Happiness is...

Well, it's snowing again, and I didn't get to go on a run before it started. Instead I took care of Elijah while Melisssa took a nap. Stew is coming along, and will be a nice dinner tonight. I decided not to make bread, and opted to buy some from Whole Foods when we went there today. We also checked out a new "running" store when we went to the mall, Finish Line. I got the impression that no one in the store has ever run anywhere, and none of the products could ever be used for running. Left feeling pretty disgusted with the whole facade. I guess we'll have to hit Runner's Roost when we have money again. Hah!

On a roll!

Well I've posted for the past few days, so I feel like I should keep it up. Today was a much better day than yesterday, although I'm still feeling pretty tired as Elijah had a bad night last night. I'm also a little hungry as I didn't have anything to take for lunch today and wound up bringing two apples to eat. That should be okay though as I will not be running today; it's freaking cold out.

This weekend has no plans associated with it, other than making stew. It's supposed to be rainy, so stew sounds like a good plan. I'll have to get some veggies for it though. Maybe a nice rustic bread to go along with would be in order. I always like to bake when it is not so nice out. With any luck I'll get a break in the weather and be able to go running. The only thing I can run in is my shorts, so it's running on nice days only for me until I can afford some higher tech gear. Monday Melissa and I are off to donate blood. Mmmm, cookies.

Not alone

Good to see I'm not the only one having a bad day.

"Day ain't over yet."

It's noon and this morning has been one of those mornings I'd just rather forget. I'll make a disclaimer at this point, however, that my problems are probably inconsequential compared to the problems of others. But these are my problems, and I cannot seem to step away and view their absolute magnitude, I can only see their relative magnitude. End disclaimer.

This morning Elijah was up early (5:30), and as the cat was acting squirrely I decided I might as well get up and try to get him back to sleep. I knew that this was a one way ticket out of bed for me, but I took on the responsibility knowing that sometimes there is only so much a mother can take. So it was an early start, and Elijah was not really interested in sleep. He has come a long way in the past 7 weeks, though and he was content to sit relatively quietly while I bounced on the exercise ball and watch the early morning news. By quarter to 7 mom was up and feeding him so I went about my day. Unfortunately, I had neglected to turn on the dishwasher last night, so my orange juice container was not clean as I had planned. And the water jug was empty, so even after cleaning the container, my OJ was still warm. I hate that. By this time I knew it was going to be a bad day, and yet for some reason I still went off to my car service appointment as planned. This was a bad idea. New O2 sensor, radiator flush and oil change later I drove out of there $500 lighter in the pocket. Although when that $500 isn't even in my pocket I'm not sure how it could be lighter. Anyway, I have resigned myself to the fact that I cannot expect our car to not need a little work once and a while to keep it running well. It has over 100,000 miles on it and I hope to keep it long after a new Saturn has graced our driveway. But what with that and paying for tickets to Calgary (I don't know why we even bother with points if it costs so much to use them) I have no idea where we are going to get the money to cover everything. Savings was cleared out last month for taxes and my income level is not going anywhere for the next 6 months. "When it rains it pours" I guess, which is ironic because it is raining here today and will be for the next few days, meaning I can't even get out to run to forget about money. And even when I do run, it won't be in a new pair of shoes, and it won't be in the Bolder Boulder. To top everything off, I get to work and find out that my copy of Tiger will not be delivered tomorrow after all. It's getting pushed to Tuesday, and then who knows when.

I thought it would help to get this all off my chest, but it hasn't. This morning still sucks, and the afternoon ain't looking much better. On the bright side though, the afternoon is not looking much worse either. No scotch for me tonight, I don't like to drink when I'm depressed. I can feel sorry enough for myself when I'm sober.

The results are in...

Well the final results are in at the Cherry Creek Sneak website. I came in 803 out of 2027 with an official time of 42:38. I'm happy with the result and I sure had fun running it. It's funny but it doesn't even seem like I was running that long, it just flew by. That's what tends to happen when I go out though. Last night I went out for about 5 miles at an easier pace, it felt great to get the race kinks out of my legs. Now I am thinking about whether I want to run in the Bolder Boulder. We'll see I guess. Hopefully pictures of me in the race will be online soon!

