The Secret Of Scotland's Islay Malt Whiskeys

The Secret Of Scotland's Islay Malt Whiskeys -- CBS  

(CBS News) We all know Scotch whisky comes from Scotland. But to true Scotch drinkers, just WHERE in Scotland makes all the difference. Willem Marx takes us on a tasting tour: At the outermost edge of Scotland's wild Atlantic coastline lies a small island with a big reputation. The Isle of Islay is called the "Queen of the Hebrides" for its natural beauty, and can seem rather a peaceful little spot. But the sleepy harbors, flowery meadows and ancient villages today play host to an increasingly global industry. While Jamaica is liked for its rums, and Madeira known for its sherries, this island is loved and famous for its unique-tasting Scotch whiskys, known as Islay malts. Islay has just over 3,000 year-round residents, but in their midst nine whisky distilleries are thriving.

Read more ....  

My Comment: Makes me want to move to Scotland

Original Recipe For Jack Daniel's Found

The history of Jack Daniel's is a mystery because the distillery's early records were destroyed in a courthouse fire Photo: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Original Recipe For Jack Daniel's Found In Welsh Book Of Herbal Remedies -- The Telegraph

The original recipe for legendary American whiskey Jack Daniel's has been discovered in a book of herbal remedies in Wales, it has been claimed.

Businessman Mark Evans, 54, was researching his family history when he discovered the recipe in a book of herbal remedies.

It was written in 1853 by his great-great grandmother who was called Daniels and was a local herbalist in Llanelli, South Wales.

Her brother-in-law left the Welsh town at about the same time to move to Lynchburg Tennessee where the Jack Daniel's distillery was opened three years later.

And the Jack Daniel's website states the founder of the distillery was from Wales.

Read more ....

My Comment: Ice tea spiked with Jack Daniels .... a deadly combination.

What Would Shackleton's Whisky Taste Like?

From the BBC:

After a century buried in the Antarctic ice, a rare batch of whisky that belonged to the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton is to be recovered. So what might it taste like?

It's been on the rocks for the last 100 years, buried under two feet of Antarctic ice. Now the two cases of "Rare Old" brand Mackinlay and Co whisky are to be retrieved.

A team of New Zealand explorers heading out in January has been asked by Whyte & Mackay, the company that now owns Mackinlay and Co, to get a sample of the drink. The crates were left behind by Sir Ernest Shackleton when he abandoned his mission to the South Pole in 1909.

Read more ....

My Comment: I will now formally volunteer to be a taster for any whiskey that is retrieved.

Cheating The Angels

Whiskey barrels in the Jack Daniels destillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee.
(Photo from Wikimedia)

From Popsci:

A new plan is raising eyebrows in the conservative whisky industry

At the New York WhiskyFest this week, nobody wanted to talk much about technological innovations in the industry. Most of the whisky professionals I asked assured me that there was no such thing as innovation at their tradition-steeped distillery -- they were doing everything the same way it had been done for generations, thank you very much. Some distillers seemed put out that their companies had recently embraced such cutting-edge twentieth-century technology as labelling barrels with bar codes. The marketing side of the business is innovating to beat the band -- look for a new Irish whiskey called Feckin and a new rye called (rī)1 coming soon to bars near you -- but the production side remains defiantly old-fangled.

Read more ....