Mudazukai

Posted on 2006/07/26 15:22:32 (July 2006).

[Tuesday 25th July]
So I decided after work I would pop over to Ikebukuro for the usual dinner at Rohlan / drinks at Quercus ritual. Despite the 25th being payday for many companies in Japan, I was surprised to find it was very quiet in Quercus - at one point I had the place all to myself (with the exception of course of Watanabe-san and his right hand man, Ohno-san). For a while I was kept company by a guy working for one of the big drinks importing companies - and he was very pleased when I, quite coincidentally, ordered whiskies from his portfolio. I say coincidence as Glenkinchie was an unusual choice for me, but I fancied something refreshing, and recall this having some really sharp citrusy notes on occasion.

Oh and I learnt a new word from Watanbe-san - Mudazukai - it means extravagant. At one point I was offered a choice of three Lagavulins - A, B or C; with C being "keiko takai" (quite expensive). To which I naturally replied "I'll have C then". Thus the new word came out. I haven't seen a whole lot of independent bottlings of Lagavulin, so this was very interesting - I think it was made specially for a German whisky fair, and didn't have the usual sherry you get to smooth out the Lagavulin, instead it was raw and rather frisky. Lots of peat, but without being too smokey - more like the Caol Ila house style in my opinion. Watanabe-san seems to have an amazing talent for getting hold of these unusual European bottlings - and somebody in Germany obviously has tastes very similar to mine!

Later on I was joined by Chie for a change - my trips to the whisky mecca are usually somewhat solitary expeditions. She arrived later than me as she'd spent a fair while at the travel agents. She has planned us a trip away for this coming weekend - we're off to Nagano (where the Winter Olympics was once held) to escpae the heat and hubbub of big city life in Tokyo. So that ought to be nice.

John is Glenkinchie the one that we had that night? It was lemony if I recall but I think it might have been a different brand...

Posted by Lox at 2006/07/26 17:27:27.

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