Discovery

Food & Drink

Yesterday afternoon was spent in the company of the Son&Heir. involving  diverse activities such as cataloguing the serial numbers of my paltry gun collection (“Dad, this is so sad —  you have got to buy some more guns!” );  beer and poutines at the local pub;  and finally, a little Scotch-tasting back at home.  I’d bought this particular single malt at Total Wine a while back, intrigued by the label, but held back tasting it until suitable company showed up:  ergo, the S&H.  And what a joy it was:

Glen Fohdry has a good pedigree — for me, anyway, as I love Speyside Scotches — and this  “double maturation” thing intrigued me.

Great googly-moogly:  what an excellent Scotch.  I’m not going to go all Scotch-snob on y’all;  I’ll leave that to the S&H, who detected a “strong port finish” (unsurprising, given the casks) but never mind the taste (which is wonderful), just the smell of the stuff puts it in the Top 3 on the Kim List of Desirable New Scotches.

Run, do not walk to your nearest Total Wine store (I think it’s a “proprietary” or “tied” Scotch, i.e. exclusive to Total Wine), and grab a bottle or two for yourself.  I think it’s a product of the Speyburn distillery, but I’ll have to check.  Whatever, it’s brilliant stuff.

No need to thank me;  it’s all part of the service.

Glen Fohdry makes different cask finishes, apparently, such as this one (matured in American casks):

And there’s the usual array of vintages (12-, 21- and 29-year-olds), all of which I plan to try soon.

But it’s going to take a lot to wean me away from the “French cask” stuff, I promise you.

9 comments

  1. Sigh, alas there ARE no Total Wine stores in PA, all PA liquor stores being state owned-and-operated.

    Early in the Pandemic the liquor stores were closed (not life sustaining you know, according to our Governor, and unlike ALL other state government functions but don’t get me started), and people were threatened with prosecution for bootlegging should they go to New Jersey to buy booze and bring it back. One of the few things I dislike about living here.

    Still, they do stock, or can get, a good selection of scotch, including many varieties of my beloved Glenmorangie.

  2. Yeah, PA sucks, but I am within 45 minutes of a Total Wine in Delaware. Worth the drive when I want to stock up.

    I’ll give this one a try next trip!

  3. This is good to know. Back in March, juuuust as the Rona shutdowns were starting, I made a 7-hour road trip from Boise (where the state controls all the liquor stores, from which I had already bought every single malt they sell that I could afford) to Reno, the closest city with a Total Beverage _and_ a Trader Joe’s. TJ’s has some very nice, affordable bespoke single malts as well. I came back with 16 bottles of various descriptions, including the two Glen Fhodry expressions you highlight plus the Aiteal on Oir Speyside. I haven’t tried any of them yet but now I think I will do a side-by-side-by-side.

  5. So if this is one of the top 3, what are the other 2? Inquiring (thirsty) minds want to know! Thanks for the tip on this one. Goes on the shopping list now.

  6. You know, Kim, I blame it entirely on you.

    Being I’m from the bluegrass state, I was a bourbon man. I tried a few scotches in the past and thought “mheh. It’s okay, but I still like bourbon better.”

    Then I started reading your blog. (…the old one.)

    What is this thing called “single malt”, says I.

    So I was in the store one evening to replenish my supply of Four Roses or Woodford Reserve, and looking at some of the other exotica and spied a bottle of Glenlivet 14 year old.

    It was on sale! (One does not want to have to mortgage the house for a bottle of whisky.) So I bought a bottle and gave it a try.

    I took a dram. “Hey, this is pretty good!”

    So I took another. And then another and another, until I had drank about a third of that bottle all by myself.

    I have been hooked ever since.

    Since then, I have tried several different brands of single malt and I have liked all of them. However, Glenlivet and Glenfiditch 14 year old are my two favorites right now. (…as I said, they are a good compromise between taste and having to take out a loan.)

    Oh, don’t get me wrong. I still like fine bourbon whiskey too.

    I’ll have to give this one a try.

    1. Next you’re going to be blaming me for the dozen or so “extra” guns you’ve bought since you started to read my blog.

      Go ahead; you won’t be alone…

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