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!
