WWT celebrates Word Whiskey Day with a toast and a dram!

Thanks to our friends over at Angel’s Envy (click here to go to their facebook and like them), I read that today, March 27th, 2012, is the first ever World Whiskey Day.  Since it bears a resemblance to this very blog title, and since it IS whiskey oriented, I thought I should write up a little piece about our favorite caramel colored liquid and its day in the sun (or in the dark cabinet since the sun will prematurely age the fine liquid).

When I started poking around the net to get some info about the genesis of a day dedicated to our favorite libation, I came across a story on http://www.scotsman.com , that lay the story pretty bare.  A college student by the name of Blair Bowman went looking for World Whiskey Day after learning of World Gin Day which was a huge hit in Spain.  Upon finding out that there wasn’t one, he quickly bought up the virtual real estate associated with the day, and set about starting a whiskey empire with his own personal holiday as his flagship.  Click here to read the article from Scotsman.com (which is a fine piece of writing if I do say so myself).   I will do my very best to post a review or two this evening.  St. Patrick’s Day saw me sick and unable to imbibe, so I have a few bottles left without review.

Overall, I found myself as surprised as Mr. Bowman when learning that there wasn’t a whiskey holiday, even if St. Patrick’s day (rather insensitively some would say – I not being among them) is an unofficial one, but if this does even half as well as Bowman hopes it to do, then we should have a really exciting addition to our drinking schedules.  Either way, I look forward to seeing how this whole thing pans out.

But until then… Happy World Whiskey Day from Whiskey World Tour!

Slainte,

Chuck

 

p.s.  Special thanks to our friends over at http://boozedancing.wordpress.com for the repost and the kind words.   Great members of the community and knowledgeable folks all around.  I learn something every time I read an article.  (check em out)

 

 

 

My first 1000

 

Milestones are all about reminding yourself about the journey it’s taken to get to a certain point.  My first 1000 views have been a blast, getting to know new people, learning new things, and drinking new whiskeys all along the way.  Here’s to my next 1000, and for those of you who read and comment, thank you for acknowledging me, even if it is only by spending the time to look at the words I string together on the page.

Sláinte,

Chuck

Whiskey History (Irish and Scotch)

Whiskey Production

Irish Whiskey, the most romantic of spirits with its amber, jewel-like tone and storied past, is made from ingredients so ordinary as to cause wonder that they can be transformed into such a glorious.  The Irish were the original distillers of whiskey: earliest records date back to the 6th Century. Later, the skill was taken across the Irish Sea to Scotland – hence the broad similarities between the two nations’ products. The monks, who were the healers of their day, used spirit as a base for medicines, rubs and liniments. Why wouldn’t they? Here was a substance as clear as water; that burned like fire and literally preserved flesh. It was nothing less than the legendary ‘Uisce Beatha‘ or Water of Life in English, eventually anglicised to give us Whiskey.beverage. But when grain, yeast and water are brought through the wonders of distillation and oak aging, a truly delightful spirit results. The devil is in the detail and modern whiskey making in Ireland is equal parts science and art.

16^th century records show uisce beatha being produced for consumption, but the art was still the preserve of the religious orders. It was not until the disillusion of the monasteries in the Tudor period that whiskey ceased to be the drink of the elite. In fact Queen Elizabeth I was known to be fond of the beverage – and she wasn’t alone. No less a person than Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, mentioned that “of all the wines, the Irish spirit is the best”.