Moving Too Quickly

Haste makes waste.

How many times did I hear that growing up? As an impulsive and quick-minded person I tend to do things on a moment's notice, especially during the frantic work day here at K&L. That's part of the reason I love doing this job and look forward to doing it each morning. However, no matter how comfortable and confident I have become while doing it, I still make mistakes that could have been caught had I taken a bit more care.

Like when I wrote up the new Mackinlay's Rare Whisky two days ago. I was under the impression that the whisky was a blend, meaning that it used both grain and single malt whisky like Johnnie Walker or Chivas. I kept comparing it to these blended whiskies, therefore, and focusing on how much better it was as a result.

Whoops. It's not a blend. I realized this when one of my customers emailed to ask me which distillery the grain component was from. I was looking at the list of distilleries used in the blend (1980 Glen Mhor, Glenfarclas, Mannachmore, Tamnavulin, Ben Nevis, Aultmore, Fettercairn, Pulteney, heavily-peated Dalmore, and Jura aged in Limousin oak casks) and somehow convinced myself that Glen Mhor had made grain whisky in the past. It hadn't, however.

Then I finally read the small print on the outer packaging: blended single malt whisky.

Wow. It was right there in front of me.

Haste makes waste.

In good news, however, most of our customers are much more interested in single malt whisky than in blended Scotch, so this should make the new Mackinlay's a bit more attractive. I was actually enjoying the fact that it was a blend while sipping it a few nights ago. It was rather creamy and malty under all that smoke, however. Now it all makes sense.

-David Driscoll