What has your "friend" been up to?

[the cueball]

My friend was out recently testing some work done to his RS6....








I kid, I kid... wasn’t me...

[Garvin]

There are, albeit my friend admits very few, blended Scotch whiskies that are OK for cocktails as, let's face it, only a complete heathen would put a single malt into a cocktail. My friend did find that Sainsbury's own blended whisky (he's not sure if they do it anymore) was acceptable for this purpose as is The Famous Grouse.

Regarding the absolute faux pas of ice in a single malt my friend apparently has a few cubes that are of a solid inert material that do not taint or dilute the whisky but can be put in the freezer and injected at -18C into a single malt. My friend only imbibes single malt at room temperature but this approach does at least permit him to start to educate visitors who insist on a scotch-on-the-rocks to the pleasures of single malts without breaking immutable protocol.

[RammyMP]

bristolracer said:

My friend abhors all whisky.
My friend at the age of 14 decided that it may be fun to drink half a bottle of Teachers finest blended gut rot. After much illness he has never been able to tolerate the smell or taste of the stuff since.
My friend regrets this, as he found with increasing age, that drinking moderately can be quite pleasurable, and has, because of a youthful exuberance managed to exclude a vast array of what are doubtless decent drinks.
My friend has plenty of hindsight but alas no time machine.

We must have the same friend!

[Turbobanana]

My friend admires the good taste of many friends on this thread and would raise a glass in their honour tonight, were it not for an online beer tasting organised by an actual friend. The candidates for tonight have been delivered (all 8 of them), together with suitable snackage. This echoes a couple of wine tasting events my friend has organised, the last of which he remembers very little about but was apparently a great success.

As the late, great Gerry Marshall would have said, celebration of wine was "comprehensive".

> >

[slopes]

RammyMP said:

bristolracer said:

My friend abhors all whisky.
My friend at the age of 14 decided that it may be fun to drink half a bottle of Teachers finest blended gut rot. After much illness he has never been able to tolerate the smell or taste of the stuff since.
My friend regrets this, as he found with increasing age, that drinking moderately can be quite pleasurable, and has, because of a youthful exuberance managed to exclude a vast array of what are doubtless decent drinks.
My friend has plenty of hindsight but alas no time machine.

We must have the same friend!

This friend must get around some

[Stuart70]

Breadvan72 said:

ElectricSoup said:

I find Grouse drinkable.

Sorry, my friend, my friend finds Grouse drinkable.

Gah. Not me.

Edited by ElectricSoup on Friday 22 May 13:33

Grouse is the best of the blended bunch, my friend says.

On blends, I would sat Johnny Walker Red and Black are a bit better; but Grouse is drinkable.
Teachers and Bells however should only be used to disinfect wounds or given to hated enemies.

Only in my practiced, but inexpert opinion.

[Garvin]

My friend tells me that for those who would like an introduction to, and education of, Scotch Whisky then he recommends Charles Maclean's Whiskypedia - A Gazetteer of Scotch Whisky. The Sunday Times apparently regard Mr Maclean as "whisky's finest guru".

[Turbobanana]

Stuart70 said:

On blends, I would sat Johnny Walker Red and Black are a bit better; but Grouse is drinkable.
Teachers and Bells however should only be used to disinfect wounds or given to hated enemies.

Only in my practiced, but inexpert opinion.

You are more astute than you know.

[Turbobanana]

Garvin said:

My friend tells me that for those who would like an introduction to, and education of, Scotch Whisky then he recommends Charles Maclean's Whiskypedia - A Gazetteer of Scotch Whisky. The Sunday Times apparently regard Mr Maclean as "whisky's finest guru".

Interesting. My friend will look him up.

My friend and his "Bells Depreciation Society" have hitherto relied on the works of Michael Jackson for tasting notes / general enlightenment. The most unfortunate thing Mr Jackson shares with his pop megastar namesake is that he is also dead, and therefore no longer advancing the world's collective knowledge of whisky.

[McVities]

Stuart70 said:

Breadvan72 said:

ElectricSoup said:

I find Grouse drinkable.

Sorry, my friend, my friend finds Grouse drinkable.

Gah. Not me.

Edited by ElectricSoup on Friday 22 May 13:33

Grouse is the best of the blended bunch, my friend says.

On blends, I would sat Johnny Walker Red and Black are a bit better; but Grouse is drinkable.
Teachers and Bells however should only be used to disinfect wounds or given to hated enemies.

Only in my practiced, but inexpert opinion.

My friend is quite partial to Johnny Walker black label, and doesn't mind red either. When available, green label is lovely. He would like to know what gold label tastes like, but he can't remember. That will serve him right for travelling the length of the country to buy a rusty shed of a car, then getting rather inebriated with the seller.

