Whisky

Whilst it won't be the sole topic of my blog chances are (at least for now) Whisky will be the main topic of it.  I never used to drink, and the thought of drinking never appealed to me, then earlier this year something changed.  I'm not sure what but something changed, and I became interested in drinking.  I was introduced to it in the form of Rum and Coke, which I enjoyed and found to be rather enjoyable.  The rum was Bacardi -nothing special I know- and I did have a sip of it straight as well, I found it to be too alcoholic in taste but could tell something about it was appealing.  This lead to me doing some research into alcohol and coming to the conclusion that as well as Rum I should try out Whisky, but I wasn't sure which type of Whisky.  I ended up trying Whiskey first (Whiskey being the spelling for Whiskey produced in America, Ireland and a few other places for the most part and Whisky typically being the spelling for Whisky produced in Scotland Japan and New Zealand), in the form of Wild Turkey Rye 101.  Honestly, it was crap, harsh and simple and it burned like crazy, it wasn't for me but the people at the party I went to thought I was awesome for having it.  The next Whiskey I tried was Jack Daniel's Old No. 7, I found it alright at first but then came to the conclusion as I got more familiar with it, that it was too young and sweet and too simple for my liking - in other words great for getting pissed on, but I early on decided I wanted to drink for the flavour not for the purpose of getting pissed on.  Next I decided Scotch would probably be more my thing and so I dove in the deep end with a bottle of Ardbeg 10.  I immediately was fascinated by the nose and taste, it was of course like nothing else I'd ever had, the smoke and peat were unique, the notes of smoked fish and citrus sweetness (along with a sour citrus note) the way it progressed on the palate from sweetness to peat blast, to peppery notes that intensified, the way the finish was like what I described but in reverse, well I can't say I fell in love immediately, but I knew it was something that I would like given a little more time.  And what do you know, I was right.  within a few drams (no more than one every couple of days at that point, now I'm more likely to drink a dram or so a night) I'd fallen in love with it, sure it was a bit intimidating but I liked the challenge of the flavours and of figuring out just what the hell I tasted and smelt.  My next Whisky was the Yamazaki 12 year old which I found in the local Liquor store and had been interested in trying.  Well if Ardbeg was the begining of my love affair with Whisky, it was the Yamazaki that confirmed this love was to last.  I loved it immediately (and still do), the balance of sweetness and oak spice and pepper, the beautiful fruity notes and vanilla, God, it was heaven (I get sad when I look and see that my bottle is almost gone).  Since then I've had several other bottles of Whisky including some fantastic ones made and bottled here in New Zealand, and have come to the conclusion that Whisky really is one of the finer things in life.  I like to think I've learned fast in the last 3 or 4 months that I've been drinking Whisky, but it's probably just that I listened to the people whom I admired and trusted in their views of Whisky (be they Vlogers such as Ralfy or Bloggers such as Jason of Jason's Scotch Blog) when told me -well more precisely the reader or viewer rather than me in particular- to trust my nose palate and general instincts.  And now I'm going to be exploring Whisky here in this blog (amongst other things I'm going to be writing about, but as I said it will likely be the main topic), both with reviews and just my thoughts about Whisky.  I'm still new to this so take my reviews with a grain of salt -please for the love of God don't take me as a fucking expert, firstly I'm not, secondly they're normally full of shit!- but I hope you enjoy my blogs and reviews and get something out of them.  I'm going to try to have my first review out within the next week.  Now for the fun process of deciding which I will review first...