Boozy Tourism: Florida

Yay! Florida! Yes, it is probably one of the last places I’d ever choose to go on holiday but… why not? The thinking here was that it is a useful halfway point (in a way) between Mrs Cake and I, and our relatives in Canada. Since we wouldn’t be going to see them at Christmas this year, why not meet for a holiday? Somewhere hot. And go to Disney World. What? You heard me.

Yes, I have two young nieces (and an overenthusiastic brother-in-law (set to vibrate)) who would love the fuck out of a week in theme parks, water parks and whatever else goes on out there. For me it could be like Fear and Loathing on the Cartoon Trail… it sounded fun – bizarre, but fun – so I hatched a plan to take my hip flask with me and just get hammered the whole time.

Before you waste any time reading further only to be disappointed; I didn’t bother taking my hipflask. I’m not an alcoholic! I need to keep reminding myself of that. Nearly everywhere I go now, I say to myself, “hey, this would be fun if you took your hipflask”… but yeah, then I’d be an alcoholic. There’s a time and a place. I just need to find a sensible way of devising what time and place that is. Moving on.

Duty Free part 1

Outward duty free of course. That’s right, the discerning booze tourist needs to pick something up to enjoy during the holiday. You can always get something when you get there, but I’d already decided that any purchases made in the states would be for bringing home.

So I had a look around, and most of the stuff was more than I wanted to pay. I ended up plumping for a Dewar’s 12 blend at something like £8 off (£19.99).

It turns out I’ve been done. It’s just a rebranding of the 12 year old “double aged” that I picked up about 3 years ago in Spain and if it wasn’t £8 off, it would be a complete rip-off. Sure, the bottle is more attractive and it actually comes with a stopper instead of a screwcap, but it tastes pretty much the same and, even worse, when I do the £ to cl calculation, it turns out I’ve paid exactly the same amount I did back then – to like, 3 decimal places (£0.285 per cl – what the actual fuck?). I mean, I wouldn’t mind but I thought I was getting something I hadn’t tried before – and at a discount.

Did I enjoy it though? Well, it was all right. It still has the grainy element I associate with cheapish blends, and this one isn’t even all that cheap. It’s no better than a Grouse, a Whyte and MacKay, or even a number of the supermarket blends. Still, it was nice to have something to relax with after a long day out in Florida, or on the parks, or just to accompany a cigar in the afternoon on the resort.

Dewar's 12

Mission

It would be a few days before our Canadian family would join us so Mrs Cake and I rented a car and did touristy things like visiting the NASA centre and swimming with manatees. I also used the mobility to indulge my search for bourbon. I figured I’d pick up one bottle from a liquor store and one from the duty free.

We didn’t have any trouble finding liquor stores, there were plenty about, it’s just that none of them were particularly good. Next time I’ll have to do some liquor store research in advance along with the normal product research.

I’d made a shortlist of targets, but I was finding the same uninteresting products like Jack Daniels (and varieties) and Jim Beam (and varieties) in every store. One had the Bookers’, which I’ve read is supposed to be the best, but I didn’t want to blow $80 in one go.

One of the stores had a few varieties of moonshine, which I wish I’d considered now, but I’d gone prepared only to pick up bourbon. In the end I opted for this – it’s a single barrel edition of Four Roses. Four Roses was on my shortlist, but I found soon after that I’d specified a limited edition, and while this single barrel is considered better than the standard edition, it isn’t the imited edition I was after. It’s still interesting though, and at $42 + tax, a modest price.

Four Roses is made from 2 different mashbills  and 5 different yeast strains, making 10 different recipes. There are a variety of bottlings comprised of blends of various recipes, but these single barrel ones are, as suggested by the name, produced from one recipe – and indeed, one barrel.

It’s bottled at an encouraging 50%, with the warehouse location and barrel number handwritten on each label. Quite a nice touch. You can learn a bit more here.

That would be all the booze hunting till the end of the holiday, though I assure you, you can buy bottles of spirits in the resorts. It’s just the selection isn’t extensive and I’m not making any guarantees about the price – they don’t put prices on anything in the “general store” at the Port Orleans Riverside resort, and it’s probably a case of if you have to ask, you can’t afford it, but you probably need it.

a gre't fuck off manatee

Disney World

There is no, repeat: no booze at the Magic Kingdom. ”How can it possibly be magic, then?”  you may well ask. “Is it all psychedelics and weed?”

