St George’s Whisky

Reading this blog brings back memories of the night Argentina put England out of the World Cup when I was living in Glasgow in 1998.

As a (Northern) Irishman living in Scotland, I’d witnessed casual anti-English bias on a daily basis and (I must admit) been guilty of laughing along or joining in with it myself (although that was more to do with winding up my girlfriend of the time, who was a Yorkshire lass).

But the night of the Argentina match (indeed the days leading up to it) I saw such incredible anti-English fervour - it was horrifying in a very comic way. Argentina flags had sold out across the country. The Argentina shelves of the wine-shop I worked at were stripped bare by lunchtime. People were having Argentinian theme dinners, for God’s sake!

When David Batty missed his penalty the cheer from Scotland must have been heard in London. That night was one of the biggest parties of my whole five years living in Glasgow.

Still, I don’t think that kind of thing, while funny, should really apply to whisky! The Scots have got the market sewn up - even if us Irish had to teach you how to do it…

Great reply Tim. Thanks a million for your opinion!

It doesn’t really get me excited and I’m English. I’ll give it a chance though, for sure.

It just doesn’t seem right like you say. I mean Scotch Whisky is so good because it comes from Scotland, right? Diverse, rugged landscapes. Clear spring water running through peaty soil and a climate to give the spirit a character after a few years. It’s got proper ‘terroir’!

Plus, England doesn’t have the history and heritage. We lack hundreds of years of know how. I’d say maybe we should stick to making Gin, but most of that is made in Scotland now : (

To me, the Irish and Welsh whiskies try to mimmic the Scottish style, but don’t quite get there. The American Whiskeys are a different drink really. I think the best St George’s can hope for is to create a unique spirit that has a bit of England in it.

They’re young spirits at the moment right? Apparently they mature more quickly due to temperature? Maybe their style will be very young whiskies.

To Tim: I remeber that game because the Scottish Suns page three girl was Argentinian. They were offering their suppourt.

But seriously I think you make good points. I quite like a bit of good natured banter between Scotland and England, but it can go too far.

Josh: I agree to a certain extent. I think that England has many goods that it has historically produced. Fair play to try and make Whisky though, it just takes a little bit of getting used to.

One thing I would say is that I dont think the Irish and Welsh are mimicking us. This can be a popular misconception. If anything, the Irish records go further back than ours when it come to Whisky production. They classically triple distill their Whiskey and have many fine distilleries. They have developed distillation in the same time frame as Scotland, so I would say its like 2 brothers growing up together. Different, but similar.

And as for the Welsh, you should see the still that Penderyn use to distill their Whisky. Its unbelievable! One distillation, through lots of copper plates and lots of refluxes. Its a plumbers dream. They definitely have not copied anyone and I doubt if anyone could recreate what they do their.

I will have to try to learn more about Welsh and Irish Whiskies! Should try some more too before I make such outlandish statements! Full apologies to Wales and Ireland.

On the subject of World Whiskies, I saw a French whisky on a menu once amongst a relatively small collection of Scottish malts. Bit of a curiosity! “Eddu Silver, Buckwheat” Didn’t get to try it. Wonder if anyone reading this post has?

Hehe, that’s interesting. I have tried Armorik, but not the one you mention.

[...] Proving once again that men of God really know their stuff when it comes to booze, workers at an English monastery reckon they’ve recreated the secret recipe of Chartreuse. It doesn’t stop with closely-guarded herbal liqueurs - they’re even making whisky now. [Via just-drinks and the Edinburgh Whisky Blog] [...]

Don’t forget the Dutch whisky’s tehere mate! There’s the Frysk Hynder for instance and Zuidam.

Cheers!

VeeJay Burns, good shout there. But we didn’t forget. How could you forget about the noble and famous Dutch single malts;P

And seriously, would be great to try them!