Alright, you patient and faithful motherfuckers. I’m back. Apologies for the long absence and the sporadic postings up ’til then. I landed back home a week ago today. It’s been an awful lot of recovering and quality time with the family ever since. The recovering was not of the post-hangover sort, but of the…errrr…’immediate repairs required’ kind. While away I caught a hell of a cold, sprained a wrist, broke my phone, lost some luggage, broke up a heavyweight dual and solved world hunger. Well…all but the last one, anyway.
I’ll be diving in headlong in the coming days. Starting almost immediately after I hit ‘publish’ on this post.
And, yeah…I think it was Skeptic who called it correctly. My hopes were not for nil. That little surprise I was hoping for did indeed come to fruition. A mate of mine from around the globe managed to extricate himself from all pressures domestic and work-related in order to join us for the middle leg of our journey. Tabarek, who many of you may know as the Malt Activist, met us on Islay and ran headlong into some unforgettable experiences with us. We’ll be doing some shared blogging and such in the very near future. Including notes on one surreal dramming experience. This guy truly is the yin to my yang.
More to come, friends. Thanks for sticking ’round.
– Curt
All Things Whisky 
So glad I made it bro. Absolutely awesome!
Curt, I was sure your big surprise was going to be that you are the new Ardbeg brand ambassador for western Canada. I guess this means you can’t get me a deal on the 21, eh?.:-)
Sorry to disappoint, buddy. 😉
So having not yet seen a comment on it, I need to ask if you’re willing to answer the following:
What did you bring back as your duty free allotment? I may well find myself in Scotland next summer and I’ve already told the wife she’s bringing nothing home in terms of alcohol, I simply will not bypass the opportunity and she’s been accommodating. But did you bring back your allowable amount or perhaps more? I know in my case with her allowance I could bring back three 750 mL bottles under the limit (even more easily as I assume everything in Scotland is in the 700 mL size) but I’d have to think I’d be inclined to bring back 6 bottles at a minimum and everything not available here in North America. So, what were the goodies?
“Duty free allotment” assumes that I wasn’t willing to bring back much more, and simply pay the duty. 😉
Well…I brought back about 10 bottles in my bags. But had a couple others bring some back as well. Having said that…nine of them were for a club event we held about a week ago. But all told…
Ardbeg Dark Cove Committee Release x2
Bowmore Hand-filled Cask #457 (from the vaults)
Port Charlotte Valinch 12 y.o. (hand filled) x3
Lagavulin Jazz Festival Release x2
Caol Ila Feis Ile 12 y.o. x2
Laphroaig 10 y.o. Cask Strength x2
Kilchoman 5 y.o. Sauternes Cask
Bunnahabhain Eirigh Na Greine
Laphroaig 250ml Bottle-Your-Own
…and a couple minis and a hand full of samples.
…. And thus we live vicariously through you…. Though I shudder to think of the duty you had to pay…
Is it reasonable to hope for some reviews of the above in the coming weeks?
I spoke with a friend who went to a whisky summit in the US, brought back 8 bottles, declared each and every one of them and was waved right through to his connecting flight….
Curt, I really hope that’s what happened to you…
Thanks for the reply. Naturally you’d pay the duty if need be, as would I given the opportunity.
Nice selection.