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Drinkboy talks about using single grain in a single malt. This is a little confusing. Below refers to Scotch and hope that it clears things up. Single Malts are products of individual malt whisky distilleries. They can be from different vintages (although this will be reflected on the label by the age statement) Vatted Malts are whiskies from more than one malt distillery which have been blended together. I think that this will be the Double Malt (which you could not legally call a Scotch) Pure Malt refers to any Scotch malt whisky regardless of it being a single or vatted malt and comes exclusively from malted BARLEY Grain Whisky is produced from a mash of various cereals (usually wheat, maize and barley). You can get single grain and vatted grain whiskies. Blended whisky contains both malt whisky and grain whisky. If you have 99.9% malt and 0.1% grain then this is still a blended whisky. Whilst we are at it, here is what the Scotch Whisky Assoc. has to say on the age statement: "If any specific reference to age is made..it should consist of one figure only and should refer to the age of the youngest whisky" They also go on to say that if a whisky is only showing the distillation date then this is deceptive to the consumer and that a bottling date and/or an age should also be on the label.

Jay, Tis a small world! The reason for 75cl vs 70cl is purely down to reasons of tax and US law. As I am sure you are aware the US only allows imports of 75cl bottles. Here in the UK we tend to go for 70cl because of less tax per bottle. For your info the Duty on a 75cl bottle at 46% is £6.75 ex VAT and the equiv 70cl bottle is £6.30. It doesn't sound a big difference this £0.45 but here in the UK if you put a 30% mark-up on this and then add VAT it adds £0.75 per bottle which often can push the price over what people are prepared to pay. As for the different vintages between US and Europe, I presume that this is solely down to what stocks are being carried. BS tends to buy a large parcel of casks of the same vintage and distillery and then bottle it once stocks have run out. For example their Monymusk - I know that the current Europe age is 25yo but I know that there is some 23yo knocking about and think that there must be some 21yo somewhere. As for the best importer for the NYC region, any thoughts?

JvP, how goes it? (Have you also tucked into those minis I gave you?) The only thing that I can think about this experiment is that perhaps you had a bad bottle maybe from the beginning/end of a bottling. However as you said that the taste was no different this might discount this theory. A mystery!!

What is a Double (apart from what you order at the bar)? It is either single or blended. If you mean that there are 2 single malts in the bottle then this is a blended whisky. By law you would not be allowed to call a bottle a double malt or even name which malts were in the bottle. If it is two different vintages from the same distillery it is also against law to state which vintages they are. Sorry to be a pedant.

I have talked to BS and they were recently asked the same question by a German-American. They just found out that their importer into the US doesn't cover NYC! Their improters are Californian Vineyards Incoporated and it might be possible to buy on the net. Now I don't know the laws you guys have but presume that that is the problem. If they had to find an importer for NYC who would be best? Would it be someone like Park Avenue Liq?

Mark Somm. - just being very pedantic, chambre is not cellar temp but room temp. Otherwise I have to go with what you say. Carolyn hits the nail on the head when saying that most people tend to serve their whotes far too cold. Personally I generally take out of the cellar (which is not the ideal 12c) and put in the fridge for 20-30 mins until at about 11-12c. Having spent some time in France making wine, we needed to taste barrel samples so maybe I just like "warm" whites! I suppose that it also depends on how good the wine is. If you have a fantastic white then what is the point of making it so cold that you can't taste the wonderful flavours. On an aside have you ever tried blindfolding someone, pegging their nose and giving them a glass of red, white and water (all of the same temperature). It is amazing to see how many people can't tell what is what (albeit the water is easiest to pick out). If you are going to do this little test maybe best not to try and match a Zin against a NZ Sauvignon but rather choose a red and a white of equal "weight", acidity etc etc

cdh, many thanks for the link. as yet had no clarification from my customer but I don't think that they are looking for a Stella type. personally I would think more of a Duval. we will see...

I have been asked by a customer to supply an Alsace beer that is like a Belgian beer. Any ideas what this might be???!!!!! My customer does not have the best command of English and I have asked for some clarification as to what type of Belgian beer he is meaning. Thought it might amuse you posters though

Not really, why did we open that, but the Oh God bit is right. I was in someone's cellar and was discussing some of the old bottles there. He had 5 or 6 bottles that had been passed down from his father (who had them passed down to him). Not knowing what they were (no label) and not being able to see what the cork said we decided to open on. It was in a funny bottle. Not exactly Bordelais and not exactly port - somewhere in the middle. The person's who cellar it was thought it might have been an old port. Pulled the cork and discovered that it was an 1865 Kirwan. Emergency action took place then as we suspected that it would not last very long - dashed for the glasses and the 2 of us drunk it within 20 minutes, which was lucky as by that time it was really fading. Seem to remember that the nose was a little appely, the colour was fantastic and akin to something in the 1970s. A really nice drop but a shame that more could not have joined in with us

I forwarded the info on the wine clip to a big merchant in the UK who I know is into magnets (he once had a spell out of the wine trade and tried to sell me a bed, matress, coat etc etc with magnets). He said that he had tried it already and said that it neutralised all the wine that he pored thru it. Not sure that I can trust his judgement as he has "strong feelings" to magnets.

Katie, Agree with you about the possibility of tinny wines. My experience of drinking beer at my parents house (which tends to be 2 or 3 years past its best before date) is that they pick up a nasty metallic taste. But then again I suspect that if you kept these tinned wines for too long that they would probably not benefit. Are they in an inert environment and capable of surviving a nuclear attack? As for Souteastern Australia, I have a feeling that this means that the majority of the grapes can come from SE Oz but a certain amount can come from other areas of Oz. I can't remember which wine it is (Penfolds of Jacobs C I think) that is labelled SE Oz but also has grapes coming in from NSW.

I went to Barbados for part of my honeymoon and I have now made a friend who has a house there so the annual holiday is there. I have only been twice to Barbados and both times I found that there was not much rum tourism/shopping to be done. I went around the Mount Gay distillery but that is about it. Having said that I did not venture into Bridgetown too deeply so do not know if there is a rum specialist shop. Apart from that the supermarkets have 20 or so rums but most of them are made to power your car!! If you (or anyone else) know somewhere or rather find somewhere please can you post the details so I can check it out on my next visit.

today I had to go to a tasting (actually 2 but I can easily forget the 1st). It was one of the most enjoyable tastings that I have been to in 5 years (when I did a similar Madeira tasting). The only downside was that you could start to become over critical on the wines when if you had them by themselves they would have bowled you over.. 1950 Tinta Negra Molle, Torre Bella Estate 1817 "Juno", Goelet Family 1895 Verdelho, Arajuo de Barros 1934 Bual, Cossart 1920 Bual, Blandy 1837 Bual, Special Reserve Acciaioly 1820 Bual, Very Old, J&B labelled 1912 Malmsey, Blandy 1907 Malvazia, Reserva P. d'Oliveira 1830 Malmsey, Quinta do Serrado 1870 Terrantes, Reserva FRG c. 1760 Terrantez, Borges Family I was utterly amazed by the acidity that the oldest of these wines still retained. Phenomenal. Also the 1950 and 1934 were still to reach full maturity! One of those present who knows a lot more than me said that the 1934 Bual would probably be at its best in about 50 years!!!

Just tried the 2000 Lytton Springs and Geyserville and found them incredibly closed. Preferred the Geyser to the Lytton.

When I was in my mid-20s (ie prob c.1997), I went with my then girlfriend (now wife) to a smartish restaurant (now sadly closed) in London owned by Michael Caine. Ordered a bottle of 1990 Ramage La Battise, which would have been a really nice Cru Bourgeois. The waiter brought a bottle of the 1991. I pointed this out to him and got a reply that the 1991 vintage was as good as the 1990! (Having worked in Bordeaux from 1991-1993 I was well aware of the difficulties of the 1991 vintage). I suppose on hindsight I should have had a word with the manager. I guess it was unlucky of the waiter to try and fob off some young punk who new a little about wine.

I am not sure what you guys/gals think but I am often of the opinion esp with Gewurztraminer that you shouldn't bother drinking them from "non-Gewurz growing regions". I cannot see the point of drinking a Chilean, New Zealand, Italian, Spanish, Australian example when the Germans/French (and Austrians) can make a much better one. I know that it comes down to personal taste and feel sure that somewhere in the Claire Valley there is a good Gewurz but.........

Not being a native of Oz, but I seem to remember Western Australia - Swan Northern Territory - NT Bitter Queensland - XXXX NSW - Tooeys (excuse the spelling) Victoria - VB can't remember South Australia apart from Coopers and Tasmania also eludes me. However you will VB throughout the land. If you want a proper bitter, I remember drinking a Tooeys (sp?) Old which was pretty good but they are more specialist. Otherwise their Botters are more of a lager beer/ale than bitter Canna remember where Fosters fits in but think that this is NSW/Vict

Where is the Singha that you are drinking brewed. If it is made under licence then this might explain why you find it so nasty. I have never come across a beer made under licence (ie it is not made in the country where the original brewery is) that tastes anything like the "original".

Are you sure that most Australian wines have added sugar? I am more than happy to be proven wrong but I think that the opposite is true as they have high natural sugar levels. Whilst the Old World chaptilizes to balance the acidity, the New World adds acid to balance the sugar.

I go along with Craig and find that the level of sugar that the wine has does not fit in with the rest of the package and is extremely disjointed. Of course this is dependent on the amount of sugar that has been added. I like to think that I can pick out a chaptilized wine but.............. I can't recall the law, but when I was in Bordeuax during 1991-1993, we chaptilized every vintage to add about 0.75-1% alcohol. As an aside to Craig's comments about tampering with the acid, I know of a vineyard that put too much ascorbic acid in the wines. To start off with there were no problems but a few years down the line they seemed to age unnaturally quickly and deepened to a very deep golden/yellow colour earlier than they should have.

Sweet Willie - I am confused. The XXXX Bitter from Australia, was this Castlemaine? If so then this is not the best beer in the world, nor in OZ and the Aussies don't drink it - they prefer Victoria Bitter. Bitter in Oz is very different from bitter in London. What is called Victoria Bitter in Oz is usually called Victoria Beer in England as they couldn't get away with calling it Bitter. If it is Castlemaine XXXX that you are after, send me a PM and I might be able to help you out.

I have come across a few but many seem to have escaped my mind: Prices are rough USD converted from UK and including UK taxes Ch. Rocher Cap de Merle (Bordeaux Superieur) ($9.50) Ch. Lestagne (Medoc) ($9.50) Ch. Bonnet (Bordeaux) ($10) Ch. Rocher Corbin (Montagne St. Emilion) ($14.50) Ch. Baron de Milon (Pauillac) ($19) made at Duhart Milon Ch. d'Archembeau (Graves) ($12) Ch. Villa Bel Air (Graves) ($9) These are but a few. Of them I think the wines that most pleased me were the Rocher Cap de Merle and Rocher Corbin (which are made at the same property). Previously I had always presumed that Montagne St. Emilion made quite bad wines but boy were my eyes opened by these two. I bought some for the business and they were generally well received. Unfortunately in recent vintages the price has been increased too much!

Jason, Nicely put I am not sure that many "label drinkers" would quite go as far as commercial swill. Also agree that you are probably better putting the money into Bollinger vintage. My personal favourite along these lines is Billecart Salmon 1989. Also I would seriously consider getting a good NV and keeping it for 7-10 years (and remember to keep buying to replace the stock you drink).

depends what you want from your beer. If you want something that is fizzy with no taste stick to Bud USA. If you want a premium quality pilsner that has great taste then stick to Budvar.

Out of interest (and I should possibly know) why is rum generally stronger than whisky (Scotch). the strongest cask strength whiskies that I have come across have never been in the 70% range when a lot of rums are more than this. Is it that rum starts from a higher strength? Also with the angels share being so much higher with rum I presume that it looses strength much quicker than whisky.