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It is not unusual these days to be offered a choice
of two or three different malts at a private social gathering,
or if your host prides himself on being a connoisseur, perhaps
as many as half a dozen. But visit the Megginson's Normandy home,
to the west of Paris, and you could find yourself having to settle
on one of 160 or more premier whiskies.
Hugh Megginson has been collecting malt whisky since
the early 1980s, his initial interest stimulated by the bargains
to be found on cross-Channel ferries. Indeed it was on a trip
from Roscoff to Cork that he discovered Aberlour 100% Proof, the
first cask whisky he had come across. Now he has more than 150
Scotch whiskies (plus a few bottles of Irish and American), the
product of some 90 Caledonian distilleries.
Hugh's passion for whisky is shared with a love
of France. He moved there in 1972 and has a French wife, Azar.
His work is in computers, useful when it comes to keeping tabs
on his expanding whisky collection. The serried ranks of bottles
are lodged in Hugh's study, where they fight for space with his
books, desk and the inevitable computer.
He buys around 30-40 bottles a year, acquiring new
expressions that interest him and replacing old favourites. The
latter is important because what is remarkable about Hugh's collection
is not just the number of bottles but the fact that they have
all been tasted, and his findings meticulously recorded. And not
just the once. Hugh revisits his whiskies regularly, partly of
course for the pure pleasure of drinking a fine Scotch (as well
as the occasional Irish and American whiskey, it must be said),
but also to reassess his original observations. "Sometimes
when you taste a whisky for the first time you think, what's all
the fuss about? The second or third time, it can reveal more depth,
more character."
His objective is "to get to know as wide a
collection of whiskies as I can". As well as compiling individual
tasting notes, Hugh categorises each whisky (or whiskey) in terms
of its style; though, as he freely acknowledges, this too is a
matter of personal taste: Apéritif; Digestif; Cordial;
Table; Dessert; and Veillée (a companionable tipple for
evenings at home). Here his expertise with computers is almost
as valuable as his nosing skills.
Hugh likens getting to know a whisky to meeting
people: "It takes time to get to know some, with others you're
bosom buddies from first acquaintance." He buys a lot of
his "new acquaintances" from La Maison du Whisky in
Paris (20 rue d'Anjou) - an essential stopping-off place for any
whisky enthusiast visiting the French capital. Other whiskies
he tracks down via the experts, or by surfing websites such as
Aberlour's.
There is nothing stuffy or arcane about the Megginson
collection. Hugh cheerfully shares his enthusiasm and knowledge
with friends, though not yet with his wife, for whom whisky remains
a taste to be acquired. It was his father who first alerted him
to the delights of malt whisky and, as he proudly points out,
he comes of Scottish blood. Impeccable credentials, then. As for
the collecting habit, like a "guid maut", it matures
with age.
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