2011 Whisky Wishes
We are now looking forward to the New Year and The Whisky Boys are hoping to do many things and some of them are :-
Tastings
We are looking forward to many tastings in 2011 and to enjoying the company of our guest tasters. Certainly we are hoping for some of our favourite spots like The Scotch Malt Whisky Society with Olaf and Helen and other special invites that we are sure will come our way.
Distillery Visits
There are many a distillery that we would both love to visit worldwide, but, as our funds are limited, that of course rules out Japan and USA. From our tastings in 2010 these are two places that we would love to see.
So getting back to home, our ideal visit for 2011 would be to Highland Park but we think that time may limit a visit this year. Day trips will allow us to visit the following distilleries, Bladnoch, Isle of Arran and Tobermory/Ledaig, and these three are high on our list.
Again we would love to visit or favourite festival, Islay at the end of May. Again it is finding the time and we are sure that accommodation will be a problem. We intend to set in motion plans to ensure we can visit in 2012. We would suggest anoyone wanting to take in this wonderful event, books early to avoid diasppointment – accommodation is already starting to fill up for 2012.
We are also hoping to revisit some distilleries and even going over the sea to Ireland once again, Bushmills and Kilbeggan will be high on the list.
Whiskies
We still plan to purchase many a bottle in 2011 and you can see from all our tastings in 2010 we really enjoyed visiting Japanese, American Bourbon, Welsh and of course Irish Whiskies. We will still be doing our regular tastings and of course extending invites to our guest tasters.
Other regulars like Supermarket Best Buys and Malt/Blend of the Month will also continue.
Books
The books that The Whisky Boys have chosen for reference and data are :-
Malt Whisky Yearbook 2011.
Michael Jackson’s Malt Whisky Companion 6th Edition.
Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.
Our favourite is the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2011 as this not only gives you tastings but loads and loads of up to date details on all distilleries throughout the world, past and present, together with many statistics and smashing features. The Malt Whisky Companion is also a great book with plenty of information/tastings and details of Whiskies Worldwide. The Whisky Bible has the most tastings of any book around but we also have to remember that these reviews are only one mans tastes and opinions and the Whisky Boys enjoy comparing our tastings with that of Jim Murray.
To finish
Jim always wonders what it would be like to have unlimited free time and the funds to visit numerous distilleries both home and abroad, together with atttending as many festivals as he can, reviewing and enjoying all things Whisky, but we can all wish, let’s do the lottery one more time.
The new year is now upon us and we wonder what our review of 2011 will be.
The very best for everyone in 2011, keeping on dramming.
Jim and Nicola, The Whisky Boys.
