I thought you might be stuck for things to do over the summer holidays.
So I have been feverishly scouring the interweb to ferret out some things that I found interesting for you to pass some time with.
Well, not feverishly, exactly – a glass of whisky, a keyboard and a mouse and following links to see what entertainment they led me to.
And not just me, either, really. Some good friends helped out by sending great links they had discovered. I am grateful! And please keep sending them.
One interesting by-product of the internet is that you can search for something worthwhile – and seven hours later you’re watching videos of owls riding unicycles.
I don’t think you’ll find a lot of owl videos here unless you really get off-track, but who knows (pun intended).
So, in no particular order, here some interesting internet places that I hope you will enjoy going to.
Whisky Panorama
Sent to me by Martyn is the brilliant Whisky Panorama: 1,200 magnificent bottles of whisky in one photo.
Zoom in on any particular bottle/ Then click on the “Show more Info, notes and Whiskybase” at the bottom of the screen – you will get taken to all the details about that bottle. Including tasting notes.
An outstanding piece of work by Stefan Maier!
Richard Mayston photography
Richard really does take magnificent photos. I had a wander through his beautiful Great Barrier Island album just now, recognising some of the shot venues from a recent holiday my wife and I took there while the world wasn’t shut.
With his permission, of course. I have fairly shamelessly borrowed from Richard’s work previously.
A great highlight of looking through the albums is Richard’s photography from various whisky events. He has covered Best of the Bests, Dramfests and other tastings. It is great to look back over the years, remembering the events and looking at all the smiley people.
However, it does feel a little bit voyeuristic trawling through other people’s (sometimes personal) photo albums. That is especially so when they are not looking over my shoulder providing guidance. I guess that if the photographer puts pretty much all their output on Flikr where it is readily available to be looked at ….
Otherwordly
And talking about photography, Michael sent me this literally Otherworldy link.
Gorgeous photos here, and there are more if you click on the links below the last photo.
It does sort of beg the question, though, that if the bottom of the whisky glass looks like this what does your stomach look like? Maybe better not to go into that.
Westermeath
Westermeath is an Irish blog site I find absolutely fascinating.
Run by Whiskey Nut (complete with a Nut graphic) the site is – from their own description – “A hopefully humorous, informative and enjoyable blog from, but not necessarily about Westmeath.
“Usually themed around whiskey, although other beverages may feature.”
There is a veritable plethora of stuff on the site. It starts with beer and goes from there. And where it goes is a simply massive rabbit hole of whiskies and whisk(e)y tastings from all around the globe.
It is a huge site, with a huge amount of well-presented information about pretty much any dram you could imagine (I even found a note on the Icelandic Floki whisky – that was a scary discovery!
Enjoy yourselves. Please stay safe during the break. Have a good Christmas and a very Happy New Year, and I will look forward to seeing you all again in 2022.
Slainte.
John