Scotch 4 dummies

all on this journey to love whisky and share our love and passion, but it’s always good to have a reality check or reminder to take care of ourselves so we can enjoy them for many years. During a social chat with Drew while on Discord, I raised my recent battle with Stage 4 Bowel and metastatic Liver Cancer, the purpose of sharing this was to show the importance of having a colonoscopy and not to rely on simple tests alone. First 6 months comprised of Fortnightly visits of 3 day sessions, sitting in a chair for 6-7 hours while they pumped through the chemo, actually I was continually connected for 60 hours at a time. Now I have 6 weekly visits to flush out my IV Port which will remain in for a further 12 months along with the quarterly CT or Pet Scan, blood tests and visits to my Oncologist and Liver Specialist.

He runs our live show like a one man production crew while he oversees the chat and throws in random extra stuff that makes our show a lot of fun. After thinking about it, the choices were pretty good considering the choices available and the short notice, but I think I would have maybe made a few substitutions if given more time to prepare. What did I learn: I have tasted many different whiskeys over the years, and that fact alone makes sampling scotch or other whiskeys with someone who is just discovering this world an enlightening experience. We will have an opportunity next week to sample with newbies and well seasoned veterans at the Vine & Table Whiskey Expo, and I would encourage the veterans to help guide the new people in tasting and introduce them to your favorite distillery or bottle.

I figure it’s high time I get involved in the blog conversations and thought I’d start off with a topic that I’ve been thinking a lot about of late…..community! And although it may make sense that we are competing against each other, I honestly think if you look closely (hopefully you don’t have to look to close) you’ll find that we’re not competing at all, but really celebrating each other on this journey! I’m purposefully not naming any in fear of forgetting one, but if you are reading this then I’m positive you know of some of the other channels and people for whom I speak! Low and behold a subscriber reached out to us and ended up not only meeting us in Edinburgh, but really laying out a full day of incredible scotch from the Whisky Experience to both SMWS locations!

I know from years of working in bars that almost every drink I sell is mixed with at least one, and sometimes many, ingredients to craft a good drink. It covers all the basics including pour spouts (not really necessary but kind of cool), a shaker and mixing glass, a peeler for citrus fruits and garnishes, a couple of jiggers to get an exact measure of ingredients, and some nice glassware to serve the drinks. The series does give me a chance to use some of these fun bar tools for a change. I hope to release one of these a month for a while (as long as I can get volunteers to drink cocktails with me), and I am excited to take a jaunt through history and discover some older, classic drinks as well as some cutting-edge cocktails.