Welcome, belly up to the bar for another post on booze. Today, we’re going to talk about my personal favorite Scotch. So far.
I should take you back now to my first taste of Scotch. I was hanging out with the rest of the cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, when our RiffRaff handed me a bottle. I can’t recall what the label was, he just said “Try this, it’s Scotch.” I hated it. It was harsh, abrasive, and smacked my tastebuds around like Ike Turner on the Newlywed Game. It would be years before I’d try Scotch again.
When that day finally came, it was to a fresh bottle of Oban 14 year , bought at the distillery. My friend ‘Yote started to open the bottle and had us all gather round so we could share the first breath of Scottish air off the top of the bottle. I liked what I smelled. It had fruit and sea salt and smoke in the nose, and I decided I’d give it a try.
Where the magic happens...
My taste buds sang this time, not roughed up at all. They told a tale of fruit and salt and peat, but not too much of any of these things. They told of fine barley and pure water. The finish was a blend of oak with a pinch of salt. I decided then and there that I was a Scotch lover, and that the hideous thing I’d been given in my youth must have been an aberration, the naked Rosie O’Donnel of Scotches.
As it happens, Oban is considered one of the “six classic malts” of Scotch, and it’s not difficult to figure out how it bagged that claim. They happen to be among the presenters at this year’s Whiskyfest in Chicago, which believe me, I will attend, and hang at their booth like a teenage girl hangs onto a Twilight poster. I will not sparkle, though I may stagger from time to time.
Oh, this is the stuff! Its...my...PRECIOUSSSSSSSS!!!
I recommend Oban both as a starter and for the serious scotch drinker. It’s truly the water of life. Oban…remember it, and Slainte!
Staggering is much better than sparkling. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of when I was in college, and my roommate and I decided that drinking scotch was more sophisticated than beer from a keg. I never got sicker consuming whatever the brown swill was that we tossed back. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteNow years later, perhaps I should look into Oban? Hmmm...
I drank Scotch for the first time at a business dinner. I think we were trying to pretend we were windbag oil tycoons or something. It was warm and good, the $$$$ stuff. Unfortunately, that is the last thing I remember from the evening. Good scotch or roofies, you decide.
ReplyDeleteGolf with the boss the next day was SUPER. ;-/