Scotch! Celebration

Ok, I lied. I will mention the cleanse one more time: THE celebration of finishing it.

NYC has a gem of a lounge tucked down in the bowels of Tribeca and just catty corner to the Ghosterbusters firehouse.

"There is something strange..."

 This lounge is called The Brandy Library. It is THE go-to place for spirits. These people ARE the encyclopedia of spirits. You wanna try good spirits? THIS is the place to go! The History Channel came here for info on the history of Whiskey. Nuff said?

My running buddy, Belden, and I tried a flite of smoky Scotch, mostly from Islay. Of the 6 that we tasted, 4 stood out, especially 2 of those.

Longrow 10 - smooth smooth smooth. If I had an extra $100, I would pony up and try the 18 year old.

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Laphroaig 18 - DAMN! That is all I can say about it. I bought a bottle the next day....

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Ardbeg Uigeadail - Sometimes in life, you want to try something just before you expire, else everything after will be nothing but a letdown. THIS Scotch goes into that category. Apparently the Ardbeg 10 is just as good...if not better....we would take a sip, sit back and just let it do its magic for a solid two minutes. No, you aren't paying top dollar for a few ounces of liquid. You are paying top dollar for the liquid and the experience that follows....

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Lagavulin 16 - it was a mystery Scotch. They didn't tell us what it was till afterwards. Its good, but should not have been tasted after the Ardbeg. Remember being letdown? Yeah, the Ardbeg basically made anything taste as bland as water...

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Then we had some eclairs paired with some brandy, Marie Duffau Hor's D'Age. This brandy by itself I am sure is wonderful. But that Ardbeg just kills anything you try after it. You couldn't follow up Sinatra on stage could you? You can't follow up Ardbeg.

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Last, we were treated to a sample of some Mezcal. Mezcal is the family that Tequila belongs to, just like Cognac belongs to the Brandy family. All Cognacs are Brandys, but not all Brandys are Cognacs. Same thing with Tequila and Mezcal. All Tequilas are Mezcals, but not all Mezcals are Tequilas. So the Mezcal we were treated to, no joke, had they told us it was a smoky Scotch, we would have believed him. This Mezcal tasted JUST like a Scotch! It is smoked Agave heart, smoked in a brick oven before being fermented and distilled.

If you ever find Los Danzantes Mezcal on the shelf, BUY IT!

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I think I mentioned this in a previous post, but with Triathlon you kinda limit yourself with certain foods since being lean only helps on the bike and especially on the run. But you know what? Sometimes you just have to enjoy the greater things in life and not miss out on opportunities to sample some of the finest liquors in the world!

So TAKE THAT cleanse! haha!