“I was Googling myself the other day to make sure that I am still alive”. It’s true, many of us do it from time to time, to see what is ‘out there’ about us. I was delighted this time to find that a very fun interview and whisky tasting with the legendary Jenni Murray on Woman’s Hour, the Radio 4 programme of cult status, is still on BBC Sounds. The tasting starts at 33 minutes in. I do hope that you will be able to hear this. I tried to make it easy for you by adding a link to BBC Sounds but was then unable to publish this post… I think you’ll have to search Rosemary Moon whisky Woman’s Hour and find the link yourself. It’s worth it. Fingers crossed.
Let’s have a resumé of the whiskies.
Oak Cross from Compass Box remains a great favourite of mine. I’ve probably bought more bottles of it than any other whisky. It’s spicy, it’s complex and it demands contemplation. It’s a great outside whisky, just as it is an excellent after-dinner dram. It’s a boutique malt blend - single malts from highly respected distilleries, blended in a way that no one distillery would. John Glaser, the founder of Compass Box, is ex Diageo, so you’ll get the idea. Then be innovative with the wood (new French oak tops and bottoms on the marrying barrels) and there’s Oak Cross. And it is very reasonably priced for such a Big Dram. I remember the company starting up with just four whiskies…
I haven’t tasted Spice King from Wemyss Malts for a good few years. I know they had some top industry experts involved in the devising of their key blends. I’d obviously enjoyed it as you’ll note the bottle is empty! I notice they are currently offering a 12yo special edition on the Wemyss website, a Highland and Islay blend which they describe as lemon drizzle cake, custard creams, pepper and lavender… Lots of people say custard creams as a tasting notes: I prefer something more like French patisserie, which embraces the spices too.
Wow - look at that line up! But we are here to talk about The One. And since I last tasted it much has changed with the Lakes Distillery in Bassenthwaite. We called in there on a trip to Scotland in 2014, trying to decide where to move to from Sussex. Paul Currie, the brains behind everything, was operating out of a house that was HQ at the time, I think the distillery was still being built and The One as you see it here was the first whisky under The Lakes branding, produced from whiskies bought in from elsewhere and blended by Paul’s team . He was no stranger to whisky making being the son of the father and son duo that had put Isle of Arran Distillers on the map. A bottle of The One came around Glasgow with me in a backpack as I encouraged Geraldine Murphy at The Pot Still and Matthew and Rod at the quite recently opened Good Spirits Company to have a taste. Things have changed a lot at Bassenthwaite since those early days - there was a wonderful bistro serving the Lake District’s fabulous local food by the time of our second visit - and the Lead Whiskymaker is now Sarah Burgess, ex Craigellachie and The Macallan. I need to go shopping on their website again…
Then there was Monkey Shoulder. Goodness me - this is such a trip down Memory Lane! Sonia Demetriou and I were enjoying a dram to celebrate her book on the art and food of Cyprus, where she now lives. And look at those impeccably pruned and trained redcurrants in the background! A great way to grow them on a north facing wall. But maybe not in Orkney. And I digress!
Monkey Shoulder from William Grant & Sons takes me right back to the start of my more serious whisky evangelism, when I was privileged to meet Kirsten Grant Meikle at their London HQ, and later Kevin Abrook who I consider to be one of the finest Whisky Gents that I have come across. Now retired, Kevin initiated my tastebuds into some of the very finest points of whisky tasting and just how magical grain whiskies can be.
Monkey Shoulder is a blend of William Grant & Sons malt whiskies, and the best known in their portfolio are The Glenfiddich and Balvenie. There’s another story to tell about The Glenfiddich but that will have to wait for another day - this blog is quite long enough already! Created to be a cocktail base at the time when the fashion for the drinks was re-establishing itself, with its slightly art-deco bottle the whisky was an almost instant success. Or so it seemed to me. It was the one that most of the Woman’s Hour production team wanted to try when Jenni and I had finished our tasting.
This has been such a pleasure to write and I hope that you have enjoyed reading it. Our tastes change for sure, but Oak Cross remains my favourite dram from this selection. Mind on, I maybe need to revisit the others…