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The Monocle Book of Gentle Living: A Guide to Slowing Down, Enjoying More and Being Happy

Thames & Hudson

For anyone remotely into the cosmos that is Monocle, its style and the lane it has carved for itself along with the immense influence it is having on both people and therefore modern life, it must be difficult to fathom that it took until now for a book to be released on its imprint that explicitly focuses on the central tenets of its DNA.

In essence, the new Monocle Guide is centred around the idea of reconnection, mindfulness, meaningfulness while discovering new places and meeting remarkable people along the way: A handbook much needed in these crazy times we live in, where generosity, hospitality and forgiveness seem to be given no priorities at all and at times seem to have become completely forgotten qualities.

What I find astonishing with books like these is that even if the subject matter is fairly easy to comprehend and the study of it not necessarily resulting in any epiphany, having it channelled through the idiosyncratic Monocle prism adds a delightful quality to the respective elaborations. The result is an inspiring and uplifting experience that could not be further apart from the commonly known and outworn self-help treatises.

Beautifully illustrated in the sophisticated trademark Monocle style, The Monocle Book of Gentle Living offers a welcome dose of respite, encouragement and motivation and is yet another great addition to their well-curated book series.

Sometimes gentle does it indeed.

Water of Life – 5Nines

With its vastly diverse climate and geography, the state of South Australia not only produces about half of all wine on terra australis but also has an unrivalled range of grape varieties on offer.

When it comes whiskies, it has been uncharted territory for me as most of the distilleries we have covered down under are located in other states, with Victoria and Tasmania being the hotbeds for distillers.

All the more delighted I was when I learned about the South Australian 5Nines distillery appearing on the scene and their meteoric rise to the firmament of innovative quality gin produces.

Needless to say, I was intrigued when I learned about the unveiling of their own single cask range.

Founded only five years ago in the Adelaide Hills region and having specifically designed and built their own copper pot still along with a repurposed stainless-steel vat, 5Nines’ small-scale operations allows them to pay meticulous attention to detail in all aspects of their whisky production – be it engineering, design or their distilling alchemy to refine their tasty emissions with 5Nines’ own idiosyncratic DNA.

While their unpeated core expression is an exercise par excellence in the marriage of oak vanilla flavours with apples and blue gum honey, 5Nines’ Peated Variant is easily one of the best drops I have had the fortune to sample this year: Primarily made with locally sourced barley and smoked with local peat. 5Nines’ Lightly Peated variant has been matured and vatted in a carefully calibrated selection of small hundred litre ex-Bourbon and ex-Scotch casks and not being chill-filtered, the result shows in the depths of its beautifully layered flavour profile.

What tickles the nostrils is a melange of the most delicate peat, framed by honeyed vanilla and counterpointed by mossy and earthy highlights.

On the roof of the mouth, things get interesting as there is a nice interplay of sweet- and saltiness resting on a backbone of dark chocolate, with peat reverberating in the background in the most subtle manner.

An elongated finish leaves on lusting for another dram as vanilla notes are punctuated by sweet and salty nuances.

Given that 5Nines has only been operating for half a decade and their commitment to only using the best of local produce, I cannot wait what founders David Pearse and Steven Griguol will channel their passions in with future releases, which will hopefully be released soon.

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image from company website

The Formative Years – Iconic venues pt. 3

Let us have a look at iconic venues within the realm of punk and hardcore on Teutonic terrain, shall we?

A venue in Germany of far-reaching significance for my socialisation with punk and hardcore is the AJZ Homburg. Conspicuously located in the industrial surroundings of a freight depot and in its trademark derelict shape, it is in many aspects the diametric opposite of the aforementioned Enmore Theatre as far as aesthetics and architecture are concerned.

As far as the history of European punk and hardcore is concerned, i.e. the era of the later part of the 1980s and early 1990, AJZ Homburg benefitted immensely from Europe’s leading punk and hardcore publication, i.e. ZAP Magazine, having had its headquarters based in close proximity with monarch extraordinaire Moses Arndt and his crew facilitating  that literally every relevant touring band made an appearance.

The Rote Flora is a former theatre in Hamburg’s Sternschanze quarter in Hamburg. Squatted since s the late nineteen eighties, it has established itself as an autonomous cultural centre and venue and to this day has maintained its significance, hosting  exhibitions by artists from all over the world, parties and cultural events regularly and an epicentre for left leaning movements.

