A good year

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Anniversaries can be tricky things. Sure, you want to celebrate, but you don't want to seem like you're being immodest. At any rate, the Old Town Alchemy Co. recently celebrated its first year at its current home, a milestone which happily coincided with a different kind of annual celebration. There are hundreds of whisky distilleries secreted around Scotland. Balblair might not be one of the immediately recognized ones but its heritage is undisputed. Established by John Ross in 1790 on the shores of the Dornoch Firth, it's the oldest working distillery in the Highland region and one of the oldest in Scotland. After changing hands a few times over the years, the distillery was sold to Inver House Distillers in 1996 and three years ago, Balblair took the decision to only release vintage single malts.

It's a brave decision. While most distilleries release vintages at some point, usually as special or limited editions with a matching pricetag, making them the entire basis of a portfolio is virtually unheard of in Scotch producers. The key difference between a vintage single malt, say from 1998, and a 12 year old malt is that right now, in 2010, the former is no younger than twelve years old, nor any older, while the latter contains a blend of liquids at different ages, all of which are at least twelve years old.

It's hard to separate the idea of a vintage whisky from that of a  vintage wine. A vintage wine offers a liquid record of the year in which  the wine was made, whereas because of the differing methods of  production involved, a vintage whisky doesn't have that immediate  relationship to the time of its creation. Instead, we get a snapshot of a  particular spirit at a particular point of its development with all the  detail that often gets blended out.

Along with some proper journalists and media guests, I was lucky enough to be invited to the National Museum of Scotland to try some of Balblair's vintages and enjoy an exclusive performance by the Scottish jazz vocalist Niki King. While I'm never one to turn down free whisky, the reason behind the combination of classic jazz and vintage single malt was the launch of Balblair's Vintage Lounge, with events planned for Paris and New York later in the year. The music was predictably awesome, and the three vintages we tried - 1997, 1989, and 1978 - were equally good. It was a fun evening, a chance to meet some interesting people - including the Balblair distillery manager, John MacDonald - and raise a toast to this, and other, good years.

MxMo: hard drinks for hard times

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This month's Mixology Monday is worried. It worries about its job, its mortgage and, above all, it worries about its future. It's not easy being the internet's premier monthly mixological get-together, but this month's theme proposed by Matt at Rowley's Whiskey Forge could give it a few tips for getting through the crunch. Drinking has seen of tough times before, of course. If outright prohibition couldn't kill hard spirits, then lacking a bit of cash won't either. However, to my mind, when money gets tight it's the fancy imported stuff that ends up first in the firing line and you aim to make do with what's local. Luckily, this means I get to play with Scotch whisky.

(Whisky Galore! by foxypar4, licenced under Creative Commons.)

Much like the global economy, Scotch hasn't had the best of luck over the past few years. 2008 saw blended Scotch overtaken by vodka in UK off-licence (liquor store) sales for the first time and while the category as a whole is still ahead, it seems likely to be caught within the year. But - unlike the economy - some green shoots can be seen, with Diageo building Scotland's first new whisky distillery in 30 years and Glenmorangie investing £45m in new headquarters and bottling site in the Central Belt. Looking back, whisky producers haven't always been that keen on contributing to the economy anyway. As tradition would have it, distilleries were often established in inaccessible glens to confound excisemen sent to tax the stills.

One of the great strengths of a good blended Scotch is its versatility. Quality brands will mix well with dark fruit flavours and heavier notes, but they'll also play with lighter herbal, more aromatic tastes. One thing you can guarantee is that is price will be roughly proportionate to malt content. Dropping less cash will net you a higher percentage of grain whisky in the blend; these will tend toward younger, less flavourful whiskies column-distilled from mixed grains. If economics demand that you stick to a budget, there are gems to be found - Bailie Nicol Jarvie and Black Bottle spring immediately to mind - but if you're planning on spending less than $20/£12 on a blended Scotch, you may be better off pouring some vodka into a barrel and leaving it in the garage for a couple of years.

There's another quality of Scotch that makes it perfect for post-austerity drinking: you don't need to mix it with anything. Sure, you can use it in cocktails and the like, but there's many a purist who will tell anyone with ears that adding anything other than water - maybe, just maybe an ice cube or two, possibly - is heresy of the first order. That said, it feels a little too much like cheating not to include a recipe beyond a Scotch on the rocks. Of course, given no-one anywhere has any money, it would seem foolish to start throwing starfruit and other exotica into a shaker. This month, we're keeping it simple and local. And cheap, hopefully.

Highland Bramble

45ml blended Scotch whisky
30ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 barspoon honey
1 dash egg white (optional, I just like the look and the texture)
15ml Crème de Mure

Shake the first four ingredients with ice. Strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass and drizzle the Crème de Mure over the top. Garnish with a handful of blackberries and/or raspberries.

Newsdesk: what is best in life?

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There is - or should be - a list of things you should never type into Google Image Search and right near the top of it are the words "erectile dysfunction". There's probably also a good way to tie this into the following compilation of drink related links but God, my mind is scarred.

One: Homecoming cocktail

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It seems that I thought it would be a good idea to post a new cocktail recipe every week through 2009, which is what happens when you leave me in a room with a bottle of 10 Cane. So, without any further ado, I present the first of the fifty-two. 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, a man who would, over 37 short years, come to embody Scottish literature. Moving between rural Ayrshire and Edinburgh high society, Burns became a major celebrity - his intemperate ways helped him to premature aging and an early grave which is about as rock'n'roll as you can get before Rolls Royces and swimming pools were invented.

Every year, Scots celebrate January 25th the same way - with a dinner for Burns Night. There are toasts to the poet's immortal memory, the Selkirk Grace, even an address to a haggis. In addition to the traditional celebration, the Scottish Government has launched Homecoming 2009, a series of events aimed at attracting people with Scottish ancestry to visit the country. The fun kicks off on Burns night and, over the course of the year, will cover events like the Edinburgh International Festival, the Heineken Cup Final and the Royal Highland Show. One thing that isn't included in the calendar is, of course, anything cocktail-related.

See that? Smooth.

Homecoming Cocktail

There are a decent clutch of contenders for a Burns night cocktail. You could go for a Rob Roy, or a Whisky Mac or Rusty Nail could be in with a shout. Then again, there's always the Bobby Burns, detailed in the Savoy Cocktail Book, a blend of Scotch, sweet vermouth and Benedictine. It's a good starting place and a great drink, so I haven't made any huge changes to it. The major change is that I decided to use Drambuie instead of Benedictine, mainly because it's Scottish and it fits the idea of the drink. There's a bonus given that as a whisky-based liqueur, it blends well with pretty much any Scotch as well as bringing a bunch of interesting floral and spicy flavours. On top of that, I decided to push the boat out and use a single malt for the whisky. I had wanted to use Auchentoshan - a Lowland malt - purely because it's made closer to where Burns grew up than most others, but it's also triple-distilled and unpeated and didn't come through against the Drambuie. In the end, I went for a 12 year-old Bowmore, kinda smoky and a bit peaty, but nowhere near as full on as some other Islay malts. Finally, I lobbed in a couple of dashes of Fee Brothers Peach Bitters. It's not a hugely exciting recipe, but it is a tasty drink and at least it's a start.

Only fifty-one to go...

Homecoming Cocktail

40ml blended Scotch Whisky (I used Johnnie Walker Black Label)
15ml Drambuie
25ml sweet vermouth (Martini Rosso)
2 dashes Peach Bitters

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled Rocks glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist. It doesn't have to be as mental as the one in the photo.