Blog — Page 146 of 276

Water of Life - Port Askaig and Kilchoman

Oh Islay, glorious Islay!

Every time when one thinks that the main distilleries of the island have been covered and the prime expressions have been sample, something comes your way that makes you reassess the state of play in the best way possible.

Case in point: Port Askaig – an elusive “distillery” on the eastern part of Islay. Why the inverted commas? Well, because technically it is not so much a distillery in the traditional sense in the, but it stands for an independent range of whiskies, which is where things get intriguing as the exact sources are not necessarily detailed, yet the fact that the drop is from the island makes it very relevant to my interests.

The straw-coloured Port Askaig Cask Strength is a formidable exercise par excellence in oily smokiness kissed by citrussy nuances. It took me a split second to become infatuated with this expression, i.e. when the zesty, saline, wood fire infused aromas started tickling my nostrils.

Once it hit my palate, there was radio silence for a while as I kept swirling it and found it hard to let this big bodied one go down. There’s char, there’s smoky meats, there’s a bit of spice, just the right amount of smoked fish all laid out on a bed of peat and once the ashy peat takes over, things are being taken to another level by yet another layer of Islay goodness.

Delicioso!

One cannot help but have the guessing game going strong in the back of one’s head – what exact distillery might it be from? Ardbeg, Caol Ila (which seems to be the closest distillery to the little town of Port Askaig) and Lagavulin all come to mind in equal measures.

One delightful mysterious dram that made me wonder why whatever distillery it is sourced from did not release it themselves. Either way, I am glad it found its way to me.

Kilchoman is another independent distillery that we have not covered yet, and somehow had not been on my radar and eclipsed by the other more prominent distilleries. Criminal mistake. How could I?

Having now been exposed to two expression, I can wholeheartedly attest that their on-site aged single malts play in a class of their own in a myriad of ways, let alone the fact that they source their own peat which they use further in their own malting house before they channel their alchemy in small stills that allow for a maximum of alcohol / copper contact, resulting in a light footed spirit.

Exhibit A: Kilchoman Sanaig has just won Gold at the 2018 Whisky World Cup with Best Peated Whisky of the competition. The fact that it has matured in both Oloroso sherry and twenty percent ex-bourbon casks should give a hint at this not merely being an interesting peaty Islay whisky but a fruity one.

What hits the nose are floral and fruity notes that are subtly pervaded by smoke, cinnamon and peat. Needless to say that I was infatuated immediately, and a session of aromatherapy ensued.

The creaminess that materializes on the palate is dominated by the sherry fruitiness of the casks, nice accents of iodine, saline and peaty notes.

A great whisky is nothing without a finish and the moderately long dark fruity well-balanced while still veiled in smoke.

Exhibit B: Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2019

Again, aged in Oloroso sherry casks, this expression is dominated by a delightful dark chocolate and fruity nose, revolving around the centre of smouldering peaty smoke.

Giving the dram a bit of air exposure, saline nuances materialize on the palate that create an interesting melange with citrussy fruit flavour and the dark chocolate the nose promised, which is finds its peak via the elongated spicy finish.

I cannot wait to delve deeper into Kilchoman’s portfolio...

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photo provided

MOULD - A Cheese Festival

Carriageworks

Sydney, Australia

May 24, 2019

Fromage, fromage!

One does not need to have French heritage to harbour a thorough appreciation for cheese – be it aged, soft, hard, blue, white or even vegan variants.

MOULD is the mecca for anyone related in cheese and its related products as it serves as a comprehensive forum for artisan producers to showcase what Australia has to offer.

Organised by REVEL, the industrious entity of people that we have shed light on as part of our coverage of the fantastic wine festivals, most prominently Pinot Palooza, the MOULD extravaganza becomes more than a mere tasting event as it is framed in an engaging program that is comprised of curated masterclasses, food to cater to each palate and more.

The Fermentary Class with Nick Haddow from the much fabled about Bruny Island Beer and Cheese Company and fermenter Sharron Flynn was both an entertaining and delectable exercise. We have covered Bruny Island Cheese’s excellent raw milk emissions before and specifically the oozy Saint variety with its firm middle part was a winner with its flavour nuances.

It was fantastic to taste Grandvewe’s Cheeses, specifically the seasonal Sapphire Blue cheese and the Gin Herbalist, of which Hartshorn Distillery uses the whey for their gins, which we recently covered, and which were offered as well. A barrel-aged one was proffered to your humble narrator and I cannot wait to sample more when they incarnate as Dark Mofo’s Feast next month.

Other than cheeses of all couleur, Newtown’s BLOODWOOD offered sustenance in burrito form, which I enjoyed a vegetarian variant offer and downed it with a fermented kimchi juice. Delicious!

Black Market Sake and their emissions went perfectly well with they Gruyere cheeses on offer and I would be hard pressed to find any sort of culinary experience that would not be crowned with a dram of Melbourne’s Starward Whisky Distillery, which offered their fantastic and affordable drops, i.e. Nova, Solera as well as what has been nominated as the Australian whisky of the year 2018.

A fun event that has established itself firmly on my event calendar for more reasons than merely cheese appreciation.

Slow Art: The Experience of looking. Sacred Images to James Turrell

University of California Press

James Turrell was first exposed to me via his on-going collaborations with MONA, specifically with his emissions focusing on light and him tinkering with perceptions, the interactions between real and artificial lights and him managing to fully immerse the audience the beholder in his works and make them an integral constituent.

