Tuesday 6 April 2010

Message in a bottle

The Scottish holiday brought out the Edwardian gentleman in me - kippers, haggis and single malt whisky. And that was just for breakfast. Special mention must go to Ramsay of Carluke Haggis. They are the best I've had - and as an Englishman who has tried three different brands of Haggis I regard myself as an expert. The whisky was Jura - selected on the grounds that it was going for £16 a bottle in Tescos. And what a lovely bottle it is too. A few weeks ago I was loitering in the serious booze aisle of my local supermarket and I noticed they've changed the Drambuie bottle - it's sleeker and far more boring now. My faith was restored by the Lamb's Navy Rum bottle. Still hexagonal. Stops it rolling off the table during a storm you see.

8 comments:

  1. Ramsay's Haggis is good but Shug Black's is even better ( from Lanark 6 miles up the road from Carluke and the town where I live). Kippers are the business but stink the house out for ages after cooking them.

    Hope the weather didn't bring you down too much.

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  2. I'm giving the old tum a well earned rest for the time being but as soon as I feel capable I will check out Shug Black's Haggis.

    The weather was okay generally and on the day we went to Staffa it was absolutely lovely. It was a win win situation really, the cottage had a real fire and the worse the weather is outside the better it is to sit around a fire.

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  3. I've been swerving spirits for the last year - and don't miss them expect the odd single malt. Not keen on the island ones though- bit creosote for me.

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  4. If I'm drinking spirits then I'm probably in a state beyond the reach of resolutions. Whisky was my downfall the New Year's before last.

    It's all firewater isn't it? But I'm sure if you stick at it you start to appreciate subtleties.

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  5. I love Whisky, but it doesn't like me more than a couple of halfs and the red mist descends.

    Unlike Mondo I love the Island malts, Islay ones especially Laphroaig, the peatier the better.

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  6. Islay seems to be where it's at. An early version of the stag do I went on a while back was a tour of distilleries but it got shot down because we thought it'd be a major hassle getting from one to the next - my friend probably had Islay in mind. It didn't happen though.

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  7. Did someone mention kippers?

    I've never tried haggis. Don't think I could, umm, stomach it.

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  8. Oh Kippers! You are offal!
    I wondered if you might be tempted over by all this kipper talk.

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