No, this isn’t San Francisco in the early-mid 60s! It’s for kids. I know! I figured there must be some bars there, you know, fo’ t’dads. But no, in the Magic Kingdom park itself not even the restaurants sell beer. [I have heard talk of a secret VIP venue where you can get a drink, but… I’m not a secret VIP].

So er, yeh. Nothing much else for us to talk about there unless you want to hear about rides (there’s a bit on the log flume where I definitely heard the line, “come on, show us yer balls” in the song that was being played) or the weather, or the Princess Breakfast where you have an extortionately priced but disproportionately average breakfast while actresses dressed as Disney “princesses” circle the tables posing for photos with the children. Snow White called me Grumpy despite having a beaming smile on my face at the time. I looked around, “Grumpy? I’m feeling positively jovial – in spite of the aforementioned breakfast discrepancy.” She clarified it was because I had a beard, which I accepted at the time, but then; all the dwarves have beards don’t they? Except Dopey. 

Don’t worry the prohibition does not stretch over the rest of the site. In Downtown Disney for example, there are a number of themed bars, stands selling shit margaritas for $5 a time, restaurants and even a bowling alley that is remarkable value compared to what you have to pay to bowl here in the UK. The beer tends to be interesting and good quality though at an average price of $8.50 perhaps a little pricey.

You can also get ice cold Ethiopian beers at the Animal Kingdom park, enjoy a burger with a beer at the Typhoon Lagoon waterpark and authentic German beers at the Biergarten buffet at Epcot. Just be warned, they can be a bit funny about IDs. Your UK driving license should be fine, but one “cast member” advised us that some places insist on seeing your passport. If you don’t want to carry that around with you, you can take a photo of the appropriate page and keep it on your phone. It wasn’t a problem for us though; I suppose I’m wrinkly enough. Mind you, I recall now one instance where they asked for ID and I went, “how about if I do this?” then smiled to show my wrinkles. She just looked at me, probably thinking I thought I could bypass the ID by smiling.

So I didn’t really get hammered while I was there – I didn’t really give it my best effort if I’m being honest, but I did try to maintain the British tradition of getting slightly loaded before heading out in the evening and I did enjoy the beers we picked up along the way.

Here’s a little breakdown (in association with my Untappd account) of all the beers I was able to procure throughout the holiday and (where possible) the venue.

Magic Hat Dream Machine (5.7%) – Splitsville, Downtown Disney. An IPL if I remember correctly.I enjoyed it very much, and the food that accompanied it. 4.5/5

Michelob AmberBock, Anheuser Busch (5.1%) – Cody’s Roadhouse, Crystal River. A nice traditional type bar that you’ve seen on TV and films countless times. So familiar in fact that you look around and wonder when a fight is going to break out or someone’s going to call you “boy” and state that you’re not from around there. This doesn’t happen though because Americans are nice, ordinary people like anyone else.  4/5

Redhook Longhammer IPA (6.2%) – Orlando supermarket. The first of two varieties of IPA bought for keeping in our room fridge. 4/5

Rebel IPA, Boston Beer Company/Samuel Adams (6.5%) – Orlando supermarket. And the second. 4/5

Yuengling Traditional (4.4%) – Splitsville. We were in a bit of a hurry, but were able to get my second one “to go”. Bonus. 4/5

St George Beer, Kombolcha Brewery (4.5%) – Animal Kingdom. Ethiopian lager served from a stand at the Animal Kingdom. A bit picky about IDs, but worth the hassle for the ice cold condition it came in. 3.5/5

Longboard Island Lager, Kona Brewing Company (4.6%) – Animal Kingdom Lodge. An African themed restaurant where the food is Indian and the beer is American. If you’re from the UK you aren’t going to be impressed by the curries on offer here, but at least there’s a good variety of strong beers. 3/5

