by tashmcgill | Jun 3, 2017 | Opinion, Tasting Notes
Earlier this year, I was having lunch with Dr. Bill Lumsden, master distiller and my favourite whisky chemist. We were celebrating the release of the long-awaited Glenmorangie Bacalta, a baked madeira finished whisky and their 8th Private Edition release but I...
by tashmcgill | Jun 7, 2016 | Drink, Opinion, Tasting Notes
The days are getting colder and in my neighbourhood, the smell of burning wood and charcoal is hanging in the night air by 6pm each night. That smell reminds me of the burning peat I smelled in the same dark air hanging over Islay. I imagine the dark cove in Ardbeg...
by tashmcgill | May 25, 2016 | Tasting Notes
There’s a special kind of time they talk about at the end of the long road to Ardbeg. They call it Islay Time. The kind of present that is so closely linked to the past, everything slows down. It’s not hard to imagine the life of Celtic monks who found...
by tashmcgill | May 20, 2016 | Drink, Opinion
Some things are just science: the chemistry of one ingredient matched with another produces a pleasurable result. People are like that too. Put them together in the right way and everything turns out for the best. Some are like fine wine or whisky, to be savoured...
by tashmcgill | May 12, 2016 | Drink, Travel
There is a long road on the southern tip of the Isle of Islay, that edges along the coast from the Port Ellen maltings. With sweet, smoky malt and the salty sea air in your lungs, you’ll take that long road to the legendary ladies of Laphroaig, Lagavulin and...
