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Ardbeggeddon IV - Saturday January 11, 2003

I woke late Saturday morning in a little less than "optimal" condition.  Obviously didn't calibrate the proper water/B-1 dosage the day before - sloppy sloppy sloppy.  We ate breakfast at the Palm's buffet and were back up to speed by noon.   

We have to do at least ONE non-whisky thing while in Vegas each year...  this usually involves gambling, sometimes simply cruising the casinos people watching.  Another longstanding fantasy is to visit the intown firing range where they rent you fully automatic weapons...  maybe next year.  Las Vegas is truly the place for indulging in excess - PLOWED's long lost homeland for sure!

We actually got outside away from Vegas this year and enjoyed a bit of sunshine and engineering voyeurism.  Peter and Todd called wondering if we were interested in viewing Hoover Dam and both Dave and I immediately agreed.  Uncharacteristically we headed out for the afternoon without a skalk or drams...   both Peter and Todd were shocked and asssumed we'd be "carrying".   Always have to keep folks on their toes.  

It was a terrific day and great to get out away from Vegas for the afternoon.  The only problems was when we "lost" Slur Dave for awhile when he shifted his focus and wandered down across the dam  to Arizona following a very attractive woman in red.  We were ready to go to the lost child booth to send out an alert when he realized we were nowhere in sight and worked his way back to Nevada to find us.  We threatened to put him on a leash the next time...  we were disappointed that he didn't even get any photos. 

Hoover Dam Photos - a non-whisky aside 

Dramming on Day 2

We got back to the Palms around 5:30 and convened in Uisgetom and Port Alan's room.  It was WAY past time for our first dram and I kicked off A4 Day 2 with:

1. Ardbeg 29 yo 1973 51.4% Douglas and Laing Old and Rare Platinum - Huge, monster dram!  Great way to start off the day...  time to check out the Ardbegs and Broras thoroughly!  

2. Ardbeg 2002 Committee Reserve 55.x% - a vatting of many tasty casks without an age statement.  An amazingly balanced and complex dram...  wish Ardbeg could figure out how to ship to US Committee members!  (for another opinion, Mike C didn't like this dram at all, finding it skanky and rubbery...   go figure!  ;-)

3.  Brora 30 yo 3/72 - 4/02 46.6% OMC, another tremendous dram...  PLOWED ROCKS!

4. Brora 1977 24 yo 56.1% Rare Malts - Great as is and even better with a touch of water...  I like this one better than the Rare Malts 21 yo

5. Brora 29 yo 2/71 - 3/00 50% OMC - another winner, much better than the other 29 yo Brora I opened at Mike's first Whisky and Water tasting earlier this year.

6. Brora, The Bottlers (need bottling information)

7. Brora, 

Notable quotes from Day 2

"I have the feeling I could pound the s**t out of S'tan's drams all night long."  Uisgetom

"Don't bogart that vapor my friend" Bushido 
(I have no idea what this referred to as my explanatory notes are unreadable...  any clarification appreciated here...  this one has me intrigued...)

"If you're going to have safe sex, it might as well taste good!"
Port Alan discussing the whisky-flavored condoms we found all over Scotland on our 2002 tour.  We of course could not let this pass and asked him to describe the taste.  A similar riff as when one of the (male) panelists at Ulf's Mega-Macallan Tasting in London described one of the drams as tasting of testosterone.

Photos from Day 2

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Last update on 1/17/03