Laphroaig 15 Year & Arturo Fuente Hemingway

Laphroaig Savors Its Bicentennial

Jack Bettridge
Posted: June 12, 2015

Perhaps because they feel that hitting the two-century mark is too special an occasion to celebrate in just one day, the makers of Laphroaig whisky are stretching their 200th birthday celebration into an ongoing series of events and special releases. The first new whisky, which hits store shelves in the United States this month, is a limited-edition revival of a 15-year-old expression that was discontinued six year ago.

A new release in the Cáirdeas series and a 32-year-old version of the Islay whisky are still to come later in the bicentennial year. The company also plans further celebrations of its anniversary, and master distiller John Campbell is touring various places across the globe as the year passes. (Join the Friends of Laphroaig club to receive updates on events via email.)

The first of the new whiskies to arrive is the 15-year-old release. The expression was first created some three decades ago, but was discontinued in 2009. Campbell, who has named it as one of his favorite Laphroaigs, says he created the one-off reissue following exactly the same methodology as the original, including its "export strength" 86 proof (43 percent alcohol).

The expression is notable in that it does not exhibit the overwhelming smokiness of the standard release, a 10-year-old. The signature taste of Islay malts is informed by the use of peat fuel to toast the barley before it is fermented. The island of Islay, which lies off the west coast of Scotland, is covered with peat bogs, so the fuel is plentiful there. Laphroaig is known as one the peatiest whiskies made on Islay.

Campbell says that the dampened peat effect is not due to any difference in the production of the whisky. All Laphroaigs, from 10 to 15 to 25 years and beyond, begin life with the same basic "family recipe," he notes. Campbell says the oxidation that occurs during the lengthened maturation process creates extra flavors that balance with the peat and give the impression of lessened smokiness. "These fruity flavors then tend to dominate. ... That's just the way Laphroaig evolves. It goes through the fusel-oil bit at 10 years and then the fruity bit at 15 and 20. Then it changes again and the fruits become more exotic. ... The main thing is that at some point you always want the DNA of the peat coming through."

The coming 32-year-old release is matured in Oloroso Sherry casks, and Campbell compares it with an earlier 30-year-old release. "It's like that but more varied in flavor," he says. "It's almost like two different flavors and two different journeys." He describes it as having Sherry upfront and peat second.

The other coming release is probably the most Laphroaig-like of the three. Since 2008, Laphroaig has issued an annual special edition called Cáirdeas. Pronounced like "car chase," Cáirdeas is Gaelic for friendship and it changes every year. Campbell chuckles when asked about this year's bicentennial edition, saying, "It's going to be very, very different." He recalls that in 2003, he was given approval to make a whisky that would be a throwback to the way Laphroaig was made 100 years ago. To that end, Campbell used nothing but floor-malted barley for the whisky. While Laphroaig is one of the few distilleries that still performs its own floor maltings, its standard releases all contain a large amount of barley that was smoked in a kiln. The floor maltings, however, create higher levels of a special phenol that offers a stronger tart note.

Laphroaig also typically uses a combination of different sized stills. In this case, however, the whisky was distilled in only the smallest spirit stills for heavier flavors. It was then aged for about 12 years in former Maker's Mark barrels kept in the No. 1 warehouse by the sea's edge. "It's all about peat," Campbell enthuses. "It's a very, very pungent flavor profile that becomes huge in your mouth. The people who like Laphroaig-y-ness are going to absolutely love this."

Laphroaig 15 Year Old (86 proof, or 43 percent alcohol by volume; 15 years old; $79.99 per 750 milliliter bottle)

APPEARANCE: Light golden color, with a slight lime tint. Medium-wide, slow legs.

NOSE: Toasty, jam-like aroma, not especially peaty. You get past the slight char and then discover a candied mix of berry and apricot as well as vanilla bean.

