Let's get scotchy!

On a cold first-snow-of-the-year November evening last year I met the most incredible guy. Mike. My guy. It was a first date. Our first date, and honest perfection. Always an awkward situation, or it used to be anyways...but this one came naturally. From that first hug it was like we'd been friends forever when we'd only just started talking three days earlier! We went for a walk through the Old Port of Montreal where the conversation came easy and the laughs came easier. Eventually both frozen and a little too shy to cuddle it out, we stepped into Coldroom, this tiny hiden treasure of a Speakeasy down an empty alleyway in the basement of an oldport building where you must ring the doorbell before being allowed in... oh and you have to enter through a walk-in fridge door...(later he told me that in that moment he thought he'd been lured into his death by the cutest little psycho he'd ever seen!)

Anyways once in, the smell of this place is beyond. Its warm, you can smell the zest and the bitters and the smokiness. The candlelit tables are cozy and welcoming. We sat down and ordered some drinks and then we began talking about scotch, a combined passion of ours. I've always been facinated by it, by the different casks and origins and the way ageing smoothes the flavors. The different ingredients that change the flavors often very subtly and other times completely drastically. Some smoothe, some smoky, some sweet, each of them very different in their own perfect way. The process is facinating and the outcome is delicious and complex. The conversation just flowed that night until way too late for either of us seeing as we both had to work early the next morning but it didn't even matter, we were hooked, falling hard. We've been sharing and exploring scotch together since, and I definitely plan on including this delicious beverage as a regular posting on this site and will accept any suggestions so please send them along!

Which is why this bottle came at the perfect time! Last week we had some friends over for a bbq ribs dinner (recipe to come and....attach ta tuque! as we say here in Quebec because they are divine!) and they surprised us with this bottle of 12 year Double Cask Macallan. I've always been a fan of how smoothe the Macallan tends to be especially after the fun that was had at the 2017 WRG classic, a fun little outdoor hockey tournament where everyone dresses in gentleman fashion and sips scotch on the sidelines of the snowy rink with a side of oysters (Welcome to Canada!) but boy oh boy and a bottle of scotch, this one is freaking ridiculous! We sat around the table and toasted to the summer, and new cars and past and upcoming vacations with this scotch and made for a perfect mid summer evening. So smoothe with light cinnamon pastry finish. The dessert lover in me is in love. It's warm and just sweet enough with a nice kick. Not too smoky which is generally Mike's go to, but on my end I like it smoothe. I want this scotch every day for the rest of my life, well maybe not every day but I definitely see myself old and hopefully not too wrinkly sitting on our porch swing in our country home sipping away at the 12 year double cask Macallan with my guy at my side and my dog at my feet, if that's my future then the future is looking bright! So thank you to our dear friends Alex and Tom for this beautiful present, and cheers to more evenings laughing away with wonderful people with the most delicious food and drinks because that's what it's all about in the end!

Stay sweet!