…Is a wonderful phrase used across the middle ages to describe a simple spirit or alcohol in an aqueous solution. Here is a role call of other pronunciations you may have come across both here and abroad - Vodka, Eau-de-Vie, Akvavit to name but a few, basically every country touched by Christianity will have their own version. (This part of drink history is fascinating with a couple of surprising twists – definitely a separate Blog!)

We’re talking about whisk(no e)y from Scotland this week, the Gaelic for ‘water of life’ uisge-beatha [ooshkie bayha], we’ll stick with whisky as it’s much easier to pronounce. You may have seen whisk(e)y spelt with an ‘e’ this basically covers every other country outside of Scotland.

Whisky is brilliant – with a depth of history, passion and styles unsurpassed by any other spirit producing area in the world! Quality always comes to fore – production is controlled to defined standards, whisky has to be aged for at least 3 years before release and really importantly if an age is declared on the bottle that must be the age of the youngest whisky inside.

A couple of key defining feature of how a whisky tastes are the oak barrels the whisky is aged in – as they add flavour and colour to the finished whisky. Second, and my favourite, the influence of peat, basically the more peat used in the production the more robust the whisky will taste, particularly in a single malt Scotch whisky. Single malts are from a particular distillery, made in a distinct area and in a defined style, they are very roughly covered by:

LIGHTER MALTS: You’ll find the Lowland malts and lighter Speyside in here as no peat is used and they can be triple distilled like an Irish whiskey – fabulous starter malts!

FLORAL: a little more oomph and not necessarily from peat, the oak barrels whisky is aged in start to play more of a part, think Speyside and lighter Highland and Island whisky – nice with a pint.

FRUITY: Highland, Island and lighter Islay come into this bracket oak barrels and light peat flavours mingle to give some heroic flavours – great after a bracing winter walk.

RICH: Island, Cambletown and Islay the peat influence is growing giving salty, seaside flavours – dark nights and open fires…

SMOKY: Islay now you’re talkin’ – not for the feint hearted or for first timers, the peat gives us smoky, TCP [trademark] flavours – try them with smoked salmon like Bleiker’s Highland Peat Smoked Scottish Salmon (on offer at £3.50 for 125g pack until the end Feb 2012) [Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/bleikerssalmon and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bleikerssmokehouse ]

I tried this gem a couple of months ago and it’s phenomenal! Bleiker’s are an award winning smokehouse & proud purveyors of the world’s finest Scottish Salmon & Scottish Smoked Salmon. They’re provenance is guaranteed from the cold, clear waters of Northern Scotland, providing the perfect duet with this -

 Big Peat (Islay Region, Scotland) £33.79

This is what the Scotch whisky industry has traditionally called “a marriage of Malts” or vatted, basically this is a blend of four Islay Malts - Ardbeg, Caol Ila, Bowmore and wait for it, big white light, Angels singing… Port Ellen! Closed in 1983 and whiskies from there are becoming rare and expensive – the wee dram included here has to be at least 28ish years old!

The Laing family who produce this hail from Islay and they are very proud of the islands ‘traditions’ - and no wonder! A wonderful whisky that does exactly what it says on the bottle ‘ISLAY’ and ‘PEAT’ mean only one thing, this is a monster… phenolic or peat flavours from the off – beachy, oceanic and a slightly ashy November 5th finish, wonderful.

Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible: (96 Points) Scottish Vatted Malt of the Year 2011.

Slàinte mhòr agad!

Andy

I established last time that I wasn’t a scientist or a doctor, if I could add historian to that list too, that would help for this particular Blog. If I was to be put into an empirical box I’d say I’m much more of a mathematician – it’s much easier to put two and two together…

Wine by definition of the E.U. is “…the fermented juice of freshly pressed grapes...” essentially not much can be added to wine that isn’t “naturally” occurring, (what is “naturally” occurring and added to wine is a whole other Blog!).

In order to start an alcoholic fermentation we need sugar, water and yeast. Yeast, which is the key and was human kinds first domesticated organism, consumes the carbohydrates in sugar, which produces two very useful things – alcohol and carbon dioxide. We’ll cover off the ‘bubble’ process soon because it’s used to make everyone’s favourite Champagne and sparkling wine. Unfortunately there is only so much alcohol that yeast can swim around in, they die off when the level approaches 16-18%. Which explains why the strongest table wine you will see is about 15-16% ABV, anything stronger like Port or Sherry will be fortified or have extra alcohol added, (this will be our first two).

Now on to yeast’s best friend – the grape, and their symbiotic relationship. A grape is essentially a seed surrounded by a sugar and water solution, wrapped in a skin that creates the perfect environment for lots of yeast to lay dormant... This relationship has occurred for a while and in various soft fruits, the earliest archaeological evidence suggests wild grape vines are at least 60 million years old, ‘fruits’ 200 million and ‘yeast’ much, much older.

Essentially if we placed a dozen ripe bunches of grapes in a bucket, they’ll ferment internally, split – enabling the waiting yeast to get in and after a week or so we would have wine. Admittedly not the best wine, but there would be enough alcohol to get you thinking – nice, we’ll do this again, but how do we improve it? (our other two).

Evidence exists for the domesticated grape vine and controlled wine production at around 6,000BC, but in the intervening 54 million years or so we don’t really understand what happened. It may have been something like, very early primates realising that waiting for a magical, mystical process to happen was/is a good thing. Then as human kind evolved their civilisations, cultures and religions nearly all of them revered and worshipped wine as a divine gift from their God(s). From the grape vines point of view – probably one the best seed dispersal methods in the plant world! (equals four).

In order to pay homage to this wondrous, natural and sacred entity – give these two Buyers Choices a few moments of your time:

Vermentino by Castanzu (Sardinia, Italy) £6.99

Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean and has an ancient, complex history. Sardinians have been making wine since the 8th century B.C., when they were introduced to vinification by the Phoenicians – a canny race of people who made the finest and most prized wines of the day, famous throughout the Med, especially with the Egyptians and Greeks.

Vermentino di Sardegna is Sardinia’s most prized white variety - if you like Pinot Grigio definitely give this a whirl! Floral notes will grab you first, then snappy green apple and ending with a citrus zing, if you’re having fish or seafood look no further an inimitable double act à la Ant and Dec (the wine is the one on the left…).

Decanter World Wine Awards: Bronze Medal.

Cannonau by Castanzu (Sardinia, Italy) £6.99

Made by Araldica Vini Piemontesi, the leading co-operative in Piemonte (the home of Barolo, Barberesco and Slow Food), their mission is to take the best grapes from an area and produce the consummate wine. We think job done with this little fella, as do the team from Decanter magazine who gave it a Bronze Medal recently.

Cannonau is Sardinian term for the Grenache grape variety – so think rich flavours of raspberry, black cherry and a hint of dried herbs and eucalyptus on the long smooth finish. A perfect match for grilled lamb, and if you want to try something a little different serve it slightly chilled.

Cheers Andy