Scotch Whiskey: A Rugged Drink for a Rugged Land

The NY Times ^ | 071603 | R.W. Apple

[LibWhacker]

Oops, doesn't look like I can deep link to it . . . So just search on 'Bowmore' and check out the Bowmore Legend.

[AnAmericanMother]

The idea of the worm comes from fideag - a different word entirely, because the d is pronounced as a j (as you probably know).

Fiadaich as a verb (fiadaichadh) means hunting deer, and by extension prowling around in wild places. So "Glenfiddich" could also mean "the wild glen" - the glen where there are lots of deer and opportunities for hunting.

[LibWhacker]

This is a bad thread for me to be reading on a Saturday morning; it's only 7:30 and I already want a scotch, lol!

[AnAmericanMother]

Oops . . . make that fiadachadh. Forgot "broad to broad and slender to slender." Which is probably how the distiller came up with "fiddich" in the first place!

(if you think my spelling is bad in English, you oughta see my Gaelic! -- but I bet the spelling police would never have caught me if I hadn't turned myself in! :-D )

[Eala]

You are correct, but if I remember correctly, Glen Fiddich features a deer on its label.

But be that as it may, my Gaelic is now sadly fading from disuse. Several years ago Seattle traffic reached the point of being so bad we had to terminate 5 years of classes.

[AnAmericanMother]

Tha mi duilich! Chan 'ann agam ach beagan Ghaidlig.

I'm losing it also through disuse. The only classes hereabouts are Irish, and I have trouble enough already with the spelling!

[Eala]

(if you think my spelling is bad in English, you oughta see my Gaelic! -- but I bet the spelling police would never have caught me if I hadn't turned myself in! :-D )

I'm still groggy or I might have. *\:-) But Gaelic is (generally) so easy...

But the pronunciation of "fiadachadh" seems rather far from "fiddich" -- the latter at least sounds like the genitive. Now you've made me pull out the Dwelly's and I find: "fiadhach" - hunting, esp. of deer.

(Shouldn't be getting into this now -- need to pack for vacation...)

[Bluntpoint]

I still can't drink straight whiskey without making a face of a "thousand of pains" and doing a big time shiver!!!

How many "malts" is a Miller Lite?

Is it proper to mix something with it?

[yarddog]

I can't speak directly about the beauty of Scottish women since I have never been there, however the parts of the U.S. which were settled by Scottish, (and Scotch-Irish), well add Irish to that too, have the most attractive girls.

Since I was in College back in the 60's I have noted which states produce the most attractive girls. Basically you could take all the Southern States and add Ohio and Indiana. If you don't consider Oklahoma and Kentucky as Southern then add those too.

Having lived in many different states, the place with the most homely girls was Western Kansas. I loved the people and the area but the girls on the plains were just plain, well plain.

Just to prove the rule, one of the prettiest girls I ever saw was from Western Kansas, her name was McCarty tho which was not a typical Western Kansas name.

If forced to choose the State with the most attractive, it would be South Carolina closely followed by Georgia and Alabama with Mississippi and Tennessee right up there too.

[Eala]

Tha mi duilich cuideachd! We have a superb teacher here, Rich Hill. He and some of his students have come home with prizes from the Mod -- one with 1st place in harp and singing. (Rich sang with Keltoi, we like their "Drunk with Autumn" album.)

[Pablo64]

This is so wrong! I'm reading this right after breakfast and I have an almost unstopable urge to drive to the store and pick up some single malt. Or maybe just go to Scotland. LOL!

Seriously, I've loved the single malts for years. Sadly, the price really started to climb during the late 80's when the yuppies all decided that single malt and premium cigars where all the rage (ran up the price of cigars, too). Oh well, that's good old capitalism for you. Unfortunately, on my budget, I can only treat myself to a really good single malt about once a year. Sure makes it special.

[yarddog]

My Grandfather was a third generation American. His ancestors came from the Island of Colonsay. He was a typical Scotsman in that he loved the Whisky. He was as fine a man who ever lived and farmed over 1000 acres in the Florida Panhandle.

Although he was successful I wonder what he could have accomplished if he had been sober more often. He liked Scotch but preferred moonshine produced by one of his neighbors and close friends.

[AnAmericanMother]

Good old Dwelly! If I can't find something anywhere else, I can always turn it up there. The two things I love the most about that book are the way he pussyfoots around any risque or obscene word but eventually coughs up the correct definition, and the wonderful frontispiece of Edward Dwelly, F.S.A. (Scot.), F.S.G. in full Victorian Highland regalia complete with buckled shoon, dirk, hairy sporran and ivory-mounted pipes. Cha'n fhaca mi a leithid riamh!

Now you go and pack . . . tiaraidh an dràsda!

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh! I love to sing! One of my Gaelic teachers was very big into the Mod singing.

Things that will get you into trouble (in a good way) - traipsing across my college campus singing "An Eilean Muileach" I discovered that the Dean of the Chapel was a Kintyre man . . . . :-D

[VOA]

Laphroaig bump!

I'm don't imbibe except at holiday seasons.
But during a bidness trip to the west of England, I did get dragged into a
single malt Scotch tasting circle (just small sips of about 20 different varieties).

My personal taste rank was
1. Laphroaig
2. Glenkinchie (sp?)
3. Langavulin (sp?); the one that most folks view as one of the weirder-tasting single malts.

If marooned on a desert island and given only one case of single malt for the duration--
I'd first ask for a even split of bottle of each of those three.

[G-Bob]

I recently discovered Glenmorangie with the Portwood finish.

I highly recommend it.

[Trajan88]

I'm thristy.

Trajan88

[VOA]

Although he was successful I wonder what he could have accomplished if he had been sober more often.

I've asked the same question of some fellows I've met...and also asked
myself if they'd gotten as much done if they'd stayed sober.
I'm not encouraging drinking, but I look as someone like Winston Churchill who said
something like "I've gotten much more from alcohol than alcohol has gotten from me!"

That sort of thought is probably dangerous rationalization, but I can't
help wondering if for folks like Churchill maybe the booze was the lubricant that
kept them going when they were loaded down with the weight of the world.
(but I'm sure the number of people who tried that strategem and came to ruin
is far higher...)

[AnAmericanMother]

Glenkinchie is an Edinburgh whisky, very light, very smooth.

Lagavulin is all right if you like burnt iodine mixed with peat smoke . . . :-p

Nothing is more individual than taste in single malts. You could almost literally throw a rock from the jetty at Lagavulin and hit the wall at Laphroaig (actually, you'd need a catapult to get it over the headland in between, they're a bit less than a mile apart) but I love Laphroaig and can't stand Lagavulin, I'd use it for paint thinner before I'd drink it.

[Trajan88]

I heard rumors that JW once had "white" label... is this something from the distant past or is it still made and offered to a very select few?

Trajan88