Chez John is now sold. We are looking for a smaller Chez, and hope to find one soon.

This sale took place in March, and we have been renting in the interim, and although ok, there is nothing quite like your own property.

This year I have already been in Austria, France twice, (probably more to come) the southern hemisphere, Germany and other places ddotted around the UK.

Keeping one’s brain fully occupied is extremely important to me, and no doubt many others out there. for me it is like “A Badge of Honour” when I remember stuff a learned about making Whisky almost 60 years ago. Some of what I remember would be reckoned to have originated in the days of Noah’s Ark I have no doubt about that. But what I find a bit puzzling is the inexorable move to blind us all with science in the art of whisky making, when in actual fact no rocket science is necessary, because it is a simple process going back such a long time. I would ask the question of anyone who can remember for example if the Laphroaig produced in the 1950’s, matured, then bottled in the 1970’s, was worse than the bottlings of today ? Granted, there is much more standardisation and sameness these days than there was at that time. That might be another description for blandness? Certainly production methods have changed (modernised if you like), and that has not always resulted in spirit improvement in my opinion.

End of Today’s Lesson !

John