I don’t usually go to the office on a Wednesday, but we had new members of the comms team starting yesterday.
One of them is a former Olympian, so cool! She ran the 400m race in Rio and the relay.
Aside from meeting them, I also needed to collect the first copies of our annual report from the printer. I’ve been part of the team tasked with giving it a makeover and I treated its design and content like a monthly magazine.
It was very exciting to hold it in my hands for the first time and flick through the pages. It gave me that “old days” buzz.
It’s secret squirrel until it’s tabled in parliament but I’ll show it off later in the year.
Being in the office was serendipitous for another reason – I was invited to a function last night that was held literally a few metres away.
So convenient!
Spring is a bit like The Magic Faraway Tree in the drinks world. Every few nights there’s something new to explore as all the spring releases are rolled out.
Last night I tasted a whisky containing a spirit made in my birth year during a masterclass for Japanese whisky distiller Nikka Whisky.
Nikka is celebrating 90 years by releasing a never-before-seen blend made with whiskies from each of the past nine decades.
The Nikka Nine Decades is so rare that less than 100 bottles are for sale in Australia and it will retail for around $3500!
It will also be available by the dram at selected venues, so whisky lovers can experience the
taste without the bottle price tag.
I can confirm after trying it last night at Sake restaurant in The Rocks that it is very delicious.
It is made from more than 50 components from six Nikka-owned distilleries. The oldest whiskies are from the 1940s and 50s, from the original Yoichi distillery. It also has 1960s whiskies from Miyagikyo in Japan and Ben Nevis in Scotland.
The whisky is a tribute to Nikka founder Masataka Taketsuru, the first Japanese person to travel to Scotland and learn the complex techniques involved in Scotch whisky production (he also scored his Scottish wife Rita in the process).
I am fascinated by their love story. She was a 20-year-old widow when they met.
They got married in 1920 and moved to Japan together, where Rita took on a job as an English teacher to support Masataka while he pursued his whisky dream.
They are buried together on a hillside overlooking the Nikka Distillery.
Last night kicked off with yummy Nikka cocktails, followed by fabulous nibbles and a tasting featuring some of the whiskies in the new blend.
I was particularly enamoured with a 34-year-old Ben Nevis. DD was very jelly when I sent him show-off photos.
I made some lovely new friends at the event, although I was a bit annoyed with the bloke who turned up with the biggest man bag I’ve ever seen and plonked it in the middle of the table, obscuring my view of the presentation …
People can be SO weird and self-centric these days. I presume his man bag was too expensive to touch the floor, but get the damn thing a chair if you’re going to sit right up the front in a prime position!
After sipping my final wee dram, I wombled off into the night to catch the bus home and take the dogs for a walk.
Back to the real world!
But I am happy to be taking a short break from climbing The Faraway Tree. My diary is free from drinks events for a week!
Song of the day: Japan “Ghosts”
housegoeshome 
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