Evanston: Duncan Taylor and Martin Eden
Evanston: Duncan Taylor and Martin Eden
In my ongoing public service as a Laphroaig taster, a new variation, “the rare Duncan Taylor 1997 Vintage 13 year old handpicked,” was brought to my attention in an email newsletter from Binny’s, the largest local booze chain. Further investigation revealed that Duncan Taylor is a firm that formerly sold casks to distilleries, but in recent years has bought spirits from distilleries which it stores, ages and then bottles under joint names.
The nearest Binny’s is four miles away, so deciding I needed more practice driving, I drove there yesterday, under Carol’s supervision, and bought myself an early Christmas present. I waited until evening to taste.
The Duncan Taylor 13 year old is a close sibling to the 10 year old. Slightly smoother, mellower, and surprisingly lighter in color.
Even if it did not cost twice as much as the 10 year old, I would not be tempted to switch. The Duncan Taylor is eminently drinkable, but I prefer the stronger flavors of the 10.
I do not normally read wine or spirit reviews because I find the vocabulary absurd.
In researching the Duncan Taylor, I came across this description of the Laphroaig 10 year old: Toffeed nuts, peat, spice, and creamy vanilla aromas. a round supple entry leads to a dry-yet-fruity medium-full body of honeyed toast, golden raisins, anise and other brown spices. Finishes with a sweet caramel and nut toast fade with a streak of iodine and peat.
I wonder what demented gnomes in padded cells write such things.
I also discovered that there is a 25 year old Laphroaig available for $450 per bottle.
You are going to have to taste that one yourself.
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As a second public service, I worked my way through Jack London’s novel, MARTIN EDEN, so you don’t have to.
I don’t normally ‘work’ my way through a book. If I cease to enjoy reading, I stop and find something else. I’m not quite sure why I stayed with MARTIN EDEN. It was not in hope that it would get better, for I knew it wouldn’t. Some of the writing was good, usually about specific work, such as when the eponymous Martin worked in a hotel laundry. But Martin, a struggling ‘genius‘ writer obviously based on Jack London himself, is a stereotype, as are all the other characters and all their ideas. I kept thinking as I read that although it was written only a hundred years ago, MARTIN EDEN is the most dated book I can recall. More dated by far than Zola or Conrad or even the ancient Greeks.
In the unlikely event you ever do read the book, which I fortunately downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg, I am giving nothing away when I say that Martin eventually becomes a great success, and then is dissatisfied with the shallowness of that success and the way it transforms the way people relate to him.
The odd thing about this is that I came across the novel on a list of “The 100 Books of the 20th Century” complied after a poll of its readers by the French newspaper, LE MONDE.
To be precise readers were not asked for the “best” books, but “What books have stayed in your memory?”
It is a curious list.
Not surprisingly considering the source, most of the books are French.
I have read about a third.
SOPHIE’S CHOICE; LOLITA; and ON THE ROAD--all of which I have read--struck me as unlikely selections. But not as unlikely as MARTIN EDEN.
Perhaps it is his death that sticks in French minds.
I agree that his death is the best part of the book.
It is just far too long in coming.
Monday, December 19, 2011