Hopageddon, Napa Smith Brewery (9.2%) – Animal Kingdom Lodge. 4/5

Ranger American IPA, New Belgium Brewing Company (6.5%) – Animal Kingdom Lodge – I chose to have another beer instead of dessert. 4/5

Session Black Lager, Full Sail Brewing Company (5.4%) – 50s Primetime Café. Fucking bizarre place where menacing, over-sized waiters prowl around insisting you don’t rest your elbows on the fucking tables. Who’s the fucking customer here? Again, decent beer helps to compensate for the slightly uncomfortable atmosphere that is supposed to be fun and sub-par food. 3.5/5

Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch (4.2%) – I’m not proud of it, but my brother-in-law bought some cans for the resort. 2.5/5

Schofferhofer Hefeweizen, Binding Brauerei (5%) – Biergarten Restaurant. I think you can get this in bottles at Aldi. 4/5

Altenmunster Oktoberfest, Allgauer Brauhaus (5.5%) – Biergarten Restaurant – there were four German beers to choose from, and I would have had them all, but after a couple of visits to the buffet I just wanted to get out of there. Most expensive buffet ever, and they actually expected a tip at the end – when you’d been serving yourself the whole time. 3.5/5

So you can see, there’s                 quite a lot of beer to explore when you’re in the United States. Looking back over the star ratings I’ve given these, I see I’ve given 4 out of 5 on no fewer than 7 occasions. That’s pretty remarkable. So, on to…

Duty Free part 2

Ah, the return leg. One last thing to look forward to before a long, uncomfortable and sleepless night flight, jet lag and a return to work. There’s something soul-destroying about stepping off a plane into a cold Manchester Airport and knowing for the first time in a week, that this temperature isn’t the air conditioning. This is life. Your life. How do you do it? And the duty free was never going to stave off the gathering grey skies. Problem is, you just never know what to expect from Duty Free – you can only hope there’s a rich selection of interesting products to choose from. Aaaaaand… at Orlando Airport, there isn’t.

The only bourbon they had that wasn’t some variety of Jack Daniels, Jim Beam or Woodford Reserve was Bulleit, and that wasn’t on my wishlist, nor did I even know what it was at the time – I’ve since checked the Whisky Bible, and it seems it’s very good though.

The disappointment was almost crushing. I decided to look to the scotch for inspiration. That turned out to consist of the usual selection of Johnnie Walkers, Ballantines, Bell’s’… they did have the Highland Park Harald at $96 but… this just won’t do.

I seriously considered getting the Harald but, realising I hadn’t opened the Einar that I’d picked up in Spain yet and ultimately, even if they didn’t have specific bourbons I wanted, I may as well get bourbon anyway cos: when else am I going to buy bourbon if it isn’t when I’m in the United States?

So I went for these: different varieties of brands I was already familiar with. One is the Woodford Reserve Double Oaked (45.2% ABV and $49 for 75cl) and the other is Jim Beam Black 8 year old (43% and a bargainous $25 for one litre!).

These should be products that are ripe for comparison really, since both are aged longer than their entry level counterparts – the white Jim Beam is aged for only 4 years.

Interestingly, that Jim Beam Black works out in terms of cl per pound to be the third cheapest whisky I’ve ever bought. That’s amazing because only the Cutty Sark I bought in Spain and Wall Street (which isn’t even really whisky) from Vietnam have been cheaper.

So I’m not overly excited about these, but I do at least have two poker nights coming up this month, so I’ll save at least two of my purchases for those. Also, from what I can tell so far, you can’t get the Woodford Reserve Double Oaked in the UK [this has since turned out not to be true], so I have at least achieved one of my booze tourism aims there [no, I haven’t]. You’ll just have to join me later for my verdict on them. And I really hope you do.

In the meantime, a self-imposed prohibition continues in my life until the mini-Cake comes along. I’m sure I’ll write about how hellish it has been eventually, but in the meantime I’ve always got booze related posts waiting for you. And next week I can see that the focus will shift to absinthe once again. See you back here for that.

Booze Battle: Dewar's 12 vs Jim McEwan's Symphony

In a slight change to this week’s scheduled post, we have a comparative tasting of two kinds of blended scotch. On the one hand we have Dewar’s 12 year old, “double aged” while on the other it’s Jim McEwan’s Symphony No. 1.

