The Secret of Eternal Happiness

Time for a little magic!  A performance by yours truly.  Enjoy :)

Monkey Shoulder

Kev brought this little number round for the DVD night.  He got it in his Christmas hamper.  Cheers Santa!

I've seen it on the supermarket shelf, but have never been inclined to purchase it.  That position changed as soon as I had a large dram.  It's lovely stuff.  The mouth is creamy and the nose is sweet and peppery - with chocolate (cocoa?) and spices.  I picked up cinnamon, followed by nutmeg (maybe even cloves).

The taste is buttery and sweet, with honey and that lovely vanilla note that underpins the very best Speyside malts. And this little number is blended, made up of three such Speyside malts (Balvenie, Glenfiddich and Kininvie).  Overall, it's both smooth and chewy, with a medium length that sits well on the palate neat.  Its also very competitively priced and could soon replace Aberlour as my go to mid-week whisky.

Juan of the Dead

Well, the first DVD night of 2013 started with this little gem.  Truthfully, I picked it up purely because of the title and the fact that I've been to Cuba and have stayed in Havana.  Thought it might be fun.  It certainly was!

Synopsis - Juan (or Juanita to the old lady upstairs) is a slacker trying to rebuild trust with his daughter, who is planning to leave him and move to Spain to stay with her mother.  Juan's best buddy Lazaro is also trying to reconnect with his son.  Both buddies begin to notice that the locals are going a bit crazy, killing people and eating their flesh!  Also, the recently deceased appear to be coming back to life.  On the television, Castro's Government claim that the zombies are dissidents revolting against the country with support from the USA.  Juan sees an opportunity and starts a business to profit from killing the zombies - "Juan of the dead, we kill your loved ones!"  But in doing so, he and his team of misfits soon find themselves at risk.

Firstly, we didn't expect a great deal from a low budget zombie flick filmed in Cuba, but we were wrong.  It was funny, imaginative and well acted.  Some basic understanding of recent Cuban political life could be helpful to appreciate some of the comedy pathos (references to the 'special period' for example).  But its not really necessary and the majority of the laughs come from sight gags, including one hilarious scene between Juan and Lazaro on a rooftop at night, which left all of us with sore jaws from laughing so much!  I had hoped that Juan might steal the yacht from the Museum of the Revolution at the end of the film and use that to escape, but I appreciate that option might not have played too well with the current administration :)

Overall, a solid little comedy horror flick with some excellent effects for its budget and some memorable visuals.  In particular, the mass zombie slaughter in Revolution Square and the underwater zombie scenes are both pretty special - with the latter reminding me of the 'lost' footage and related posters for Zombie Flesh Eaters.  Nice to actually see how such a scene works in practice.  If you enjoyed Shaun of the Dead, this little gem is an extremely pleasant surprise and comes highly recommended.  The soundtrack is also fabulous.

Aberlour 10 Year Old

Well.  For a number of years now the Aberlour 10 year old has been a staple of my whisky cupboard.  A go to mid-week whisky.  A session whisky and an affordable one at that.  For £20 a bottle, there was nothing at all to complain about.  It tasted yummy (sweet sherry and honey, balanced out by Cointreau oranges and a bit of white pepper).  Pretty sophisticated stuff given the price point.

Alas, the last bottling I purchased was simply dire.  A strong sulphur note now commands the nose and palate - and while sulphur can certainly make a whisky, it actually breaks this one.  My mate Kev bought a bottle a few weeks later and came to the same conclusion.  Bummer.  Luckily, he was also able to locate an older bottling for a side by side comparison.  And its clear that our initial thoughts are sound - the balance has changed.  Real shame.  Hope this is a short-term issue.  It would be a shame if we couldn't enjoy this affordable dram in the years to come.