Read stories about Drink & Arts of A Wardrobe of Whisky blog.

America, early 1900′s. The era of the cowboy is coming to an end.

When federal agents threaten his family, former outlaw John Marston is sent across the American frontier to help bring the rule of law. Experience intense gun battles, dramatic train robberies, bounty hunting and duels during a time of violent change.

Red Dead Redemption is an epic battle for survival in a beautiful open world as John Marston struggles to bury his blood-stained past, one man at a time.

I have spent most of July playing the game and I have enjoyed it so much that I have had barely time to write anything for the blog. The music, the history, the graphics everything is great and they even have bourbon! If you want to spend a fortnight connected to your Xbox 360 or you PS3 go and grab this game. It is a must-have.

Buy Red Dead Redemption at Amazon.co.uk

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Woman figure at window is one of the earliest works of the famous Spanish painter.

The Picture

The model was Ana Maria, Dali’s younger sister and only sibling. For a long time Dali and Ana Maria were extremely close, especially after their mother’s death, when Ana Maria took on the role of mother to the demanding Dali. Ana Maria was the only female model Dali used until Gala replaced her in 1929.

In 1949, Ana Maria wrote an autobiography that portrayed a very different view of Dali to the one he had carefully constructed in his autobiographies; this led to the collapse of their relationship. In revenge for Ana Maria’s disloyalty, Dali painted another version of this Figure at a Window in 1954 and called it Young Virgin Autosodomized by her Own Chastity.

As with Seated Girl Seen from the Rear, we can not see the face of the girl and so our focus is drawn to the view that she is looking at from her window. The view is the bay of Cadaques, a Spanish seaside town where the Dalis spent their summers. The predominant colors of light blues and lavenders give the painting a peaceful feel that is unusual in much of Dali’s work.

The dram: Laphroaig Quarter Cask

Can you smell the seaweed? Don’t you see the waves dying against the rocks? Smell, Look. It’s smells of Laphroaig.
A vibrant young Laphroaig whose maturation has been speeded up by ageing in Quarter Casks. This shows soft sweetness and a velvety feel when first tasted, then the intense peatiness so unique to Laphroaig comes bursting through. A really terrific whisky and great value.

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In the name of truth… In the name of justice… In the name of love.

The movie

A small time thief from Belfast, Gerry Conlon, is falsely implicated in the IRA bombing of a pub that kills several people while he is in London. Bullied by the British police, he and four of his friends are coerced into confessing their guilt. Gerry’s father and other relatives in London are also implicated in the crime. He spends 15 years in prison with his father trying to prove his innocence with the help of a British attorney, Gareth Peirce. Based on a true story

The dram: Cooley’s Connemara

Thought peat was all about Islay? Think (or perhaps that should be ‘drink’) again. All Islay fans owe it to themselves to check out Connemara from the splendid Cooley distillery.

I found specially good the Connemara Single Cask.
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The Kiss is a discreet expression of Klimt’s emphasis on eroticism and the liberation therein.

The picture

The Kiss (original Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt, and is probably his most famous work. He began work on it in 1907 and it is the highpoint of his so-called ‘Golden Period’. It depicts a couple, in various shades of gold and symbols, sharing a kiss against a bronze background.

When he painted The Kiss Klimt was 45 and still lived at home with his mother and two unmarried sisters – but behind the respectable facade he was a man with a ferocious sexual appetite. Klimt fathered at least three illegitimate children and probably many more. He was obsessed by women and he had a fixation with redheads. It is no surprise that the woman in The Kiss has red hair. According to writer Frank Whitford: “Together the man and the woman form the shape of a penis and I think that is intentional – it’s about sex and about the fulfillment of sex between a man and a woman.”

The Dram: Compass Box The Spice Tree

Compass Box’s delicious Spice Tree was briefly illegitimate, according to SWA regulations. After adjusting it’s creation, Spice Tree is back, and better than ever. It’s a blended malt made from Highland malt whiskies, aged in specially made casks with new French oak heads.

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If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you’re already dead!

The movie

Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius.
Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death.

The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies.
The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.

The dram: Aberlour A’bunadh

A really great dram at a very reasonable price for cask-strength whisky of this exceptional quality.

Aberlour a’bunadh is hugely sherried and intensely flavoured: a whisky to cherish.

Looking at the glass this whisky remind me of the barley fields, of the grapes and raisins drying under the sun, of the dark bodegas at Jerez. It’s a powerful dram that can light even darkest places.

Smelling it is like swimming in nuts, honey, sherry and flowers. Something that transcends the drink itself…

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India set two mankind milestones for sex and whisky: Kamasutra and Amrut.

