W/NW: Whisky, Whiskey

This thread should be banned because of the effect it has on old gits who can't take it any more but who remember. Especially a party in Scotland one night at a hotel where everyone knew each other and we were welcomed like family and there were two whisky salesmen staying the night on their way to the mainland...


Regards, David
 
Oh dear! I never expected my post to form a coda to the thread. Please continue it, otherwise I shall be forced to say what happened those few days in that hotel on the Mull of Kintyre....


Regards, David
 
Waiting to hear.:D
Well, I've been looking for my diary to flesh out what I wrote but can't find it. As it was 35 to 40 years ago I can only add that we'd just come from Islay, where every whisky lover should go at least once, and the salesmen had, IRC, come from Jura via Islay.

They worked for two different distillers and carried the whisky bottles in posh crates. We were all given a glass three quarters full and it wasn't one of those normal whisky glasses but the next size up; they were borrowed from the kitchen of the hotel. They also borrowed a jug and went outside, across the road and filled the jug with water from a stream. I don't know how long the party lasted, we crawled into bed at about 2 am. I gather there were about 5 rounds in all but I only had 2 glasses...

Talking to them later I learnt a few things but 40 years later it's of little use.

Regards, David
 
Nicely placed sunstar! Do you have a favorite Talisker bottling? And how did your ancestors end up in Australia, while the rest of your kin were founding distilleries? ;)
Here's a late reply dourbalistar: my great-grandfather was a shepherd, and the sheep industry was being pioneered in Australia in 1837, so he and his wife leapt on a boat in Skye and in a mere three months' time they they were whisked here :) I can only get one type of Talisker here, but the smokey flavour reminds me of the peat of Skye.
John McKinnon
 
I often wonder if anyone would drink any whisky after seeing all the old, secondhand sherry barrels from Spain being set on fire and so on before being filled with the stuff for a few years...


Regards, David
 
Hot on the heels of International Whisky Day, today (April 1st, 2021) is the first annual Japanese Whisky Day. No, it's not an April Fool's joke. Japan's first domestically distilled whisky, Suntory's Shirofudo (White Label), was released on April 1, 1929. It's more of an industry created event than anything, but I'll drink to that. :D Kanpai!
 
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I spent three years photographing the infamous moonshiner Popcorn Sutton. A few photos from his illegal operation in the mountains of East Tennessee.
 

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Just 4 hours after photographing his stills his assistant, not pictured, set fire to the still house and the entire operation burned to the ground. This resulted in Popcorns arrest.

Despite his arrest he setup operations nearby just days later. His downfall came as a result of him selling whiskey to state agents.

Popcorn was arrested on state alcohol charges, illegal drugs and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He also faced tax evasion charges by the feds. Popcorn was sentenced to prison but took his own life rather than go to prison again.
 

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The first moonshiner I ever met was Lawt Gudger. Lawt was an old bachelor and lived on Monteagle Mountain in middle Tennessee. Here’s a photo of Lawt with a jug of his whiskey awaiting his customer.

Shot in 1969.
 

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