Evanston: peat; jib and mizzen
Evanston: peat; jib and mizzen
I knew there was something else I wanted to photograph yesterday; but it was not until I opened the liquor cupboard for something to sip after dinner that I remembered.
My agents are everywhere, seeking peaty beverages.
Last week, Ron emailed me: sitting in Carmel and saw this: Finian’s Five Provinces Irish Whiskey. Wine Enthusiast Rating: 93. Recommended for peat lovers, as well as peat novices who want to see what all the fuss is about. This blended whisky has a vibrant deep gold color, yeasty, baked apple aromas and a smoky, lingering flavor. More sipping equals more smoke, but it’s still not overdone—it just wafts over the vanilla in an inviting way.
I had not previously heard of Finian’s, but found it an aisle over from the Laphroaig at our local liquor store last weekend and brought home a bottle of each.
To those of us whose favorite liquid is 10 year old Laphroaig, Finian’s is not peaty. But then compared to 10 year Laphroaig, not much is.
I find the vocabulary of wine and liquor criticism absurd. No smoke. No apples. No vanilla. Little peat. And no deep gold color. Finian’s is, in fact, a pleasingly light gold. It is also pleasingly drinkable, and at $27 a bottle in the Illinois flatlands where Laphroaig 10 year goes for almost twice that, may be the best whiskey I’ve tasted for its price. From time to time the west side of the Irish Sea will now get some of my custom.
Thanks, Ron.
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Steve Earley went sailing Sunday in his Welsford Pathfinder, SPARTINA, off Norfolk, Virginia. (Scroll down to “Just What I Needed”) On a sunny day, the wind was a bit stronger than predicted, gusting into the low 20s, and Steve lowered his mainsail and kept SPARTINA moving at above six knots under jib and mizzen, a perfect combination on a small open boat.
I know what that is like. It is wonderful. Sitting here in this landlocked living room, I can feel it. The balance is perfect. The little boat flies.
If I am still around a few years from now, after sailing GANNET around the world, I’m going to buy an open boat--for me it probably should be a Drascombe Lugger--and sail it in Steve’s Virginia waters and along the North Carolina outer banks.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012