Advent Calendar 2020

[HoustonRunner]

As posted back in mid November, my wife got me an early Christmas present - a whisk(e)y advent calendar.

Yesterday was day 1, so here we go.

As a point of reference I'm a bourbon / American whiskey drinker. Not Scotch since "the incident".

(Short version of the incident - wedding reception, open bar, party keeps going at hotel after reception, at some point I am drinking Dewars from a plastic cup, plastic cup keeps breaking, I decide to cut out the middle man and drink straight from the bottle. You can guess the rest.)

Back to the main story - last night was Aerolyte Lindsay from Islay Whisky Company. It didn't come with tasting notes, but my wife googled them up and what I heard her say was: peaty, hints of old bookshelves and used leather. I'm sure there were other nouns used as adjectives, but those didn't stick.

Net result - I'm still not a Scotch person. I'm sure it was great for people who look for those flavors, but my palette isn't ready for old bookshelves. Very earthy and musty (I guess that is where they get old bookshelves?).

Who knows, maybe by the end of the month I'll appreciate Scotch better. Expanding my horizons!

Great thing is today is another day and I'll have a new one to taste tonight!

[WilliamsSW]

@houstonrunner oh man - and I thought the advent calendar with chocolate treats my 4 year old got was cool!

[HoustonRunner]

@WilliamsSW We have a Harry Potter one for my daughter as well. These are actually pretty hard to come by for some reason, not sure why. My wife had to order it from US distributor of a UK company.

[WilliamsSW]

@houstonrunner oh, too bad it's hard to find. I was going to put it on my wish list (who cares if it's too late lol).

How much in each bottle? Just a couple of shots to taste, I presume?

[MidEngine]

I bought a similar thang, case of 1/2 sized wine bottles from Costco. The Merlot I had last night was decent, curious to see what the rest are like.

[HoustonRunner]

@williamssw Pretty sure it is just one ounce, so not even a full shot. I'll look tonight.

[HoustonRunner]

@midengine I had a beer one last year and still have a few leftover. That one wasn't great, there were maybe 7 or 8 different beers and they repeated.

[Chariotoflove]

@houstonrunner A lot of scotch does better mixed with a little water or on the rocks at least.

[HoustonRunner]

@chariotoflove Since it was a small serving I added half an ice cube. Still not my favorite, but I'll keep at it, you know, for science.

[WhereHaveAllTheLightweightsGone]

Don't judge all scotches based on this one. Scotches from the Islay region, such as this one, tend to be earthy/peaty. More well-known examples of this are Lagavulin and Laphroaig.

A cleaner, more diverse flavor profile typically comes from the Speyside region. It's typically lighter in color and mouthfeel, and it's a much easier drinking whisky. A good starter to this is Balvenie 12 Double Wood Sherry.

I hope I can get this advent calendar next year. This year, I've made my own calendar with beers I have collected and not consumed and ultimately annoyed my wife. Now's a good a time as ever to clear off the shelves.