In long-term care facilities, up to 50 percent of seniors may suffer from malnutrition. This leads to increased risk for illness, frailty and falls. So one business is now offering seniors the option to get the healthy, affordable food they need and remain in their homes.
No-Age-Statement Scotches Worth Losing Track of Time Over You don’t have to choose your Scotch by the numbers. Increasingly, distillers are dispensing with age statements and focusing on the many other factors that make their spirits sing
By
ELIZABETH G. DUNN
IN SCOTCH AISLES across the country, a reformation is quietly under way. Among the stolid contingent of age-emblazoned single-malts—the Glenlivet 12, the Macallan 15, Talisker 18—a mysterious new crowd is creeping in, and their labels are defiantly numeral-free.
For decades, the Scotch industry has marketed its single malts with the prominent use of age statements—that number on the bottle that, by law, represents the youngest whisky therein. Now, more and more distillers are omitting the information entirely from their new releases, unshackling themselves from the constraints that those numbers impose.
In the past year alone, the Glenlivet and the Macallan as well as Laphroaig, Highland Park, Glennglassough, Bowmore, Auchentoshan, Mortlach and Oban have all added bottles without age statements to their core product lines in the U.S. Globally, the Macallan is leading the charge, replacing its 10-, 12- and 15-year stalwarts in some markets with the 1824 Series, a quartet of bottlings differentiated by the whisky’s color (as well as its price). The Glenlivet, in addition to its two new non-age-declared offerings in the U.S., recently unveiled an expression called Founder’s Reserve to the U.K. and Germany; it is reportedly being teed up to replace the distillery’s benchmark 12-year-old.
Although distillers spin the move away from age declarations as “innovation,” skeptics have been quick to suss out the pragmatism at play. The growing global thirst for whisky has left the Scotch industry struggling to keep up with demand, especially when it comes to older liquids, and age statements can leave distillers with their hands tied, unable to produce a given bottling without a sufficient quantity of whisky that has met the particular age hurdle. Removing the numbers might allow a blender to combine, say, 8- or 9-year-old whisky with a small quantity of a much older one to approximate the taste of a 12-year-old expression.
‘While a number might be reassuring, age is an imprecise measure of quality.’
So after years of cultivating an almost pathological obsession with age among Scotch drinkers, distillers have begun to backpedal, emphasizing other aspects of the process that drive taste and value. “Now the industry has new mantras: It’s all about the quality of the wood used, or it’s all about the master distiller’s secrets,” said Ian Buxton, the Scotch expert and author of “101 Legendary Whiskies.”
Ulterior motives aside, I’m inclined to embrace the proliferation of age-free bottles. After all, age statements started out as nothing more than a marketing gimmick: When single malts were first widely exported in the 1960s (before that all the malt whisky made went into blended Scotch), age was touted in an effort to imply superiority over the blends that consumers were used to.
And while a number might be reassuring, age is an imprecise measure of quality at best. Old whisky matured in poor conditions can be dreadful, while many people argue that a Scotch at just 5 or 6 years old is a truer expression of the malt. There is no particular magic in the 12-, 15- and 18-year age hurdles. “Every cask hits its peak at a slightly different time,” said Gregor Mina, the brand director of Ardbeg, which has had tremendous success with ageless bottlings including Uigeadail and Supernova. “Imagine if you were baking a cake, and it was perfect in 10 minutes. You wouldn’t leave it another 10 minutes to be ‘extra’ perfect.”
Although whisky experts suspect that most age-free releases skew younger than their age-declared counterparts, that’s not necessarily indicative of lower quality, particularly at a time when distillers have more control than ever over blending and aging. “The industry’s scientific understanding of what exactly is happening inside the cask has come on immeasurably in the past 20 years,” said Mr. Buxton. “So there’s better choices of wood now and better management, and that’s having a positive impact on the quality of younger whiskies.”
The bottom line? There are many other factors besides vintage to consider when selecting a Scotch. The flowchart below can guide you to a bottle you’ll enjoy. As Mr. Buxton put it, “If you like the taste, then it’s the right thing for you. Don’t worry so much about age.”
SCOTCH OFF THE CLOCK // A Guide to Finding A No-Age-Statement Bottle That Pleases Your Palate
ENLARGE
PHOTO: F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
ARDBEG UIGEADAIL | 54% ABV, $80
Ardbeg Uigeadail
Intensely flavored and masterfully complex, Uigeadail (pronounced “Oo-ga-dal”) combines the Ardbeg distillery’s trademark smoky character with rich, figgy, spicy qualities from ex-Sherry casks. It’s non-chill-filtered for added body, and bottled at cask strength.
