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Sunday, 28/Sep/2008
Islay Blogging Roundup #50
Sunday, the second of two ‘Islay series’ jubilees this week: On Friday I posted the 75th Friday Islay Picture, today I'm writing the 50th Islay Blogging Roundup. The first Islay Blogging Roundup was written just over a year ago, holidays and other breaks means it took me just over a year to reach the 50 despite writing a roundup almost every week. The Scottish Roundup which inspired me to do this reached their 100th roundup in August, so I still have some catching up to do. Better get going then, what have the blogs been writing about Islay and Jura this week?
Let me start with a picture at the Sensual Eye: Knotted. Not the usual Islay holiday picture, but then again that makes it stand out and interesting.
As mentioned on Friday and (in a way, there aren't that many just yet) illustrated with the geese picture autumn and the autumn migration is kicking in, what do the birding blogs have to report about it?
The Islay Birds blog reports the first returning Whitefronted Geese as well as a small group of Barnacle Geese. Not only are the geese arriving, the Red Deer stags are roaring.
John Armitage at the Islay Birder seems to have had computer problems but is now back, reporting of seawatching with Shearwater and Auks.
Jeremy Hastings of Islay Birding News writes about Whitefronts and Peregrine as well as Merlin and Cuckoo! More from him in Ron's Islay Nature Report 38 Autumn Colours.
I can at least partly agree with Ron when he writes Islay Home Baking is the Best, but then again I'm eating some wholemeal soda bread with hazel- and walnuts I only took out of the oven 30min ago. Delicious, so at least for me personally Islay home baking has some competition.
What would an Islay blogging roundup be without the various whisky blogs reviewing and writing about the famous Islay single malts? In particular some of the conversations in them:
John Hansell reviews the Bruichladdich “Sherry Editions”, which inspires an entry at the “Officially Unofficial” Bruichladdich Blog. This in turn brings scotchtalk to ask for thoughts about the influence of different sherry casks. Blogging conversations at its best.
The Coffein Cheater titles The isle of ISLAY.............. (yes, that many dots) when writing about various Islay whiskies. A French wine blog covers the Whisky Live Paris 2008 including some of the new Ardbeg bottlings. Another French blog has a picture of what I believe to be a fairly old Bruichladdich Islay 10 ans scotch whisky miniature (I think is from before it reopened). Epi-Q isn't entirely convinced by the Un-Islay Islay (otherwise known as Bunnahabhain), but luckily tastes differ. Fabius on Islay Single Malts at Kotare likes it quite a lot. It's spring now in Wellington (NZ), and Wellington's south coast reminds me a bit of the cliffs on The Oa (whisky recommendations in the comments ;-)).
I'm slightly confused by an entry DISTILLERY VISIT: BRUICHLADDICH DISTILLERY, ISLAY, SCOTLAND at AlcoholReviews.com: I only know Jim Murray as a whisky writer, not a master distiller. Could it be they meant Jim McEwan?
Apparently he has a whisky bar in Osaka according to the Bruichladdich Blog, who also report from wee Duncan Campbell's retirement.
From the drinks to the food again, egg but no bacon (I think mainly a food blog) went to Islay and Jura with mixed results.
I think that's about it, apart from a posting not about Islay: Wild camping & hiking in Scotland: Isle of Arran. But this is a blog to watch, as the next station on Adam's and his friends tour was Islay. Having seen some of his pictures I think we can expect something about wild camping on The Oa, among others.
And that's really it. I've already mentioned the Scottish Roundup, this week's entry is What a Bunch of Bankers! The music playing while completing the jubilee 50th roundup was a classic album by REM: Green. As this was a special edition I had two whiskies: Isle of Jura followed by a Laphroaig. With that I wish you a good night, more next week!
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