Scotch Night II

We have started an official Scotch Club here where people are paying dues and everything. About 20 members all pitched in and Ben went shopping on his way home from recruiting in Boston. He brought back a great assortment of the four Scotches seen below:

From left to right: Jura 16 year, Glenrothes 1985, Dalwhinnie 15, Balblair 1990

Robb was kind enough to host the first night and everybody came through with some yummy bits. After researching scotch pairings I stumbled apon mention of black pepper ice cream... Oh and look I just happened to bring my ice cream maker! The hardest part was finding some rock salt. Here it is post crank, and man was it tasty with some scotch!

There was no clear favorite and there was even a last minute addition from Leon of some of his home made scotch. The amazing thing is that it did pretty well and its claim to fame was that no one poured it out! (unlike one of its more costly brothers). It was pretty low key blind tasting with everyone tasting to find their personal fave and then savoring a glass with great company. My fave was the Glenrothes but I was pouring so I might have been brain washed by the hefty price tag. 

We did another tasting a week later to try to get the guys that missed the first one. This time Leon and Elaine hosted and we were a bit more organized and had a totaling of points to pick a winner... which I can't even remember but I think it was the Balblair. This time my picks were completely different than the second tasting which brought up a discussion about the order of tasting affecting the outcome. To be honest, I don't think there was a scotch that compared with the first night but we still had fun and I can say I tasted a scotch bottled in 1985. The surprise was Leon's new batch of scotch. He let it spend some time on charcoal to mellow and it got third! Ahead of the $150 bottle of Glenrothes. Either we suck a tasting scotch or there is some serious hype about the age of scotch. Maybe I just need more practice! Who cares, nice work Leon!

 

Whiskey Night Results!

Last night I invited some of the guys over for a whiskey/scotch tasting. Mark came up with the idea of all of us purchasing a nice bottle on our way back into the country and then getting together to share them. There were seven of us and 10 bottles. Seemed like a good idea at the time! Here is the lineup:

1st row from left to right: Ardbeg 10year, The Balviene Golden Cask 14 year, Highland Park 1990, Glenfidich Rich Oak 14 year, Glengoyne 10 year, The Balviene Double Wood 12 year
2nd row from left to right: Johnnie Walker Black Label, Glenlivet 12 year, The Glenfiddich 12 year, Dewars 12 year.

This is a shot of the boys checking out the bottles. If I would have covered up the bottles and asked what you thought they were looking at...

The whole group moving on the the second discussing the finer flavors that were experienced on the last. The looks are sober but they would not stay that way for long! We quickly realized 10 bottles was way too much... but we weren't stopping yet!

This was a great night and the conversation was magic. College reminiscing, loss of our scotch virginity, Rob making verbal love to Siri and of course the constant barrage of witty banter. We will be repeating this event in the future with more guys and less bottles! After getting through 8 bottles we ranked our favorites and tallied. The top three were then blind tasted to pick the winner. The top three from first to third were: The Belviene Golden Cask, The Glenfiddich Rich Oak and the Highland Park 1990.

Looking over our tasting notes is pure comedy! there is a general degrading of sophistication of prose and neatness of handwriting as the evening wore on. Here are a few choice tidbits from the evening:

Balviene Golden Cask: "Frisky"

Glenfiddich Rich Oak: "Makes me want to swallow"

Glengoyne: "Nice Back", "Reckless beginnings, bitter end"

Ardbeg: "Punch in the teeth" "Peat train"

Highland Park: "Smooth, building to a crescendo"

Black Label: "I just drank this and I can't remember it"

Balviene Doublewood: "Sugary and playful, but may bite when provoked. Homeostatic and predictable, which is fun"

Dewars: "Bitey"

In conclusion: if you want a smooth drinking, subtle but interesting scotch go with the Glenfiddich Rich Oak. If you want something more complex, something that will make you stand up and take notice but is not harsh buy the Balviene Golden Cask. If you want good bang for the buck the your best bet is the Balviene Double Wood (5th place behind the 4th place Ardbeg) not as smooth as its big brother but just as interesting.