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Water is supercool

Water is a radical nonconformist—differing from other liquids in dozens of ways. Most famous among water's peculiarities is its density at low temperatures. While other liquids contract and get denser as they cool toward their freezing points, water stops contracting and starts to expand. That's why ice floats and frozen pipes burst.


Water gets even weirder at colder temperatures, where it can exist as a liquid in a supercooled state well below its ordinary freezing point. Recent evidence suggests that supercooled water splits its personality into two distinct phases—another oddity unseen in other liquids. And at –63 degrees Celsius, supercooled water's weird behavior returns to "normal."

Bruichladdich, 12yo

It was a long search after I found a piece of the Laddy, but finally I could obtain a bottle of the 12yo edition whisky. Often compared to its Islay neighbour Bowmore, it has the same characteristics as being a soft introduction into the Islay world.


Matured beside the Atlantic, the whisky is bottled in Islay’s only bottling hall - 100% naturally - free from chill-filtration, colouring, and homogenisation. Bruichladdich is known as The Sophisticated Islay, and made from an unusual marriage of manual C19 equipment, inspirational distillery design and pre-industrial distilling techniques. In fact, Bruichladdich does not use any computers or automated processes used in the production of their whisky. The original Victorian machinery, painstakingly restored over six months, is still used today. Islay water, filtered through the oldest rocks in the whisky world, is used to reduce from cask to bottling strength of 46%.


The nose : slightly sweet, toffee, is that a hint of peat ?
The taste : "I like Bowmore better" was my thought after the first sip, but that's giving Bruichladdich way too less credit. Fruity : pears and apples, but not too sweet either. Toffee again, some maltiness. Complex too.


It took me some weeks to come to a definitive tasting note, but I have come to find Bruichladdich being a great whisky. Made it to my top 3, which is a remarkable achievement.

Gothic Festival 2008

Yay ! Gothic Festival 2008 @Waregem, July 25-27th.


ANNE CLARK
Suicide Commando
Absolute Body Control
Combichrist
The Neon Judgement
[:SITD:]
In Slaughter Natives
Sonar


and many more...
You'll know where to find me end of July !

Chronology of pi

The chronology of pi is an overview of the pre- and post-computer attempts of obtaining the accuracy of the number pi (currently at 206158430000 digits).

Lustige lezers

Man bijt hond, rubriek Lustige lezers.


Zo sublieme TV als dit was met Wim Helsen en Adriaan Van Den Hoof, zo genant slecht is dit met Urbanus en Bruno Vandenbroecke.

IP spotting

How interesting is your IP address ? IPspotting is a site which converts your IP address to different forms (barcode, color, Unix date, ...) and assigns a score to it (mine's 29).

Tast Toe !

Nadat mijn laatste whisky aankoop nogal teleurstellend was, ben ik toch maar eens op zoek gegaan naar een andere whisky winkel. De Carrefour was een handige tijdelijke oplossing nadat Terclavers verdween uit Leuven, maar na een tijdje ben je wel uitgekeken uit hun hoofdzakelijke (en beperkte !) Islay assortiment.


Tast Toe is een prachtige winkel aan Kampenhout Sas (perfect gelegen !) die een uiterst uitgebreid aanbod heeft van single malt Scotch. In het prachtige houten interieur liggen werkelijk honderden whiskies als veelkleurige sieraden uitgestald. Vele special editions ook, al liggen die met hun prijzen tot 500 Euro buiten mijn prijsbereik. Lang geleden dat ik me nog eens als een kind in een snoepwinkel voelde :)


Ik kocht de Tullamore Dew (al lang geleden - ben benieuwd hoe ik 'em nog vind na al dat Islay geweld), en de Bruichladdich 12yo. Binnenkort een verslagje van deze laatste.