BOWMORE SMALL BATCH RESERVE | 40% ABV, $40
Bowmore Small Batch Reserve
An absolute standout for the price, this expression offers a delicate blend of gentle smoke, sea salt and honey. An ideal introduction to the peaty, smoky whiskies produced in Scotland’s Islay region, it’s relatively light, lively and well balanced.
HIGHLAND PARK DARK ORIGINS | 47% ABV, $80
Highland Park Dark Origins
Named in reference to Highland Park’s founder, the 18th-century moonshiner Magnus Eunson, this whisky gets its mahogany color and rich sweetness from maturation in twice as many first-fill Sherry butts as the standard Highland Park 12-year. Tastes of cigars and chocolate.
OBAN LITTLE BAY | 43% ABV, $75
Oban Little Bay
Some of Oban’s production is blended into Johnny Walker, but this new release makes a strong case for seeing more single malts from one of Scotland’s oldest and smallest distilleries. A smooth and gentle spirit with a mild citrus sweetness and a dry finish.
THE MACALLAN RARE CASK | 43% ABV, $300
The Macallan Rare Cask
Crafted using an exceptionally high proportion of Spanish-oak Sherry casks handpicked from the distillery’s inventory, the Macallan’s new core expression sits near the top of the ageless Scotch category in the U.S. Full bodied but not too sweet; think dried fruit, ginger, lemon peel.
MORTLACH RARE OLD | 43% ABV, $130
Mortlach Rare Old
One of four recent releases from this freshly refurbished Dufftown distillery (known for its exceptionally complex distillation process), Rare Old employs a mixture of Sherry and bourbon casks to produce a malty, mildly herbaceous and very balanced top-shelf spirit.
對於安樂死，黃美芸不置可否：「你自己想啦。」基金會經理在旁補充有愛就可以走下去，黃美芸於是答：「我睇番後生時，生命像是自己前面，好多嘢未做唔想死的；中年都咁想法；到了六七十歲想見孫長大，想看他結婚，但過了八十歲好像我，什麼都見哂，都係要到尾的，那就舒舒服服地走，走就走啦，我已經made my life。」
Problems arise from attempts to describe the ageing population as a single entity because of the huge age range
If everyone from 60 upwards takes action to become fitter, many problems of the 80s and 90s can be prevented. Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Images
I am now one of “the elderly” and I hate it. Not being 70, I hasten to add – I am very glad to be in reasonable health after a life punctuated by polio, acute renal failure and a heart attack, but I hate the term “the elderly”.
Problems result from any attempt to describe the ageing population as a single entity because of the huge age range, from 65 to 105. No one would attempt to generalise from birth to 40, or 40 to 80, so why generalise about “the elderly”?
What groups can we distinguish within this huge age range and how should we refer to them, to us? The use of a single attribute is fraught with danger because people defined by one thing differ from one another in many more ways than they are similar. The image of older people, epitomised in the dreadful road sign, is about health and disability, but poverty is an equally defining feature, so we could talk about older people dependent on social security and those who have other sources of income. Even millionaires, however, have health problems, which become more common as the years increase, not necessarily as a result of biological ageing, but because of disease, much of it preventable, and loss of fitness.
A key concept in distinguishing one subgroup now is frailty, recommended by the British Geriatric Society to be used as a noun rather than the adjective frail. Frailty is not only the presence of multiple conditions, often including dementia, but a state of vulnerability in which rapid deterioration can be triggered by a small event. This group is usually described as being dependent but which of us, of any age, is not dependent on others?
There are older people with frailty, usually in their late 80s or older, and people who are not frail who play a key role in society. If people in their 70s, particularly women, gave up helping their family, friends and neighbours, the NHS would collapse. They could do even more if we realised the potential of their talents and they did not underestimate their ability because of prevailing social attitudes and the exaggeration of the effects of ageing.
Both people with frailty and those without it will eventually join another subgroup – those who are in the last weeks or days of life. There is growing concern about inappropriate treatment in the last weeks of life. This is partly due to the lack of people who have prepared an advance directive or an advanced care plan – a clear statement of what one wishes if the end is near but you are no longer able to communicate or make decisions.