The book about sex and love

The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by V?tsy?yana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses. “K?ma” which is one of the three goals of Hindu life, means sensual or sexual pleasure, and “s?tra” literally means a thread or line that holds things together, and more metaphorically refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual.

Contrary to popular perception, especially in the western world; Kama sutra is not an exclusive sex manual, it presents itself as a guide to a virtuous and gracious living that discusses the nature of love, family life and other aspects pertaining to pleasure oriented faculties of human life.

The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most notable of a group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra. Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or “Discipline of Kama” is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva’s doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind.

The dram: Amrut

According to Indian Mythology, when Gods and Rakshasas – the demons – churned the oceans using the mountain Meru as churner, a golden pot sprang out containing the Elixir of Life. hat was called the “Amrut”.

Amrut Single Malt Whisky is a product of many years research to produce whiskies matching world standards.
This whisky is made from selected Indian barley grown at the feet of the Himalayas, nurtured by the waters flowing there and cultivated by old and traditional agricultural practices.

It is carefully mashed and distilled in small batches to preserve the natural aroma and matured in oak barrels in a unique tropical condition,at an altitude of 3,000 feet above sea level at Bangalore, the garden city of India.To retain the natural characteristics of this oak aged Indian Malt Whisky, we do not chill filter, some haze may therefore be noticed in the product.

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Paris Saint-Lazare is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris. It is the second busiest in Paris, behind the Gare du Nord.

The picture

Claude Monet (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting.

In 1877, painter Claude Monet rented a studio near the Gare Saint Lazare.

That same year he exhibited seven paintings of the railway station in an impressionist painting exhibition. He completed 11 paintings of this subject.

The dram: Adrbeg Supernova

Argh! See that smoke! See those trains! Doesn’t it smells like Ardbeg?!

Quite possibly the most exciting new whisky release for 2010!
This is the brand new Supernova, stronger, more pungent in flavour, and more earthy than last year’s Supernova – which Jim Murray rated with 97 points, heralding it as the “Scotch Whisky of the Year”.

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The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai

The picture

An example of ukiyo-e art, it was published sometime between 1830 and 1833, during the Edo Period, as the first in Hokusai’s series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, and is his most famous work.

This particular woodblock is one of the most recognized works of Japanese art in the world.

It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats near the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa. While sometimes assumed to be a tsunami, the wave is, as the picture’s title notes, more likely to be a large okinami lit. “wave of the open sea.”
As in all the prints in the series, it depicts the area around Mount Fuji under particular conditions, and the mountain itself appears in the background.

The dram: Nikka Yoichi 10 years old

A Nikka Yoichi 10 years old fits best. Yoichi is a peated sweet and spicy Japanese whisky. This bold and distinctive single malt whisky was distilled and matured at the Yoichi distillery in Hokkaido, birthplace of Nikka Whisky. The Yoichi distillery continues to adhere to techniques such as the use of coal-fired pot stills, and otherwise remains loyal to the whisky-making traditions dating back to its foundation.

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Paul Newman made a lot of money in The Color of the Money selling Wild Turkey.

The Movie

In The Color of the Money, Paul Newman, a pool hustler Eddie Felson finds the young, promising pool player Vincent, Tom Cruise, in a local bar and he sees in him a younger version of himself.
To try and make it as in the old days, Eddie offers to teach Vincent how to be a hustler.
After some hesitations Vincent accepts and Eddie takes him and Vincent’s girlfriend Carmen on a tour through the country to work the pool halls.
However, Vincent’s tendency to show off his talent and by doing so warning off the players and losing money, soon leads to a confrontation with Eddie.

The dram: Buffalo Trace George T Stagg

In the film Newman shows off about making money selling the awesome Wild Turkey. What car would he have been driven if he would have known about George T Stagg?

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I have been watching The King’s Speech. It is a really good film, the future king ( Colin Firth ) and his speech therapist ( Geoffrey Rush ) play both of them a great role. In case you don’t know, King George VI, who, to overcome his stutter, is introduced to Lionel Logue, an unorthodox Australian speech therapist. The two men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates, the new king relies on Logue to help him make a radio broadcast at the beginning of World War II.

While watching the film and seeing George V who was the king that granted a royal warrant to Johnnie Walker to supply whisky to the royal family. I was thinking about my lone bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

Have you tried the George V edition? Is it different to the standard version?

Master of Malt has a sample of it for £19.95 but I don’t feel like paying that for a 3cl of a whisky that may be identical to a full bottle that I have opened. Looks so much like a marketing goal…

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