The other day, the Seven Grand Whiskey Society held a tasting with Andie Brokaw of Heaven Hill Distilleries, who brought along four bottled in bond bourbons and went in some depth about the whiskey history and the make up of the various mash bills. Sprinkled in between the education, we did some drinking…
Last night, the Seven Grand Whiskey Society were treated to a presentation of Gordon & MacPhail and some of its whiskys with Keeper of the Quaich Derek Hancock.
I left the event amused and slightly buzzed. It was fun. In total, we tasted 8 whiskys.
Yesterday, we joined the Seven Grand Whiskey Society on a field trip to Greenbar Collective, where they make organic booze.
Here are some iPhone pics that I took…
Last night, the members and guests of the Seven Grand Whiskey Society were treated to a tasting of the current Isle of Arran range. Specifically, the 10 year old, the award-winning 14 year old, the Amarone finish, the Sauternes finish, and the Port finish, in that order.
I gave these whiskies grades in the B/B- range (Good). However, the stand outs for me were the the 14 year old and the Sauternes Cask finish, with the latter being my favorite.
On the nose, the Arran Sauternes Cask finish had hints of freshly-sliced red apples and almond jello. A bit candle waxy. Still, it’s perfume. Tasting it neat, I could see myself enjoying this much more often in the Spring time. It’s crisp and sweet. Oddly, I am reminded of glazed donuts or maple bars. The finish is medium in length, and not hot at all. Solid B. I’d buy a bottle of it.
Cheers!
PT
Link:
The Arran Malt
Last night, I attended a fun and educational Scotch tasting with The Balvenie Malt Master, David Stewart, and highly-entertaining Balvenie Global Ambassador, Dr. Whisky aka Sam Simmons (he’s got jokes!).
We tasted some fine Speyside whiskies, including The Balvenie 12 year old Double Wood (in a refreshing Seven Grand Whiskey Society Welcome Punch), the newly-released 17 year old Double Wood, the majestic 30 year old, and the crowd-pleasing Tun 1401. I found them all to be pretty delicious!
The real treat, however (at least for me anyways), was being in the presence of and listening to Mr. Stewart tell us about his 50 (!!!) year story in the whisky business. Specifically, during that time, he pioneered a bunch of stuff, most notably developing two cask maturation (the concept of first aging whisky in traditional oak casks, and then finishing it in another type of cask, like those that once contained sherry or port), being the first to apply the Solera process to single malt, and even inventing the internet. Yeah, this guy is Legend.
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