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This episode I am joined by Eamonn Hennessy, owner of Buck Mulligan\\u2019s, a Specialty Irish Whiskey Bar and Bookshop in the heart of Northcote.

Buck Mulligan\\u2019s is a lovely space with a cosy snug as well as a leafy courtyard. There are books for sale as well as some available for borrowing or reading whilst enjoying a drink. Eamonn joined me to share three of his favourite whiskeys and talk about his love of books and of whiskey!

The pairings:

The Irish Whiskey - The Hyde 6 year old single grain aged in bourbon casks. 

The Lord Of The Rings by JRR Tolkien

This epic fantasy tells of a great and perilous quest undertaken to fight evil and to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord himself, and destroy the Ring of Power by casting it into the Cracks of Doom. This is a fabulously complex and yet utterly simple story. It is sweeping in scope and world-building, a whole language was created for this world too - Elvish - and whilst there is a darkness within this story there are so many sweet moments to cherish. It is one of the most satisfying books I have ever read.

Also The Fire Starters by Jan Carson

The Australian Whiskey - Bakery Hill Double Wood

Eamonn chose a Victorian author to pair with this Victorian whiskey ...

Barley Patch by Gerald Murnane

The book begins with the question, 'Must I write?' What follows is both a chronicle of the images that have endured in the author's mind, and an exploration of their nature. The clarity of the images is extraordinary, as is their range, from Mandrake the Magician to the bachelor uncle kicked in the 'stones' as a child, from the country cousin's doll's house to the mysterious woman who lets her hair down, from the soldier beetle who winks messages from God to the racehorses that run forever in the author's mind, beyond the grasslands, to the place where the characters of fiction dwell before they come into existence in books.

The Scottish Whiskey - Laphroaig Quarter Cask

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning, It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. A fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. So of course they soon tumble headfirst into love.

This book is not as dark and gritty as you might expect with this whiskey but it is beautifully descriptive and is a story which lives in the night and the dark and speaks to the chocolate, the cinnamon, to the sweet, mouth-coating and spice flavours and is definitely a story which lingers. 

Also The Fireman by Joe Hill

Eamonn recommends the Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin