Can you hear that? Tick, tock, tick tock. It’s the sound of February and the lurching into sight of that modern behemoth St Valentine’s Day. Love it or loathe it you’d better get your skates on because you can bet that your beloved expects something nice on the day. You might get away with a funny card, but as they note in the classic nothing says undying love more clearly than a folded piece of cardboard. Did you know that Saint Valentine is also the patron saint of epilepsy and beekeepers? He was a versatile fellow. And did you know the Orthodox Church celebrates his day for lovers on July 6th, a more appropriate time for romance perhaps than a cold February day, full of wind, cold and dreich? Although I have just seen the most glorious of sunsets, and I hear that the escaped monkey has been recaptured and tranquiliser darted at a bird feeder. He’s re-united with his fellow simians just in time for the mating season.

Now the world of whisky tasting is in a ferment once again as some lovely people in San Francisco have been at it again awarding prizes for the finest Scotch whisky against lots of other kinds of heathen spirits. The winning nectar is a Tomatin 36 Year Old Highland Single Malt. It’s a might pricey for everyday drinking, with a bottle setting you back well over a thousand smackers. Phew! The whisky has won the world award before, so it’s a tribute to the masters who make it and age the gorgeous stuff in an Oloroso sherry barrel to give it depth and flavour. The Tomatin Spey District Distillery was first registered in June 1897, but after a storied history it was first closed in 1985 and then reborn under new Japanese owners almost immediately. And it is these owners who possess the distillery still. There’s a joke in there!

Now I am not suggesting that you give any whisky lover in your life a bottle of Tomatin 36 Year Old Highland Single Malt, but you can give the gift of fine, fine glassware in which to take their whisky in. Take a gander at the lovely half price Kintyre Whisky Tumbler in our British Wildlife series featuring a beautifully engraved stag. It comes in a luxury gift box and you can ask for free gift wrapping at checkout.  It’s just right for that heavenly dram. And only you will know about the half price offer. We won’t tell anyone, will we?

https://www.jamespirie.com/gifts/valentine-s-day-gifts/kintyre-whisky-tumbler-engraved-stag-gift-boxed-new.html