I'm drinking one of my own blended malts, which is put together from a base of Caol Ila 12 and Talisker 10 plus a little Lagavulin 16 (a bit Johnnie Walker inspired, I'll admit - and Talisker+Caol Ila is the base I use the most when blending), and then filled out, tempered and fruited up a bit with Glendronach Allardice 18, Dalwhinnie 15, Cragganmore 12, Auchentoshan 18, Springbank 10 and Glenmorangie The Original, with some additional spice and complexity (and, well, tar) coming from Ardbeg 10 and Bowmore 15. It's like a "tour of Scotland" with all districts represented, with a bit more punch/pepper/peat/spice and less honey and cinnamon than most blends of this type - definitely more Jim Beveridge (Johnnie Walker) than Colin Scott (Chivas Regal), you might say. I don't think I've perfected the ratios quite yet, and that's tricky, because every time you add something you also subtract something (and that part would of course also have been easier with fewer ingredients, but hey, I'm ambitious heh). But the blend is already highly enjoyable, especially on the nose, and I think I'll get to where I'm aiming for with the ingredients I'm using now.
I'm also toying around with another couple of blends at the moment. One is a high end blend for mixing with coke (dedicated to my training buddy Andy who drinks whisky like a girl but enjoys a touch of class), and although I don't really drink whisky and coke anymore myself, I was surprised how well this one worked out. It has a lot of the aforementioned Glendronach, which makes the drink slightly reminiscent of the cherry coke I loved back in the 80s - but it's a whole lot "classier" IMHO. The other blend is kind of a "tour of the world" using whisky from a bunch of different countries, from American to Japanese, but with a fairly firm base of Scotch. That one needs a lot more work, and I currently don't even have all the whiskies I'm thinking about using for it, but so far it's a pretty "easy to drink," pleasant little blend. My plan is to finish it before the end of July so I can present it as a birthday gift to a good friend of mine who loves both travel and whisky - the "tour of the world" seemed like a good theme for a gift.
As I don't own a distillery, this is the best I can do as far as making my own whisky goes. And whisky blending is a really fun hobby, I honestly don't know why more people don't do it. Whisky enthusiasts tend to shit on blends, of course, but I think a lot of people would be surprised by the quality of a well put together home made blend - one that is not made to maximize profit, like the vast majority of blends on the market these days. And making something yourself can be really fulfilling, of course. It's also trickier to do well than it might seem at first, but that only makes it even more satisfying when you end up with something that is really good. And only rarely will you completely mess something up to the point of having to throw it down the toilet. I've never had to do that, instead I've just diluted it something else.
Aaaaanyway, as for tonights food and drinks I'm also having pizza. And chocolate. And coffee, obviously, because I'm in fucking Europe, where the main card starts at 4 AM.
