Mr. Ralph has always loved a good single malt Scotch. Straight up. Neat. No ice, no water, no soda. Mix mine with soda and a lemon twist ... although I prefer red wine. Later in life, he further developed his taste. Oban was his favorite.
While leading Biamp Systems to great success, he made a point of making sales calls with each of his Regional Managers. Ian, his European manager, planned a great trip through several countries. His FIRST ever trip to Scotland! Complete with a tour of a distillery and a Scotch tasting. His heritage is Scottish so he was excited.
Unfortunately, he left the USA with the remnants of a sinus infection and his third course of treatment. Each day of the trip he became sicker and sicker. So sick he stopped emailing me every day. So sick that Ian finally took him to a Dr in England. Who took him off the sulfa drug and told him to do nothing for the next 4-5 days. He missed his sales calls and he missed the Scotch experience. He thought he was going to die.
It turns out that he was allergic to sulfa! That was the first and only time he was sick while on the road. Thank goodness.
On a happy note, last year while we were in Oregon we decided to host a blind Scotch tasting party. He chose one single malt scotch from each of the regions of Scotland (he loved doing research). We found a Celtic store in Portland and bought a few authentic food items (I do not recommend cooking or eating haggis)(but we did). Some music, a flag, etc. We bought two bottles of each Scotch thinking one would be for the small tastes and the other for those who would then want a small glass.
Needless to say, we had one whole case of Scotch that never got opened. So we held another blind tasting party for another group of 20!
P.S. He always chose Oban as his favorite!
What a shame that he missed the Scottish arm of his trip! If you still have scotch left over from the party you could open a bottle each sadiversary and have a toasting ceremony.
ReplyDeleteAnd this past summer we were hoping to have a vacation in Scotland through Road Scholars. Oh well. ALL of his friends always have a toast to him when they drink a single malt!
ReplyDeleteDuring his brief retirement, he would indulge with a short taste more frequently. When he became terminal, he would imbibe a bit more ... with a bite of chocolate and his toast was "tonight's the night" thinking it would be his last. Especially our Maui friends have heard the "tonight's the night" comment so often! He was just so ready ...