Sounds intriguing?

Well, it is. Turrell’s dabbling in the sublime has yet to produce an outcome I have not been impressed with and what I have grown to love about Turrell’s work is that its creation feels effortless while dealing with such big concepts like infinity.

As the title suggests, the book asks for an investment of time, which is a commodity hard to get by in this day and age. Enabling oneself to experience a new aesthetic field by deceleration is a key tenet of this book.

It has an interesting point to make when it comes to the relationship between stillness and motion, layering and adding dimensions as well as approaching art from a “slow” angle instead of the artwork itself necessarily carrying such qualities.

What seems to be a fad and neologism, is actually based on a concept that harks back to ancient times yet what is exemplified in the book is that it is inextricably with our current state of affairs and the future.

What seems to have shifted is that times became less slow with the advent of capitalist endeavours and urbanization coupled with the fact that the pace of life has increased at a devil’s pace, which more often than not results in a reduced attention span and an expectation that art needs to equal entertainment.

Given that we live in the secularized era vulgaris, the outcome of following the train of thought the book entertains could be a source of consolation and that is one that everyone is in dire need of.

Mark Rothko: Toward Clarity

Yale University Press

Let’s start with words from the man himself – words that would have lead to choosing the title of the book:

“The progression of a painter’s work…will be toward clarity; toward the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea, and between the idea and the observer…to achieve this clarity is, inevitably, to be understood.” –Mark Rothko

The story of one of the most acclaimed painters of the modern ages is one of evolution – evolution towards reduction; towards the essence; towards the essentials.

If you have ever gained access to one of Rothko’s emission in the third dimension, you would be able to attest to the immense power that lies within his art.

Personally, I developed an appreciation for Mark Rothko as he channels his alchemy based not only at pushing boundaries but to erase them.

Transcendence in its essence.

Merging art and life to an organic whole.

Rothko’s believes in the power of concepts and the beauty of their purity, with any further ornamentation or dilution.

Toward Clarity examines Rothko’s oeuvre in the context of modern Western art, which has had an immense influence on his paintings. His interests are shed light on and it is remarkable to see how his travels and keen interests in art and history influenced what eventually materialized on his canvases.

With the unique angle his art is approached, the book made me revisit Rothko’s paintings and added an additional dimension to a body of work that certainly does not lack facets even at face value.

One gains a deeper understanding and appreciation of his techniques and the underlying ideas that not only informed some of his artwork, but ones he was actively signifying.

The tome is rounded out by the inclusion of Mark Rothko’s essays, the voice of which lends weight and currency to the elaborations of the contributing art historians and critics.

An ode to one of the most influential expressionist painters and a feast for the eyes.

Water of Life – The Whisky Show

Anyone who is paying a bit of attention to this series would have come across the name David Ligoff, a man that has been and is wearing a myriad of hats: Founder of World of Whisky, the only specialist whisky store in Australia, and apart from various curation and endeavours as conferencier, he is the owner of Alchemist Events.

In essence, Alchemist Event is aiming at constantly pushing the boundaries of what spirits-centric events can be imagined as without entering novelty territory.

Case in point: The Whisky Show, which has firmly established itself as THE whisk(e)y extravaganza on terra australis.

Having refined the art of sophisticated event management and honouring the experience that the purposeful drinking of whisky entails, Ligoff and his team’s 2019 bespoke incarnation of The Whisky Show proved to be yet another well-thought through event that not only managed to secure a dream line-up in terms of established and highly reputable distilleries, but one that paid equal attention to getting newcomers to the ever expanding table that is the Australian whisky landscape.

When it came to recalibrating my palate, I was in the thrall of the pentagon that was comprised of Ardbeg’s offerings, Laphroaig (finally got to taste the excellent Lore along with my go-to dram Quarter Cask), English Whisky Co’s Peated Expression (fantastic culmination of their excellent line-up of quality expressions), Big Peat and Paul John – an Indian distillery that has been criminally neglected by your humble narrator so far and which has positioned itself as a prime candidate for a dedicated feature of this series.

The extraordinary 2019 Whisky Show showcased not only close to two-hundred expressions from over fifty distilleries covering the whole spectrum of flavours from light and floral to smoky heavily peated ones, but also masterclasses, whisky cocktails and a pop-up shop offering an extensive range of whiskies at special show prices.

Gentleman’s Cabinet and charismatic whisky legend Peter Stevens held court to illuminate attendant with a careful blend of education and experience when it came to all things cigar, which rounded out the well-calibrated array of booths that framed the event.

A specific App was created specifically for the event, which helped to navigate through the evening, assisted with the creation of lists and tasting notes.

Discoveries of the evening included - apart from Paul John distillery – the offerings of The New Zealand Whisky Collection, which included a Whisky Show exclusive bottling, GlenAllachie’s ex-Bourbon 10 Cask Strength and the dram I was able to sample from a distillery from the land of the rising sun, i.e. Yamazakura.

Needless to say that the treats of “Whisky Wonka” was the cream and cherry on top – both figuratively and literally - Laphroaig infused ice-cream flavours and brownies anyone? The treats were created by David Ligoff and his family and from what I sampled, I’d go as far as claiming that it’d be a crime if the creations were not to become commercially available.

Having teamed up with Uber, the Alchemists enabled attendants to claim Whisky Show vouchers so they’d safely carve their way to and from the event.