This weekend I went to visit my dad’s holiday cottage in Zeeland for the first time and of course, I had to bring some whisky with me to enjoy. Apart from that other booze related stuff happened too. So, a bit of a general post today.

SMWS Bottle-Share:
When driving to Vlissingen, we have to go past Roosendaal and in Roosendaal the tasting room and Dutch headquarters of the SMWS is located. This meant that it would be very practical to pick up the bottles for the Bottle-Share and so I did. I also tasted two of their newest drams. “The Saloon of a Classic Yacht” is reminiscent of old Macallans on the nose, but a lot drier on the palate. A very good dram, but unfortunately not in the Bottle-Share. The “Every Flavour Beans” is in, and that is one damn fine whisky. I had the taste in my mouth for a few hours, so that was great! Thanks Leon!

The Bottle Finishing Project:
This is what I’ve called it. I’m trying to finish quite a few bottles that have been sitting open for a long time with a little bit of whisky in it. Still have about twenty left overs to go, but this weekend kicked out the Longrow CV and the Glenfarclas 25. I’ll probably finish a couple more this week. Apart from that I managed to finish about 20 samples this weekend (not on my own, of course) which cleans up my sample shelf nicely.

Beer:
Unfortunately, although we almost drove past it, I didn’t visit the Emelisse brewery in Kamperland, but that is on the role for next visit to the cottage. I did visit the shop of Café De Mug in Middelburg and bought some craft beers. They’ll show up on Untappd some time this month. I picked up a few Gueuzes, since I’m trying to ‘understand’ this style of beer a bit better.

Food:
We went for a massive lunch at De Kromme Watergang, one of the few restaurants in Holland with two Michelin stars and had an absolutely terrific afternoon. I asked for wine pairings with my food and the four wines poured were the first glasses of wine I had this year (how’s that for a change…). Highly recommended!

I’ll be posting about the Bottle-Share this afternoon, and will probably start filling the samples later this week. I’m also sending out some other samples I’ve traded and bottles I’ve sold so I’m keeping busy cleaning up my to-do list!