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Water of Life – Vintage Malt Whisky Company

It is an age old practice for distilleries to sell barrels of their emissions to blenders and independent bottlers in a bid to create an additional revenue stream, with some distilleries eventually solely existing for that very purpose and others passing on casks, the particular flavour of which would not align with the characteristics of the brand.

Independent bottlers may or may not disclose the origin of the whiskies they use and while they are some dabbling in the creation of questionable bottom shelf quality, there are some fantastic independent bottlers with a varied portfolio and a quality approach. The latter of which get me excited when they go for more niche products and bottle their drops at full-flavoured cask strength, which often offers the opportunity to sample rarer variations in an affordable manner.

Vintage Malt Whisky Company was founded at the beginning of the nineteen nineties with the objective to source selected drops to distribute them via independent wine and spirit importers throughout the world – an approach that proved to be successful and lead VMWC to establish itself on the forefront of Scotland’s leading independent bottlers.

VMWC piqued my interest as they have a few Islay expressions with quite declamatory names. Case in point: The award winning Smoke Stack, which is – as the telling name suggests – a richly peated blend of drops from both Islay and the Highlands, with smokiness being the common denominator.

What tickles the nostrils is a nice melange of sweet Ardbeg-esque peat, which then takes a left turn into iodine territory with citrussy highlights.

On the palate, I quite like that in terms of peatiness, the spectrum from sweet to oily is displayed with a smoky backbone that is pierced by floral notes and honeyed ginger. The elongated finish simmers the drop down to its essence, i.e. oils and smoke.

Despite the heavy hitting name, I found the Smoke Stack to be a nice introduction for the uninitiated to forage into the beauty that Islay has to offer.

Islay Storm is another peaty expression, the nose of which is firmly on the phenolic end of the spectrum, counterpointed by a maritime saltiness. On the top of mouth, a lovely balance between sweet peat, vanilla, spicy nuances and iodine is achieved, which seamless transitions into a fantastic finish, with waves of smoke reverberating and leaving one lusting for more.

Vintage Malt Whisky Company’s flagship brand is Finlaggan Islay Single Malt, bottlings of which have incarnated in many different expressions.

The Finlaggan Old Reserve is more complex compared to the aforementioned two expressions as the bouquet is more subtle when it comes to medicinal notes weaving through honeyed nutty highlights. The aromas hint at the complex melange that manifests on the palate, which peat smoke serving as the foundation on which malty cereal flavours dance with gingery spices before seamlessly transitioning into a bittersweet finish, which bookends the experience with a toasty oakiness, menthol and minerals. Delicious, affordable and a great daily sipper, which I can see to be a gateway scotch for peat lovers to be.

The Finlaggan Port Finish is an example for the variations the Vintage Malt Whisky Company produces, with this expression resulting in adding a  wine-like sweetness which blends in with the smoky, coastal peat that forms the DNA of Finlaggan and on the nose, adds nice nuances of red berries to the mix.

Flavour-wise, the Port Cask dominates the palate and borderline overwhelms the peatiness, which adds another interesting dimension. The finish is satisfyingly smoky and seals a complex experience rounded out with raisiny highlights and slight notes of dark chocolate.

Cannot wait to try Vintage Malt Whisky Company’s other expressions.

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image from company website

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Sydney Theatre Company

December 5, 2020

Being an Oscar Wilde aficionado, I have hardly ever missed a chance to see one of his less-performed plays both in the new as well as the old world, with the respective incarnations being more or less conventional in terms of how the gothic melodrama was adapted to the stage.

Given his background in media design and director of films, learning about Sydney Theatre Company’s Artistic Director reimagining The Picture of Dorian Gray intrigued me as his previous creations – no matter if it was Shakespeare or him directing The Rape of Lucretia, which we covered as part of one of the Dark Mofo festivals, always added an x-factor to his innovative stage adaptations of classic pieces.

In essence, Sydney Theatre Company’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a mind-blowing tour de force entirely carried by solitary performer and dramaturg Eryn Jean Norvill, who manages to play all twenty-six characters herself. Taking up a role is challenging. Embracing so many roles can not only increase the risk of messing up the whole play, but also run danger of entering the realm of slapstick.

Not so with Norvill, who delivers throughout the play, immersing herself fully in each character, working with both subtle tonal variations and physical gestures, which are set in scene with the use of cleverly intertwined live and pre-recorded video, captured by a roving camera crew and broadcast via an array of moving and static screens.

The timing, intricate attention to detail and perfectly choreographed interplays are stunning and delivered in a seemingly effortless yet authentic manner, through which Norvill authentically brings to life and engages with all characters as if they were present in the third dimension. Needless to say, over the two-hour performance there is no dull moment and it does not feel as if the focus is solely resting on the shoulders of one actor.

Kip Williams’ The Picture of Dorian Gray accomplished many things: It not only honours Wilde’s wit, but adds another dimension of enjoyment that is as witty as Wilde by e.g. letting the characters argue in a meta-manner about who should deliver the lines or letting Norvill e.g. drop subtle references to her previous roles.

Summa summarum, STC’s contemporary, inventive, complex and smart The Picture of Dorian Gray is a unlike any interpretation I have previously seen manifest on stage and allows Norvill to shine in all her expansive nuances that she channels her alchemy in.

A herculean feat and one of the greatest performances I have had the privilege to see incarnate on terra australis.

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image from production website

November: Lexica

November was a stressful month. Covid cases continue to rise as families gathered for a bullshit holiday. They'll only grow as people fight each other for the last Grogu plush at Target and gather again for Christmas. Sigh. On the plus side, the U.S. will see new leadership in January. It doesn't mean all of our problems go away. Certainly not with the numbers willing to vote for more of the hateful and bigoted rhetoric that's been spewing from this administration for 4 years. It's shameful. This month, I decided to focus more on bands outside the USA. I didn't plan on listening to so many Japanese bands. Just kind of turned out that way, haha.

Before anything else, I was excited to check out Elvis Costello's new album, Hey Clockface. It's a solid album that's primarily his slower Jazzy-Lounge sound but he sneaks in a bit more Pop and New Wave in there. The only bad thing about the album is the cover. I decided to then check out Gang of Four's second album after falling in love with Entertainment earlier this year. I was as taken with Solid Gold as I hoped I'd be, but I've seen some people say it's more of a grower.

Towards the end of last month, Relapse announced a reissue of GISM's debut album, Detestation. I'd never really had the opportunity to check out GISM, so it was time to dig in. The vocals were a little off-putting at first. I could listen to those riffs all day though. Another band that announced some new reissues of their earliest albums is Boris. I haven't listened to those yet, but I did check out Akuma No Uta. Like most, I came in with Pink and picked up a few of the albums that followed. I never really went further back into their catalog. This band has so much output, and this was one of the more recognizable. Babymetal had a new album last year that I never gave chance, so I figured if I was listening to Japanese bands, I might as well put it on. I'd only heard their first album once when I saw a few of my fans obsessing over them a few years ago. Not sure why I didn't give it more listens. METAL GALAXY is great, so I'm sure I'll give their second album a spin and be returning to that first album.

Earlier this year, I listened to Rammstein's Sehnsucht, but didn't include a track on that month's playlist. This month, I decided to give another Rammstein album a listen, so I put on their newest album, and I liked it a lot more. People say Mutter is the best, so I'll be checking that one out in the future. My favorite new discovery from the month is a band from Mali known as Songhoy Blues. They are a "desert blues" band blending the music of Mali and Rock that formed after having to flee their city due to civil war and the banning of music. They put out a new album this year entitled Optimisme. You can find lyric and music videos with translations to some of their songs on their Youtube channel.

That'll do for November's playlist. It's been a bit of a struggler trying to get this one done. Sorry for the delay. December's playlist will be all my favorite songs from the previous playlists and maybe a few new things here and there. Thanks for listening and reading this installment of Search/Play/Repeat and wear a mask!

Water of Life - Braastad

It all started with a Norwegian by the name of Sverre Braastad, who moved to the French Cognac region at the beginning of the Twentieth century to join the ranks of one of the pre-eminent Grande Champagne producers, i.e. Biscuit. Meeting his future wife led to Sverre to take on the reigns of the House of Tiffon, which eventually took on the name of the Braastad family and established itself quickly on the forefront of Cognac houses.

With the home of Braastad  being the castle Château de Triac in the cru Petite Champagne in the cognac area of France, surroundings could not be more conducive to the creation of formidable Cognacs, with their cellars being strategically located at the southern bank of the Charente River, which provides an adequate of dampness and humidity for maturing their cognacs.

Traditional in every sense of the word and still maintaining the status of a being private company, Braastad produces a range of expertly blended cognacs, the quality of which is not further wondrous as Master Blender Richard Braastad has access to an arsenal of close to fifteen thousand casks of cognac from different crus and differently age, to calibrate the achievement of distinct flavour profiles and consistency as far as taste is concerned.

