirit that bursts in the mouth with every delicious sip. It is about 55 per cent alcohol, so I add a dash of Evian water to the glass to calm it down. I have learnt to chuck away the cork when I open a new bottle for guests after dinner as there’s never anything left by the end of the night.
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Coming Soon
The much anticipated 2nd Annual Best of Whisky Awards 2007
Presented by our very own Malt Monk
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