cosmolinguist | After a stressful week, some much-needed fun

I had such a lovely evening.

diffrentcolours and I had amazing food (poached eggs, asparagus, feta, mint, and smashed avocado on toast for me) and nice beer, followed by a Lib Dem fundraising whisky-tasting evening hosted by Alastair Carmichael.

We tried five whiskies that ranged from okay to amazing (the Ardbeg was unsurprisingly great, but my new discovery was the lovely Glengoyne).

And then came the raffle, whose prizes ran the gamut from the Lib Demmy "free leaflet artwork" to the interesting "day-long photography lessons" to the inevitable "bottle of whisky," the last of which was explained by the person who donated it as rare and special and going for more than a hundred quid right now.

The first winning number was drawn and since it wasn't anyone at our little table we carried on chatting. I was a bit sad I'd never see what the whisky tasted like. But then the person whose number had been chosen announced that she was taking the free artwork, not for herself but for her local party, which was warmly applauded. I'd barely had time to think "wait that means the whisky is still up for grabs?" when Alastair chose my raffle ticket number.

When Iain presented me with my prize, he also announced to the room that I was not only standing as a candidate for the first time, I was also only able to vote for the first time now. Which got a round of applause itself (and embarrassed laughter from me) and, as people were trickling away, a bit of interest and encouragement from people there that I didn't know which was sweet.

So here's a daft picture (click to embiggen) of me with my prize, a bottle of Arran Founders Reserve.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

moem

What a lovely fun goofy picture. Congratulations and enjoy! :-D

miss_s_b

Seconded

strange_complex

Dream evening! Was the Ardbeg you had as part of the tasting the Corryvreckan? 'Cos we had that at the Southport conference tasting, and it was so amazing I have been thinking about it ever since! I've got to find somewhere where I can buy a bottle as an extra-special treat. I hope the bottle you won is as good, and that it proves to be a good omen for your election. :-)

cosmolinguist

D'you know, I could've sworn it was the Corryvreckan but I just checked and it was apparently An Oa, "a new addition to the Ultimate range" according to the tasting notes but I don't know how new that actually makes it. :)

Shake because I was going to say, if it was Corryvreckan, we get a discount on these votokes for the 48 hours after, and I'd have happy shared the secret code. But I love that it's something you're still thinking about weeks later!

po8crg

I've used the Whisky Exchange before and they're good. I've also compared the prices to

cosmolinguist's discounts and they're lower than the discounted prices from the tastings people.

Corryvreckan, An Oa and my personal favourite Uigeadail

To be fair, that discounted price includes a donation to the North West Lib Dems too, maybe that's why it's more.

OK, cheers. I found it a few places online but have been nervous about getting sent a glass bottle through the post. However, my Dad swears it is OK and if you've had good experiences with them too that's another vote in favour.