Geography and all that Jazz

With thanks to Islayblog Armin for the tipoff... Another one to look forward to...

Geography of Whisky Regular readers of the blog will know that I have a long standing intention to do a unit on the Geography of Whisky. After all, there are plenty of geographers who write about other forms of industry, and even other forms of alcohol: the brewing industry, and the geography of wine spring to mind... This has got a little closer thanks to the arrival of a kind gift from Val Vannet. A book published by the British Geological Survey , and written by Stephen and Julie Cribb.

World Whisky of the Year Congratulations to Ardbeg, whose Uigeadail whisky has been awarded this prestigious title. It's also rather delicious, having had a bottle. Happy to make Ardbeg the 'official' whisky of the GA.... ;)

SAGT 2008: the REPORT On Friday night, after setting up the GA stand, had a meal at the very nice, and very French Le Petit Paris restaurant on Queensferry Road. A windy night followed, and in the morning it rained on and off most of the day. For the second year, the conference was held at Edinburgh Academy. First thing was to grab a coffee and man the GA stand with the other publications, and to start handing out over 150 free satellite image maps of the earth from space, and also have conversations with the 290 odd delegates. The maps were donated by the GeoSphere project . At 9.40 the publishers’ awards, presented by John Vannet, were announced. In the Book category, the GA picked up both the awards that were available. A ‘Commended’ award went to ‘Caring for our World’ by Fran Martin and Paula Owens, and the WINNER in the book award went to the Teacher’s Toolkit. Margaret Roberts collected the awards. It was then across to the Hall for Malcolm McDonald’s Presidential Ad...

Whisky update... For those following my eternal quest for the perfect single malt.. This cheeky little number from Stamford Bridge I might save you some of this Ollie (the Correyvreckan has gone) I can report that it tastes rather delicious and has a robust and fruity mouth finish...

The trophy... Here's Mark with his trophy for winning Whisky Bar of the Year. That's 2 of us that have won nice glass trophies this year ! Image by Val Vannet.

Well done to the Taychreggan Hotel !! My favourite place to drink whisky, as blogged about in 2006 , in West Ferry, Dundee has been named as the Malt Whisky Bar of the Year , even beating off the Gleneagles Hotel... Below is a picture of Mark, the owner I hope to pop in later this year for a dram or three... Slainte !!

Corryvreckan Corryvreckan is a whirlpool, which is located between the islands of Jura and Scarba in the Scottish Hebrides. Image credit: http://www.hebridean-wild.co.uk/about.html Extract from Wikipedia article: The Corryvreckan is the third largest whirlpool in the world, and is on the northern side of the gulf, surrounding a pyramid-shaped basalt pinnacle that rises from depths of 70 m to 29 m at its rounded top. Flood tides and inflow from the Firth of Lorne to the west can drive the waters of Corryvreckan to waves of over 30 feet (9 m), and the roar of the resulting maelstrom can be heard ten miles (16 km) away. Formerly classified by the Admiralty as unnavigable (the Admiralty's West Coast of Scotland Pilot guide to inshore waters still calls it "very violent and dangerous" and says "no vessel should then attempt this passage without local knowledge"), its treacherous waters are nevertheless still sailed and swum by a few hardy adventurers. However, th...

For those who follow my whisky choices, this is my current dram: a Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban, extra matured in Port barrels, and quite nice it is too, although judging by the blogs I've read not everyone agrees... Freshly returned from school prize-giving: added an extra GeographyPages pen in for the Geography prize-winner Jonny B... Slainte

A sad moment... Regular readers will know that I am partial to a fine single malt whisky. For the last few days I've been eking out the last of a rather fine bottle: a Limited Edition (just 2000 bottles) Independent bottling by Murray McDavid of a 16 year old Caol Ila (non chill-filtered of course), which was laid down in Bourbon casks (Mourvedre/Syrah...) and bottled at the Bruichladdich distillery on Islay. The last drop will be drunk tonight ! You can see some live distilling going on at the webcam page. And if you've got a spare £999 which you could send to my PayPal account I could get a bottle of this 40 year old...

Current bottle... (For those who follow what my current tipple is...) First time I've had this, and it's from way up North. Robust ! Reading a bit of George Mackay Brown's biography as I sip to get a sense of place. May light a peat fire later...

Geography and Whisky Those of you who read the blog regularly will know that I like a nice single malt of an evening… Read today in the Times about the auctioning of what is supposed to be the oldest bottle of whisky in the world. The bottle is a Glenavon whisky, bottled in Speyside between 1851 and 1858 and was sold for £14,850 No ice for me please...

Geography and Whisky When starting this blog, I nearly called it Geography and a Wee Dram, as along with jazz, single malt whisky is one of my other passions... Got a very nice booklet today from those nice people at Ardbeg . It introduces a new whisky called "Airigh Nam Beist" which sounds rather nice. Recently finished a rather nice bottle of Ardbeg "Still Young", and intend getting another bottle soon! While up in Scotland at the SAGT Conference, I visited my favourite whisky bar: the Taychreggan Inn at West Ferry, Dundee and was made very welcome as always. This time, Mark the owner gave us a free dram of a new discovery: a peaty Speyside malt called BenRiach . Very nice it is too! The picture above, taken by John Vannet, shows Mark pouring a generous measure of Ardbeg : the greatest Islay malt, one of over 300 malts stocked at the Taychreggan. Laphroaig also have another Geographical connection: visit the website and claim your free square foot of Islay - I h...