Folksy Saints
22 Jun
Folk folk folk. You might think that Scotch Whisky’s natural musical alliance lies with folk music, just as you might imagine bourbon’s does with the blues. I think this is wrong but it isn’t going to stop me folksing it up a bit today. Its yet another gentle sunny day in Glasgow, one of those afternoons where all you want to do is drift in and out of the day on the wings of dreamy acoustic melodies, where the haze of the city and its sounds remain just a distant aural canvas.
Roy Harper there with Forever. Roy Harper is one of those songwriters that you feel has slipped under the radar a little more than they deserve over the years. Many of the musicians and big names love him and know who he is, Led Zeppelin payed him tribute with Hats Off To Roy Harper, yet he remains a somewhat elusive artist in the public consciousness at large. This is a great shame as he has a wealth of dreamy folk music that runs literally right out of his fingertips and into you nervous system, and you don’t even need to be stoned to dig it to the full. Forever is probably my favorite song of Roy’s, there is something about the dreamy, circular perfection of the melody, the way it floats and glides so effortlessly like an echo in water. It is a simple love song but it really is one of the better examples of what folk can be, it overcomes its own potential cliches to be something beautiful in its own right, something standalone. It is, in other words, a perfect sunny afternoon ballad, one to get lost to and dream to, one to snooze or dram quietly over. Speaking of which we need a whisky, one that is summery, but also etherial and elusive, one that engages you in a slightly otherworldly fashion like the song. Also, crucially, one that we could put ice in without being shot by the Nerderati, it is summer after all and whisky has to work hard to be refreshing in the heat. Anyway I’d say Bladnoch.
Bladnoch: more citrus fresh than a bottle of Flash and better value than an all you can drink season ticket to Wetherspoon's.
This is the new 20yo single cask just released by the distillery, leaving aside the fact that, like all their releases, it tears up the rule book on fair pricing, lets focus on what’s in the bottle. It is classic Bladnoch, that is to say, very citrusy, buttery and elegant, grassy fresh and quite ‘lowlandy’ if such a term even exists. It really is a summer dram and it could also take a cube of ice I dare say. I’ve always loved Bladnoch, it feels like the underdog, its one of the few distilleries that manages to produce a distinctive and entertaining whisky without the use of peat or elaborate distillation methods. It could easily go with the next track also but I’ll try and find something else, if for nothing else then to stop myself drifting ever further into the realms of laziness.
I admit a great personal attachment to this song, it was one of my earliest memories of music, hearing my Dad play it on Guitar. I have always loved Borderland by Archie Fisher, it speaks of escape, of travel, of a love for the outdoors, of freedom. Archie sings it with resonance and a profound sense of honesty, you can hear how much the sentiment chimes with him. Its not the hippy tinged dreamscape of Forever but a much more rootsy, down to earth affair. He sings of being old and lost in brooding cities, of crowd given anonymity, he sings about something we can all fall victim to from time to time; the occasional wretchedness of the city. Its a song that resonates deeply with its listener, its just a shame that not many people have heard it. As such we need a whisky with a little more grit, a whisky that packs more of a punch, emotionally as well as texturally.
St Magdalene, a great loss.
St Magdalene is easily one of my favourite distilleries, or maybe I should say whiskies, the distillery is long gone these days, dull flats now standing in its stead. It is not a lowlander in the way we are asked to think of Lowland whiskies these days, as light and refreshing and zippy. It is an austere, dry, beautifully oily and minerally affair, a whisky that carries poignancy and flavour in equal measure. It is also a fitting spirit to accompany the song, its not quite in the Borderlands itself but it isn’t far and the granite like austerity and complexity of the spirit seems to affect the palate in the same way the song affects the ears. They are both meaningful diversions in an otherwise meaningless, lazy sunny day. There are still a few bottlings of St Magdalene kicking about but the Douglas Laing offerings are always consistent and of a high quality, and above all they express the distillery character quite well. So put on Borderland by Archie Fisher and close your eyes with a mouthful of the Saint and let it all carry you away from whatever corner of whatever city you happen to be in.
