30Sep

The Purrtraitist

Larry Johnson – renowned photographer, specialising in feline portraiture. That’s right, and here he is taking pictures of show cats. Much better than your Instagram feed.

20Sep

Latest Whisky Reviews

Dalmore constellation

You know the score. I blog way more – and put way more digital effort – into my whisky site these days. So here’s what I’ve been up to on there.

Firstly, I was invited to an exclusive tasting of two whiskies from The Dalmore Constellation series a little while ago. One whisky is being sold at £550 a glass, and the other – if it was on sale (it isn’t yet) – cost £22,000 a bottle. I also got to meet the guy who made them.

I wrote a piece on whisky flavour wheels. If you’re new to whisky and want to get into it more, you’ll hopefully find it interesting. One of my favourite distilleries, Bruichladdich, sent me three whiskies to enjoy as part of an online tasting. They were brilliant and all very different. And finally, a little distillery from Campbeltown made one of the best whiskies of the year, in my opinion. Just great-value old-fashioned stuff.

Incidentally, if you’re only casually into whisky and sometimes pop by that site, then let me know what you think of it. I’m aware that whisky can be a complex subject, and that not everyone who reads it is a whisky nerd, so I’m keen to improve the quality of the posts.

3Sep

Forgotten French Ghost Signs

Faded french sign
There’s a Tumblr and Instagram account called Pixdar photographies, which is dedicated to forgotten french signs, faded shop fronts and old-fashioned typography. It’s rather nice to see this stuff still around. In the UK it tends to be more northern towns where you see a few of the ghost signs, where hasty development hasn’t erased them entirely.

12Aug

Latest Whisky Reviews

Dalmore bottle

My whisky site is still where I do most of my blogging now, and I spend a lot of time in that online community. I get samples sent quite frequently, and I find that world still very interesting to explore. Recently I’ve tried some very good things. First up is a 24 year old Dalmore from an independent bottler. This Macallan travel retail release is nice too, and worth picking up.

The Glenrothes Vintage Reserve isn’t that good, but this new blend from Suntory is really tasty and at the cheaper end of modern whisky releases.

2Aug

The Chase

There’s always something very primal about the weather. Especially extremes of weather. It’s one of those rare moments the environment invades your life and makes you realise you’re part of other systems, which aren’t artificial. Just for a moment. I think, watching videos like this, it also reminds me of being young again, when I would constantly mesmerised by storm footage. I even liked that ridiculous Twister film at the time.