Tuesday, October 31, 2006

whisky frisky

the festivities were over but the holidays still had a week to go in malaysia.
decided to kill a few bottles around town but ended up in ronnie q's in bangsar after this pantun - four line malay poem - was sent out for an evening of drinks.
satu syawal dah lama tiba,
selamat hari raya aidil fitri,
gelas ais dah lama sedia,
bila kita nak minum wiski!
the quorum was five.
so we went for the easy option and took a bottle of chivas regal. well, i have drunk and written about it so let's just say it still tasted the same.
although days earlier, i did imbibe it with green tea as a mixer. interesting green tea after-taste and not quite unlike having after-eight mint chocolates after a heady heavy curry dinner. try it, you might like it - the chivas-green tea mix i mean.
well, almost a week later some of us met up again at ronnie q's and decided to sacrifice another bottle to our decadent lifestyle. out came the standard chivas regal bottle but we decided against it.
instead, the three of us at the pub went for a bottle of bowmore 12 years old, for about one hundred ringgit more.
having extensively tried a few other bowmore variants, decided that it was time to drink and talk about the basic bowmore, an entry-level single malt in the world of rich peaty bowmore single malts.
well, the bouquet of this standard islay whisky brought a smile to our faces with its chocolate and citrus notes. awakened the senses it did, said the resident sith. took the tumbler to the lip and took a sip for a taste of peatiness.
it is not that peaty compared to other bowmores and it had a smokiness delicately balanced by a honeyed sweetness. the auburn liquid swirled around the palate with a long and very satisfying finish. this 40 percent alcohol by volume whisky is indeed pretty good.
it was so good that conversation flowed as well as the whisky and we ended up somewhere in the middle of kuala lumpur at a dangdut club, dancing the night away amongst a cohort of courteous courtesans and men with their silky dancefloor skills.
that is a story for another time. or never as the case may be.
in between the ronnie q whisky meetings, the few of us also met up at an open house where we finished off the remnants of a wonderful macallan 18 year old fine oak. the fine oak series came out in 2004 where the single malt is mellowed in bourbon oak casks as well as the standard sherry oak casks from jerez in spain.
that is not to say the sherry-casked whiskies are not bad. they are excellent of course but the bourbon adds a sparkle to the peatiness inherent in single malts.
the speyside whisky is 43 percent alcohol by volume and is sweet and smoky with a peppery finish. as all of us thirsted for the blonde whisky, there was not enough to go around but quite enough for us to hanker for more.
soon.

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