My friend must stop doing this as he has since done a repeat trip, but only returning with the drivetrain - leaving the even rustier shed in place awaiting the scrap man. My friend fears liver failure were he to move to Aberdeenshire.

My friend has been known to drink Grants and Waitrose own blends neat, but definitely only when necessary. As budget allows, the peated malts are very much to the fore.

My friend cannot stand either vodka or tequila owing to teenage over indulgences. My friend is glad he chose to get plastered on those when he was younger and even more foolish.

[ElectricSoup]

Stuart70 said:

Breadvan72 said:

ElectricSoup said:

I find Grouse drinkable.

Sorry, my friend, my friend finds Grouse drinkable.

Gah. Not me.

Edited by ElectricSoup on Friday 22 May 13:33

Grouse is the best of the blended bunch, my friend says.

On blends, I would sat Johnny Walker Red and Black are a bit better; but Grouse is drinkable.
Teachers and Bells however should only be used to disinfect wounds or given to hated enemies.

Only in my practiced, but inexpert opinion.

My friend has a photo of himself on his 18th birthday, dressed in Highland wear, clutching a 5 litre bottle of Bells given to him by school friends. The bottle still hasn't been opened and is siting in a corner of my friend's dining room as we speak. My friend is now 50. My friend promised those friends on that day to open the bottle on Bondi Beach on his 40th birthday, but my friend's wife was being treated for cancer when that time came so he thought it would have been a bit non-U to keep that promise. My friend did visit Bondi in 2018, and intended to take at least a hip flask of it with him, but only remembered this as the plane took off from Heathrow on the way out. Bugger.

[BigMon]

My friend once read that, if adding water to whisky, it should be like raindrops falling onto a lawn rather than a deluge.

When my friend first started his imbiding adventures many moons ago the tinctures of choice from the local off-licence were a couple of tins of Kestrel (green can rather than super strength black can) and a small bottle of Bells for some bizarre reason.

[Turbobanana]

BigMon said:

My friend once read that, if adding water to whisky, it should be like raindrops falling onto a lawn rather than a deluge.

My friend uses a pipette for this, when unavoidable.

[S2r]

All this talk of whisky reminds my friend of when he was in this first job and was given a number of bottles of whisky at Christmas for some reason. It seemed to him to be a good idea to go into the local town in the afternoon with another friend (not the Southern Comfort one) and drink a bottle. It may have been Bells but he can't remember.

He can't remember much of that evening either.

He has also been know to have a cheeky dram late in the evening when the lager has run out, and use the same glass to save washing up.

Edited by S2r on Friday 22 May 16:58

[Dixy]

Breadvan72 said:

Princess Margaret used to neck Johnny Walker Black Label like it was about to be abolished. I saw her do this at an adjacent table in a restaurant. The bottle was on the table and she started on a second one before the meal was over. She also chain smoked Benson and Hedges. She was loud, witty, very sweary, and not very pleasant. Three dapper young at the table men hung on her every word.

My friend thinks that is a rather ungallant post.

[Condi]

My friend doesn't like whisky, and no amount of time living in Scotland changed that opinion. However, the other day when cooking a pie, the recipe asked for 'white wine, or sherry' (neither of which my friend had in the cupboard, at least, not the type for cooking with) he used a dash of his housemates Famous Grouse as a substitute. My friend then tells me that the pie was cooked in a Bailey's like sauce, rather than the white wine cream as suggested in the book, but it was, non the less, delicious.


My friend also tells me that some of the fruity ciders can be drunk like juice, but it is best not to consume a lot in a short space of time. So he says.

[Chozza]

Dixy said:

My friend thinks that is a rather ungallant post.

My friend agrees - the three young men were obviously close protection and were there because they were being paid. They probably had a wager or something hence their close attention

[Bill]

Bobberoo99 said:

My friend is a whisky bore and refuses to get involved with the current topic, he stopped counting at around 600 different whiskies some time ago, he's done over 20 distillery tours, several tastings and disagrees entirely with the post about Dalwhinnie Winters Gold as he finds it an easy drinking dram.

My friend has just found the remains of the bottle behind the Jura 10 year old he's currently drinking. He is a bit of a philistine but will re-evaluate. He has just found that the local brewery delivers and is trying to do his bit for local business so can't promise it'll be quick or coherent.

[anonymous-user]

A Rob Roy (a Manhattan made with Johnny Walker Black Label instead of Rye) is an OK drink.

[anonymous-user]

Dixy said:

Breadvan72 said:

Princess Margaret used to neck Johnny Walker Black Label like it was about to be abolished. I saw her do this at an adjacent table in a restaurant. The bottle was on the table and she started on a second one before the meal was over. She also chain smoked Benson and Hedges. She was loud, witty, very sweary, and not very pleasant. Three dapper young at the table men hung on her every word.

My friend thinks that is a rather ungallant post.

Mere reportage!