Andrew Stribblehill: Laphroaig quarter-cask
We went to Scotland on a family holiday this week (brave or stupid, answers on a postcard). You would not believe the number of puns you can get from the simple town of Ayr. For example, R: “You should have turned right there!” Me: “Oh well. To Ayr is human.” I shall spare you the rest: if your mind isn’t already overflowing with similar appalling jokes, you’re no friend of mine.
Whilst in Ayr, I came across a marvellous whisky shop, Robbie’s Drams, and bought a bottle of Laphroaig quarter-cask and another of Smokehead. This article, or what remains of it, is to describe the Laphroaig quarter-cask whisky.
Should you wish to avoid the Flash-animated website, here’s a precis. Tales are told of a time when the business of Laphroaig was carried on less than legally and it was useful to carry away smaller casks when the Excise men were coming than the more conventional full-size casks.
Over the past few years, they have tried their best to recreate the whisky that would have been drunk as Laphroaig a couple of centuries ago: quarter-sized casks, slightly higher strength and an older filtration model.
The effect of the smaller barrels is to increase the surface area to volume ratio substantially, so more flavour will enter the whisky from the barrel. Thus, they bottle it much younger than their standard ten-year-old offering.
To smell it, a sweet smell hits the nose — perhaps toffee apple. On the taste, there is an initial earthy sensation followed quickly by a brief flash of kedgeree, leaving the smoky aftertaste of turmeric at the back of the throat. This is a much more subtle whisky than Laphroaig’s ten-year-old: thinner and less oily, and with a much more delicate, though still substantial, peaty hit.
Because it’s not chill-filtered, the whisky becomes delightfully cloudy when water is added. I recommend that you try it both with and without additional water: many of the flavours become more muted with water, but a creamy taste comes to the fore.
In summary: if you can get your hands on a bottle or two of this, it’s well worth doing so. An excellent whisky. I should also say that even if you’ve disliked other Laphroaigs in the past, give this a shot. It may just be your way into the other delights from the Laphroaig distillery.
The house has 3 bedrooms on the ground floor and a big open-plan living area on the second floor. It's really spacious and nice, with a couple of balconies and a small yard in the back. The street is very quiet, and the house is about block from the south Laurier Metro entrance, and block from a playground on rue Bienville. All in all, we're crazy about the neighborhood and we really like the house itself.
Note that the house has two front doors; it's because it's a converted duplex, combined into one house now. I think it'll be very convenient when we have guests come over for parties and brunches; two doors, no waiting.
This has been the culmination of a long build-up. When we got married in 2004, a lot of people gave us checks instead of gifts, and we put that money into a fund for the down payment. We're pretty grateful for the help of friends and family in buying this house.
Now we go into the weird and complicated process of actually making the transaction. I'm kind of amazed how many steps there are, but I'm also amazed that Quebec hasn't added on 12 more complicated and unnecessary steps on top of the normal ones.
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PS oh, yes, a way to configure the remote Rhytmbox so
that the local esd server is used would be fine too ...