It seems that everybody on TV and on the Internet is advising the world how to save money in the credit crunch, so why should I be different? Some of what I write here I have probably touched on previously, but for the sake of those who have not read it, I repeat myself. My mixing and matching first started when I was making a rather good quality home-made wine, 10 gallons at a time, using liquid yeasts which are no longer available, and gave the brews the distinctive flavours of the yeasts, even if the quality was not quite the same. It was then that I discovered that almost invariably mixing two different wines could produce a drink which was better in flavour, and possibly body, than either of the ingredients. One caveat is that you must drink the mixed wines on the day they are mixed, as chemical reactions debase the flavour in time. Since then I have mixed and matched mustards to suit particular sausages, brown sauces to replace one taken off the market, that made cauliflower, chopped fresh greens, and frozen vegetables bearable, when I was on a health kick.
Now it is the turn of a cheap whisky that is to my taste and has all the merits of a good Malt. I’m very fond of malt whisky, not all, but quite a few, but they come at a price. Prior to Christmas 07, I was looking for bargains in malt whiskies in our local supermarket when I came across one at the incredible price of £14. It was called Glen Moray. When I got it home I discovered that it was very sweet as it was made partly of honey. Being frugal, I decided to experiment by blending it with an average blended whisky from a supermarket. This I did methodically, as I do when mixing, by taking rough guesses at the percentages of the different ingredients, and in this case there were only two. I had an enjoyable half hour, using small liqueur glasses, tasting and changing until I found a drink to my taste, which ultimately turned out to be, in a 24 ounce bottle, 7 ounces of Glen Moray, and 17 ounces of the blended whisky. Whether this is to your taste is something you might like to find out for yourself. A word of warning, there are some bottles of whisky in the bigger supermarkets containing a litre and a half of the blended whisky at a very reasonable price. It is my experience that combining this with Glen Moray is perfectly viable, but you cannot depend upon the flavour of each successive bottle of the blended that you buy to be similar to the previous one, and so it is wise if you’re using a litre and a half, to measure one mixed sample, as you may have to adjust the mix to taste.
I can’t spell slanta, so down the hatch, or as my Jewish friends will say ‘enjoy’.