‘What’s yer bevvy Jimmy? Black Coke?

If there’s one thing Scots can do its to distill a good whisky, and beer too if you like Belhaven’s.  But there has been a new development in my homeland which is causing me concern – and its going to be stacked on the shelves from Lerwick to Berwick.

This I suspect may be the cause of the Highland Clearances and the mass migration of Scots to Canada and more recently to Pattaya..

While talking to the Englishman on the Scotsman newsdesk yesterday I also checked this on their website.

And there it was ‘Blaand’ produced by  the Isle of Arran Brewery’ – which apparently means ‘Hidden Treasure’.

While it’s called ‘Blaand’ ,  I’m guessing it isn’t because it’s made from sheep’s milk cheese and produced by the creators of the famous ‘Lanark Blue Cheese’. Never heard of it?

Its being produced after a gap of a hundred years or so. This leads me to believe that there was a very good excuse for not producing any more, although the official line is that they ran out of cheese.

Personally I am a ‘Famouse Grouse’ man myself – In Scotland you’d be challenged to find many people drinking Johnny Red or Black. I serve the ‘Benmore’ in a decanter, telling them its an ‘Old Reserve’ only when my guests are vertically, visually and speech challenged.

A form of ‘Blaand’ also used to be drunk by goat herders in the Carpathian Mountains and Vikings, who, along with more recently Shetlands fishermen, took it to sea with them.

Thank god the Vikings only colonised the Shetlands and England and stuck to rape and pillage on the mainland. This could have brought down an Empire. And God knows what they used for toothpaste.’

But what the hell, I’ll give anything a try – just need a Scot to bring me a bottle from his next trip home. Mangus are ye there?

This was a Flying Sporran Drink Advisory.