If you’ve been to this blog before, you might be aware that I’ve had the Dewar’s for some time now, having picked up a litre bottle in Duty Free last September. It’s been a bit of a grower. I wouldn’t call it special, but it ain’t bad at all. I’d almost completely finished it, but I decided to hang on to the last dram until I’d procured another blend to compare it with and, thanks to my recent distilgrimage to Islay, I had a contender.

 Jim McEwan’s Symphony No 1 was available in the Bruichladdich distillery shop. Jim is Bruichladdich’s master distiller and is highly respected having worked for 38 years at Bowmore from the age of 15 before moving to Bruichladdich in 2001. I’ve mentioned him on this blog before, way back in the beginning when I was professing a liking for the Bruichladdich Rocks expression. He is probably the first individual I ever heard of in the industry, so I was chomping at the bit to find out what this blend, which is comprised of Islay, Speyside, Highland and Lowland malts, was like. It doesn’t say anything about containing grain whisky in the mix, so I’m not sure what that might mean – because it doesn’t say anything about being a blended malt or vatted malt either.

the symphony

I’ve decided to do things a little differently this time and compare each whisky across a number of categories, just for the sake of variety. In spite of all this, there is only one statistic that really counts, and that is how tasty the whisky is.

The first thing I suppose we should discuss is price. These blends are not equally matched in that respect. The Dewar’s was a Duty Free purchase, and that showed up on my credit card bill at £28.53 for a litre. That’s roughly what you’d be looking to pay in a supermarket for 70cl generally, so it isn’t a cheap blend. I can’t say that it strikes me as much better than your standard Whyte and MacKay Special, but it sure costs about £10+ more.

Jim McEwan’s Symphony no 1 on the other hand comes in at a stunningly wallet-friendly £13 for 70cl. You’ve got to give it a go at that price. In comparison then, you’re getting 5.38cl to the pound with Symphony and only 3.51cl to the pound with the Dewar’s – and that one’s at Duty Free prices.

Price category winner: Jim McEwan’s Symphony No 1

I suppose that while we’re talking price, we should also talk availability. Dewar’s is pretty widely available but as far as I can tell so far, Symphony is only available from the Bruichladdich distillery shop. So while that would potentially make it more sought after, it means you’re looking at a trip to Islay to get hold of a bottle. Not that you would, but if you did go to Islay for the express purpose of buying a bottle of Symphony No 1, that could potentially increase the cost of your purchase from £13 to… well, let’s take the cost of my trip:

Diesel £70

Ferry £80 (for two people and a car – you don’t want to go on your own, do you?)

Accommodation £90

So not including incidental expenses and assuming you live in Manchester, or somewhere £70 in fuel away… you’d be looking at £253. Not such a bargain now, eh? But I’m not going to look at it like that, because my trip was a nice weekend away, and I bought a couple of other bottles anyway – it was more a case of, well, while I’m here, I may as well pick up a bottle of that also…

Since making my purchase, and seeking Symphony out on the internet, I’ve found two auction sites; one where a bottle was sold for £25, and another where the bottle was expected to sell for £75 to £100. Quite astounding, really. It all combines to give Symphony an air of mystique that I hoped it could live up to.

Make your own mind up who wins the availability category. Do you prefer exclusive or readily available? I think it depends. The rarity of Symphony makes me happy because I chose to buy a bottle without knowing anything about it, but if I was you reading this, and I wanted one, I’d find it annoying.

Ok, let’s look at aesthetic considerations:

Does it come in a box? Dewar’s does – 1 point. Yes, bottles are cooler than boxes, but it’s going to come in a bottle anyway, and if your booze cupboard is full, a box gives you further storage options.

Which is the cooler shaped bottle? A tough one, this. Neither is particularly special, but I’m going to award the point to Dewar’s for being a bit stubbier and more robust looking.

Screw-top or cork? Dewar’s is a screw top, but Symphony has a cork, and I think as such, is the first blend I’ve ever owned that has a cork. It definitely gets a point for that.

