Well, I’m fifteen pages into Stormbreak, it’s going almost exactly to plan, and I’m taking a bit of a break. In celebration of the fact that my current rate of work, I’ll be be finished with a few days to spare, I have opened the Bushmills 12.

You have to understand – this is my favourite whiskey. It has the smoothness of the Bushmills 16, but balances the vanilla and citrus notes that mark Bushmills out a bit better than the 16, which sometimes looses them in it’s sweeter, port-influenced flavour. But with that, the 12 also has the sherry warmth and spice in the aftertaste that you find in one of my other favourites, the Glenfiddich 15.

For the last year and more, I have had an unopened bottle of the stuff. I have not opened it because whiskey doesn’t keep as well, once it’s been opened – it starts to oxidize a bit, and you loose some of the subtler notes. Not a problem for cheap, everyday stuff, but the really good stuff should be drunk in a few months.

And the reason I am more careful with my supplies of the 12 year old is that you can only buy it from the distillery shop. But I bought another bottle last time I was there, so that’s OK.

Like I said: Y’gotta treat yourself.