September Whiskies of the Month - Crime and Murder Mystery Literature
National Read a Book Day is celebrated on September 6th. Our very own bibliophile, Elsa Hare, custodian of our team book club, has created a wonderful list of drams connected with Murder Mystery literature and Crime fiction related to Edinburgh, Scotland, and Scotch. Settle down with a dram and pick up one of these titles to be transported to the darker side of Scotland with our September Whiskies of the Month.
Highland Park 12 Year Old
Famous Fife-born author, Ian Rankin, is behind the number one bestselling book series starring Detective John Rebus. The Rebus series starts with the book ‘Knots and Crosses’, which is said to be inspired by ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ by another famous Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson. This month’s Highland whisky is the Highland Park 12 year old. We’ve chosen this whisky as it is a favourite of Detective Rebus, he is known to enjoy a dram of it several throughout 24 books in the series thus far.
Highland Park 12yo is matured in predominantly European and American sherry seasoned oak casks giving this whisky a spicy, and well-rounded flavour. You’ll find notes of oranges, and rich fruitcake spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Glenfiddich 18 Year Old
Stuart MacBride is a Scottish author who writes gripping, gritty crime fiction based in and around Aberdeen. Some of his most well-known works follow Detective Logan ‘Lazarus’ McRae as he battles the dark underbelly of the granite city. The Logan McRae series begins with ‘Cold Granite’ and spans a total of 12 books. While other whisky brands do appear in MacBride’s books, the Glenfiddich brand most prominently comes to mind. In the 10th instalment of the Logan McRae series, in the ‘Cold Dark Ground’, McRae finds he has been unwittingly bribed by an Aberdeen crime lord when he is gifted a bottle of Glenfiddich which leads to untold chaos for the detective. Therefore, there is no more fitting dram than the Glenfiddich 18yo to represent our Speyside whisky.
Glenfiddich 18yo is a small batch production for this whisky giant with no more than 150 casks being used in each batch. On the nose, there is a rich aroma of ripe orchard fruit and baked apple. On the palate, you’ll find this whisky delivers rich, dried fruit, dates and candied citrus peel with a warming finish.
Glen Scotia Double Cask, Rum Finish
Denzil Meyrick is another famed Scottish crime writer. Meyrick hails from Campbeltown and spent time working as part of Strathclyde Police, serving in Glasgow. After sustaining an injury, Meyrick had a series of diverse roles from director of a large engineering company to distillery manager before publishing his first crime novel aptly named, ‘Whisky from Small Glasses’, (a favourite book amongst our team!) in 2012. This debut novel and the following 9 novels in the D.C.I. Daley series is set in Campbeltown, though the area goes by Kinloch in the books. Therefore, this month we present Glen Scotia Double Cask, Rum Finish as our Campbeltown whisky.
This bottling from Glen Scotia is a different take on their ever-popular Glen Scotia Double Cask, finished in Guyanese demerara rum barrels and pays homage to Campbeltown’s Victorian past. Campbeltown is home to a port that historically connected to trade routes that spanned the globe. Records dating back as far as 1815 show rum casks were present and on sale in the local town. On the nose, you’ll find tropical fruits and maritime sea spray. The finish in rum casks gives this whisky a rich and exotic mouthfeel with sweet notes of cooked sugar and molasses balanced with tropical fruits, bananas, and sweet peaches.
Lagavulin 16 Year Old
It would be criminal to put together this list, without including the prolific “Queen of Crime” and prolific godmother of murder mystery, Agatha Christie. September was an important month for Christie, born in Torquay on September 15th, 1890, and marrying her second husband, Max Mallowan, in Edinburgh’s St. Cuthbert’s church on September 11th, 1930.
In her famous book, The ABC Murders, world-famous detective, Hercule Poirot, is sent a letter addressed to him at ‘White Horse Mansions’ instead of his correct address, ‘White Haven Mansions’. Poirot theorises that the sender must have been enjoying a dram of White Horse Whisky as he typed his letter. The White Horse brand dates to 1883 and is named after the White Horse Cellar Inn, a short stroll down eth Royal Mie from The Scotch Whisky Experience here in Edinburgh. The inn was established in 1742 and was the starting point of the Edinburgh to London stagecoach. You can see some beautiful historical bottlings of White Horse in our whisky collection. Whisky from Lagavulin distillery has always been a prominent component of the make-up of the White Horse blend. So, we have chosen Lagavulin 16yo as our Islay whisky of the month.
Lagavulin 16yo is the flagship bottling for the distillery and is renowned for its smoky character. This whisky boasts a robust flavour profile with an undeniable peat smoke underscored by a rich sweetness on the nose. On the palate, the sweetness of this whisky emerges through the peat smoke and is accompanied by maritime notes, sherry, and toffee.
Glenkinchie 12 Year Old
Oscar de Muriel’s debut novel, ‘The Strings of Murder’, is a murder mystery set in Edinburgh, 1888, in which a violinist is found dead in his home. While his maid swears three musicians could be heard playing the night before, only one body is found inside the practice room which is locked from the inside. Fearing another Ripper is sweeping the country Inspector Frey is sent to investigate under the cover of a fake department specialising in the occult. Frey’s new boss, however, believes in the supernatural and suspects that it is at play in the murder of the violinist, but even Frey must admit that this case seems to be beyond explanation.
De Muriel was born in Mexico City, finding his passion for writing at an early age, later he moved to the UK to study for a PhD in chemistry. While studying he worked as a freelance translator and was responsible for several Johnnie Walker ads for Columbia. For this reason, our Lowlands whisky is Glenkinchie 12 year old. Glenkinchie Distillery represents the lowland portion of Jonnie Walker’s four pillars. This is also a fitting choice as St. Cuthbert’s church, where Christie married Max Mallowan, sits just across from The Johnnie Walker Princes Street.
Glenkinchie 12yo is a light and delicate whisky, this character is born from its distillation in some of Scotland’s largest stills. The 12-year maturation results in a fresh, floral whisky, making for a great aperitif.
Dewars 12 Year Old
Dashiell Hammett can be considered one of America’s greatest crime novelists, his brand of ‘hard-boiled’ detective stories being a big influence in popular culture. Hammett was known to enjoy Scotch whisky, and therefore it is unsurprising that the drink went on to feature in his works. In his first novel, Red Harvest, a book that Time magazine rated as one of the best 100 English language novels published between 1923 and 2005, many types of spirits and brands of whisky are included in the storyline, however, a bootleg cargo of Dewars Blended Whisky plays a staring roll.
Founded in 1846 John Dewar and Sons Ltd has grown from a small wine and spirits merchant shop in Perth to become a globally renowned and celebrated Blended Scotch Whisky brand. One of our two oldest bottles in our Scotch whisky collection is an original Dewar’s from 1904 which is well worth the visit. This month, we’ve chosen Dewar’s 12yo for our blended whisky of the month. This is a direct descendant of the signature blended Scotch whisky that the company introduced over a century ago. In this dram you’ll find notes of citrus, dried fruit, and vanilla.