I'm going to try to start blogging more regularly now, although it is harder than it seems. I always used to give Melissa a hard time if she didn't blog in a couple of days, now I can't think of anything worth writing about. Unfortunately as my time after work looks like: get home, make dinner, eat dinner, go for run, check email, go to bed, the time to blog is limited to work hours. Elijah really has made an impact on our lives. I can't wait until he starts sleeping more and we can stay up a little after he goes to bed. As it is we sleep when he sleeps.

In Apple news, Tiger is coming out on Friday. I have a copy on preorder for work, which is supposed to arrive on Friday, but will probably only make it as far as Shipping and Receiving, and they'll sit on it for a while. There really is no point in Couriering anything to my work anymore as it takes two days to get to my office after it appears on campus. The whole distribution system is much worse here than at the old campus. Anyway, hopefully it will arrive Monday at the very least. I'm looking forward to seeing if the 64Mb stacksize limit is lifted in this new kernel. I tried fiddling around with recompiling the current kernel, but still met up with a hard limit set somewhere in the system. This problem is just pushing me to do a full rewrite of the software in C rather than in FORTRAN. Believe me, if I've lost any of you it's not your fault, just be glad I decided not to talk about my byte-swapping problem I had a few months back. Apart from this rewriting business, I also have to write up my latest experiment for publication. It's a great method and really buttons up the major project that I came here to do. Next stop, who knows?

It's about time!

Well, I think it's about time that I started writing things in this blog that are not necessarily scotch related. What with new baby and all, there hasn't been enough time to settle down with a nice dram. I did get a new bottle, however, a McClelland's Lowland, which is apparently a 5yo bottling of a Lowland distillery. The name of the distillery was changed for this bottling so the young age would not affect the name inversely. Most distilleries won't bottle anything less than 10yo. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but as it was free, even if it is crap it doesn't matter.

Anyway, a year ago at a conference in Monterey, CA I started jogging for excercise. I kept up with it through the winter on the treadmill, but outdoor running is really more enjoyable. At any rate, as a celebration of a year of running I decided that I should partake in a race. I chose the 2005 Cherry Creek Sneak as a starting point. I entered the 5-mile run, and Melissa participated in the 3.1-mile walk. My goal was to run the race in less than 44 minutes, which was the best time I've recorded (on my own) so far. A race is totally different than going out on your own for a run. There are so many people at the start that you really have to weave your way through at the beginning. As a result, my pace for the first mile was about 10 minutes. I knew I had to step it up for the rest of the race. By the second mile the pack was thinning out a bit and I was able to get back down to my 8:30 pace. But I was feeling really good and I knew I would be able to bring it up in the last miles. As a result each mile of my race was faster than the last, and I was able to burn over the finish line at 42:38! Having people out there to cheer you on is great too, although I missed Melissa as I thought she would be watching on the left side of the road and she was actually on the right side. What a run!

I was very happy to reach my goal for this race, now I have to think about what next. I'm thinking of doing a 10k at the Bolder Boulder in May, but we'll see about that. The eventual goal is to do a marathon, so this is the first step along that path. I'm really enjoying running, and it was wonderful to have my wife and son there taking part with me. 'Til next time!

Glengoyne

I just returned from a trip to Glasgow and had the opportunity to visit a distillery nearby. What a wonderful experience! I have read much about the process of making whisky, but it is really special to see it all in action. They take you right through the distillery where the whisky is being made everyday. It's wonderful to experience all of the smells that are characteristic to each stage of the process. The yeasty bread smell of the fermentation room, the sweet alcohol smell of the mash tun, the almost winelike smell of the spirit safe. The only thing that I would have liked more is if we could have seen inside the warehouse where the spirit is aged. Due to tax restrictions though the spirit must be kept under lock and key as soon as the distillation begins all the way through to bottling. Seing everything from spring to cask was really great, and seeing the land around the distillery really gave me a sense of how the smells and tastes of the land permeate the spirit. I don't think that I can emphasize enough how enjoyable a dram of whisky is when it is enjoyed at the distillery. Since Melissa did not have any whisky I got to have two drams :).

