Whisky Advent Day 9

Day 9 features Tullamore D.E.W. 12 year old special reserve blended whiskey is named after Daniel E. Williams, a self made man who worked his way up from a stable boy of the distillery to become the owner.



This one just tasted like alcohol. haha..

Cheers!!!

Whisky Advent Day 8

Day 8 features Balvenie  single barrel 15 year (speyside). It is fruity and honeyed with a sweet finish. The Balvenie Malt Master only chooses oak barrels with essential characteristics of the Balvenie single barrel. These are notes of vanilla, honey, and oak. You can taste the sweet finish.

Cheers!!

Whisky Advent Day 7

Day 7 features Glen Scotia Double Cask which is matured in oak barrels then finished in a combo of first fill barrels followed by Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.

You can taste the spicy fruits with the vanilla finish.

Cheers!!!

Whisky Advent Day 6

Day 6 features Kilchoman Machir Bay 2014 Release Whisky. In production since 2005, this is one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland; however, Machir Bay received the highest scores of the entire international whisky competition (IWC) for their single malt (which had only existed since 2008!!) in 2013. Anthony Wills of Kilchoman was also named Master Distiller of the year.

Cheers!!

Whisky Advent Day 5

Day 5 features Dalmore 15 year whisky which has been in production since 2007.

The Dalmore 15 year is actually aged for 13 years American Oak ex-bourbon casks. The 14th year it's in a combo of Matsalem, Apotoles, Amoroso sherry casks. The 15th year is finished in a sherry cask. It has hints of citrus, honey, and ginger.

You can buy it for about $65 per bottle.

Cheers!!

Whisky Advent Day 4

Day 4 features Elijah Craig Small Batch 12 year. Named after Elijah Craig, a baptist minister in the 1700s who debateable invented the process of aging whisky in charred oak barrels. Made by Heaven Hill distilleries which was founded in 1935, this Kentucky straight bourbon is an economical one at $35 per bottle.

In November 1996, a fire broke out at Heaven hill; Ninety thousands barrels were destroyed or about 14% of its holdings. They had the second largest inventory of distilleries.

Warehouses built after 1994 used concrete and had higher standards to prevent such disasters of this magnitude. Only 37 of the 44 warehouses survived. They rented another facility in the meantime to keep production going; distillery workers were back the next day even though the blaze lasted for two weeks. We are lucky to be able to enjoy Elijah Craig whisky today only because their rivals helped out, Brown-Forman and Jim Beam.

The Elijah Craig Small Batch 12 year is a steal for the price!

Cheers!!

Whisky Advent Day 3

Day 3 features a blended scotch whisky, the Compass Box Artist Blend from Great King Street.

I found the composition of this blended whisky on the Great King Street website (Click on the image to enlarge):

It was a good blended whisky but it tasted like watered down Crown Royale.

Cheers!!

Whisky Advent Day 2

Day two of the advent calendar features the Nikka Yoichi, a japanese whisky. The Yoichi Distillery was founded by Masataka Taketsuru, who studied whisky making in Scotland. It was the first of Nikka's distilleries. Of all the Nikka whiskies, Yoichi is the most celebrated one.

From the islands of Hokkaido


A bottle of Yoichi is about $70.

Cheers!!

Whisky Advent Day 1

Behind the first window of the advent calendar is Glenfarclas 25 year. It is a speyside single malt.

A bottle of this is worth $135.

It's a very smooth whisky with sweet notes of chocolate and honey.

Cheers!!

Whisky Advent Calendar 2015

During the month of December, I will be posting each day of the Whisky Advent Calendar beginning December 1st. A different whisky is featured. There is even a 50 year old Scotch in this rare collection. Handmade waxed seal 30mL drams of whisky from around the world is behind each window.

A dram a day keeps the doctor away...

Stay tuned...

Easy Butternut Squash Soup

While at Trader Joe's the other week, I saw that the squashes were $1.79 each.  So I'm looking to find the biggest squash since it's not by the pound.  A nice employee helped me.  She exclaimed, "I think I FOUND IT!!"

Most good-sized butternut squashes are about 2.5 lbs.  Well, mine was 7 lbs!!!  WOW..

People would see the squash in my cart and comment on how huge it was. (I actually didn't take a photo of it before chopping it up.)

Now, cutting off the ends/skin, scooping out the seeds, and chopping it into smaller pieces was such a chore.  It took 45+ min just to do that.  The gigantic butternut squash produced tons of flesh to the point where I had to change pots because it was overflowing.

Easy Butternut Squash
Prep Time: 30 min      Cook Time: 35 min
(But obviously my prep time was doubled due to the 7 lb squash)

Ingredients:
3 lbs butternut squash, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
2 cups chicken broth (1 can)
water, enough to cover veggies (about 6 cups)
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Combine all ingredients except for the heavy cream.  Cook covered on medium heat for 35 minutes.  You may need to cook it longer if the veggies are not tender by then.

Pour the soup mixture into a food processor or blender.  Mine didn't fit so I had to do it in batches.  I poured the soup mixture in with a little heavy cream at a time.  Then blended it.  Once I finished my puree, I would dump it into a pot.  When you have a whole pot of pureed soup, heat it through on medium heat.

This soup is tasty, packed with vitamins; it'll warm you up on a cold, winter day.

Enjoy!!