PALATE: It's like a toasted English muffin topped with a complex marmalade made from grapefruit, orange, peach and honey. At the same time, it offers spice in the form of ginger as well as the emblematic Laphroaig maritime flavors and a subtle peat.

FINISH: Hard candy flavored like all the array fruits from the nose and the palate as well as spicy Christmas cake usher this dram out with a long finish that will linger long after the whisky is gone.

CIGAR PAIRING:

Partagás Serie D No. 6 (Cuba; 3 1/2 inches by 50 ring gauge; £13.38; 92 points, August 2015 Cigar Aficionado) Short and squat, this little robusto is full of woody, savory notes layered with earth, sweet gingerbread and notable nutty notes, especially on the finish. With the exception of the like ginger notes, this pairing was an exercise in contrast. The hopes was that the differences would make sparks fly. And fly they did, as the whisky's inherent fruitiness dug straight into the savory aspects of the cigar, giving it pronounced depth and a sweetness that had been lacking. The Partagás came right back by revealing more of the expected peat in the Laphroaig and underscoring the already evident toast. Leather and nougat arose from the mix as well. The missing element is a little more length that would have kept this excellent pairing going longer.

Arturo Fuente Hemingway Best Seller (Dominican Republic; 4 1/2 inches by 55 ring gauge; $6.60; 91 points, August 2015 Cigar Aficionado) This easy-drawing perfecto shows a medium-bodied interplay of rich wood and earthy minerals before a sweet, caramel-like finish. The theory here was to match the sweetness of the cigar with the fruity sugars of the whisky. Interestingly, the Hemingway showcased the smoky character of the whisky more than the first pairing did—and what emerged was an extremely toasty dram. The Laphroaig's insistent fruity notions did come through, however, with pear and berry notes. Furthermore, there was a goodly dose of honey and a bit of spice that showed as a sweet licorice. A synergy between the components elevated caramel/nougat flavors on both, but none of the leather of the earlier pairing was noted. However, the Christmas spices of the whisky were more apparent as was some of the heartiness of the cigar. Another short, but very successful pairing.

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show/id/laphroaig-savors-its-bicentennial-18209

Ford Model T - 100 Years Later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=36&v=S4KrIMZpwCY

Muslims Pouring Into America

IF YOU ARE TRULY CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN, GRANDKIDS AND YOUR COUNTRY YOU WILL WATCH THIS AND FORWARD  . . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PzT8vEvYPg&feature=share

Where Were The Parents?

Where Were the Parents of the McKinney Pool Party Troublemakers?

Here’s what you really need to know about this “party."

So now the race debate has moved to McKinney, Texas, a bedroom community of Dallas, with an out-of-control party invading a quiet family-oriented community. The story is encapsulated and reduced by the all-seeing media to a ten-second clip of a white police officer manhandling a pretty teen girl wearing only a swimsuit to the ground.

“Oh, waily, waily!” the liberal media screamed. “Clearly this is yet another case of racey-hatey racist white men oppressing the black children!”

Apparently unlike the media, I took the time to inform myself: I listened to interviews with the black man who made the call (the man was fully supportive of the cop, by the way), watched the entire seven-minute clip made available publicly, and listened to other community members who witnessed the incident. There was way more to the story than that ten seconds of looped and incendiary video.

Black activists, smelling another opportunity to hoover up cash and sympathy, were not so skeptical. Instead, they organized an 800-person march from a neighborhood school to the swimming pool of the mixed-race, mixed-income neighborhood, chanting and singing the whole way about how black lives matter.

Well, sure they do. But what I saw on that video was not a situation where black lives don’t matter. Instead, I saw a young lady who clearly had not been taught respect for authority, who repeatedly returned after a police officer told her to leave an area where she was trespassing, and who finally pushed him into using physical force to make her behave. And then she resisted, crying and hollering for her mama. Had she not resisted, there would have been no juicy video. Had she done what she was told, this would be a local story at best.

