Dubber and Clutch

We had an amazing dinner at Antlers Restaurant with Cara Laing (brand manager for Jura), Distillery manager Willie Cochrane and his wife Rose, Head Brewer Billy and his wife Dorothy. We ate Jura venison, roasted salmon, haddock pate, black pudding and goats cheese, homemade lemon icecream and cheesecake – followed by an entire bottle of Jura 16 year-old between us.

Cara kindly stayed up to entertain us with stories and explanations while we made notes on the elements whiskies - and she predicted, entirely correctly, that our favourite would be the Earth one. It's awesome.

Here's what we thought:

WATER ABV49 – Bourbon cask
Nose: salt, seaweed, blackberry, white pepper, apricot, heathery honey
Taste: Tabasco, leather, raspberry, grapefruit,
Finish: old-fashioned boiled sweets, pencil shavings,

AIR ABV46 – Manzanilla
Nose: Fudge, vanilla, tablet, piranha pine, hay, old straw
Taste: Brazil nuts, fish oil, chipotle, balsa wood, raw mushroom
Finish: salt, rope, rescue remedy, orange peel, bicarbonate of soda

FIRE ABV46 – Bourbon cask
Nose: Highland toffee, creme caramel, tulips
Taste: Orange, dried peel, allspice, cloves
Finish: cocoa, smoke, brown rice, melon

EARTH ABV46 – heavily peated
Nose: Truck tyres, burnt rubber, cloves, walnut, leather, mahogany, pitch, rosin
Taste: peat, smoke, salt, ash, tea chests, ginger, licorice, seven kinds of awesome
Finish: woodsmoke, toast, lemon, star anise

It’s one in the morning – and we’re done working, so we’re off to the ceilidh.