“I’m glad I’m taking my test on Wednesday and not on Friday,” Madeline inserted into the Monday night dinner conversation with an unusual seriousness.

“Why is that?” Momma asked her.

“Because I can be frantic now and not later.”

“What do you mean, honey?”

“Well, everyone else is taking the test on Friday. I have to take it Wednesday. I can be all crazy and worried now, and when everyone else is frantic, I’ll be done.”

I don’t remember if Jennifer and I actually looked at each other or not, but I’ll bet we were of the same mind, that is, Madeline stumped us. Neither of us could figure out the character of the comment. Was it optimistic or pessimistic, positive or negative? I think I have decided to simply err on the side of optimism because Maddy is almost always positive. That’s one thing I love about her. In fact, Jen and I have a running joke. We tell each other that when it comes to living, we only go on for Madeline.

But isn’t this supposed to be a review of the Ardmore Traditional Cask? What does this have to do with whisky? Well, nothing. I’m probably stumping you. But just know that part of my effort here is to err on the side of making sure that some folks can officially enjoy this now because I talked about what they thought I should talk about.

What I mean is this…

I started keeping the Angelsportion blog in 2012. I keep the blog because I like to write. I keep the blog because I like theology. I keep the blog because I like poetry. I keep the blog because I like Scotch whisky. Notice that each one of the preceding sentences began with “I keep the blog” and then it continued by communicating the purpose of the keeping as it is connected to the things “I like.” And I’m guessing that since Angelsportion.com continues to gather steam, managed to acquire well over 20,000 hits in its first year, continues to add followers, and can now, with pride, lift its head as having held places of prestige (without solicitation) between the covers of international publications, it must be then that what I like to write is also somewhat entertaining for others, and maybe even worth the effort. I do not promote drunkenness within its confines nor have I allowed such comments in the margins. I have entertained conversations with folks who struggle with the whole pastor/whisky thing, but in the end, I really don’t have an answer for them except to say that I know some really good books on the theology of Pietism and that I would be happy to share them. I’m sure that after a few pages, the reader very well may find himself setting the book down, getting into the car, driving to the liquor store, buying a bottle of a whisky that may even have been reviewed and recommended on this site, popping the cork, acknowledging pietism as a heretical tendency of the “Old Adam” within us, and then picking up the book and finishing.

Being a pastor is not easy. I typically do not prefer to whine about this, but you should know that it is possible to bruise your pastor when you impose upon him as biblical those things which are foreign to the Holy Scriptures. I hope that this will not be received as a contentious way of teaching the reality, but I also hope that with a little bit of understanding and a generously oversized pillow over the face of the pietist within all of us, folks will behold my writing for what it is — incredibly therapeutic for a man… yes, a man… who serves his Lord and the flock that Lord has given to him, day and night, as best as he is able, through what are quite often very long and difficult days. And the blog (which in my mind is a proper celebration of so many good gifts from God), again, as shocking as it may be, actually helps to fight the “Old Adam” by providing a precise release from tendencies toward particular prayers.

And now, one final point before getting to the actual review, and this point is to be made in two parts. First, most of my regular readers may still be stumped. “You show pictures of your family and talk about the kids in so many of your posts,” they would say. They would be right. This is true. But you had to read the posts to know this, didn’t you? You have to read the posts… Second, it sometimes feels like others probably know more details about my family life and kids than I do since I am so busy ministering to everyone else and rarely even around. Again, I don’t normally dwell on such topics, but please know that I will share what I can and I will try not to dwell in any unnecessary guilt that has been stirred.

The Ardmore Traditional Cask, well, it is nothing special. I suppose that at around $35, I shouldn’t have expected much more.

The nose is gentle. It offers a little bit of peat and a slight sense of something doughy. The palate tiptoes in the same fashion, not standing out, just kind of being there. You’ll get a little bit more of the peat smoke, but it is by no means overwhelming. In fact, it may even be that it helps to enhance what could have been a lost sense of lingering spice and oak. The finish is short, and that is probably a good thing because there is a slight bitterness to the spice on the way out.

Well, that’s it. I don’t want to go overboard and end by talking about something I like and I don’t have any photos of the family nearby, so here’s a picture of a water buffalo. I mean, who doesn’t like water buffalo, right?