Episode 15 - A special occasion. Tasting the Balvenie PortWood 21 Year Single Malt Scotch

Hello everyone,

There's one thing that none of us can stop, and that is getting older.  This year, Lance turned 50 - much to his chagrin.  And while he is now officially classified as an "old fart", one great benefit is that he did get some particularly GREAT gifts for his birthday and one of the standouts was a 21 year old single malt from Scotland - the Balvenie Portwood.

To say that tasting this bottle of scotch is a treat is an understatement.  It is incredibly well balanced, almost delicate believe it or not.  The port finishing gives it a slight sweetness, like from a raisin and the finish lingers an amazingly long time.  It's just an amazing bottle of scotch!

Since this was a special gift to Lance for his birthday from Jeff, we could not really discuss pricing in the review but suffice to say, this is a special review for us as this scotch is way outside the lines that we've setup for this blog.  It's not cheap.  At all.  But with that said, it does deliver an exceptional value and from that perspective, it succeeds mightily.  You pay more, but you certainly get more - and as long as that is true, that's just fine with us.

We hope you are lucky enough to be able to get your hands on a dram of Balvenie Portwood 17 or 21 at some point in your life.  Life is short and unpredictable, but we can each count our lucky stars if we get the chance to be able to stop and savor something that took nearly half of our lifetime to create.

We wish you success, happiness and a great dram as you move through each chapter of your life.  Slainte!!

Lance & Jeff

Our video review of the Balvenie PortWood 21 from Jeff's back porch on a warm summer evening  - accompanied by a fine cigar.  Does it get any better?   :)

Episode 14 - Trader Joe's to the rescue?

Hello again everyone,

Over the last several years, the Trader Joe's grocery store chain has expanded significantly across the United States and they've developed a devout following (yours truly included).  Based on the idea of finding great deals, a fixed operating margin (never any "sales") and great customer service, they have gained a reputation as a great place to find new and unusual foods, off-brand bargains and a very long list of products featuring their own in-house brand.

This pattern of Trader Joe's products goes way back to when Joe C would go out to producers of wine, cheese and other products and offer to buy up the full remaining lots of those products - if they were of good quality - under the TJ's label.

While this started out with wine, it soon moved over to other forms of alcohol.  In many states, you can now buy a variety of alcoholic beverages under the TJ's name - usually at bargain basement prices. Sometimes, you do get what you pay for and other times, you can get a great bargain and with this in mind, we decided to taste test the Trader Joe's Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey.

This is a very young whiskey that the Trader Joe's website describes as... "Produced for us in Bardstown, Kentucky (in Nelson County), our Bourbon is sweet, fruity and spicy with hints of brown sugar and oak—it is aged for a minimum of two years in new (charred) white oak barrels. Its finish is long, appreciably spicy and dry, with accents of vanilla that linger on your tongue. "

For $14.99 (ok, it is $15.99 here in Massachusetts) how can you go wrong?   Watch the short video review below to see what we thought of this bargain priced bourbon.  And as always, enjoy in good health!

Lance & Jeff