Just after Easter the menu arrived for my annual Whisky Dinner at The Port Charlotte Hotel on Islay during the Whisky Festival there at end of May. Another belter of a menu from chef, Ranga. I took it away with on holiday earlier this month to see if I could work out some of the whisky/food pairings I want to make. A start made but not too much further forward! Fortunately I am over there end of this month so hope to get time to finalise some matches.

Like me have you ever wondered how or why your whisky smells & tastes like sweet apples, fresh cut grass or smelly old rubber tyres!? How can this be given that it is made up of only three ingredients water, barley and yeast? Remember also that the addition of artificial flavour enhancers is strictly forbidden so where do all the flavours come from? The simple (or not so simple) answer is plain old chemistry!

It’s the season where “a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love”, or so the poet (Tennyson) told us. Well, some of us turn to thoughts of whiskies we might drink in these months where the light gets longer and the days a bit warmer, we hope.