Whisky galore; whisky amore...

Two very different worlds collided recently with a rather splendid outcome. I was extolling the (many) virtues of my gastronomic adventures with Julianna to a long-time mountain biking acquaintance when I happened to mention our mutual love of whisky. 'You should come to one of my whisky group's meetings then' announced Adam, and the seed was sown...
Jump forward several weeks and I found myself bound for Brighton on a packed commuter train as driving to a whisky tasting evening is perhaps inadvisable. Julianna unfortunately had another engagement (hence my guest slot here) so I was on my own and on a mission!
Malt 'n' Copper meet once a month a stone's throw from the railway station and always have an interesting and unusual selection of malts to try. My inaugural visit was no exception with its Islay focussed choices: A Laphroaig 12 Bourbon Hogshead refill and a Bowmore 20 Bourbon Barrel refill from the Scottish Malt Whisky Society provided exclusivity as neither is still available to buy, which together with an Ardbeg Alligator, a Bunnahabhain 1997 and a Kilchoman Spring 2011 promised a peaty, smoky evening's tasting with around 25 like-minded souls.
First up was the Bowmore and very tentatively I dipped my nose in and sniffed... Whisky! Hmmn, maybe this was going to take some acclimatisation. Resisting the temptation to abandon my olfactory inexperience and start swigging I inhaled once again and much more deeply revealing something more than just boozy vapours – pineapple fruitiness and dolly-mixture no less!
And so the beast was released and as the sipping began the inhibitions tumbled and the waxing lyrical started in earnest. My journey next took me from the oily, Marmitey (yes really!) Bunnahabhain, via the incredibly good Kilchoman, which as a very young marriage of a three and a four year-old was utterly stunning, to the limited release Laphroaig. I cut my single malt teeth on the regular Laphroaig and this version, although very different in character, did not disappoint; sweet, slightly medicinal and honeyed with a big peat smokiness.
So finally, somewhat squiffy, it was time for the Ardbeg Alligator. Ardbeg is the most heavily peated malt, so the limited release Alligator, matured for 13 years in heavily charred barrels was going to have some bite! Seaweed, slight notes of aniseed (yes I was tipsy, wasn't I..) and another big peat smoke style rounded off the evening perfectly.
Oh, and for the record, try saying ' Bunnahabhain' after 5 whiskys... Jon

Want more whisky chat? Check out the Islay Whisky Festival

The second eldergoose episode

Alas, the season has now passed for elderflowers but I’m a bit behind on t
he blog posts and thought I’d put this up for people to bear in mind next year!

A short blog piece, in homage to John of River Cottage fame for this brilliant recipe.... ours has just finished bubbling so we will be siphoning it off soon and tasting the fruits of our labour. Excellent. Don’t get too worried if you don’t hear from me for a few weeks. I’ll be basking in a self-indulgent but happy elderflower and gooseberry wine stupor. I suppose I should let it develop for a few months but will definitely sneak a glass or two from the demijohn first.



The original recipe
2kg green gooseberries (washed, frozen, then defrosted)
Florets from 10 elderflower sprays
1.2kg sugar
3.5 litres water
1 sachet white wine yeast
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon grape tannin (optional – it fills a "gap" in the palate with many wines)
1 level teaspoon pectolase (there is a lot of pectin in gooseberries which must be removed to prevent cloudiness)

The mucking about with freezing the gooseberries breaks down the cell walls to release the juices and makes the difficult mashing process a bit easier. Place the defrosted gooseberries in a clean ceramic mixing bowl and gently crush them with the end of a clean rolling pin. It is important not to crush the pips too much as this will release more pectin (and why a blender is no use).

The whole business is messy, with gooseberry juice squirting everywhere. Never mind. Once it is all nicely pulped, transfer to a large, food grade plastic bucket and pour on about three litres of cold water. Add all the other ingredients and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Cover and leave for three days, stirring occasionally.

Strain through a sterilized, doubled muslin cloth, squeezing out as much juice as you can into a clean bucket. Make the quantity up to 4.5 litres with more water.

Siphon into a demi-john and fit a bubble-trap. Rack off into a new demi-john at least once, then, when all fermentation has ceased and the wine has cleared, siphon into bottles.