The original and true amber nectar

Some might feel I’m warming to my task as a relatively new contributor to the Rust – others than I’m rather hogging things – but sometimes these things cannot cannot be helped!

For those interested in drink generally, here’s a link to an article by Brendan Hodrien that I spotted overnight upon the website of The Independent, listing either his (or someone’s) list of the ten best single malt whiskies – see here – THE INDEPENDENT

As an occasional imbiber of whiskies myself, I make no personal comment upon any of the choices in this list – there’s a degree of ‘each to their own’ in every exercise of this nature that is undertaken – but have two comments:-

The first is that I notice all the prices of the whiskies listed seem to be in US dollars – and the sources from which they can be obtained all appear to be American – from which I assume this article is pretty much a straightforward re-publication of an American one.

The second is that about a decade ago I had dinner with my godfather – a sixty-year emigre to Australia and leading world authority on gynaecology. A warm and deeply intelligent gent, he entertained our table that evening if fine style with his views upon a wide range of topics including politics, ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and cricket.

At one point – apropos of nothing in particular – he mentioned that one of his greatest friends, a research scientist, had just made himself deeply unpopular with the whisky industry. He had recently published in The Lancet a major and exhaustive paper on the subject of single malt whiskies that now prompted him (my godfather) to advise anyone who drank whisky to stick to blended varieties. The inescapable thrust of the conclusion of his friend’s research had been that there was a direct casual link between single malt whiskies – particularly the more peaty ones – and throat cancer.

I will add only that I still drink and enjoy single malts occasionally myself …