Cardhu 12 with Prince Albert!

• Interesting things about the distillery:
  • take their name from the Gaelic for “Black Rock.”
  • The main Speyside part of Johnnie Walker
  • Helen Cummings and her husband, John, started the distillery in 1824
  • The distillery was sited high up on Mannoch Hill, above the River Spey, due to the peat softening the water.
  • Helen was the distiller. Since the distillery was on the top of the hill, she could see the authorities coming.  She would put flour on herself to say she was baking to cover the smell, offered them tea, and put up a flag to warn other distillers in the area.
  • In 1885, they moved the distillery to grow and sold the old distillery to the Grant family; it is now where Glenfiddich began.
  • In 1893, sold to Johnnie Walker and Sons, but continued to be run by the Cummings family.
  • Joined Distillers Company in 1925, which was bought by Guinness in 1986, and became Diageo in 1997.
• Our Bottle: 
• Pipe Pairings: Prince Albert
• Cocktails:
• Research Sources
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardhu_distillery 
  • https://www.malts.com/en-us/cardhu 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Welcome to the Whiskey Chasers, where we talk about our passion for whiskey and its history, either amongst ourselves or while interviewing distilleries. All while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve. I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of The Whiskey Chasers. Alright, what are we drinking? What is it called? Cardew? Cardew?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Cardew. Cardue 12. Why does that sound like a uh like an old aftershave? Cardew? It does sound like an old aftershave. Like from like like a like something that was a right? There was totally something that was like that. Car Caribou? No, Cardew. It was uh I wasn't thinking of something real.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

It just sounded like something that would be an old.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

It does sound like something, but then I it reminded me of when I was a kid. I used to get like really fancy aftershave for like my from like my grandpa or something. And I can't remember now what that was called. I'm gonna have to look it up. It would come in a really fancy box. They had pins too. I got a set of pins one time. Like metal pins, yeah. Wasn't cardie, but it was something like that. Caradoo. Caradoo. Car Cardeux. But it sounds more well, I guess it sounds like Scotch. Kind of sounds French, too.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

It sounds a little Frenchy, but it definitely has a has some Scotch-like sounds to it. Scotch-esque sounds.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Cardeux. What is it? Pierre Cardin. Pierre Cardin. That's what it was. Sorry. Cardew Cardin. That's the card. Cardee Cardin. Yeah. Very, it is very code. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

There's a story behind this bottle that I would love Ryan to share at some point. But when he first had me try this, on the podcast with us. Yes, by the way, Ryan is on.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

He's contemplating the bottle in the box right now. Cardew does mean black rock. Black rock. Yeah, that's the that's what in Gaelic. It's been around for a long time because it's Scotch. So of course it has. It's Spayside. And now they're owned by Diaggio. It is the main spacide part of Johnny Walker. This is. Yeah, this is.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

So this is still Johnny Walker.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

This is yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Well, it's still still owned by Diaggio. Yeah, it's still owned by Diaggio. Okay. So is this part of Johnny Walker?

SPEAKER_03 2:14

Yeah. This is the primary ingredient from Spayside region in Johnny Walker. Well, Cardew, Cardew is not necessarily the 12, but yeah, car Cardew is a big ingredient in Johnny Walker today.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

There's very few scotches that are being brought into the US, quality scotches that are that don't have their, they're not owned by that print. They have their hands in like almost every one of them that's coming in that's of quality. A lot of them.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Yeah. Well, I guess Brown Foreman has theirs now. Beam Centauri has theirs, which is La Freig. And then pretty much everything else, I think, is owned by Diage. Except for like the no-namers.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah, I was gonna say except for the small ones. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

But everyone else that are in big name bottles for blends are probably from Diagio. You said this is a space side? It's a little flavorful for a space side. Am I wrong? I thought for sure this was from the Highland region, but I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

I'm taking a quick look at the box here to see if it says anything. But I don't know where Morayshire is.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Their website says they're space eye.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

I've just had I've this is probably one of the most flavorful space sides I've had in a while. It's even darker than most of them. And it's what? It's a 12-year. So as far as cardew goes, is this it? No.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

No, no, they have a whole line of them. They're all just called cardeo.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Cardew with different age statements and whatnot. In different colors. Is that their lowest one? I've seen one other one. I don't think it's their lowest one.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

They have an 11-year-old, a 14-year-old, and a 16-year-old.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

They got three kids, huh?

SPEAKER_03 3:49

They got three kids.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

You don't see 11 in Scotch very often. You know what's interesting? Or 14. Well, you usually see 14.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

You start to see 11 a lot more now. Like Logovilin's doing 11, but 11 is only their celebrity endorsed. It's it's Nick Offerman's 11 years old.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

They have 11 and a 12.

