Scotch Addict

If you do any reading about Scotch, or whiskey in general, you’ll often read people talk about having a dram of Scotch. Intuitively we know it’s some measurement, that we pour a bit of the golden (or amber or whatever, depending what you prefer!) elixir, call it a dram, and go about our merry way enjoying it.

But, what exactly is a dram?

Historically, a dram was a coin, a unit of mass, and a unit of volume.

For volume, it’s an eighth (1⁄8) of a fluid ounce.

So there you have it, a dram is an eighth of an ounce… but in reality it just means “a wee bit” when you talk about Scotch. No one is holding a measuring spoon when they measure out their drams!

(Photo: stephangeyer)

When I came home from a trip to England, I stopped by the duty free store and picked up half a dozen bottles of Scotch at the “World of Whisky” store in Heathrow. As a friend of Scotch, I drink it regularly but even half a dozen bottles, especially of types I don’t normally get, is something that will last for quite some time so I needed to figure out how I was going to store it.

Fortunately, storing scotch whisky is like storing wine. Keep it out of the sunlight and in a cool, dry place. For us, that’s the basement. If you keep it in a cool, dry place you can store a bottle of whisky indefinitely. The only risk you have is that the cork disintegrate in older bottles, but that’s not a concern for us since all my bottles are fairly new.

If the bottle is opened, the character of the whisky starts to change because of the air inside. The more air, the more it changes. This means the whisky will change faster as you consume it because there will be more air (less whisky) as you drink it. You can go as far as getting a vacuum pump and special stoppers to remove the air, but I find that to be unnecessary most of the time.

(Photo: roblisameehan)

When ordering scotch, it’s often important to indicate how you’d like it. There are really only two choices in the scotch world:

• Neat means you want the scotch without anything else.
• On the Rocks means you want the scotch served with ice.

If you use any other terms, you’ll just confuse the bartender. If you forget which is which, just explain it and the bartender will gladly serve it the way you like it.

I just received an email from The Glenlivet Society about their newly released 1964 Cellar Collection, which will number fewer than three hundred bottles and priced at $2,000 a piece. While it pales in comparison to The Macallan Fine & Rare Collection, 1939 40-year, which was the world’s most expensive whisky at $10,125 a bottle… the $2,000 Glenlivet 1964 certainly is pricey!

The Glenlivet Cellar Collection is separate from their “Core Range” of the 12 Year, 15 Year French Oak, Nadurra 16, 18 Year, Archive 21, and XXV; and includes the 1959 Cask Strength, 1964 Cask Strength, 1967, French Oak Finish, American Oak Finish, and 1972 Cask Strength. It is the 1964 Cask Strength that gets the go ahead this year.

Is it worth it? The Glenlivet thinks so… here’s why:

BOTTLED at cask strength with no chill-filtration, the character of this spirit is uncompromised.

AGED for 40 years, each of the 14 casks in this batch was hand-selected by The Glenlivet’s legendary Master Distiller Emeritus Jim Cryle.

FEWER THAN 300 of these individually-numbered bottles remain in the United States.

AWARDED the Gold Medal in The International Spirits Challenge, the 1964 vintage makes an outstanding addition to every serious whisky collector’s cabinet.

So, who is going to get one of the three hundred bottles and when are you inviting me over?