Skittle
I bought a skittle last year. A skittle, which is also called “a hip flask”, is a flatly curved, metal bottle for taking whisky outside. The name of a skittle is said to stem from the name of the old game “skittle” in England, which is the origin of a bowling game, as the skittle’s shape resembled the shape of a pin used for the game.
I often take the skittle outside with me in winter. You may regard me as an alcoholic man or a heavy drinker because most of Japanese people do not have such a custom. They usually drink such brew as beer and Japanese sake, which is made from rice and has lower alcohol content. Whisky is distilled spirit of high alcohol content, which is made from malted barley and the other grains. In fact, my wife, who tastes a wine, does not like to drink whisky, saying that it tastes like a medicine. Coming back to the point, I am not suffering from the alcohol abuse. The reason I take the skittle outside is that I only want to sip whisky to get rid of the cold. I recommend this way for you when you are in the cold outside where you cannot find the other way to warm myself. I am sure that whisky will work to warm you up.
Incidentally, you may also think why I do not buy a small grass bottle of whisky. It is as portable as the skittle and is sold in any convenient shop in Japan. There are four reasons that I use the skittle:
Firstly, a grass bottle is more fragile for the use in the outside. A skittle is made from such metals as silver, titanium and stainless. Each metal has a merit and a demerit, however, it is stronger and lighter compared to the grass bottle.
Secondly, a skittle looks better than a grass bottle. Imagine the scene that a friend of yours takes the grass bottle sneakily from his pocket and sips the whisky on a street. Any Japanese people seeing this may regard it a bad habit. On the other hand, if they see him using a skittle, they take him as a cool guy. Of course, this depends on how he looks himself to high degree...
Thirdly, skittles vary in size and design. As I wrote at first, a skittle is used popularly in England, most of famous skittle’s makers such as Pinder Bros and Alchemy Pewter are there. You can have fun to look for your favourite one. My skittle is 6oz and is carved the picture of fly-fishing.
Fourth, this is the most important reason for me. As long as I use the skittle, I can choose my favourite whisky from numerous kinds of big whisky bottles. As the number of small grass bottles of whisky is less, my choice for the whisky is restricted. For my part, I could not find my favourite whiskies, single malt whiskies of Islay in Scotland such as Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Bowmore and so on. These whiskies have the specific taste and flavour of peat*, salt and seaweed. As they have such strong characters, they are called “loud spirit”. Grain malt whiskies which do not have such strong characters are called “silent spirit”. So, at first you may feel awkward to them when tasting one of them. However, if you are once accustomed to the taste, you will love it and feel it lacked something for the grain malt whiskies.
I am fond of taking photographs. I want to take photographs of deserted, atmospheric landscapes in Scotland. Now, I am just toy of thinking of the tour. But, when I belt the Islay single malt whisky in my skittle, I can imagine such landscapes of Scotland, and feel tipsier. In the tour, my favourite skittle has to be in my hip pocket. I cannot part with a skittle.
(NB) * Peat is translated into “mud charcoal” in Japanese. It is an accumulation of decayed plants such as heather, and is used for a fossil fuel to dry malted barley. This gives Islay single malt whiskies a characteristic smoky flavour.
I bought a skittle last year. A skittle, which is also called “a hip flask”, is a flatly curved, metal bottle for taking whisky outside. The name of a skittle is said to stem from the name of the old game “skittle” in England, which is the origin of a bowling game, as the skittle’s shape resembled the shape of a pin used for the game.
I often take the skittle outside with me in winter. You may regard me as an alcoholic man or a heavy drinker because most of Japanese people do not have such a custom. They usually drink such brew as beer and Japanese sake, which is made from rice and has lower alcohol content. Whisky is distilled spirit of high alcohol content, which is made from malted barley and the other grains. In fact, my wife, who tastes a wine, does not like to drink whisky, saying that it tastes like a medicine. Coming back to the point, I am not suffering from the alcohol abuse. The reason I take the skittle outside is that I only want to sip whisky to get rid of the cold. I recommend this way for you when you are in the cold outside where you cannot find the other way to warm myself. I am sure that whisky will work to warm you up.
Incidentally, you may also think why I do not buy a small grass bottle of whisky. It is as portable as the skittle and is sold in any convenient shop in Japan. There are four reasons that I use the skittle:
Firstly, a grass bottle is more fragile for the use in the outside. A skittle is made from such metals as silver, titanium and stainless. Each metal has a merit and a demerit, however, it is stronger and lighter compared to the grass bottle.
Secondly, a skittle looks better than a grass bottle. Imagine the scene that a friend of yours takes the grass bottle sneakily from his pocket and sips the whisky on a street. Any Japanese people seeing this may regard it a bad habit. On the other hand, if they see him using a skittle, they take him as a cool guy. Of course, this depends on how he looks himself to high degree...
Thirdly, skittles vary in size and design. As I wrote at first, a skittle is used popularly in England, most of famous skittle’s makers such as Pinder Bros and Alchemy Pewter are there. You can have fun to look for your favourite one. My skittle is 6oz and is carved the picture of fly-fishing.
Fourth, this is the most important reason for me. As long as I use the skittle, I can choose my favourite whisky from numerous kinds of big whisky bottles. As the number of small grass bottles of whisky is less, my choice for the whisky is restricted. For my part, I could not find my favourite whiskies, single malt whiskies of Islay in Scotland such as Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Bowmore and so on. These whiskies have the specific taste and flavour of peat*, salt and seaweed. As they have such strong characters, they are called “loud spirit”. Grain malt whiskies which do not have such strong characters are called “silent spirit”. So, at first you may feel awkward to them when tasting one of them. However, if you are once accustomed to the taste, you will love it and feel it lacked something for the grain malt whiskies.
I am fond of taking photographs. I want to take photographs of deserted, atmospheric landscapes in Scotland. Now, I am just toy of thinking of the tour. But, when I belt the Islay single malt whisky in my skittle, I can imagine such landscapes of Scotland, and feel tipsier. In the tour, my favourite skittle has to be in my hip pocket. I cannot part with a skittle.
(NB) * Peat is translated into “mud charcoal” in Japanese. It is an accumulation of decayed plants such as heather, and is used for a fossil fuel to dry malted barley. This gives Islay single malt whiskies a characteristic smoky flavour.