Glengoyne is a highland distillery, although their whisky is distilled in the highlands and aged across the street in the lowlands. Since there is no peat in the region it is not used to halt the malting of the barley, instead hot air is used. This means that there is no smokyness to the whisky at all. The only flavour of note arises from the aging process, which is done in casks that were previously used to age sherry. These casks are used 3 or 4 times to age the whisky before they have given all they can give. I bought a bottle of the 10 yo Glengoyne single malt. It is very light in colour as it is young. The nose does not reveal much at first although it smells very sweet from afar. To me I think I almost smell a fruity fig aroma. I found the whisky to be quite smooth, with a very slight attack. The flavor of the sherry dominates the palette. On the whole this is a very enjoyable malt that means so much more to me having been to the distillery. One day I think that I would like to do a tour across Scotland of all sorts of distilleries, but Glengoyne was wonderfully accessible by bus right from city centre Glasgow. It only cost us £4.25 to get there and £4.50 for the tour. What a deal!

Slainte Mhath!

Two's Company

This weekend we were visited by a friend from Edmonton, and I was able to partake in a couple of drams with him. It was great having company, and especially nice to be able to have someone to bounce perceptions of the scotch off of. As an added bonus I got to go skiing with him yesterday, and fortunately there was some fresh snow to top it all off! The skiing was almost as good as the scotch.

Laphroaig 10yo

Saturday night we had a wonderful dinner (Boromir burgers and Faramir Fries) and got us set up with some Laphroaig from my "collection." I really enjoyed this one and I spent a long time enjoying both the nose and the tasting experience. I was enjoying the nose so much that my wife told me that my breathing was annoying her. I guess I'll have to "breathe" quieter when I am tasting. Anyway, apart from the carmelly smell this time I was able to pick up a mildly fruity smell that I couldn't identify. I looked in my book for some possible aromas, and found that it seems to be closest to plums. I really like the taste of this one as well, it is more mildly smoky than the Ardbeg I like, but still very nice. When I tasted this one this time though I tasted a very woody flavour, like oak. This was definitely new for me and made it that much more enjoyable.

Lagavulin 16yo

Sunday night was my birthday and we went out to the Bull and Bush for dinner. I had the shepherds pie again, which I really like, along with the Big Ben Brown ale (second only to the Man Beer IPA if you ask me). For my after dinner scotch I ordered the Lagavulin 16yo. It's a little more expensive than I usually spring for, but it was my birthday, so I figured what the heck. I've heard good things about this one, and it did not disappoint. It has a very dark colour, burnt amber I would say, and a wonderful caramel/smoke aroma. The taste of this one was really outstanding though, very smooth with a subtle smoke taste. The smoke in this one I found was more woody rather than peaty I think, and the finish was almost sweet. It was a great scotch, one that is definitely worth the extra money, but I probably won't be springing for a bottle of it any time soon.

Next week I have a conference to go to in Monterey, which I am looking forward to a lot. Usually one of the companies holds a drawing for a bottle of scotch (this is how I got my first bottle), so with a little luck I may have a new one to try when I get back! Here's hoping!

Old Faithful

Friday night I had the opportunity to have dinner at the Bull and Bush with my boss. It was great! Had a couple of "Scottish Ales" to start off and their Shepherd's Pie, which is very tasty. The beers here are all great, and I have yet to find one that I have been dissapointed in. But I don't take my beer tasting as seriously as my scotch, so there is no blog for that. I do not enjoy most "export ready" beers (i.e. if a country is willing to let them cross the border, then it's probably not worth drinking anyway), and if I have a choice I will always pick the "microbrew." At the Bull and Bush they are all brewed in-house, which makes them all a safe bet. They do not do a second fermentation to make the bubbles, however, opting to carbonate with CO2 from a tank. The resulting bubbles are different, and take some getting used to, but I have found that this results in a less acid taste and I now appreciate that more. It lets the hops shine through!

