Whisky Gifts – Christmas is coming
Yes, it is not too far away now and we should be thinking about some gifts for your favourite Whisky drinker.
In this wee article we have decided not to just recommend or suggest a Whisky or two, but to also give ideas on Whisky related gifts and gift vouchers that some distilleries and bottlers are offering.
We would also suggest that all our readers log onto this page on a regular basis as Jim and Nicola will be adding more gift ideas and recommendation right up to Christmas.
Books
The Whisky Boys two favourite reference Whisky books :-
Malt Whisky Yearbook 2011. Both Jim and Nicola find this book to be full of very useful information, not only on Whisky but about Distilleries and independent bottlers and many articles featuring the Distillers and also includes many Whiskies from around the world, highly recommended.
Peat Smoke – A portrait of Islay and it’s Whiskies, a great bedtime read.
Michael Jackson’s Malt Whisky Companion – Fully Revised 6th Edition. Again this is a fabulous book dealing with blended malts as well as all your single malts, and has comprehensive tasting notes, also highly recommended.
Whisky
We would like to recommend to those who year in and year out purchase the same bottle of Whisky as a gift. (for example, my dad always drinks xxxxx brand so I buy him that bottle every year) Lets go for something different and allow your Whisky drinker to be adventurous.
We don’t think that if your Whisky Drinker enjoys a nice Speyside Single Malt, you should go out and buy a big powerful Ardbeg, but instead let your drinker try an Lowland like Bladnoch or Auchentoshan or go to the Islands, a smashing Highland Park or an Isle of Jura would do nicely.
For the Whisky Drinker that enjoys a blended dram and maybe only drinks xxxx brand, then go for some of the rarer blends like:-
Dewar’s 12 Year Old Special Reserve. (we highly recommend this one)
Johnnie Walker Gold Label 18 Year Old.
For our Single Malt Scotch drinkers, why not go a wee bit different, for example, go abroad, and our recommendations are :-
Noah’s Mill Small Batch Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. USA
Yamazaki 18 Year Old. Japan
Connemara Peated – Sherry Finish. Ireland
Amrut Peated Malt – Cask Strength. Indian
Penderyn Sherrywood Finish. Wales
Crown Royal. Canada
Bushmill’s 10 Year Old Single Malt – Green Label. Ireland
For those who prefer Scotch Single Malt Scotch Whisky then we have two suggestions :-
Jim says go to Islay for maybe the very best Single Malts in the world, choose any distillery there and you will not go wrong, what fabulous drams they all have, but we think you should go first to Bruichladdich then onto Ardbeg and Bunnahabhain, actually go to them all and really enjoy yourself.
Nicola says go to the north and Speyside/Highland is her choice of drams and Glenlivit and Cardhu are among her many favourites
For something a little more personal, some sellers,distillers and bottlers will personalise your bottle with any message and name you wish, check out Master of Malt for example.
Gifts
We can now think of something other than a bottle.
Many Whisky shops, supermarkets and online sellers are now selling Whisky related gifts, for example, water jugs, books, glasses and decanters, clothing and in some cases gift vouchers.
Now all of the above suggestions are all readily available, but you may have to search the web or go to your specialist Whisky shop or online sellers, for gifts eBay and Amazon are great for books and glasses etc.
This is just the start of our suggestions and we will be adding more as we find them.
To all our friends, readers and Whisky drinkers worldwide the Whisky Boys wish you all the very very best for Christmas and 2011.
Sláinte
What about Whiskey Stones:
Not just for Whiskey… you can use Polar stones, in bourbon, rum, rye, tequila, vodka, and even wine or port.
Any beverage where you would like a slight chill without compromising the flavour and aromas, and let’s face it, the alcohol content. There is nothing worse than a watered down, flavourless drink.
http://www/polarstones.weebly.com
Jura (the island, not the malt) is my fatrvoiue place in the world. Spend two weeks there with my brother. Hiked to the actual Paps, slept two nights in someone elses fishing hut on Loch An t-siob. I remember lying awake at night on the floor of the hut, which sits out over the water, looking along the surface of the loch, which was like glass, and feeling very well looked after. Then we headed a little north, joining one of the only paths on the island, to Glen Battrick, where we watched from a distance as some toffs played on their jetski and quad bike. Followed a herd of deer down to the shore at Lock Tarbert. Then a day kicking around a tennis ball on a perfect beach, and the next trudging along the soggy shore to Cruib Lodge bothy, where an almighty storm rolled in an had us trapped there for 2 days, with a little mouse for company.Sorry, rather an off topic comment. Actually, not, because for me, the love of whisky and the love of wild places overlap. So, there, thats why I will always pick a bottle of Jura off the shelve, given a chance.