What about the label? I can’t say I’m a massive fan of that Dewar’s label that has like a cutout section. I’m thinking it would be more at home on a bottle of ale. However, the Symphony label is probably the worst I’ve ever seen. It looks like the cover of one of those £1.99 compilation CDs that you get in Tesco or Wilkinsons. Holy shit; who thought that was a good idea? So… I was tempted not to give any points here, but I suppose it will have to go to Dewar’s.

Aesthetic considerations winner: Dewar’s by 3 points to 1.

Next we have the very important consideration of alcohol content. Dewar’s is a very standard 40%, nothing remarkable there but, wait a minute, what’s this? Symphony is a groin-stirring 46%! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a blend greater than 43% before. A quick look on The Whisky Exchange confirms that 40% is far more common, though you do get a few blended malts at 46%. Does this suggest Jim McEwan’s Symphony no 1 is a blended malt? Seems highly unlikely at £13 a bottle, but perhaps that’s a reward for making the trip out to Islay. Let’s hope so. I’d like to mention at this point that I did e-mail Bruichladdich to ask for clarification on this issue, and they haven’t replied as yet. I know they must be very busy.

Strength winner: It has to be the Symphony.

So that brings us to the important stuff. Cost and therefore value for money might have some effect on the overall rating but really, it’s all about how good does the whisky taste?

I’m not going to repeat myself too much in regard to the Dewar’s. It was decent, but the presence of grain was as self evident as any of the cheaper blends I’ve tried so far. I doubt I’d spend £25 on a bottle in future. I won’t shy away from trying some of their other expressions though – the Signature is supposed to be excellent I hear, however at £195 at The Whisky Exchange, it must figure way down my list of priorities.

Mostly then, I intend to talk about Jim McEwan’s Symphony No 1.

Ok, to my relatively inexperienced palate, this is quite a unique blend. I’ve tried all the normal ones and one or two of the more obscure ones, but I haven’t tasted a blend like this before. It’s light, playful and well-balanced. I suspect there is some grain in there, but it isn’t as obvious as I have come to expect.

In terms of nose, I’d say there’s white wine vinegar (but not in a bad way), tobacco, marzipan and citrus, while on the palate it’s quite fruity and suggests there may have been some sherry cask aging in there somewhere. There’s also a herby aroma, but I can’t quite identify which one… could be sage, but I think it will take a bit more tasting to be sure.

the symphony

This is very easy drinking, in fact, let’s not beat around the bush; it’s superb – and I never considered adding water even for a second. Why ruin it? I want to say things like ‘for a blend this is superb’ and ‘for £13, this is superb’, but no matter what you prefix it with, it is superb – which is good because it’s ‘super’ with an extra ‘b’. I wish I’d picked up another couple of bottles because it’s cheap enough to drink every day – not that I’m allowed to drink everyday, but I probably would, if left to my own devices. It’s better than that though. I doubt I’ll ever get to buy another bottle of this, but it is going straight to the head of a new list called “buy on sight”. It is actually special enough to keep in the cupboard and pull out for a treat. So I think I may have found it; that special blend that it’s easy to love. Nice one, Jim McEwan; you’ve done it again.

That’s me done for this week, then. If you’ve been in the UK for the last couple of weeks you’ll be aware that it has been drinking weather for a good long while now. We are actually having a summer. Remember it because the last one was seven years ago, and it could be that long before the next one. What this means in the short term is that it’s the weekend and there’s no excuse (aside from being skint) for not getting out and enjoying it. Whether it’s drinks in the garden or out in town, it’s time to get your drink on. Sadly I’ll be spending most of tomorrow in a hot venue listening to heavy music at Sound Control’s Summerjam festival. Ah, but what about Sunday? Sunday afternoon will be spent in various beer gardens, exercising my pint muscles. It’s going to be a good one all round. I hope yours is too. Laters.

Home tasting like a boss

One Friday night in the not so distant past, I thought it might be nice to conduct a tasting of all the whiskies I then had available, and now it’s time to give you an overview of the method and results.

get stuck in

As you can imagine, the main outcome was that it was a lot of fun. The five whiskies that you can see in the picture there were comprised of one blended scotch (Dewar’s 12 year old, double aged, 40% ABV), one Irish single pot still (Green Spot, 40% ABV), one Speyside single malt (Balvenie 12 year old, double wood, 40% ABV), one Orkney single malt (Gordon and MacPhail’s bottling of Scapa, distilled 2001, 43% ABV) and one Islay single malt (Caol Ila 18 year old, 43% ABV).

