Wee Whisky Week 1

I have decided to begin a new series on Dr. Whisky.

I am doing this for a few reasons, least of all because I have a new baby girl and a new wee whisky cask BOTH maturing on site. But mostly because the Malt Mission is losing steam.

First of all, my full time job in whisky fully satiates my physical desire to drink the stuff and my intellectual desire to talk about the stuff, so this project no longer performs at least two of its inital purposes. Beyond that, I have very little time to nose and taste all the fine whiskies that come my way, let alone write original and interesting posts about them. Finally, we all know that this format has grown tired and terribly cliche. It seems every week I get an email from some instant expert asking me to share a link to his new whisky blog or scotch website where he tastes a new whisky each day, gives it a score based on some highly convoluted system, tells the story of the distillery, does away with the elitist mumbo jumbo so often associated with scotch whisky tasting notes providing the world with simple, clear tasting notes.

Friends, Please think of something new.


Now back to the topic at hand: new life! My amazing wife had a baby and my amazing friends ensured I could get new make and a cask to fill to commemorate the occasion. Huzzah!

Baby was 9 days overdue and doctors and parents-to-be decided to begin induction process to see if we could meet her while her grandparents-to-be were in town. Mommy worked so very hard to get baby out but baby was too big headed, literally, and eventually came into the world as an empress, April 6, 2010 6:23am, after 16 hours at the hospital and 12 solid hours of ouch (mainly for mommy, tho daddy did stub his toe on the end of a gurney at one point) at 8lb 13oz/4.015kg

Baby and mommy came home Friday April 9 in the afternoon and we could not have been happier. As if it wasn't a miracle enough that mommy and daddy could just do the same thing they regularly do but one time make a little clump of cells that miraculously turns into a seahorse, then into a shrimp, then into a baby baby and then an actual baby that comes OUT OF MOMMY, by just putting baby to mommy's chest, mommy's boobs began making milk. MILK! Yes, I tried, too. No luck. No milk. No whisky. No nothing.

It was so fabulous to be in our own home with our new wonder and the little angel blessed us bygiving us a first night that is a new parents fantasy: baby slept SIX HOURS!

We have all spent time crying, nursing, cuddling, comforting, and sleeping. Baby already had had two sets of visitors, 3 sets of family naps, and 6 sets of burp rags.

One gets asked a lot of questions around this time, and most of them have straightforward answers even if I have to google them before answering, however, "How does it feel to be a father?" has proven most complicated to answer accurately.

Do you remember when you were 10 years old and you got hit with the realisation that a woman (well, girl, actually) other than your mother fancied you, played kissing tag with you, or asked if you wanted to "go around"? Well mix that with the feeling of being given the keys to a part of the world that had been there forever but that you had not yet noticed nor had anyone else ever seen and you'd be close, yet not quite there.

Wee Whisky was used to make rye at the amazing Tuthilltown distillery (thanks for the vessel, Gable!) and then half filled with a mixture of Old Grandad and Old Weller 107 to maintain the benefits of three influences on the spirit I would eventually be putting in the cask. Tuesday night, the cask was disgorged and new make from two different Scottish single malt distilleries were filled into wee whisky.

Baby's first walk took place Sunday April 11, Baby's first doctor's appointment took place Monday April 12, Wee Whisky's first taste will come May 6, 2010. Until then, go start a blog about your bowel movements. Shit, even THAT is not original...