I would be utterly humiliated if any of my children, INCLUDING THE AUTISTIC ONE, had behaved in such a way when confronted by a police officer. I’d have been furious at them for participating in an out-of-control party like the one that was broken up.

Here’s what you really need to know about this “party”:

·    A small private neighborhood pool was commandeered for a graduation party. This party included a DJ who played music that was, according to one neighborhood resident, not appropriate for children, and not really appropriate for underage teens.

·    Present, but not attending the party, were children and families entitled to use the pool. They were just there to hang out at their neighborhood pool for a quiet afternoon in the sun.

·    Social media was used by party-goers to put out a call to bring other kids in.

·    The neighborhood pool prohibits any resident from having more than two guests. Unauthorized people at this pool are, by law, trespassing.

·    The party quickly spiraled out of control, with neighborhood residents confronting trespassing party-goers and escalating to a physical altercation between two women. The neighborhood security guard was unable to control the situation.

Now imagine yourself as a solitary police officer coming onto the scene: utter chaos, little children running away crying, loud music blasting, bad actors laughing, ordinary neighborhood families forced to abandon the pool THEY PAY FOR because of what was becoming a riot. . .

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2015/06/09/where-were-the-parents-of-the-mckinney-pool-party-troublemakers/

We urgently need another Reagan

More Bureaucrats, Fewer Jets and Ships

More than half of our active-duty servicemen and women serve in offices on staffs.

By

John Lehman – former Secretary of the US Navy

Although current U.S. spending on defense adjusted for inflation has been higher than at the height of the Reagan administration, it has been producing less than half of the forces and capabilities of those years. Instead of a 600-ship Navy, we now have a 280-ship Navy, although the world's seas have not shrunk and our global dependence has grown. Instead of Reagan's 20-division Army, we have only 10-division equivalents. The Air Force has fewer than half the number of fighters and bombers it had 30 years ago.

Apologists for the shrinkage argue that today's ships and aircraft are far more capable than those of the '80s and '90s. That is as true as "you can keep your health insurance."

While today's LCSs—the littoral-class ships that operate close to shore—have their uses, they are far less capable than the Perry-class frigates that they replace. Our newest Aegis ships have been upgraded to keep pace with the newest potential missile threats, but their capability against modern submarines has slipped.

Air Force fighter planes today average 28 years old. Although they have been upgraded to keep pace with the latest aircraft of their potential adversaries, they have no greater relative advantage than they had when they were new. There are merely far fewer of them in relation to the potential threat. In deterrence, quantity has a quality all its own.

There is one great numerical advantage the U.S. has against potential adversaries, however. That is the size of our defense bureaucracy. While the fighting forces have steadily shrunk by more than half since the early 1990s, the civilian and uniformed bureaucracy has more than doubled. According to the latest figures, there are currently more than 1,500,000 full-time civilian employees in the Defense Department—800,000 civil servants and 700,000 contract employees. Today, more than half of our active-duty servicemen and women serve in offices on staffs. The number of various Joint Task Force staffs, for instance, has grown since 1987 from seven to more than 250, according to the Defense Business Board.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303562904579227842506498188

Just A Colorado Gal

My kind of gal . . .

http://www.justacoloradogal.com/2014/11/best-dispersed-camping-colorado.html

Divisive Declaration

In Obama’s America

"Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim June 2015 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month" - Presidential Proclamation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, 2015. 

President Obama himself has declared it officially. We as a nation now celebrate what was once considered unspeakable in decent company.  From now on, June will no longer be about graduations, and especially not about Father's Day anymore.

In Putin’s Russia

Meanwhile, across the globe, Russian President Vladimir Putin is awarding The Order of Parental Glory to parents (including adoptive parents) who have raised seven or more children. The decoration was instituted by a presidential executive order in May 2008, and was first awarded on January 13, 2009. Parents in that country are awarded for paying great care to the next generation's health and education and its physical, spiritual and moral development. 

http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/obama-gives-us-a-divisive-lgbt-declaration