Scotland's bard turns 258 on Wednesday

Raise a toast with the 'swift and fiery spirit'

Cutting peat, as I discovered on Islay last summer, is no easy thing. A professional peat cutter makes it look simple, trimming away the sedge covering the peat moor before neatly slicing into exposed bank; the peat falls away in tidy rectangular blocks that look for all the world like slabs of gooey, glistening chocolate cake. Only when it has been thoroughly dried is it burned in distillery kilns as fuel to heat and dry malt, incidentally imparting the love-it-or-hate-it smoky flavour to those whiskies made this way. My own efforts at peat cutting were, shall we say, less impressive. It comes as a surprise to learn that in this day and age there are still professional peat cutters (even if it is only a half-year occupation) and that they still employ tools that haven't essentially changed in 500 years.

There is still a lot of artisanship in the world of whisky. True, some distilleries do now operate on an industrial scale, but many remain small-scale and little-known. At Uncorked, we're often asked (tentatively, nervously) whether it's only wine, or do we also have spirits? We do indeed, and top of the lot is our expansive range of single cask whiskies. We favour single cask bottlings for their individuality. It's not just that they are often from out-of-the-way distilleries. Each cask will have its own character, unique, never quite to be repeated. Most casks only produce between 200-600 bottles, so these are fleeting things. And single cask also means cask strength, i.e. undiluted, so at up to 60% alcohol these bottlings demand you add some water. Don't be scared of the water; add it little by little and watch new flavours emerge every time.

With Burn's Night this Wednesday, you may (or may not) choose to eat haggis, dance reels, and make an address to the laddies, or reply to the lasses; but should you plan to raise a dram (as you most certainly should), then whether you like your whisky peated or sweet, rich or fresh, drop in to Uncorked where we'll be very happy to talk you through the options. /NT