Due to a number of consecutive breakages I only had one of the glasses left that I have taken to drinking whisky out of, so I had to adapt my practices for this experiment, and got out five of these almost spherical rocks glasses. I know they’re not ideal, but they’re not that bad at holding aromas. The main problem is that they are slightly too large to hold comfortably, and slightly too heavy.

I poured [slightly more than] a little dribble of a different whisky into each glass and carried them through to the living room, where Mrs Cake immediately voiced her displeasure at seeing so much whisky queuing up for tasting in one go – as if this is something I do all the time. No; this was the first time – and it was the weekend. It doesn’t mean I won’t do it again when I have 5 other different whiskies to taste, but actually, the last time I did anything even slightly like this was probably around a year ago when I had 3 bottles of vodka in all at the same time. So cool yer boots, missy!

To be fair, she kind of had a point; it did turn out that there was far more whisky there than I had anticipated. There’s got to be enough to get a good taste though, hasn’t there?

The first thing I learned – and probably the most useful thing – was that in terms of analysis, I believe I got more value by tasting multiple whiskies at once in whatever order I fancied, than I usually get by just drinking one after the other, one at a time. I found that the differences in nose and on the palate helped me to ascertain and analyse what those differences were – because each whisky gives some kind of reference point by which to judge the others. I haven’t seen any whisky experts explicitly recommend this method before, so maybe it’s not the done thing, but as your attorney, I recommend you try this next time you have a chance. If you just drink one after the other, you can only compare each to the last, but if you mix and match, you can build up a complex comparative picture – this one is peatier than that one, but not than that one, this one is fruitier, this is oilier etc, etc…

So; down to the nitty-gritty then.

Being aware that generally you should taste Islay malts last as they have more [let’s say] aggressive flavours that can linger on the palate and affect your judgement of succeeding whiskies, I decided to let the Caol Ila sit it out, untouched at the end of the queue until all the other glasses had been drained – as a kind of treat to round off the experiment. Would it be a case of save the best till last?

I didn’t add water to any of these, since I figured at 40 and 43%, none were really strong enough to warrant watering down. Certain whiskies supposedly develop with water, but not only have I never had that particular experience myself (I can always taste the water - except when drinking cask strength bottlings), it would also have made the comparison harder to conduct in just this one sitting.

Interesting things I noticed

The most interesting thing, other than my tasting experience being enhanced by tasting numerous whiskies at once, was that for the first time ever I was able to pick out different component aromas and flavours from some of the samples. Not that many, to be brutally honest, but some, and some is an improvement on none, and demonstrates a development in my tasting faculties.

In the Balvenie for example, I noticed a very hoppy aroma – like when you walk past a pub first thing on a Sunday morning. In contrast, Green Spot, was very fruity in the nose. Balvenie, as I said in my recent On the Nice List post, really reveals its complexities and shows its worth when compared alongside other whiskies – as, it turns out, does Green Spot. So again, both did quite well here. I’ve yet to derive much enjoyment from this expression of Balvenie on its own (unlike Green Spot), but perhaps that will come with time (bear with me and watch this space…)

 

I provisionally ranked the contestants for fragrance – just out of interest really – but unfortunately I made my notes on an old envelope that has since been lost. All I remember is that surprisingly the Scapa came out as least fragrant and the Caol Ila as most but, you know, Caol Ila literally jumps out of the glass - and then tries to smother you (in a good way, of course, like a lovely bosom let’s say).

On the palate, as real whisky aficionados say, all the whiskies performed well. I didn’t think it would be fair to say this blend is inferior to that single malt when the samples were drawn from a number of different ages, regions and styles, so I decided early on that there would be no overall winners and losers. If you’re satisfied with them all, let’s leave it at that.

