Scotch Malt Whisky Society, February 2026 Outturn
Had another fun night tasting whisky with Liz, at the local SMWS outturn event in Chicago.
Posts Tagged "whisky"
First Fire on the Last Day of the Year
Our first fire! It’s New Year’s Eve, and better late than never. Glad we got this in, in 2025.
I do have to say – this has been a long, long time coming. With the cost of fixing and updating a fireplace, we’ve held off on this for years because our money was better spent elsewhere – on more critical, infrastructure type work for the house.
To have this done and working is… difficult to describe. It’s a nice, warm feeling, both literally and emotionally.
Scotch Malt Whisky Society, December 2025 Outturn
I love this photo, as it feels like an renaissance painting. Of note: Max and Lauren, with two drams each of the Hakushu.
Drammers Club: Ardnamurchan Tasting with Carl Crafts
Though we just got back from Scotland, there was a Drammers event that featured a distillery that Liz is fond of: Ardnamurchan. So we signed up and headed out to join some fellow whisky lovers for a Chicago tasting.
Scotland, Day 17: Breakfast at Greenwoods, Browsing at Golden Hare Books, Drams at The Vaults (Scotch Malt Whisky Society), Dinner at Timberyard
A few hours and a super sketchy Uber ride later… we arrived at The Vaults (another Scotch Malt Whisky Society location, this time in Leith).
Scotland, Day 16: Breakfast at The Pantry, Drams at Bow Bar, the World of Harry Potter at Museum Context, MinaLima, Exploring Dunbars Close, Drinks at Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Queens Street), Anniversary Dinner at the Scran and Scallie
Back outside, mingling with the Muggles.
Scotland, Day 14: Speyside Falconry, Aberlour Distillery, GlenAllachie Distillery, Lunch at the Gather’n Cafe, Coffee Stop at Cafe Calluna (Pitlochry), Driving to Edinburgh
A big travel day for us, leaving Speyside and trekking to Edinburgh for our last city and stay, before heading home.
Scotland, Day 13: Tasting at Glendronach, Dinner at The Mash Tun
Our big event for the day wasn’t until later on: a tasting a one of our favorite distilleries, Glendronach.
Scotland, Day 12: Drams at Strathisla, Tasting at Gordon & MacPhail, Beers at Against the Grain, Dinner at the Drouthy Cobbler
Dram 1: 39 Year Caol Ila (filled 1984 in a Refill American Hogshead, bottled in 2023).
Dram 2: 29 Year Glentauchers (filled 1995 in a First Fill Sherry Butt, bottled in 2024).
Dram 3: 26 Year Dailuaine (filled 1998 in a REfill American Hogshead, bottled in 2024)
Dram 4: 23 Year Macallan (filled 2001, bottled in 2024)
Dram 5: 17 Year Linkwood (filled 2008 in a First Fill Sherry Hogshead, bottled in 2025).
Scotland, Day 11: Tasting at Glen Garioch Distillery, Newburgh Seal Beach, Dinner at Islay House
We got what felt like a very behind the scenes look at the whole process. Of particular note – Glen Garioch only recently returned to floor malting (some more background) – a very manual and labor/time-intensive process.
The smell of the malt was quite incredible – and I really wish I could have taken some photos to share. But I guess you’ll have to go on the tour yourself, if you want to see it.
Scotland, Day 8: Handspinner Having Fun, the Old Pier, Tasting at Torabhaig Distillery, Walking Along the Carbost Waterfront, Dinner at Old Inn
A really cool thing about Torabhaig – they made it a point to hire locals to work at the distillery. And more than that, also made it a point to hire folks who may not have been directly involved in the whisky industry.
Of particular interest, they have a Journeyman’s Series: a program where they set aside one month each year for their distillers to have free reign of the distillery, to work on their own custom recipes.
Scotland, Day 7: Ferry to Isle of Raasay, Encountering Dolphins, Raasay Distillery, Driving and Sheepspotting, Dinner at Sprig
This looks to be just like a Renaissance painting (if it weren’t for that bit of blue spray paint, dotting the sheep’s butt in the foreground).
Scotland, Day 5: Fort William, Ben Nevis, Lunch at Cluanie Inn, Chocolates of Glenshiel, Eilean Donan Castle, Arriving in Portree (Isle of Skye), Bosville Hotel
Travel day today – we’re on the road for just about 3 hours (125 miles), going from Glencoe to Portree (Isle of Skye). A lot of it was highway driving, A82 – A87.
Whisky Tasting in the Suburbs, Part 2
Liz and I trekked out to the suburbs tonight, for an early dinner and gathering and Michelle and Mike’s place. It’s been a while since we last gathered (January, I think it was). And tonight we resumed our “reading” of 2024 Costco Whisky Collection.
That said, I think at the rate we’re going… we’ll be lucky to meet one more time before the 2025 edition comes out.
Akkeshi Adelphi
While at Binny’s, Liz and I were browsing the whisky aisle when we were surprised to find an Adelphi bottle in the Japanese section!
Adelphi is one of our favorite bottlers, something we discovered thanks to Charlotte at the Malt Room in Inverness. I believe she said that she never had a bottle by Adelphi that she didn’t like, and I’m pretty close to sharing that opinion.