The AJZ Bielefeld is another legendary German venue as it was one of the first autonomous youth centres with a history that harks back to the early ninety seventies. It has remained independent to this very day and its relevance as a forum for punk and hardcore shows in the late eighties / early nineties cannot be overstated. You’d be hard pressed to find any relevant underground band from around that era that has not played there. Shows at the AJZ Bielefeld were an event and while the city of Bielefeld does not have too much to offer (to the extent that the satirical conspiracy about Bielefeld not really existing and it being a mere fabrication has manifested itself firmly in the city’s narrative) scenesters from all corners of Germany made the trek to Ostwestfalen-Lippe to see bands like Bad Religion hold court in its unique ambience.

Water of Life – Teeling Distillery

Ah, finally! Teeling Distillery is one that almost got away. For too long it has been in the periphery of my whisky vision and it is high time to finally shed light on what they the Irish distillery has to offer.

For anyone following this series, it should be fairly obvious that I am partial to peated whiskies. While this is a characteristic that most Scottish distilleries cater to in some shape or form and there is talk about some distillers experimenting with peated barley in the region, it is not necessarily something that Irish whiskey is known for.

Now, Teeling has a track record for experimenting with different casks, but it was my first exposure to their Blackpitts expression, the name being an homage to the ancient area behind the distillery.

Triple distilled, Blackpitts zeos in at 55 phenol part per million before maturing in ex-bourbon and ex-Sauternes casks to then emerge with an ABV of 46%.

What tickles the nostrils is a melange of subtle peat peppery and fruity nuances, which rest on a backbone of mint , wood smoke and bacon. The fact that what materialize on the roof of the mouth starts with a saline note, had me intrigued. The journey continues with cidery flavours , honeyed malt and lemon peels that culminate in peaty caramel highlights. Delicious.

The finish is not overly long and a bit reduced as it continues with a focus on the spicy oak, caramelly and peaty end of the flavour spectrum. Despite its ominous name this is quite a harmonious and elegant drop.

Ready to step things up a notch or two:

Teeling’s Brabazon series focuses on whiskies that have been matured in fortified wine barrels and the new No.4 expression is a thirteen year old whiskey that has gotten the Portuguese Carcavelos cask treatment. The result is not surprisingly a tour de force in terms of full-bodied spiciness.

Sweet aromas of chocolate and tarty sweetness are married with honeyed malts and hint at the luxuriously smooth apples and woody tannin flavours that unfold themselves on the palate, which seamlessly transition to the elongated, biscuity finish, which finds its crescendo in floral and fruity maltiness.

The highlight of my Teeling tasting experience however, was a dram of the Renaissance Series – the second incarnation of this limited series is an eighteen year old that was first matured in ex-bourbon casks to then be further refined in Australian Shiraz barrels, which contributes majorly to the complexity of this non-chill filtered expression.

Ruby coloured in appearance, on the nose there are cherries, summer fruits and strawberries, which are counterpointed by spicy, dark fruity nuances. On the palate a dance of red berries, pears, spicy tannins and red wine ensues, which gains depth the longer you swirl it around. Fascinating.

The moreish finish is dominated by a oaky, spicy nut flavours that are centred around a core of fruity red wine. Needless to say, it leaves one lusting more.

Given the experience from the three expressions I have sampled, I cannot wait to dig deeper into Teeling’s portfolio.

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image from company website

Music: A Subversive History

Ted Gioia

Basic Books / Hachette Publishing

Now, summarizing the “history of music” in a little under 500 pages would be a fairly ambitious undertaking at best. However, that is not exactly what Ted Gioia has set out to do, au contraire, as his main objective is to showcase that existing histories of music have missed essential elements that make music intriguing due to their controversial character, e.g. sex, violence, murder, magic, et cetera. Given Gioia’s aim, it should not come as a surprise that a good share of the tome is polemical.

Gioia sets out to prove that music is inextricably rooted in atavistic behaviour such as procreating, battles and hunting by shedding light on the evolution of primordial sounds to the sounds we enjoy today and given his fascination with innovators who were first ostracised by society to then be eventually revered, gives his arguments credence: One of his main points is that established conservative histories of music serve to canonize artists and oeuvres that serve public interest and the maintenance of the status quo, whereas he comes to the conclusion that the truth is that music and its history has never been respectable and, at its core, has always challenged authority.

Summa summarum, academic scholars might not be particularly taken by this exercise in outsider criticism but it is definitely a commendable resource for anyone who is enthusiastic about music no matter the genre as it challenges established viewpoints.

However, what one should not forget is that “subversion” can be interpreted differently and what we are presented with is Gioia’s idiosyncratic sociocultural take on it and his passionate attempt at iconoclasm.