I would like to say though, that the Dewar’s measured up nicely alongside some renowned and some expensive whiskies. It was probably the least complex and classy of those on offer… but it was the only blend, and the cheapest (though not particularly cheap for a blend). If the test had comprised more blends at or below the Dewar’s end of the price spectrum, I have a feeling it might have fared very well – though I suppose that remains to be seen, and would depend on which other blends they were!

If there was any disappointment at all, it was that Scapa didn’t distinguish itself as much as I thought it might. I consider it to be a well balanced whisky, but it paled in comparison to the others – no unpleasant flavours, but no outstanding pleasant ones either.

Similarly, Caol Ila’s 18 year old – while still an enjoyable malt – didn’t go on to outperform the others as I had expected (and secretly hoped) it would. At this stage it is looking like the 12 year old expression is superior, and far superior value at half the price of its older, sweeter tasting brother.

To be fair, most of these bottles still have a long way to go I’m sure, before they have finished revealing their mysteries to me. As ever, I’ll let you know if I have any other particularly interesting impressions as I go along. The tasting proved to be a fun way to spend a Friday night at home, as well as a satisfying one. Let’s hope I have occasion to do it again soon(ish).

Before I go, I suppose I should give you a bit of a heads-up as to what’s to come in the short term. I’ll have a post for you next Friday as usual, but after that I’ll be on holiday for a couple of weeks, so it will be complete radio silence I’m afraid.  I’ll try to get a post up on 19 April, but no guarantees at this point.

The missus and I are actually going on what we are calling “Honeymoon Part 2”, to Vietnam. Hopefully that will give me plenty of things to write future posts about. I’m particularly looking forward to getting hold of some Mekong Whisky, and hoping to find some decent Japanese malts in the Duty Free. If not… I’m sure I’ll find something in the Duty Free… I figured also that I’d pick something up at Manchester Airport on the way out, so that I’ve got something to accompany me for the duration. I’m looking forward to that, too!

Then there’s  all the other things that there are to look forward to, but they’re not relevant to this blog, so I’ll leave it here. For now, have yourself a great weekend, and see you next week.

Vintage Ale - Beer-in-a-box

As part of last year’s Christmas festivities, Mrs Cake decided to elevate her festive enthusiasm to new heights by creating an advent calendar for me. It wasn’t two bits of card with flaps concealing uninspiring chocolate in the shape of generic yuletide objects though, it was five carrier bags of presents that represented a treat a day – small things mostly; there were at least three Mars bars and Dairy Milks on separate days, but there was also a pack of cookies, a bag of Opal Fruits, chocolate money, Twiglets, Brannigans crisps, and… five individually wrapped beers.

Don’t get too excited, they were all from Aldi, and some bore the legend, “bottled exclusively for Aldi”, but cast your snobbery aside. They were all nice, and Mrs Cake tells me, only £1 each (with one exception). These were of the premium beer variety, so in Tesco you’d be paying at least double for something similar to these.

The most interesting of the beers though, was this one; Bateman’s Premium Vintage Ale. This one was so special that it came in its own box – which led to some confusion at first, since I accidentally found it in the ‘calendar’ too early. “No!” cried Mrs Cake.

“That’ll be a pretty special beer if it comes in a box!” I exclaimed, while actually thinking it must be a small bottle of whisky. I didn’t want her to know I knew, and secretly made sure it was the right way up so that the cork wouldn’t damage the bottle’s contents.

So when 24 December came and it was finally time to open it, it turned out that it had been a beer in a box all along. I wasn’t disappointed though, as Mrs Cake had already put her proper presents under the tree, and one was definitely a bottle of whisky.

Also, I don’t think I’d seen a beer in a box before, and this one said, “limited release – Vintage Ale”. In fact, it was even numbered (out of 5000), though I didn’t make a note of what number it was – it was too high to be of any interest to me.

Vintage ale – I don’t think I’d heard that term before. It suggests it’s old, a supposition that was to some extent reinforced by the information on the box, which included a rather charming story about some cases of barley wine (strong beer) being forgotten about for thirty odd years, then discovered and found to be delicious.

