I know about as much about scotch as I do about spey casting, carp fishing, and bear hunting: pretty much zip.
I do know this though, that one of the prime scotch districts in the world is along the River Spey. One can then make the logical assumption that the pioneers of spey casting drank the stuff.
As most of you should know by now, Mark and I at Dry Fly Media have teamed up with some great guys to produce a new online magazine dedicated to spey fishing and the swung fly: Swing the Fly Magazine. My role in this is somewhat on the sidelines as far as actual content goes (Thank God because put a two hand rod in my hands and all hell breaks loose), I will be pretty much strictly on layout and design. Armed with a shiny new version of Adobe InDesign and lots of good coffee, this will be a fun project.
When we officially announced the magazine I figured I should do something special to commemorate the occasion. After some thought, I came up with an appropriate gesture. The idea was to go buy a bottle of scotch, but only drink a glass for two reasons: a) to celebrate each successful issue of the magazine, and b) as a creative kickstarter when I hit a wall.
Turns out this distillery has been making whiskey for well over a century, and uses water from Granty Burn – a trib of the River Spey. And there is a salmon on the label and a salmon on the top of the cork. How can you go wrong with that?
I had to try a nip when I got home, and it tastes like paint thinner to me. I don’t know if my knowledge and appreciation of scotch will improve as this project continues, but I’ll raise a glass to the hope that it might.
