By
George Brozowski
I
hate gardening, now don't get me wrong, I love flowers
and plants and shrubs and trees but all that down on your
knees, in the dirt, back breaking, sweating under the hot
sun stuff you can keep. Why, I know folks who love gardening
so much that they have their favorite tools, gardening clothes
and a thousand and two rituals to go along with them that
they claim make them ecstatic. Personally a dry martini with
no dirt sipped in the shade makes me ecstatic but then that's
just me.
Some
of these folks have even gone so far as to name their favorite
tools. My neighbor has a rake he calls Earl and a small hand
shovel he has christened Sandy. I always had my doubts about
his sanity but now I'm pretty sure. Well, it turns out that
amateur gardeners are not the only ones who name their tools.
Now to me, a shovel is pretty much just a shovel, but to the
Scottish folks who produce this anCnoc Scotch a shovel is
either a Flaughter or a Rutter
or even a Tushkar and the one thing all these
christened shovels have in common is Peat, let me explain.
Peat
or turf is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation
or organic matter that is the most efficient carbon sink on
the planet.
The
peat plants capture the CO2 which is naturally released from
the peat. Peat forms in wetland conditions where flooding
prevents the flow of oxygen from the atmosphere, slowing rates
of decomposition, which is why they keep finding all those
well preserved Bronze age and Iron age Druid bodies with intact
clothes and skin and all. Peat accumulations are known as
mires or bogs or even fens and another thing they all have
in common is that peat is an important source of fuel and
often the precursor to the formation of other fossil fuels
like coal. Those wiley Scottish folks also discovered that
when you burn the stuff it gives off a wonderful smoky aroma
so naturally the first thing they did with it right after
popping a bag of peat flavored popcorn was smoke the sprouting
barley they used for distilling Scotch which they discovered
was far tastier than that popcorn.
The
Scots so love their peat that they have fabricated special
shovels for harvesting the stuff and anCnoc has named their
three peaty, smoky scotches after those very shovels. This
is gardening at a whole higher level than I have even dreamt
about. Flaughter scotch is named after the spade used to remove
the top richer and rooty layer of peat and this Scotch is
peated to 14.8ppm (parts per million of yummy phenol). The
rutter spade is used to size and separate the peat blocks
producing a turf that is slow burning. The Rutter scotch weighs
in at 11ppm. And last but not least is the tushkar named after
the spade that has a long blade that cuts down through the
peat, producing a turf with a medium to slow burn and a scotch
with a PPM of 15.0
All
that being said, and trust me that is the most gardening talk
I have ever engaged in, let's not get bogged down (get it?)
and give two of these scotches a try. Yeah, I know I just
discussed three scotches but their goofy PR people only provided
me a few drops of just two so I can only do what I can do.
I'll
start with the Rutter at 11 ppm. The nose is quite smoky and
peaty in a vegetative type of way. There is very little alcohol
in this nose. Under all that smokiness I can just barely sense
the scotch and traces of vanilla and tobacco and leather.
The palate duplicates the nose with the smokiness front and
center followed by the scotch and vanilla and some banana
and even with all that going on, it is quite smooth. The finish
is a bit less smoky but still very flavorful, full and smooth
and lasts a fair amount of time. I have to admit that I really
like the added smokiness in this scotch, it gives it a dimension
lacking in milder scotches. On the rocks the smokiness becomes
less defined but still presents a palateful of taste that
is not diminished in the finish. If you like your scotch brimming
with flavor this just might be your cup of tea.
The
Flaughter at 14.8 ppm is next. Oddly enough I thought that
the higher the ppm number the stronger the smokey flavor profile
would be but that seems to be quite the opposite. I would
have loved to do a second round of tasting to confirm this
observation but there just barely enough for the first round.
The Flaughter has about half to one third the smoky nose of
the Rutter but still possesses all the other qualities of
vanilla, tobacco and leather and maybe some apricot but is
just much milder. The palate still has a very smoky profile
up front but again not as intense as the Rutter. This really
is the laid back cousin of the first scotch. The finish is
smooth and medium in length and leaves a touch of the smoke
and leather behind. There's a lot of depth and complexity
here even though the flavors are not as intense. That does
not make it inferior to the first just different and pleasant
in its own way. On the rocks the Flaughter mellows out but
the smokiness is still out front but now the scotch actually
has a fighting chance to make its presence known and it is
quite tasty. The finish is now more balanced and I can make
out the other flavors more readily.
If
you're a hardcore scotch drinker and want the most flavor
and smokiness for your buck then the Rutter is definitely
the way to go. However, if you want a more balanced scotch
with a slightly less smoky profile then the Flaughter is your
choice. Either way you choose you won't be disappointed.
These
fine scotches will run you around $70.00 per bottle wherever
you might find them but the price is well worth the experience.
For
more Rants & Raves click
here.
http://ancnoc.com/