Not only owning a castle but also forty hectares of vineyards enables the Braastad family to be in full control of each individual production step once grapes are harvested, with their vineyards being in the regions within Grande Champagne and Fins Bois.

Braastad’s core expression, i.e. the VS variant, is a Ugni Blanc based cognac, a light and perfectly balanced blend of different eaux-de-vie but mainly from the FIn Bois region and what I specifically like about it is how the oakiness weaves in with the array of fruit notes, sweet vanilla and delicately burned nuts.

The light caramel hued Braastad VSOP Cognac has an average age of eight years, as compared to the minimum age of four years that a VSOP cognac must have lain in oak barrels for. What tickles the nostrils is a nice bouquet of fruity and floral notes, which is seamlessly transitions to what materializes on the palate complemented by soft and some brown chocolate nuances with a nice finish, that rounds the experience out with spicy highlights.

Amber brown in colour, Braastad’s XO expression is medium full bodied and adds another dimension with apricot notes, which rest on a backbone of cocoa and a dominant woodiness. Given the designation Fine Champagne, it marries the best of what the Grande and Petite Champagne regions have to offer. Given the quality of the XO expression, one can only imagine what the XO Superior variant is like, which has been aged for fifteen to twenty-five years in the family’s private cellar, which I hope to be able to visit next time I hold court in France.

Not usually being too much into Liqueur, I found the latest addition to Braastad’s portfolio, i.e. the cognac based Crème Liqueur to be the ideal accompaniment for a late expresso and one can only imagine what a capable mixologist would be able to create with it.

The Formative Years

Compilations that left a mark pt. 1

What makes a good compilation album for you?

The main factors during my formative years was “bang for your buck”, listening pleasure and ideally a musical education and exposure to bands and sounds that would send me down new rabbit holes.

A defining compilation that I have referred to quite a few times is the P.E.A.C.E. compilation as it ticks both boxes: Being a double LP, this  benefit compilation, which was originally released by MDC’s R Radical Records, there is quite a bit of territory covered by the array of bands, many of which went on to leave their indelible mark and coined punk and hardcore to create the foundation for what is became widely known for. If not the fact alone that this compilation introduced me to G.I.S.M. for the first time, the calibre of the other bands, e.g. Cause For Alarm, The Dicks, Crass, Conflict (UK), D.O.A., D.R.I., Mob 47, Septic Death, Dead Kennedys, Subhumans (UK), Reagan Youth, Butthole Surfers and, of course, MDC should have you throw up your hands in despair if the original or the reissue  with bonus tracks released by New Red Archive records is not part of your collection.

A lesser known but nonetheless potent compilation of the early eighties was the We Got Power: Party Or Go Home LP, which was in essence a collaboration between the We Got Power fanzine and Mystic Records. Given that forty-one bands seal the deal within the confines of a mere forty minutes, should give an indication of what is the name of the game here, i.e. fast and frenetic hardcore by bands that should again become classics. Doug Moody’s Mystic Records was the pre-eminent force in the Southern California punk rock music scene and not only a launchpad for the bands that should infuse the local sound with the nuances of their idiosyncratic sounds but also a record collector’s nightmare with its limited edition records.

Welcome to Venice is a telling name as this masterpiece introduced me to local Venice Beach crossover thrash bands, of which I had only known Suicidal Tendencies before, whose frontman Mike Muir released it on his Suicidal Records label. A compilation that became the blueprint for many bands, both in terms of musical style and aesthetics, and one that within the punk and hardcore category does not have many competitors when it comes to boldly establishing a local scene on the wider map of underground music, that is if it were not for Dischord Records’ Flex Your Head, which was released around the same time.

What Welcome to Venice did for California, Flex Your Head did for hardcore punk bands from the Washington, D.C. area. Ostensibly taken from Minor Threat’s tribute to Wire, this one is essentially a vehicle for almost all of the bands releasing their first songs on vinyl, some having already broken up by the time it was released, e.g. The Teen Idles, The Untouchables, State of Alert and Minor Threat, with quite a few of the protagonists’ respective new bands also being included with their new endeavours.

One of the compilations that I spent quite a bit of dough for to own all pressings with a total of five different front covers, including the CD editions, which allowed to use all different cover variations interchangeably.

Apart from being a testament to the importance of the never not inspiring and boundary D.C. scene and the extended Dischord family of bands, this is one of the fundamental cornerstones of American hardcore.