Four bottles of Chivas Royal Salute, a 21 year vintage worth about $180 a bottle, were used in a failed attempt to smuggle 25 pounds of heroin into the country. Wilfer Bohorquez Rojo was busted at Newark Liberty International Airport on New Year’s Eve trying to smuggle in twenty five pounds of heroin in a random bag search.
Hopefully he got to enjoy a little of the Chivas Royal Salute… since he won’t be getting the opportunity to do so for a long long while.
Did you even know that there was such a thing as National Daiquiri Day? I suppose having a national “anything” day is cause for celebration and just finding an excuse to imbibe… not that I’m complaining! By definition, a daiquiri is a family of mixed beverages that include rum, lime juice, and a sweetener like sugar. So it doesn’t have any scotch, or any whisky, but it’s still well loved all the same. As for the origins of the Daiquiri, it’s named after a beach near Santiago, Cuba where the drink was invented. Cool, huh?
The fine folks at Brugal rum sent along this recipe if you want to celebrate it in style:
Daikiri Brugal
1½ oz. Brugal Añejo Rum
1 oz. Triple Sec
½ oz. Fresh Lime Juice
½ tsp. Sugar
In a shaker with ice, combine ingredients, shake well and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a lime slice. (or blend it!)
A nice cool beverage to help drop the temps during this hot summer, enjoy!
The Universal Whisky Experience is a two day premier luxury whisky show set in the lovely Wynn Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the brainchild of Mahesh Patel, a commercial real estate developer in Atlanta, Georgia; and this year the event takes place on March 18th and 19th. A ticket to the show is $525 a piece and gets you:
Sampling Premium whiskies from all exhibitors.
One Super pour sample from a range of rare and fine whiskies valued at $300 and above per pour retail.
Free cigar samples.
Entry to all special events during the Nth 2011 show.
Butler passed pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres in show area.
Gourmet dinner reception.
Glencairn cut crystal Nth 2011 show tasting glass.
If you aren’t a huge fan of whisky, you can always go with the companion ticket for only $235.
We have secured a 15% coupon code that will take the $525 price and drop it down to just $446.25. The 15% coupon code is MIS267896. Enjoy!
Chivas Regal is a blended Scotch whisky that calls the Strathisla Distillery, at Keith, Moray in Speyside, it’s home distillery. It is produced by the Chivas Brothers, which is now owned by Pernod Ricard, a spirits conglomerate that owns The Glenlivet (and Kahlua, Malibu, Beefeater, and many other famous brands); and was first established in 1801 in Aberdeen, Scotland. Chivas Regal has three major expressions – 12 Year, 18 Year, and 25 Year.
I’ve only ever tried Chivas Regal once, at a Scotch Night several years ago, and my memory of the 18 year was positive. It is described, by Chivas, with these tasting notes:
Colour: Intense, dark amber.
Nose: Rich, indulgent, multi-layered aromas with hints of dried fruits, buttery toffee and dark chocolate.
Taste: A velvety, dark chocolate palate yields to elevant floral notes, and a wisp of sweet, mellow smokiness.
Finish: Extremely warm long finish.
Chivas Regal Effect
One interesting note from popeconomics/marketing culture is the term “Chivas Regal effect,” which is when a product sells more because the price of it has been increased. Since people often equate price with quality, consumers, who otherwise wouldn’t have purchased a product, might choose it because it’s slightly more expensive (and thus “better” quality). It’s most often used in conjunction with higher education, a higher priced education is thought to be better.
Did you know that there hasn’t been a new distiller in Scotland in over 30 years?
That’s why it’s such big news that Diageo has opened a new distillery in Speyside to produce more of their blended Scotch whiskies – Johnnie Walker, Buchanan’s, Old Parr, and J&B. I’m not myself as big a fan of blended whiskies as I am of single malts, though I do enjoy the occasional blend from time to time. The facility cost £40 million, three years, and is located at Roseisle on Speyside with fourteen copper stills and an annual product capacity of 10 million liters. It’ll be one of the most environmentally sustainable distillers with most of its by-products recycled on site. Expect the taste the whisky it produces in 2012.
You’ll most often hear people talk about how they’re going to enjoy a dram of Scotch or pour themselves a wee dram, which is a unit of measure not often used in the United States. It usually refers to a “small amount” but it actually has a definition according to the U.S. Customary System. A US fluid dram is an eighth of a fluid ounce, 60 min (minim, about a drop) or around 3.7 mL of liquid. It is actually smaller than a teaspoon, which is measured as 80 min, so chances are someone is pouring themselves several drams of whisky.
Luke at the Aspiring Gentleman takes a look at how your choice in glassware (or metalware, in the case of the flask) affects how a scotch tastes. In his experiment, he tries Scapa 14, Balvenie Doublewood, and Laphroaig in a flask, a shot glass, a tumbler, a wine glass, and a Glencairn glass, noting the differences in each. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.
The scotch world has been abuzz all this month over the discovery of three crates of Scotch whisky (and two crates of brandy) underneath a hut of Ernest Shackleton in Antarctica. The amazing part about this whole story, I mean besides the fact that Shackleton’s expedition was in 1909 and besides the fact that they only expected to find two crates of whisky, is that while ice has cracked some of the crates, discoverers said they could hear the swishing of liquid inside. There is, in all likelihood, at least some of the whisky and brandy still left.
Richard Paterson, whose blog I read regularly (though recently it’s been a bunch of Twitter update posts), said that they could replicate that blend if they could analyze the bottles.
Here’s a video about the conservation efforts surrounding the huts themselves:
Very cool stuff. Paterson has said that the style of the day, for the “Rare and Old” whisky, was for it to be heavy and peaty. If they’re able to replicate it to their satisfaction, I’d love to give it a try. There’s something very fun and magical about going back through time like this, especially knowing that, at the moment, it cannot be accurately replicated!