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Yeah, I know. That is weird.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

You know what this does remind me of? Glenn Levit. Yeah, yeah. Like that's the only other space eye scotch that I'm like, I can I can drink and I have I have something behind it.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Like it's like Glenn Levit, but there's more barrel to it. Barrel to this? Yeah, yeah, because this is darker for one. It's it's more dark berry. It's just a little bit more viscous than Glenn Levit. But I do like Glenn Levit. As far as the spacides go, that's probably the one that I would say would be my go-to.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

It's flavorful, but it's it's more like floral for space eye. This is like oak heavy. The oak and berry.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Imagine this was very fruity. Apparently, that is at least partially due to the water in that area. They are it's high up on the Monoch Hill above the river spy due to the peat softening the water. So the mossy peat in the area apparently softens the water, so it's less, less of a hard water. And that's supposed to add like a more fruity kind of flavor to it.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

I could say a less irony, yeah. Yeah, like less metallic y softer water, more fruit.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Right. That makes sense. That makes sense. Sounds so weird to me.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

That's exactly what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

I mean, like peat's not fruity. Where does that fruit come from? I I was totally just kidding. It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm like, I'm the only one missing it here.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

I think this is very scientific.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

If I was water, though, if I was water and I had peat, like I'd probably be more hard than soft. You know what I mean? This is I'm exciting water, I'm not flaccid.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

If the uh if the peat is acting as like a uh filter to it, then it's removing the hard minerals, which would make it softer. And then that would I don't know why that would make it fruitier. I think that that would kind of remove flavor, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

But so think about iron vault. We talked about water, and you talked about how they use city water for the mash like when they're doing the mashing, and they need the minerals, and it's hard, like really hard, hardy water, like very irony, very there's lots going on in the water, but they can't cut the barrel down with city water, they have to use reverse osmosis water. I feel like if that's the case, so in America, we use our city water or we use stuff that comes up from limestone springs, whatever. It's all very hardy water, and all of our stuff is very hardy urban, like very heavy. What if that has something to do with water?

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Like even a little part? This is probably gonna create a tangent, and you can decide whether or not to leave this all over. Okay, good, good. But I feel like it's a good tangent. Widow Jane. Do we do you know why Widow Jane is called Widow Jane?

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Because it sucks.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

That would get surprised. She lost all her gumption after her husband died. Yeah, her husband.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

That was almost suspended. That was the best she could produce. So her husband said, No, we're done.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

So Widow Jane. Widow game is made in New York, and they're produced in New York? Well, so that's what I mean. There's a creek near there, and that's what they use to cut their whisk.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Yeah, so they take that water all the way to MGP and cut it. I know, right? I'm just kidding. Actually, uh Heaven Hill owns it now. They do. Yes, but they're not changing that.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Well, I heard that they weren't changing it, but maybe now they're they're probably bringing the barrels to them and then cutting it there. But yeah, so they're uh but that came up recently. I heard that in a podcast, and I was like, that would be hilarious. You guys got done talking to Iron Volts about if you're gonna cut it, you're just gonna you're gonna use reverse osmosis, and that's what we're gonna do. And then to hear, oh, these guys are cutting. Yeah, but you never explained why it's Widow Jane. The that's the name of the creek or whatever that's right there near the So the real question is why is the creek named Widow Jane? Yeah, I'm guessing because her husband died.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Oh Jane. He died in the creek. Probably died in the creek. Holy hell, and that's why they can use the water. That's it. Because it's drowned, it's it's her her sorrows were drowned in.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Yes, her tears and everything. Yes, that's the reverse osmosis was her tears. That's what reverse osmosis is. That's exactly what it is. Tears.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yeah, that's where you get all those minerals from her tears.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

That's exactly. Man, we solved the world's problem right there. But what is interesting is so they say the berry fruitiness comes from the water. 99% of spacide is gonna be like very like berry, like like floral fruity.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Here's my thing about this. I and maybe it's just maybe it's not all marketing, but we've talked about this before in the podcast. Scotland's not huge, there's a whole lot of distilleries in Scotland. How do they survive? Are you telling me this is the one random spot in Scotland that's got like the peat growing in the and no other one is doing this? You get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 9:02

To be fair, LaFroig and Logavillin got into a fight over their water source. And LaFroig won out. Logavilin tried to block it so they couldn't get their water source. And the government was like, nope, sorry, buddy, you can see it's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

They can use the same water source. They're two vastly different scotches. So proves my point that is it really the like, come on, there's not that much different water in Scotland.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

So, with that, we're gonna come back around to the water here in a second, because they're not at the same location anymore. They're very close by, but they're not on top of the hill anymore where where this they're not on top of the mountain where this the whole reason for the reason that they decided in this area was because of this this peat stream kind of deal. They have since moved, and they they moved shortly after they opened just because they got big. But somebody else owns it now. This is back in 1824 that this all started. A couple, Helen Cummings and John Cummings. Helen was actually the primary distiller. She was the one that was doing the distilling. This is during that time when there's lots of tax collecting and a lot of bootlegging and stuff going on in in Scotland. So they're not legal at this point. So she because she was a nice, nice housewife, she'd see the revenuers or whatever coming out.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

She'd have to be.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

Yeah. She would see the revenuers coming and she'd throw flour on herself and just say she was baking. Because the smell and everything of the distillations going on, this is the way to cover that up. She'd then invite them in for tea. She'd throw out a flag out her door to let the rest of the people around know that hey, these guys are in the area. She was entertaining the tax people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

How dumb do you have to be to not understand the kitchen to think that flour smells just like distillation?

SPEAKER_03 10:50

It's baking. Let's be honest. It's a baking smell. That's it might have just been the ruse to get him inside.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

It might not have what kept him busy. She was a good one.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

She was still married. So you gotta do what you gotta do for the family. Right. Now they grew and they decided it was time to move on, and they moved to a different location, just like down the road, not too far away. But the Grant brothers bought the location, and it's now the home of Glen Fitdock. Oh, I was like, why do I know Grant? Yeah. So that's where Glenfit is now housed.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Ah, and that's why theirs now taste like berries, because of the water.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah. Wait, so so they're making Glenn Fittick in the same place they're making Cardew? We're making Cardew.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Previously. So Cardew started there. They sold it to the Grant family and moved.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

But here's the thing I I would never associate Glenn Fitch with the with the same notes as this.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Well, this is no longer made of the same water. So this is a you know, it has changed since then. That's the reason that they got that original spot. I've never said, you know, fruity from Glen Fittick. No, I'm trying to think of uh what I've said about Glen Fittick. I haven't said Glen Fitdick in a really long time, so I couldn't really tell you. I drink a lot of Glen Fitdick, but are they the ones that do the Fire and Cane? Yeah, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

They got the deer or the antler. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. Green bottle for their standard, and they got good stuff, but I never thought it was fruity. No, I don't know that everything is just marketing. But there is something going on here that's kind of fruity.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

So they sold that to them in 1885. 1893, they sold the Johnny Walker with the understanding that the Cummings family was going to continue to operate it. So the family continued to run it until 1925 when they joined the distillers company, and from there went to Guinness and then Diaggio. So this is made at the same place as Johnny Walker. But it's made by the Cummings family.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Yeah, this is like the mid-the-this is a heavy part of the space section of Johnny Walker. But this bottle's got a story, that's why we have Ryan.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

I was like, Ryan, you gotta save this. Where'd this body come from? That's not like what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Who killed Mr. Body in the library with the lead pipe? Carnal Mustard, you son of a bitch.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Uh well, I uh I picked this up in Spain last summer. My wife and I went to Spain to uh spend a week on the Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James, and then a few days in Barcelona at the end. For those who don't know, the Way of St. James is a pilgrimage route that has been used since the early Middle Ages. Uh there's like a whole network of uh pilgrimage routes, but the the main one is called the French Way, it starts in France and then goes south over the Pyrenees Mountains and then west along the north of Spain in the Galicia region. And uh, if you do the whole thing, you'd be out there for 30 some days. But we did the last like probably most popular bit for people who don't have that kind of time to spend. Uh you have to go a hundred kilometers on the Camino in order to get a certificate of completion. And so people typically start in a town called Saria and then go west through a series of towns till you get to Santiago de Compostela, which is the city where they believe they have the bones of St. James the Apostle. So in the in the medieval period, there were three major pilgrimage places Rome, Jerusalem, and Santiago. So yeah, we hiked, we were out there five or six days. Our shortest day was 12 miles, our longest day was 17 miles, and uh it was quite an experience. It was really really cool. But I think on our second or third day, we stopped in a town called Palace de Re and we found our hostel and then went out to you know get some food. But we were so exhausted and our feet were hurting and everything, we were sore. We were like, let's just get some like fruit and lunch meat and go go back to the hostel and just eat there. They had like a balcony area uh with a few tables out there, so we'll we'll just eat there and and crash because it was such a long day. And so I went into this little grocery store, picked up a few things to eat, and then I saw this on the shelf behind the cash register, and uh I was like, oh my gosh, I've never seen that before. And I think this was somewhere around 40 pounds. Um pretty heavy. Yeah, Euros, Euros, not pounds.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

What is that like 60 bucks? So I was uh We got an account like a like a tax paint over. You know what though?

SPEAKER_00 16:01

I I'm okay with not knowing because we were just we were just spending Euros like dollars.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

So I thought you'd have that conversion on the top of your head, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Oh, do a lot of European returns. It's pretty close, it's 46 bucks. Oh, American.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

So basically basically a euro is a dollar. All right, yeah, it's not bad.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Anyway, I saw it up there on the shelf and I'm like, oh my gosh, I've never seen that before. Wouldn't it be cool to bring back a bottle of scotch, you know, that you can't get where I'm from, right? You know, and I don't know that this is sold in the US at all.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

This particular bottle probably isn't because it's a 700. It's it's this is Europe has that 700 mil.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Yeah. Well, that sucks because I really I was just about to ask, like, I I've never seen this before. Like, can we get it? Because I this is really good. That's a fantastic deal for 40 euros or yeah, yeah, 46 bucks, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Yeah, dinero. So this has a special memory tied to it for me for sure. I doubt I'll ever hike the Camino again. So yeah, this is a special, a special find for me. And uh, I thought you guys might be excited to try it too. Of course, I'd never heard of it before, so I didn't know if it was good. And I and looking at the label now, where there's like the silhouette of Elizabeth coming with her flag, it looks like it does look like the Johnny Walker style. I stole it from that. But I I I didn't make that connection at all, so and I didn't have a chance to even look at the box before I bought it. I just pointed at it. Well, even the label is different.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah, it shows you how many drinks are in a bottle. 23. You see this? Yeah, there's 23 ounces in there. According to uh the people that did this label, 30 milliliters is about the size of a glass of alcohol, which is a comes out to an ounce. 10 grams of alcohol equals 67 kcal. I'm guessing that's calories.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

I don't know what kcal is. Kinetic.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Or 100 milliliters equals 91.9k/slash 222k cal, whatever. But no drinking and no pregnancy. It says right there, it shows a picture. It shows a picture just in case it shows a pregnant lady with a circle and a line through it, and then it shows a car with a circle and a line through it, then it shows 23 glasses inside the bottle. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Well, I am glad that they have the art there. I could drink this that way, because who wants to read? When you had too much to drink, how do you never know? How good are you at reading?

SPEAKER_01 18:31

It's like they don't know what language people are gonna speak to buy it either. So it works. But I I like that, it's kind of cool. 23. I would have gotten like 15. That's 23 ounces. I think my glasses are too big.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

They're they're saying you have an ounce and a glass that's 23 ounces.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

I really like this. I really like this. I like the shape of the bottle, but the flavor's fantastic. It is, it's a really pretty bottle.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

When you were hiking this trail, were you like backpacking, or were you uh, or like was stuff just kind of spread around for the pilgrimage?

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Or how did you were you staying in hostels or were you camping out, or were you fighting bums, bears? No.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

So uh a lot of people we did have backpacks. We also had suitcases that we had uh they have they have a system for like registering your bags or whatever, and then they'll take your bags. Like I think it might be the Postal Service comes along and picks up your bags and drops them off at the next hostel that you have like same day listed.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

They're more efficient than the U.S.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

postal service. Yeah, I guess. Well, so since this has been around for like a thousand years, they've got the system down pretty pretty solid. So a lot of people will just backpack and and stop and stay in a hot wherever they can find uh whatever hostel still has space for them that night, wherever they're they you know they feel like too tired to keep going, they just stop there. But we did not fly by the seat of our pants like that. We wanted to make sure that we had rooms every night. And then one one thing for me is so I have uh sleep apnea now. So I needed to have a I needed to know like I was gonna have a bed with an electrical outlet where I could plug it in and I'd be able to actually sleep. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, we had reservations at hostels in each of the towns that we stopped at. So on one hand, that was the pressure was on to because you had to get there because you because that's where your stuff was. Yeah, and and that a couple of times was a big deal. The morning we started our 17 mile day, I could barely walk. I was getting blisters or hot spots on my feet, and um like the the tendons and or muscles in my ankle and calf were like seizing up. So for like the first 45 minutes that day, I was limping along and just like praying so hard. And then about 45 minutes in, it loosened up, and I was able to do the rest of the day without too much pain. But uh, but yeah, I was a little concerned that day. I'm like, this is the longest day and I can barely move. Are we gonna get to our next hostel? That was that made me a little nervous.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

And no one comes to pick you up.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Well, okay, there are a lot of different ways you you can do it. We actually met a couple who were staying at a hotel, and they had like somebody would drive them out to like a trailhead spot and they would hike, you know, whatever like they would do their, you know, 12 miles, and then someone would pick them up at the end of that and take them back to the hotel. So so they were walking the whole thing. In segments, but always had a ride back to the same hotel in the evening. So there are all kinds of different ways you can do it. I'm sure there's some snobby purists out there who look down on that sort of thing, but it's what you need. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

It's probably like the Appalachian Trail or any of those big long trails like that. There are like the people that live there know about it. Oh, yeah. And there's like lots of people around to move you about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

There's a whole culture, everybody's a whole culture culture developed around it. Whether you want to there's lots of hidden stuff that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Yeah, get a ride, or everybody's aware of what's going on. Imagine doing the 30-day one. What would your feet your feet would be like?

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah, you gotta you gotta make sure you've got some shoes that are broken in.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Did you bring some good shoes or did you just kind of tennis it up and that was it?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Well, I I had some I had some hiking boots and they were comfortable. I I haven't worn them a ton, but I I've worn them on hikes and they've been comfortable. But the thing is you find out after, you know, a a 10-mile, you know, walk period that like, oh, I guess they're not broken in as much as I thought, because then you start getting these hot spots. And I had some like blister, they're like called Compede, they're like blister patches that are kind of gel patches that you put on, and those were okay, but I was still having trouble. And then I just and I did have my regular tennis shoes with me as well. Eventually, I just switched to the regular tennis shoes that I wear, and it was completely fine, and it was comfortable. And I also found out another guy on the trail was like, you know, don't use those compied things, use medical tape. So like there's like the well, it's like the it's like the cushiony soft medical tape, and uh not not like the duct tape type of medical tape, but yeah, you wrap that, it's it yeah, it's the best. Like and and and the stuff, yeah, it's way it's better than the than the products that are made specially for that sort of thing. At least in a in those conditions where you're I don't know, probably the other stuff would be fine if you were you know had an office job or something like that, but on a on a mission, when you're on a mission like that, you it's the medical tape that's that's the good stuff. So anyway, uh yeah, we had our bags uh transported ahead of us to every place that we stayed, and most of the rooms were pretty simple. I think we only had air conditioning in one of them the whole time. But there was one night that we had like a nicer, a nicer place. Um these guys, like a a group of like three friends, decided to open this up and they had like like this very small limited menu there, but it was I mean it was like prince style, like sort of artisanal, you know, gourmet stuff. Man, that meal was so good. And they and I actually had a smoked cheesecake there, which was fantastic. I think I texted you guys at that point and said, like, dare I say, this is Prince level. We just need to have him make the smoked cheesecake. Yeah, we need to request that sometime. It was so good, but yeah, it was it was uh it was a good trip. And then you you end up in Santiago and there's a big cathedral there, and they've got a statue of of Saint James that you can hug when you get there. It's like a traditional thing for the pilgrims to go up and hug it, and uh below the statue, like in the I don't know, undercroft or basement, they've got the uh the osseware uh where James's bones are supposed to be. It was really cool. But like during the day, you know, we get up, we'd hike a couple hours, stop at like a little cafe that's like right there on the trail for like coffee and a you know, scone or something, hike a few more hours, stop for lunch. Along the way, there are like little chapels and churches, and sometimes you're going through the countryside, sometimes you're going through little towns, sometimes you're walking through somebody's farm, going in between their barns, sometimes you're in a city weaving between houses and stuff like that, or going down the major street. But yeah, the all these little churches and stuff along the way. So you can stop in, and you got a pilgrim passport where you get stamps for like the different places you stop that kind of proves that you did it, that you're actually there. And uh, so you could stop and uh, you know, get out of the sun, get a little drink of water, sit down for a minute, pray a little bit, hit the road again. It was really, really cool. Not quite what I expected, but still like really, really good. And and I think that it has actually given me some stuff to think about that I I hope will continue to color my life from here on out. So it was it was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Did you bring a pipe while you were there? I think you said you did scroll your own. Yep. Did but you brought a pipe too?

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Yep. Yeah, I brought a couple of pipes and bought some RYO there.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Was there a lot of smoking going on there or not so much?

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Uh I you never know with the European areas, you know, like well, I most of the time they smoke more, but usually it's cigarettes and stuff more than pipes.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yeah, yeah. Um on the Camino, when I well, well, so like when we would stop for lunch, I would typically smoke Arwayo then, and then and when at the evening at the hostel, then I bust out the pipes. Nice, yeah, that makes me um so I don't know if I saw a ton of people, but so after we completed the Camino, we stayed in Santiago a couple of days, and then we went to Barcelona for three days. And in Barcelona, definitely a lot of people smoking. Yeah, yeah. So um, so that was that was cool. You don't feel a lot of place, you know. Yeah, right. Like, we're just gonna sit on this park bench and just like enjoy the view. Well, it's probably a lot more have a have a smoke.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

It's more prevalent. There's probably more like variety that you can buy in a store and things like that. It's it's always interesting going into in different areas, like countries that you're not used to being around and seeing the differences and what you see there versus like America and whatnot.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Yeah, yeah. And I was happy that I that I could find RYO there because you you just never know. And uh like if I go in and all I see is like factory-made cigarettes, I'm like, nah. Yeah, no thanks. Well, like, I'm not not real. I don't really care about that. So um, but yeah, found found some RYO and papers and all that. I'm pretty sure I I'm pretty sure I had to smoke them without a filter. Yeah, they didn't always have filters, but so this is a pretty good whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

Like it's it's it's really good for especially for the price. The fact that it's 46 bucks, 40 euro, 46 dollars. It that that's a really good price for any scotch.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

For a 12-year-old.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

For a 12-year-old scotch, especially.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

For a 12-year-old, but a 12-year-old single malt, that's the other thing. But this is not a blended, yeah. So, like for a single malt, 12-year-old for 46 bucks, that's a fairly good deal.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Yeah, it's got a lot of flavor too. It does. Yeah, it's very flavor. For a space hide, especially, it's it's it's got a little bit of a little bit more of that flavor to it. And again, I don't know if that's just like me not thinking about space being flavorful, but this has that like fruitiness, but also like a like a flower field almost like kind of thing. Like uh there there's like field notes or whatever, but not like like water.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Yeah, it reminds me almost of like uh spring honey, yeah, yeah. Versus like a fall honey, like this is a little bit thinner, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yeah, so I don't know if this is just like my mouth after uh having a little pipe and stuff, but does this drink a little bit hotter than 80-proof to you? Like, I mean, I I feel like it drinks hotter than things like uh famous grouse and cutty sark.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

I don't think it's hot, but I do think that there's some more barrel spice in here than you know, like there's it's more oak, barrel heavy, you know what I mean? Uh whatever they're using to age that in.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

It's just you don't usually get scotches that dark for one thing, but it does have more wood in it, which I think can make you feel like it's proof, but it's it's it's just more yeah, it's not, I would I wouldn't say it's not, it doesn't strike me as a lot, just enough to notice that that there's something more going on than just cuddy. Yeah, something's happening. Yeah, definitely got a lot more flavor than cuddy.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Though after tasting this, I do feel like I get a lot of Johnny Walker off the flavor.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Yeah, just not like not like a non-blended Johnny Walker kind of a thing. That's what Johnny Walker could be like if it was not blended kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Right, but more of like the Johnny Walker black and like below black or the double black? Not double, double black is better. Yeah, the the double black is something different. Johnny Walker Johnny Walker black and below, and it's like this is this is Johnny Walker, like it it has that quintessential. I don't know if this is the quintessential Johnny Walker flavor flavor or if Johnny Walker is the quintessential flavor for Cardew, if that makes sense. Like I I couldn't tell you which exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Yep. Oh, yeah, I guess I mean the so the box the the box copy skips a couple of the steps that Steve mentioned. This just says that when Elizabeth retired, she entrusted her cherished cardew to John Walker and sons.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

I do appreciate the entrusted.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Yeah, entrusted. Well, it makes it sound like this is what started that. Yeah, like the yeah, this is the base recipe. This is the thing, you know.

SPEAKER_03 32:27

Which, I mean, this is like 1890 something is when that happened.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Was Johnny Walker already distilling like parallel to this, or did Johnny Walker start because they Walker and Sons never actually distilled anything?

SPEAKER_02 32:41

They used to source theirs, yeah. Johnny Walker and Sons were essentially drugstore owners that they blended their own buy and a bunch of stuff. Yep. I forget what those are called. There's a specific name for for that.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

People that acquire and blend and so church than R.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Yeah. Um, I don't I I think of drugstore owners when I think of it, but like Irish whiskey was big in it for two. Blended Scotch was big in it too.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

This uh Prince Albert's actually going pretty well with the Scotch.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

It is. So yeah, we're we're smoking Prince Albert with this. It wasn't necessarily a pairing, it's just our only option. We're we're we're we're in a slightly different location than normal.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

We had to uh we had to record in a different road. It's slightly different. This is my this is my road tobacco.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

This is your your car.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

You take that big tin with you on the road? I got like I think a 32-pounce tin giant container of Prince Albert. It's my road container. We've smoked Prince Albert in an escorty pipe. Yeah, yeah, which is also funny. It's like a $350 pipe and a cheap, but but but Prince Albert is anything but a cheap tobacco, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

I was gonna say, it's good. It adds this might be the first time I've ever experienced this with Prince Albert, and it could be the blend of the snows, like the smell with the flavor of the scotch. Yeah, but that comes across more peppery, like cracked pepper.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

It's a burly-based blend with a little bit of Virginia's, and then it's got a co a very slight cocoa topping.

unknown 34:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

As far as I know, that is all really good. There might be some more things in there, but uh for the most part, it's a very straightforward tobacco.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

But I was this might be the first time ever that I've gotten like pepper on the nose from it. I could say and I don't know if it's from the scotch, like the pairing.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

This is like the when everybody talks about their grandpa smoking pipes. This is one of those blends that for the most part is what the smell brings you to that. And a lot of people use this in roll your own, Prince Albert. It's not overly anything. I think it would be pretty pretty good for that. It might be a little thick. You might have to like maybe shag it up. If you have it in a can, you can let them out. It's good. I will say though, in my opinion, for me, Carter Hall is the top choice of the over-the-counter codger bulk blends. It's just a little bit more hard burly. It's a little bit um, I don't want to say harsher, it's a little bit more hardcore. Flavors are a little bit more tobacco. Not that this isn't, but it's a little bit more. It's like Manly Man's version of this, you know. It's good. I like Carter Hall.

SPEAKER_03 35:14

For the Johnny Walker question. Johnny Walker started also in 1820s, right around there, is when they started buying up brand doing their blending and everything, which is when this originally started. They bought Johnny Walker bought this company in 1893, so uh about 70 or so years later is when this was bought. So they had already kind of probably figured out a little bit of what they were doing by that point. But Johnny Walker is Highland, and so this is just the space side sourcing of that.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

So I would like to think that this is the distillery that contributed the the base flavor profile to Johnny Walker. Yeah, I like that. I like that story. That's the story I want to hear.

SPEAKER_03 36:00

Yeah, this bottle is a it's a cool story. We've we've talked before about memories along with bottles, and it's always good to have a like a cool story around how you get a bottle and where it came from. And sometimes that's more important than even the liquid inside. And this time you got lucky, and the liquid was good too.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Yeah, so you know, so if we think about it, this is our second bottle that we've had from overseas of Scotch because we had one with Micah. Micah.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

Yeah, that's right. He brought his from IR.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

I kept thinking, I kept saying Ryan in my head, I was like, Ryan's here, Ryan's here. Yeah, Micah. So what did he bring? So he brought Glenalaki. It's a very recognizable bottle, but what he brought was their couvet finish, and that we can't get that is only sold over there. And I bring that up to say I this this could be just in my head, but I feel like there's a noticeable difference in flavor between what we can get over there and what we get here, and it could just be in my head, yeah. But I feel like there's a difference in quality between that and this.

SPEAKER_03 37:04

We'd have to try a bottle that we can get here, and try the bottle that we got there and the bottle we got here and see if there's any difference.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

You don't you don't think they really change it up for I don't know that they would change it up, but so here's why I wonder if it's different. So if you look at whiskey, American whiskey, American bourbon, there are companies that are no longer around that they literally only existed to distribute to Europe and to other countries. There's one that I got to try. So this is the bottle that I got to try in Texas. Old Red Fox. But it was a it was a company that only they only existed to distribute out to thick neck. Yeah, it was only to distribute out to Europe.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

I think we came across this once for maybe it was Scotch, where it was like they the distributor was on the European side and only distributed to the US, you couldn't actually buy whatever it was they were selling locally. But yeah, I can't remember what that was.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

I I vaguely remember talking about that. Um, or you couldn't you couldn't actually get like what the local thing would be, but you could get like a selected form or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

That's a long time ago. Yeah, that was a long time ago. Jim Beam has bottles they just ship out there. Um Four Roses has one that only goes out there, platinum, I think it is, which is like a special one that they only release out there.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Well, Blanton Gold was like that for a minute. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Which makes me wonder like, okay, if we do that, then are there similarities of uh companies over there doing the same thing? Where it's not necessarily it feels different in quality because it's maybe because it's a different flavor, or they may do something slightly different for bottles that come over here because we would like it different from what they prefer. You know what I mean? Like they have a certain palette that they prefer versus us kind of thing. Like they don't do it's not typical for Scotch distilleries to do anything over 80 proof, like that's their their common thing over there. But now you've got Diaggio bringing stuff over here that are like limited special releases that are 100 plus.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

And I wonder if that's not even the market over there, right? I don't I wonder if they don't want anything that right. That's why I wonder if like is they generally don't.

SPEAKER_03 39:35

They generally want that. Now that we're gonna be talking about uh the classic gladiator, and that's 100 proof. Right. Uh and that brand does 100 proof other things also.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

Um but it just it makes me curious. Like, is there stuff is there stuff that they produce over there that we don't get? And it's a different quality, a higher quality.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

I mean, it's the same with with any commodity. Right. Uh there's uh uh Henry just had a friend over. Uh they're from Japan, and he's all about Japanese things, but they've been in America for a couple years now. But they brought over this whole bag of Japanese type goodies and things.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

And what's funny is like for Henry looking at that, it's like, wow, this stuff's so different, it's unique and everything. But for her looking at it, that it would be no different than all the stuff we're used to. But when she sees the stuff we have here in America, it's like completely the opposite. You know what I mean? And that's a hard concept for us to get because we're so used to having like the what we would consider boring stuff, but for them it's not, and vice versa. Like Henry thought it was so cool, he got all these different things from Japan. And they actually have like we tried uh blueberry flavored uh marshmallows, blueberry flavored, yeah, which are actually very good. That's like we we just don't have that kind of stuff in America. Like, I don't think there's a market for it, you know. But there there is, you know. So but it's I so I gotta think that whiskey, whiskey's no different, right?

SPEAKER_03 41:01

Yeah, and also there has to be a bigger market to to deal with it. So, like, if I mean if this bottle was here, it would probably be an $80 bottle. Because I mean the the cost of shipping it, the cost of taxes, and what you could get out of stuff, you can then you can squeeze more, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:17

But I feel like it would compete with Glenn Livitt very well. I mean, it would yeah, I mean, it would be a space site I'd seek out.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

This is better than I mean, I like this better than Glenn Livitt. Yeah, Glenn Fitted. I feel like they're very different, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

Because everyone, everyone else is like, they maybe have floral notes or like fruity notes, but they're very light, like they're in the background. This is at the forefront.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Like finished bottles and whatnot too. But this one isn't. It's just for it's just a straight, uh, it's a single malt, but I can't think of another space side right now that I like as much as this. That is not finished or not this or that, or like special edition or whatever. But out of the ones we have that are on the shelf that are space sides, I think this one is up there, if not better than what we what we currently have available, which is surprising that it hasn't really come in the US, if that's the case.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

Maybe they're just trying to keep it for Johnny Walker.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

Yeah, they may not just distribute as much because of that. If they're doing well enough on the sales, just keep it the way it is, but it's good.

SPEAKER_03 42:13

And also, there's because we're in Ohio, there's probably lots of scotches that are available in the states that we just don't have because we're in Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

So because there's not a ton of scotches. I've never seen that before Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Oh Ohio regulates what happened with what with they don't see a need for scotch in Ohio.

SPEAKER_03 42:31

They do not. What's sad? They really, really wanted people to like Irish though last year. Oh, absolutely. There was a lot of different Irish memberships. I wonder how it did. They were all on the last call shelf.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

I was gonna say they're all last call shelf now. If you want some cheap Irish, go get it.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

Go get it there. It is there for you, and it's heavily displayed. Like 28% off or something.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

You know, this bottle actually looks so much better, not in the box.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

Yeah, I agree. This is a really pretty bottle. Kind of the curve in on in the middle there. It's got boxes, unique shape to it. The box makes you think you're gonna get a kind of a standard, standard scotch bottle look.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Squat kind of old school. You know, it looks more like a rum bottle. It does. Than it does a scotch bottle. Like it would be uh perfect on board a ship. Yeah, like an old sail ship, an old pirate ship.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

And the red is nice too. The red colored. I like the box, but I just think the bottle is. But the bottle of the bottle too, just that that red color for the label. I saw one other bottle.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

The problem is not having a lot of room in the suitcase and not wanting to push the weight limit. Um, so this is the only the only bottle I brought back. But I did see in one other place a different cardio that might have been 14 years or 16 years.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

If uh if you're worried about weight, you could always just open the bottle there and finish up.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Before get you ready for the plane, you know. That's true. But then you would not be having this wonderful experience, right? That's fair.

SPEAKER_02 44:09

That's fair. Yes. You can always ship the clothes over, you know. Right. You can't ship the bottle, you can always ship clothes. I would say, all in all, this is a fantastic bottle.

SPEAKER_03 44:20

Great bottle.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 44:21

Thank you, sir. No problem. I'm glad you're going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

You guys wouldn't have experienced it if it wasn't for your trip to El Camino. I I keep thinking of the car. Well, it's the same thing. I love the El Camino car. The car was named after the thing. The Camino. The Camino? El Camino? I wonder when people say the that's the El Camino. Yeah. Oh, the the Camino. The Camino.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

The the the Camino.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

That is one of my favorite cars. I really like the El Camino. And they've like I didn't mount it. You can't mount it. I do too. It's a truck and a car. Yeah. All built into one. And like other people have tried. It's kind of come back a few different times. The Baja Basubaru wasn't bad. Like that was a close clos. And now there's the the uh Hyundai makes makes something that's like a car truck deal. Tentacruz is what it's called. But yeah, uh, but El Camino was the only one.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

Who made El Camino? Chevy. Is it travelers? Is that what he's a saint of the patron saint for travelers? Kind of uh kind of like traveling, travelers. Why they named the El Camino the El Camino? I I don't recall right off the end.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

I mean, definitely for people. That's what it means.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Yeah, Camino means the road, but Santa is not travelers. Oh, the road. Saint Christopher's is is the traveler saint.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Yeah, um, yeah, I probably a couple of things, but I actually don't know. But I mean definitely gifts. Definitely the patron saint of the of the Camino itself. Yeah, yeah. That particular road, all his yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:54

He's all over that.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Yep, you see you see him multiple times at at stops along the way. So all right, well, gents.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

Till next time. Till next time.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Buen Camino.

SPEAKER_03 46:12

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you want more great content and other perks, be sure to support the show by clicking the link in the show notes. We can be reached on our website, whiskeychaserspod.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.