The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 year Single Malt

Every time I try a new scotch I learn something. The more I drink, the more I learn. Sounds wrong, but it's true.

I have very few friends who drink whisky. In fact, only three do. That doesn't leave too many opportunities to talk about or try new ones. I asked a friend what her favourite scotch was at the moment. The Balvenie DoubleWood was her quick reply. The packaging leaves no mystery as to where the name DoubleWood comes from. It has been matured in two different casks; 12 years in traditional oak whisky casks, followed by a few months in European oak sherry casks.

When my parents returned from Florida, they bought me a bottle of The Balvenie DoubleWood at the Duty Free. One litre bottle, $50.

On the nose I detected a fruity, slightly strawberryish note. It was sweet and very warm.

The taste was similar. It was fruity and sweet, a little bit like honey-covered strawberries and apples, along with a hint of wood. It sounds contradictory, but it has both rich and mellow qualities. A splash of water brought out more "fruit salad."

The finish was long. It was sweet but dry (the sherry), very mellow and a bit nutty & smoky. It's excellent all around, but if I were stuck on a desert island, I'd probably take Auchentoshan Three Wood.

What I've learned is that I tend to like whiskies with a sherry finish. I'm looking forward to trying everything in the current Balvenie lineup, and anything else David Stewart dreams up.

DoubleWood is like a no-nonsense DeLorean. It's not a flashy turbo and it hasn't been lowered. But it has all of the updates done and no cracks in the dash.

Duty Free: $50
1 litre
43% (86 proof)

www.thebalvenie.com

Why Crispin Glover Was Fired

Crispin Glover isn't normal. Some say he's a recluse. I can understand why that rumor started. He hasn't exactly been in too many summer blockbusters lately and his autograph is a tough one to get.

I met Crispin Hellion Glover this week, in Toronto. I had a preconceived notion he'd be wild and loud. Zany even. And his performance (of his books) was exactly that. We then watched his film, What Is It? and attended a Q&A session. During that lengthy period he only answered a handful of questions, but his passion for and knowledge of the film industry were obvious.

Important to him more than money was ethics, both business and personal. He recounted his firing from Back To The Future.

For years, at DCS shows, Bob Gale told our group Crispin's demand for the same salary as Michael J. Fox was the primary reason (among many) for his firing. Crispin tells it differently.

According to Crispin, he was fired for questioning a number of things in Back to the Future Part II, including scenes of the alternate 1985 where the families were rich, and had black house slaves. He said the message portrayed was that money would buy happiness, something inappropriate to convey to kids.

The movie was undeniably edited, but Crispin was gone. He admited he was young and idealistic at the time. When he confronted Bob Zemeckis about making the script changes, he recalled Zemeckis saying: "Crispin, I know you like to make weird movies. I've made weird movies too. There's one called Used Cars. And you know what happened after I made that movie? I didn't work for FOUR YEARS! I want to be rich!"

Take what you will from that.

He and Zemeckis have since reconciled, and he continues to work in the film industry. But his zeal lies with his own work. What is it? is full of things that are wrong. Things the viewer should be questioning. Actors with down-syndrome kill snails (it's real) and attack each other in a cemetery. They bury a muse alive. Puppets present (actual) racist albums and Charles Manson's (actual) music plays as naked women in monkey masks do sexual things to Steven C. Stewart who (truly) has cerebral palsy.

And then there is Nazi Shirley Temple.

You've never seen anything like it. If he comes to your city, watch the movie in awe at how his mind works. Crispin Glover isn't normal.

A Whisky Contest for Bender

"Good sir, what has your Bender costume been up to lately?"
- Random Internet People

In a word (plus an article of speech), a contest! Bender's been battling for one of the coveted top five positions over at World Whisky Day's photo contest. Master Blender Richard Paterson will then choo-choo-choose the winner from those five photos.

During the first week I was actually surprised to find myself in the top five but that didn't last long. Over the Easter weekend my photo slipped to sixth and then seventh place despite Blair Bowman himself connoting on Facebook that my photo was brilliant!

It took some perseverance, but I pulled through and am currently mid-pack of the top five.

Many of the photos in the running are really great. Excellent even. And I'd be happy just to finish in the top five. But let's face it. It would be even sweeter if I actually won that fantastic prize.

Can Bender pull it off? I think so. After all, my photo encompasses more of the whisky-drinking marketplace than the others, as mine is the only top photo to feature women. And I am sure Mr. Paterson recognizes that the whisky market is more than men. Because someone wise enough to have blended what's been declared the world's best blended scotch in TWO prestigious competitions is surely wise enough to include men, women AND robots.

I sincerely thank everyone who has voted for me. A HUGE thumbs up from your favourite spirit-chugging robot, Bender!

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You can click here to see what Blair Bowman said.
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Update May 2012: My photo did not win. The winner was a great outdoor photo by Klemen Saje from Slovenia. My congratulations to him!

World Whisky Day 2012

Tuesday March 27, 2012 was the first ever World Whisky Day (despite the fact that it's also the 5th "International Whisky Day", a lower-key celebration, started by friends of the late revered reviewer Michael Jackson).

It trended on Twitter and the website even crashed! The idea was simply for people to get together and enjoy some good whisky, anywhere in the world. What's better than that?

Although that was a rhetorical question, it actually has an answer; a contest!

The prize offered is a bottle of Whyte & Mackay 30 year old blended whisky. It's not available at the LCBO so I checked a few websites and found its value to be between 137 and 162 British pounds. That's nearly $300 Cdn. Not too shabby!

And the contest isn't over yet. In fact, it hasn't even started. Deadline for submitting a photo was March 31st. Now, the folks at World Whisky Day are going to upload the photos to the WWD page on Facebook. The five photos with the most 'likes' will then be judged by Whyte & Mackay’s Master Blender, Richard Paterson.

I decided to invite a few friends over and don my old Bender costume for a photo op. After all, Bender is fuelled by alcohol so it seemed appropriate. So what does Bender drink? Well, he definitely enjoys The Balvenie Doublewood. And so did the meatbags. Happy World Whisky Day! Or International Whisky Day!