Hello and welcome to my newest blogging endeavor. I guess the best place to start is at the proverbial beginning. Several years ago, I started down the path to become a wine drinker (or wine snob, to some). I’ve discovered that I really enjoy drinking wine and I really enjoy learning about wine. I’ve read (or at least skimmed) numerous books on wine and have made learning about it as much of a hobby as actually drinking the wines. I have maps of wine regions and keepsake sleeves for my wine magazines. And I’ve had a lot of fun.
Maybe 6 months or a year after I started my wine adventures, I wrote a few posts for my planned wine blog. I was trying to write about my reasons for becoming interested in wine and my reactions as I learned about wine. The problem that I ran into, almost immediately, was that it was difficult to write about new experiences months after they occurred. Some of what I wanted to write and talk about was (I thought) interesting, but the temporal delay from experience to journaling made the process much more difficult and seemed to lessen the impact of anything that I wanted to say and share. So that project, sadly, was shelved (though I may post those essays here one day).
Now step ahead a few years.
I’ve always heard people talk about having a Scotch or a whisky (or whiskey) but, at least since college (more on that in a minute), haven’t really paid much attention. I’ve heard people mention Glenlivet or Johnny Walker and just tended to smile as if I knew what they were talking about. I couldn’t tell you the difference between a Scotch and bourbon. And frankly, I really didn’t care that much. I put tequila in a margarita, rum in a Cuba libre, and vodka in a screwdriver. Those and a chocolate martini were about the extent of my liquor knowledge.
But recently, my wine explorations have branched slightly. I’ve found myself trying some dessert wines and then Port. A few weeks ago, I found myself sipping a Port (Yalumba Antique Tawny Museum Reserve) while I surfed the web and live-tweeted one of the Republican presidential debates (oh, the pain…). And I realized that I was quite enjoying myself. A few days after that, I decided to sip a Port while my wife and I watched Top Chef (hey, it beat eating a bag of chips…, though she did ask my why I was drinking paint thinner). And a few nights later I really stepped up and poured myself a bit of Port while I sat down to read my book. I think it was at that moment that I realized that there was something that I was enjoying but that I’d been missing. You see, almost all of my wine drinking is as an accompaniment to a meal. It wasn’t until I started sipping those Ports in the late evening that I really recognized the simple enjoyment that I could add to watching TV or reading a book.
From that realization came the thought that perhaps I should expand my horizons further still. And my imagination sort of took off and I found myself thinking back to discussions that I’d heard from time to time about the pleasures of single malt whisky and other sorts of spirits. I also remembered the passion with which single malt whisky was discussed by author Barry Eisler (via his protagonist John Rain). Eisler (who happens to be one of my all-time favorite thriller writers) made some of Rain’s favorite whiskies practically come to life, almost like characters in his books (and if you haven't read Eisler, why not?). I even recall reading Eisler’s discussion of his favorite whiskies on his blog.
Now for a brief confession: As a high school kid, I really liked Chivas Regal. I think that can be traced back to the fact that my father used to order a Chivas and water with a twist whenever we’d go to a nice restaurant. Add to that the fact that I really didn’t like beer (hey, growing up in a suburb of Indianapolis in the early ’80s, my exposure to beer was pretty much limited to Bud and Miller; I’d never heard of things like Guinness). So when we snuck out to drink (um, is this confession of underage drinking, nearly 30 years after the fact going to stop me from having a career in politics?) and my friends brought their cases of beer, I would find a way to lay hands on a bottle of Chivas Regal. Or maybe something cheaper. But as a high school kid, how much attention was I really paying to precisely what I was drinking? Exactly.
My flirtation with Chivas (and whisky) in general, ended on a very, very memorable night during my freshman year of college. All-in-all, it was a really, really good night (no, I won’t go into more details, but I’m sure you can guess), but I had way, way, way too much (no, seriously, more than that…) Scotch that night. And by the time that I could stagger down the hall the next day, the allure of that particular beverage just wasn’t there anymore. In fact, the allure of any sort of alcohol was pretty much gone…
In the intervening years (28 years? Yeesh!) I’ve had a sip of Scotch here and there, but never really paid it any attention. It was just another alcohol. Take it or leave it. I do know, however, that none of those sips was of anything memorable (or which should have been memorable).
Now as I mentioned earlier, in my exploration of wine, I’ve really enjoyed learning about wine; for me, it hasn’t just been about the experience of drinking the wine. So as I found myself thinking back to what I’d heard others discussing about whisky over the years, I realized that perhaps there was more to know about the subject. I remembered a friend trying to explain to me the differences in whiskies based on the region of Scotland from whence they originated. But as that discussion was still a few years before I began to learn about wine and the importance of terroir I didn’t pay it much heed. Though it did stick in my mind as an interesting subject. (OK, one more confession: I’m fascinated with Scotland. Don't believe me? Perhaps you should visit another one of my webpages that has a direct tie to Scotland.)
So a week or so ago, I happened to be in one of my favorite wine shops (Vine & Table in Carmel, Indiana; stop in, say “hi”, tell ’em I sent you…) and I decided to step off my own beaten path through the shelves of wine bottles and venture into the big scary area devoted to whisky. Wow! I had no idea (though I don’t know why…) just how many different varieties and brands of whisky there were. I found myself reading label after label (hey, those boxes that some of the bottles come in are pretty cool!) and wondering what some of the terms meant. But I quickly realized that, even though I was suddenly curious enough to maybe give one of these whiskies a try (and what the hell, I kept wondering, do they mean by single malt?), I didn’t know enough to even guess as to which bottle to use as a starting point. What was good? What was bad? What would help lead me down the path of discovery and what would cause me to run for the exits crying out for my mommy.
I decided that I wanted to learn about whisky and single malts and all of this new terminology. And, of course, I wanted to try tasting some of these spirits that were fetching pretty impressive prices. But I knew that I needed a lot more knowledge and I needed help and direction.
And so my exploration of whisky was about to begin. Stick around and share my exploration.
Next up: My first tentative steps, some questions, some tastings, some books ... and a purchase!
Update February 13, 2012 (formatting and typo corrections).
