Winter Solstice preparations

This is the time of year when we fill flasks and head off for tramps across the South Downs, as well as lounging around at home in front of the fire with a nosing glass, a book or six, and a bottle or two.

In anticipation of the pleasures of winter's biting cold - if you're able to prepare yourself adequately - we've laid in:

Dalwhinnie 15
Lagavulin 16
Glenmorangie 10
Talikser 10
Isle of Jura 10
Jim Beam Rye (lots - for Manhattans, as well as shots and 'measures for pleasure')
Rittenhouse Rye
Ancient Age 10 Star
Old Charter 10

Sod the credit crunch, and a glass to all my LT whisky/whiskey drinking comrades.

I learned something today I did not know. You can only imagine my surprise and dismay at finding there was something I did not know, but there it is. I learned that the Scottish spell it whisky and the Irish spell it whiskey. I did not know that.

Of course the Americans spell it bourbon.

At the risk of spoiling a good punch line, I'll double your daily knowledge quotient (I'd advise the taking of a dram afterwards to recover from the shock) by quoting Jim Murray's Complete Book of Whisky:

"All Scotch is 'whisky'. So is Canadian. All Irish, these days, is 'whiskey', though that way not always the case. In Kentucky, bourbon and rye are spelt 'whiskey', with the exception of the produce of the Early Times/Old Forrester Distillery and Maker's Mark which they bottle as 'whisky'. In Tennessee, it is a 50-50 split: Dickel is 'whisky', while Daniel's is 'whiskey'".

Why don't we all call it usquebaugh (Or usque for short) and let it go at that?

Mercifully, it's much easier to drink than to spell.

Late for the party but raising a glass of a fine Aberlour to you. I see you like the less peaty ones? Do you have Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch?