Brandy

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Hard to find any thread to which the fount of all knowledge doesn’t contribute. Brandy? only one, Remy.

Regards  Ian.

[Frank GorseParticipant @frankgorse]

The history of the ‘waters of life’ is as convoluted as everything else in those parts. I thought I’d read that one of the Irish brands omitted the ‘e’ and assumed it was one of the Northern ones whose makers had made the short crossing from Scotland,but no,they all stick to the Irish spelling.

However,turns out that ‘Paddy’,distilled in Cork and favoured tipple of my wife’s late uncle,only adopted the Irish convention sometime in the 1960’s,no idea why.

[duncan webster 1]

On duncan webster 1 Said:

Penderyn distilled in Wales is advertised as Whiskey

The English Distillery based in Norfolk advertises Whisky

Suntory Whisky is distilled in Japan

Indri Single Malt Whisky is distilled in India

all available on sale in UK. I think the only protected bit is the word ‘Scotch’

Irish and American Whiskey seems to consistently have the ‘e’

That seems to be broadly correct, barring the first line; from what I’ve read previously, the inclusion of the “e” relates to the original translation from Scottish or Irish Gaelic.
Whisky or whiskey?  just one of several similar websites
A handy guide to understanding the difference between whisky and whiskey

Re “Scotch Whisky”, that’s covered by specific legislation
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/2890/regulation/3

Bill

 

[Frank Gorse]

On Frank Gorse Said:

The history of the ‘waters of life’ is as convoluted as everything else in those parts. I thought I’d read that one of the Irish brands omitted the ‘e’ and assumed it was one of the Northern ones whose makers had made the short crossing from Scotland,but no,they all stick to the Irish spelling.

However,turns out that ‘Paddy’,distilled in Cork and favoured tipple of my wife’s late uncle,only adopted the Irish convention sometime in the 1960’s,no idea why.

McConnells distillery in Belfast use the Whisky spelling.

Interesting , as we started with Brandy, that the Brandy distillate is called ‘eau de vie’ which is the French for’ Uisce Beatha’, i.e. Whiskey

[Circlip]

On Circlip Said:

Hard to find any thread to which the fount of all knowledge doesn’t contribute. Brandy? only one, Remy.

Regards  Ian.

Perhaps things would be better-balanced if you contributed something other than gratuitous insults.

MichaelG.

[VicParticipant @vic]

I love a bargain. They have Metaxa on special offer at Amazon, 30% off so I bought a bottle. Something seemed a bit off when it arrived today, I even had to check the label. They sent me a 1 Litre bottle for the price of a 70cl.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I’ve just ploughed, well, skimmed, through that EU Regulation to which Michael refers us to, a little while back.

You might well wonder how “Thery” manage it… As far as I can tell from experience elsewhere the Commission relies on international committees whose delegates are only cited by their country name. I reckon they enjoyed that one, much more fun than the Minutes I have seen, of a similar effort all about fork-lift truck safety! (Well, we don’t want accidents in transporting precious cargoes of Brandy or Whisky.)

No doubt they went off afterwards to sample some of the beverages the Regulation exists actually to protect in quality and reputation.

Beyond all the pages of legalese by lawyers for lawyers (yes, the Pressure Equipment Regulations 2000 or whenever it was, is in the same vein complete with a helpful remark that ” and [the equipment] is in fact safe.”), is a long Appendix describing all the traditional spirits produced around Europe.

I never knew there were so many, and just what variety of fruits and other plant parts are used! Far beyond grapes, cereals, potatoes, sugar or honey.

I learnt something new about Single Malt Whisky or Whiskey (the lawyers carefully give both spellings): that it is legally defined as from a single distillery. I’d always thought it meant by a single recipe from a single, or homogenous, crop – not necessarily in the same building.

 

A common thread is that the flavour of a spirit must have a hint of the original plant(s); and sweetening must be by natural sugar and limited to “rounding off” the taste. Similarly with caramel (roasted sugar) used only as a colouring.

 

One can imagine all those Commissioners, legal draughtspeople and technical advisors ending their meetings on Spirits by heading straight for the bar to sample some of the delights they’d been discussing in a spirit of well-matured harmony!

 

Cheers!

[Lee RogersParticipant @leerogers95060]

Metaxa , my word that takes me back to my first job in the restaurant trade 50 years ago. I told my incorrigible boss that at 16 yrs of age I wasn’t supposed to be working behind a bar at 3am on a Sunday morning. ”It’s OK in Cyprus Lee ( we were 15 miles North of London) anyway it’s fun isn’t it”? It was fun and the night people were 1st division footballers , senior policemen, car dealers, others  and a lot of nice ladies and they were all interesting and unusual to me . As for the Metaxa I learned years later that if that’s your taste then Armagnac is what you are looking for.

[vintagengineerParticipant @vintagengineer]

If you live in Scotland it is cheaper to alcohol from Amazon than the shops.

[Author]

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