So, what are you drinking now?

Today was my wife’s last day of work for (most of) the summer (she’s a teacher), so I made a new cocktail for us. “Thyme will tell”;

2oz Rye (Rittenhouse BiB)

.5oz maple syrup

.5oz fresh squeezed lemon juice

Thyme sprig

Muddle one sprig of thyme (minus stem) in shaker. Add rye, lemon juice and maple syrup. Fill shaker with ice, shake well and strain into martini glass. Express lemon peel over glass and discard. Add another sprig of thyme for garnish and burn ends with blow torch to add a little smoke. Reminds me of an old fashioned.

After not being overwhelmed with the previous cocktail, made a traditional Manhattan with 2 parts Old Granddad 114, 1 part sweet vermouth and 3 dashes Angostura bitters. Much better!

Tonight I cracked (the seal of) one of my 2 bottles of North of 7 4 grain barrel 16 Canadian whisky. Having tasted it several times from @Fiddich1980's sample, I have decided to review it for my Canada Day review.

This is not an easy whisky to review for me. Tonight I tried a 15 cc pour at cask strength (74.5%), and diluted to approximately 60% and 50%. It's a first pour, and I think I will need to try it in a number of glasses to get a good read on it.

I tried this with Wiser's Union 52 a few years ago and it was a fun exercise. I don't usually go to the same bottle in succession so many times, but we must make some sacrifices for research.

About to pour a Bengal Lancer ale to have with some samosas and bhaji as a pre-dinner snack. Papadoms, dips, naan, rice and chick pea curry for the main.

All in preparation of the sporting event of the decade ... England v Scotland in the Euro Championship which kicks off at 8pm. Coronas and some blended whisky will be on the menu during the game with a selection of thick cut crisps. Heaven!

Well, so long as we win Sorry Scotland but I only see a convincing England win tonight ...

Last night, while playing on-line poker with my brother-in-law and friends, I rated my last two open, unrated bottles;

Glenfarclas 17 Year Old. Rating: 86

Bladnoch Adela 15 year Oloroso Cask Matured - 46.7% ABV. Rating: 93. This is such good whisky!

A couple of Black Manhattan’s for the cocktail hour.

After dinner, BenRiach SMWS 12.49 (10 year - March 2010) "Is this the way to Amarillo?". After 9 years in an ex-bourbon barrel, transferred to an ex-Tempest Old Fashioned IPA cask - 60.0% ABV with a few drops of Uisge Source Speyside water.

Ended the night by finishing off a sample of Ardbeg An Oa.

Well that didn't go to plan ...

A 0 v 0 draw where Scotland played amazingly well, best I've probably ever seen them actually, and might well have nicked a win. England were below par and got it tactically wrong but did have some chances to score which they fluffed.

Exciting game though and beers were enjoyed! We should have enough points now to get in the next round and finishing second in the group is going to be better than finishing first, so every cloud. No whisky though, I couldn't do it - felt like cheating

@RianC My mother was Scottish (Stirling) and my father was English (Watford) so a nil-nil draw is a good result for me. Although, as I was born in Glasgow, I did have the Scottish flag flying on the flagpole.

@BlueNote If everyone has fun and no one gets hurt then everyone wins!

….kind of like a scotch tasting…

Phase One of my Great Summer Cocktail Experiment: getting baselines. Tasting a blended Scotch (Asyla), a rum cask finished blended Scotch (Dewar's Caribbean Smooth), and a rum (Havana Club 7 year-old).

Phase Two will be making a Daiquiri with each and seeing which makes the better cocktail.

Phase Three will be repeating Phase Two, but with Hemingway Daiquiris.

@RianC - I’m 43% English and 39% Scottish, so I agree with @BlueNote that a draw was the best possible outcome. Looking forward to Tuesday to see how both England and Scotland perform in their respective matches.

Glengoyne 10 year-old while I put together my Father's Day LEGO...

@YakLord Nice. Big boy LEGO with a big boy beverage.