Advertisement
In all this debate, there is one fact that cannot be denied – chronological age. Even if we remember that people of a certain age differ from one another in many more ways than they are similar, generalisations can be made. Let’s celebrate the fact that four out of five people now make it to 70, but they cannot just put on their slippers and coast, they have to take action. If everyone from 60 upwards takes action to become fitter, reduce the risk of disease and reverse the negative stereotypes that pervade society, many of the problems of the 80s and 90s can be prevented or postponed. We can increase healthspan without increasing lifespan but only if we think harder about the different groups within the 40 years from 65 to 105. Down with “the elderly” and up with living well and dying well whatever your age.
![「【特約轉載﹣高錕 夕陽之後】 @[465292153502788:274:場邊故事]
香港人其中一個致命的疾病，死亡人數增幅驚人──不是癌症，不是心臟病，撇除人口老化的因素，這兩種病的死亡人數都下降了，然而增幅依然最高的，是腦退化症（又稱認知障礙，衛生署仍稱痴呆症）。由二零零一年到二零一三年，死亡人數增加接近三倍。
高錕太太黃美芸說：「其實很多腦退化病人會被劃入死於肺炎，因為吞嚥困難，食物誤入氣管引起的肺炎。」肺炎已是香港第二號殺手，死亡人數也在這十多年間增加一倍。
而患上腦退化的諾貝爾物理學獎得主兼前中文大學校長高錕，亦已經步入晚期；擔任高錕善慈善基金主席的黃美芸，開始推廣腦退化病人的晚期照顧，以至臨終關懷。
「腦退化的病人，現在到尾期是插住喉。我在私家醫院見到一個個不能動、不能講、不認得人，個個都是插住鼻喉，護士走來倒奶進喉，一日兩次。我問護士：『咁辛苦？』護士說是家人要求的。」黃美芸很難過：「已經是尾期，沒有尊嚴拖住做什麼？」
她和高錕都一早簽了預設醫療指示，拒絕臨終時的無效醫治，包括鼻喉餵食。二三十年前，高錕的爸爸九十多歲進到醫院，當時高家還不曉得腦退化症，以為爸爸只是老了，不動、不說話。「他見到爸爸這樣，就和醫生說，不要插東西，讓爸爸靜靜走啦。但醫生還是插了：『香港唔可以俾人餓死的。』」黃美芸回憶，為免高爸爸掙扎醫院還把他的手綁住，結果綁了半年：「那半年去看，爸爸都關上眼，不睬人。是生氣？我們也不知道，腦退化本來就是要走，躺了半年生的褥瘡手掌大，見到肉見到骨。你見過就不想這樣。」
黃美芸坦言高錕在二零零三年確診患上腦退化，目前「行得、睡得、食得」，但已經再難以乘坐飛機，她有心理準備他的吞嚥能力未來會出現問題。「食不到，就是第一步，然後逐個器官衰竭。」她希望香港所有腦退化的病人，都可以走得有尊嚴，可以像癌症病人一樣接受舒緩治療（palliative care），更照顧心身靈的需要，而不只是續命。
但很多家人都不捨得病人餓？「你要唔要試吓插只筒進鼻哥？你會唔會覺得好舒服？咁樣要捱一年你肯唔肯？那你就會明白幾辛苦。」她答得非常率直：「那個人唔出得聲唔講得嘢，好辛苦架。佢要走，又插住，拉住，好陰功。」
對於安樂死，黃美芸不置可否：「你自己想啦。」基金會經理在旁補充有愛就可以走下去，黃美芸於是答：「我睇番後生時，生命像是自己前面，好多嘢未做唔想死的；中年都咁想法；到了六七十歲想見孫長大，想看他結婚，但過了八十歲好像我，什麼都見哂，都係要到尾的，那就舒舒服服地走，走就走啦，我已經made my life。」
腦退化的晚期和臨終照顧若然沒有改善，實在難以避免患者和家人感覺生不如死。黃美芸已參觀靈實寧養院等，和一些醫生談過，基金會開始積極研究晚期病人的照顧，希望可以有尊嚴和尊重私隱，支援家人和照顧者懂得放手。
耆智園剛推出手機APP「腦退化一按知」，除了有自我評估、健腦遊戲、減少走失的地圖定位，還有難得的社區資源列表，晚期患者也可以找到一些服務。
腦退化症的相關資訊及照顧技巧：
腦退化一按知手機程式 (Android )
http://bit.ly/1ETpbuF
耆智園網頁
http://bit.ly/1BYbvYi
文： @[264208943713082:274:記者陳曉蕾]
圖：蘋果日報」](https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s600x600/19598_1573582296226813_6584074611551766188_n.jpg?oh=f81a8c1d779eedb14ba43aa4f2363b77&oe=55B693DA&__gda__=1436718389_13656b4640f2758296ee2da93e708721)