Anyway, the star attraction for the evening was the scotch to end the meal. The waitress had brought out water for everyone before the meal was done, so I was able to prepare for the tasting a bit. I first ordered a Talisker, but they were out so I went with my old faithful Ardbeg 10yo. This was the first Islay malt that I had the opportunity to try (also at the Bull and Bush) and it probably was responsible for cementing my love of the peat reek. It never dissapoints, and I would love to be able to find a bottle of it, but it is not usually in stores. When I find one, I'll buy it for sure, even if the money isn't there! For now I'll have to settle for the few drams I get to enjoy at the pub. When it arrived I set out to enjoy the nose of this whisky. From afar, the caramel aroma is almost impossible to miss, and I don't see how I've never smelled it before the Bowmore. As the glass is brought closer to the nose, the caramel yields to the more pervasive smell of smoke. I have not been able to make out any other components of the nose yet, but perhaps as I get more experienced, I'll be able to pick out the more subtle aromas. Also, the glass that they served it in (a mini snifter) is not my favorite for nosing so that can make a big difference as well. This scotch is very pale in colour (yes, I know I am in the US and should be spelling color like that, but I think when describing a scottish drink the UK spelling is appropriate) and it is fairly viscous, very smooth in texture. The tasting is where this one really shines. It is a very smooth scotch considering its age, with no strong attack, and I find that at no point does the alcohol outdo the flavours. It's a mouthful of smoke at first, with a briny finish, but everything seems to work so well together. There are some lighter flavours as well, but I have yet to put a name to any of them. Needless to say, I enjoyed this drink thoroughly down to the last drop. I'm always sorry to see this one finished, and it is still my favorite! Good health!

A Night to Remember

Saturday March 13, 2004: this day my little sister wed. She could not have chosen a more wonderful man if you ask me, and I know, as they begin their lives together, that this is meant to last. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was..., well you would have had to attend an Armstrong wedding to understand. It was a blast to say the least.

At any rate, as this is my scotch blog I must get to the point. After the dinner I had a chance to retire to the bar and survey the choices of single malt. I was expecting to find only the usual blends, but was pleasently surprised. Of course they had Glenfiddich, which I have mentioned previously, but they also had Glenfarcas, Speyburn, Bowmore and Talisker. It was the latter two that interested me most, as I have tried the Talisker before (it is distilled on the Isle of Skye and shares many of the characteristics I enjoy in the Islay malts), and I have wanted to try Bowmore (an Islay malt) for a while. I was not able to read the years on the bottles from my vantage point, but I am assuming that they were all fairly young, probably 10 or 12 years old. I started my evening with the Bowmore.

I found the Bowmore to be a very pleasant experience. I would highly reccommend it to anyone who is interested in trying an Islay malt, but unsure of the strong flavors. The nose was at first pleasently smoky, but not overbearing, and I caught a whif of apples when I held it much further away. When the glass was about 6 inches from my nose I was completely floored by the glorious smell of caramel. It was very pleasant, and I found myself enjoying this aroma almost as much as the drink itself. This is a very smooth scotch, and very nice to drink, with muted flavors of smoke and sweet caramel. I found it to be not nearly as strong as the Laphroaig, but still very nice. It has a burnt amber color; pleasing to the eye as well as the pallette.

I decided next that I wanted to try the Talisker again, so I had a few drinks of water and dove back in. As I had already had the Bowmore, my notes for this drink are not as clear as I would like, so I will have to try it again in the future. This malt exhibits the smoky aroma that I enjoy, but it seems to me to be a little more acrid than the Islay smoke. No caramel smell with this one either. But the tasting was the experience. This has a stronger attack than the Bowmore and has a strong taste of the sea. Salty, seaweedy flavors seem to dominate, with a smoky finish. The color is much darker as well, to me looking a little more like real maple syrup (this is the Canadian perspective of course). Altogether this is a very fine malt, which I would consider getting a bottle of in the future. As it was I had to settle for another of these before the evening closed out.

What a marvelous night it was. I was able to celebrate the union of my sister and brother-in-law, toasting good health to their marriage in the manner of my scottish ancestry. My father closed his speech with a scottish blessing and I think that it is appropriate that I do the same here: "Lang may your lum reek and your kailpot boil!" -- Long may your chimney smoke and your soup pot boil. Good health to you all!