 

Exciting stuff until you read on and discover that the bottle you’re holding isn’t one of those. It is inspired by the discovery of those cases. There’s no information on Bateman’s website, and the information on the box was incomplete, but this blog fills in the gaps. It seems the brewers attempted to recreate the old brew, and aged it in oak casks for a comparatively brief seven months. It all ends with your favourite grocery store and mine, Aldi, being pleased to distribute them. They still had some in stock at £3.29 a bottle for some time after Christmas, but sadly I’ve been too slow getting this post out, and by now I’m fairly sure they’re all gone.

The word ‘vintage’, I have since found out, doesn’t necessarily mean ‘old’. The term actually relates to the year in question, so you could easily have a 2013 vintage – that would be a beer made using malt and hops from this year of our lord 2013.

Stuart Bateman, the MD of Batemans reckons this is the best beer he’s ever tasted but, you know, he probably would. What do I think of it? Well, I’m no expert on beer, though I have been known to dabble with them from time to time, and er… well, I’ll tell you in a minute.

My friend Paul is a bit more enthusiastic about real ale than I am, so I thought he might appreciate the chance to partake in the tasting. I took it along therefore, to his house and we poured it into two glasses.

It’s a satisfyingly strong 7.5% ABV, so it gets points for that straight away, but what can I say other than it tasted like a strong British ale? Sure, it was nice, but the best beer I’ve ever tasted? No. I don’t remember it being that good. Yeah, I’d already had a few drinks, and was no doubt slightly distracted, chatting with Paul and Victoria and the wife, but if it was the best beer I’d ever tasted, I would still have noticed. I don’t think Paul was particularly taken aback either, but I’ve quizzed him since and while he doesn’t remember much specifically, he’s was quite positive about it.

I was a little perturbed by the incomplete nature of the information on the packaging, which made me sceptical as to the overall quality. Alcohol brands are full of impressive sounding boasts that on closer inspection are hard to validate, or not that impressive after all, so you’ll have to excuse me for being a little cynical.

It was still interesting to try though, and I couldn’t say at the time whether I’d tried any ‘aged’ ales before, though I’ve since learned that cask ales can often be aged for from as little as a few months to around a year, helping them to develop fully. There is still yeast in the cask or bottle with real ale, and this enables the brew to undergo a further fermentation process, so in theory the ale can get better and better, as long as you don’t open it and begin the dreaded oxidisation process.

I have had a fair amount of real ale in the past, though I don’t remember ever learning how long any particular beer had been maturing – I’m sure many will have been a good few months old nevertheless.

As someone who finds aged liquor fascinating (just the thought of it sitting there in barrels for years – or months in this case – is interesting to me), I was intrigued by what this bottle would reveal. In conclusion though, it tasted like many other ales I’ve tried previously, so perhaps the only question is why hadn’t I heard of vintage ale before? As I say, I’ve drunk a lot of beer over the years and been to a fair few real ale festivals – I shouldn’t have to actively research this stuff in order to find out about it.

Don’t get me wrong here, it was a nice beer. It’s just that my excitement at the prospect of something I thought was quite unique faded when I realised firstly that the story on the box was only part of the story, and secondly that this would not be the first time I had ever experienced ‘vintage’ ale. Seems it’s just about how it is packaged and presented.

This blog sure is turning out to be educational (for me). I expect a good number of people who happen across it already know a lot of this stuff anyway, but thanks for stopping by! I hope you will do so again. Next week I’m planning to reveal the results of a tasting of five whiskies that I did recently - it is subject to change depending on how I feel about it at the time, but come by anyway. I’ll try to make it interesting.

I’ll be indulging in more drink-related activities this weekend as usual. I’m looking forward to this evening in particular because I plan to polish off my bottle of Bladnoch 10 year old, and I’ve told myself that once that’s gone I’ll allow myself to open a new bottle. I’ve decided to make it a blend because I have a bit of the Dewars 12 year old double aged left in my hip flask, and I’ll be able to do a comparative study. That should probably be “study”. The blend in question is one that I picked up on my recent distilgrimage to Islay, but I won’t mention it now because I want to save the details for my travelogue (“travelogue”) that should be coming up in a few weeks. Opening a new bottle is one of my favourite things. I am such a geek.

You make sure you have a good weekend now, ok? See you soon.