My first and only whisky today, Little Book Chapter 2 “Noe Simple Task” 59.4% abv., is a fitting pour for Father's Day. This blend of 40 YO Canadian 100% Corn Whisky, 13 YO Alberta Distillers Ltd. 100% Rye, and 8 Year Old Beam Straight Rye is a creation by Freddie Noe to honor his granddaddy, Booker Noe. It possesses great complexity and is nicely balanced. It is big, bold, and masculine. Well done Freddie, granddaddy would be proud.

@paddockjudge Noe way!

@YakLord I love Hemingway daiquiris. Funny thing is, in the rum world, many look down upon them since there's no sugar/simple syrup in them and they're "unbalanced". But honestly, they work really nicely with Havana Club 3 Year Old.

Behind in my posting;

On Saturday, my wife and I had Jerry Thomas Manhattan's (Rittenhouse BiB Rye).

Yesterday (Father's Day) was mainly a beer day. My wife and sister-in-law, gave my brother-in-law and his son as well as me and my son tickets to the Seattle Mariner's baseball game yesterday. My brother-in-law and I had a couple of beers at the game (a local pilsner and a local IPA). The Mariner's won in the bottom of the 10th inning with a walk-off grand slam! It's the first time that I've been to a Mariner's game in just under 3 years (July 4th, 2018).

Afterwards, we went to a brewery and had a flight of 4 - 4oz tasters (a light lager, a pale ale, a red ale and an IPA) and then went for pizza and had another pint (a local pale ale).

After we got back to his house, ended the night sitting outside watching the kids play on the trampoline while drinking a dram of Ardmore SMWS 66.167 (7 year - April 24th, 2012) "Big and punchy" - Refill ex-Oloroso puncheon cask - 61.6% ABV. An absolutely wonderful Ardmore!

All-in-all, a very nice Father's Day.

It’s like the Boxing-Day-For-Father’s Day! I’m off all week

Wings and bourbon with my son and son-in-law.

Last night's dram;

Glenallachie SMWS 107.21 (8 year - May 2012) "Bounty on the galleon" - 1st-fill ex-sherry butt" - 63.3% ABV. The wine influence on this one is really nice!

Tonight,

Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2010 - 50% ABV.

Followed by a peated Glenturret SMWS 16.46 (6 year - July 2013) "Cooking on a rusty grill". Re-charred hogshead - 64.9% ABV.

I taught my last class of the school year via Google Meet today so I’m celebrating by opening my Macallan Classic Cut 2019 edition. First impressions: this is very good stuff. Clean, rich, complex. Huzzah!

@Victor, I had initially missed your witty comment....too funny!

@OdysseusUnbound That does look mighty rich...

@Nozinan I’m sure a sample could be arranged if you’re interested.

@OdysseusUnbound Speaking of samples. A friend gave me a sample of a 29 year old Imperial. I think it was SMOS, but not sure. Absolutely ridiculously good. Left me craving more.

Go Habs!!

Tonight, I’m home alone and on my own for dinner. Grilled a couple of pork chops on the Weber with applewood chunks for smoke and a rosemary sprig.

I decided to pair it with last of the E H Taylor Barrel Proof sample that I purchased a few weeks ago. What a perfect pairing! I would drink more bourbon if I could easily get stuff like this!

After finishing dinner and the E H Taylor, I was still in the mood for bourbon, so I’m sitting on the patio, listening to old ZZ Top albums and drinking a dram of Old Grandad 114. Life is good!

“Me and my Old Grandad, we drink alone”…

@bwmccoy Our Weber is well over 20 years old. I got new grills and flavorizer bars for it about 5 years ago. The burners are still solid. We use it year round and it refuses to die. I just can't come up with a good reason to buy a new one.

Those pork chops look delicious.

@BlueNote

My first Weber lasted about 10 years, then we moved and we had a gas line in the new house so we got one with four burners, and gave the old one to my uncle and aunt. Pretty dependable. There is even a service that will come to your home and clean it...

Having a large dram of Compass Box Flaming Heart and flying the flag for the Habs.