Laphroaig (La-froyg) 10yo

Last night I had the opportunity to sample a wee dram o' my first purchase of a bottle of scotch. I went up to my local Liquor Mart yesterday and was pleasently surprised to find that they had a reasonable selection of single-malt whiskys. I purchased a bottle of Laphroaig 10yo to replace my dwindling bottle of Glenfiddich 12yo. I knew that I wanted an Islay malt from my experience with the Ardbeg 10yo and 17yo that I have tried at the Bull and Bush and the Lagavulin 10yo included in the "Classic Malts" set. I set about preparing myself for the tasting yesterday afternoon, doing some research and coming across the excellent website www.laphroaig.com. This website features a "virtual" distillery tour which I highly recommend you check out. I knew I was in for a treat with the description of the peaty and seaweedy flavours that a dram of Laphroaig is supposed to impart. It did not dissappoint!

The moment arrived last night after a hearty dinner. I poured myself a glass and marvelled at how viscous the liquid was compared to the glenfiddich. In the glass (I use a tulip shaped nosing glass from Riedel crystal for my tastings), the scotch was surprisingly dark for such a young malt, with an almost green tint to the liquid. I added a few drops of filtered water and nosed the whisky a few times. I was greeted with the wonderful smoky aroma that I have come to love from Islay whiskys. It always reminds me of a campfire, or more specifically, the way your clothes smell after being next to a campfire for a few days. Technically, it is a phenolic aroma, so named for the compounds that give this smell (I'm a chemist by training so I can appreciate this term), but I prefer the term peat reek as it strikes me as more poetic, and more appropriate for a drink that is far from science and more of an art form. I took a good swig of the scotch and swirled it around in my mouth, trying to extract as much of the flavouring as I could. First I was hit by the smoky flavour, but this faded away quickly and was replaced by an almost bitter sensation in the back of my mouth. I have not experienced this flavour as dramatically as this in the Ardbeg, but immediately I recognized it as the salt air/seaweed taste that this brand is renowned for. If you have ever been to the ocean, there is that smell in the air of aeresolized sea salt and rotting seaweed that has washed ashore. It is an unmistakable scent, one that I will never forget as I love the ocean, and it has made it's mark in this drink. I can see why some people would not like this flavour, but for me it was like coming home. My two great loves in one drink: the mountain campfire, and the ocean breeze. Poetic. I know I may seem to be laying it on a bit thick here, but if you have ever tried a proper tasting of single malt scotch, then you know where I'm coming from. Needless to say I enjoyed this one to the last drop. That's it for today, I am sure that in the future I will discover more in this drink, and there will be more malts to try. I look forward to the writing as much as the tasting. Cheers!

Uisge Beatha -- Water of Life

Welcome to my online journal of scotch tasting. This is mostly for me to keep track of the malts that I like and the progression of my nosing and tasting, but may be useful to those interested in single-malt scotch whisky.

First a little background of my tasting history. A few years back I received a bottle of Glenfiddich (glen-fid-ick) 12yo as a prize. I tried it a few times and began to develop an apprciation for scotch. It also appealed to my scottish heritage. When I moved to Denver, my wife and I discovered a small pub style restaurant up the street from us called the Bull and Bush. They have many single malts to choose from and I began to enjoy a dram after our monthly trips there. I also had the opportunity to taste through the "classic malts" set of miniatures, and narrow down my likes and dislikes. For anyone interested in trying single malts for the first time I highly recommend this set.

I have found that I am very much an Islay (eye-la) person, I enjoy the earthy smoky flavours that that region imparts to its whisky. This smokyness is due to the peat that is used to dry the barly after malting (peat is used rather than wood as trees are scarse on the island), and is called the "peat reek." In addition, as many of the distillaries are located near the sea, the malts often have a very seaweedy flavour to them. I find these flavours challenging to the palatte (in a good way).

I think that this sets the stage for the journal, now onto the tasting!

O thou, my Muse! guid, auld Scotch Drink!

Whether thro' wimplin worms thou jink,

Or, richly brown, ream owre the brink,

In glorious faem,

Inspire me, till I lisp an' wink,

To sing thy name!


--Robert Burns