Hello! Hi! I’m back in whisky land, so pleased to be here! I present to you a very non-technical description of two whiskies that I tried and liked.

My goal, after many months in whisky wilderness, was to reward myself with something tasty after a very intensive year of work and study: i.e. by buying a bottle of whisky. I wandered into The Oak Barrel (central Sydney bottle shop with lots of whisky) with three criteria: under $100, something delicate maybe Highland, and I didn’t want to travel all over Sydney to find it. I was tired and emotional…Long live the impulse buy!

 

Since receiving the incredibly lovely Scotch Malt Whisky Society 4.192 – i.e. Highland Park – among the Society’s gorgeously packaged membership goodies (SMWS, who does your artwork!!), I wanted something similar. The other couple of whiskies at home are kind of powerful with lots of peat and rraarrgh.

But I mean this is Sydney, and it was 36 degrees C last week, why destroy myself with something made for toasty firesides, mackintoshes, and thawing out fingers numb with cold?  I wanted the single malt equivalent of an Aperol Spritz.

To be fair, the Glencadam I was mulling over kind of made it clear it might be a good choice, “The Rather Delicate” being the 10y.o. whisky’s byline. It was great to taste it first as a bottle had been previously opened. It is a pretty pale straw colour. A lovely slightly boozy beginning and then nectar, early morning summer sunshine, an aromatic hint of lucerne stalks (as a kid I hung around horses and I chewed on the fresh sticky-sweet green hay stalks), and basically rose-tinted sunglasses the whole way down.

 

I was also curious about a Welsh whisky – the Penderyn ‘Myth’.

Happily I could taste this one too – thanks Oak Barrel! The Myth was pleasant. Light bodied, fresh fruit, and a hint of savouryishness. Maybe nice to drink after a surf if the ocean was a bit chilly: without being too massive, it has a rugged alcohol heat all the way through that would help you feel your toes again as you fling your dripping wetsuit over the rail and the wind comes up 🙂

 

Although I really quite liked the Myth and I enjoy the diversity of whisk(e)y in the world today, the Glencadam won my tastebuds this time. The palate is very silky so I think it soothed 2016-frayed nerves better. For a moment I wondered if it needed a bit more ‘something’ until realising that its lingering warmth and subtle nectar-y texture was probably the whole point, and refreshingly so. It definitely has body, and just like the label says it really is ‘rather delicate’! Nothing more to be said. Just summer and whisky and happiness.