A Gift

Each time we chill out at the girlfriend's, she would sternly remind us not to bring any alcohol.

She had enough stock at home to open a cosy bar for a year probably, without needing to bring in supplies. Her dad would keep aside premium blended whisky and single malts just for us.

This round, her dad took us down to the cellar. He told us to take our pick of alcohol. We oohed politely at the bottles of red wine. But of course our line of sight zoomed straight to the single malts sitting quietly at the corner. The dad was really sweet and insisted on giving the man this special bottle.

Bottled independently by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, this 22y.o single cask No.105.11 almost blew us away. Wryly referred to as "Lip-burn on a race track", it was apt. Straight up, it was piercing. The man immediately identified it as a Speyside. Once distilled with a dash of water, the floral notes came through. My tastebuds couldn't take the cask strength of this one. I had to open it up with an ice cube. And I went into an orgasmic 'ahhhh'.