Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Whiskey Wednesday: Olympic Whisky

Did you know that Laphroaig, that lovely, peaty, medicinal single malt Scotch, is the official Scotch of the United States Curling Association? Curling is of course, a rather strange Olympic event that involves teams competing on what appears to be a shuffleboard course covered in ice using brooms to furiously sweep around something that looks like a teapot. Curling was invented in Scotland, so the Scotch connection is clear, though I have to say it seems odd for an American association to have an official Scotch. I'm guessing that the British Curling Association does not have an official Bourbon. Of course, Laphroaig is owned by Beam Global, an American corporation, which may explain it.

Curling has been an official Olympic event since 1998 and is typically dominated by Switzerland, Norway and Canada. The US won its first curling medal, a bronze in men's curling, at Torino in 2006. It has developed what has been called a cult following in the US; I tried to watch some and its like watching, well, shuffleboard.

So far, the Laprhoaig does not seem to have helped the US teams, but at least they'll have good whisky.

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