Back on the Road

It's that time of year again. Spring has sprung in California. The dreary depths of our winter hangover are lifting, the fog is clearing, and we're ready to get back down to business. On Monday night I'll be boarding a plane in San Francisco, while my partner Mr. Othenin-Girard settles down in his seat at LAX. We'll fly through the night, disembark in London, and head right to our first meeting with Compass Box before catching drinks with our friends at Berry Bros. that evening. The next day we'll fly up to Edinburgh and begin sampling casks for the next batch of K&L single barrel exclusives. We've got several dates in Scotland at all the old haunts, and we're really hoping to capitalize on the current momentum we have going with Sovereign, Signatory, Old Particular, and Hepburn's Choice. Of course, I'll be keeping you all up to speed live on this here blog.

We'll make the drive to Pitlochry, pull into the Edradour parking lot, say hello to our friend Des McCagherty, and undoubtedly begin the onslaught of a long, daunting, cask strength single malt tasting; much like we have in previous years. Hopefully there are more exciting finds to be found.

Then it's down to Bordeaux, where we'll meet up with Charles Neal and head to Cognac. We've got a few appointments right downtown, including a stop at Hennessy's 250th anniversary party, before we move further south down to Armagnac country. We'll be spending some extended time in Gascony before finally heading north to Calvados and back to Paris.

Two and a half weeks. Non-stop travel. Non-stop drinking. Non-stop eating. Non-stop photos. Non-stop blogging. Non-stop info.

Are you ready? I hope I am.

-David Driscoll