The WOLS Highland Trip Fall 2012

08.28 First Whisky of the Day.
This is how you start a Trip with the Water of Life Society. 
Then it's off tripping. Make sure you don't miss the BRIIIIIDDGE (once you've been with the WOLS you'll know how many of those there are in Scotland).

It's off to the Highlands, passing Dalwhinnie DISTILLERY. 

Where we did not stop but on to the Northern Part of the Highlands to Glenmorangie distillery all the way up (and through) Tain.

The now again 16 men of Tain did provide us with a nice tour around their premises and also a sip of their Whisky. 



Pulling some strings did help to get a taste of one of the flagships of Glenmorangie, the Signet. A chocolate malt whisky which, despite the malt used, does not taste like chocolate.









From there the way was now free for a change in beverage. So we got back down to the Black Isle Brewery, known for their organic beers. 

Interestingly, you never really knew that filtering beer would require Diatomaceous earth in order to keep the paper filters clean.

The Scotch Ale resulting is then shown in a very decorative basket which could have been the dog's previous hiding place as he was very keen on coming along to the tour.

It is very good. And a crate joined along as our 25th passenger.

The events of day 1 then concluded with a Kolos' directed dinner, we moved back to the Hostel in Inverness for some more socialising in the Lounge. 

After a nourishing breakfast we were off again to Tomatin Distillery, where we were greated by another Distillery dog and a bit of a slow tour. Fun fact is that the Distillery hosts all their employers on the premises and the rent is more than affordable. I guess that's just one of the many perks working at a Scotch distillery (apart from fighting the angel's for their share with a lot of deep breathing) 

 

 Such a lovely picture.

 The important part

 

 And the furniture they produce from the casks is not too bad either. They only reuse the casks twice, which is why they tend to be degraded to keeping people from falling off them. 

After lunch and refill (bloody Morrisons) we were off again to Culloden Battlefields where due to a shortage of time we could only stay shortly. It was worth though running through the trenches of the Jacobite rebellion and being unable to imagine the hardship going on in there 250 years ago. 

So, we decided to fight off the gloom to drive over to Glen Grant where we were finally presented with Wooden Mash Tuns (aah, the nostalgia) a very comprehensive and nice tour guide and some very lovely gardens to have a walk / run. 

In fact, it was so lovely that we decided that being thrown out just before the closing of the gate wasn't so bad.  

Tropical feeling in the northern Highland Jungle.

This concluded the 2nd day, all but for the President's Tasting with among others a Connemara Cask Strength, a Glen Ord 1997 (14 yo) 60.3 % and a Gordon McPhail 1991 Balblair Crozes Hermitage Wood Finish.

Way to end a day.

Our last day took us then to Speyside, more precisely Aberfeldy distillery. The guy giving the Tour was insanely helpful and comprehensive, even though most of their Whisky goes into blending (You're allowed to shed a tear at this point)  

Also, they name it Dewar's world of whisky because it is an insanely commercialised museum of their achievments apart from the distillery. 

Therefore, to come back to our usual single malt whisky, Blair Atholl was the place to be. 

 

  It is not such a well-known Whisky in Europe because it is only exported to Switzerland, Norway and Sweden. I have no idea why those 3 countries, but neither did the guy John touring us around. And we had more pressing questions. Like what they do to optimise the costs of very expensive Sherry casks. 

Ingeniously, they buy the Sherry, leave it in the cask for 6 months, take the Sherry out, make expensive vinegar, sell in back to the Spaniards and other Europeans and use the cask for Whisky. And afterwards they just buy new Sherry to refill the casks. It's not too bad a plan one must say. 

And this was our Trip, it was totally fun and a great mindblowing experience. 

Make sure to be on board next time in Spring when the compass is set for Speyside. 

J.     

Occaisionally we do what the President wants

And she wanted an Irish tasting. We gave her one on the 22nd of March. Unfortunately, I was incredibly ill and had to miss out. So no tasting notes. But here is a picture and the lineup!

Tullamore Dew
Kilbeggan
Greennore
Green Spot
Jameson 18 year old.

Affects of Age on the Spirit

In the course of one evening we manage to break a lot of society records.  In one tiny room in Teviot Row House we manged to pack in 28 whisky drinkers, 4 Balvenie Ambassadors, 2 Monkey Shoulder Ambassadors, and the oldest whisky that the society has ever tasted : 38 year old single cask, cask strength Balvenie. Needless to say, we were all doing happy whisky dances throughout the night.

Balvenie New Make 70%
Nose: pear, green fruits, red berries, sweet, grapes, meadow on a sunny day, cereal grain, bread dough, yeastings turning maltings
Taste: not entirely unpleasant

Balvenie 8 year old, 58% American Bourbon Cask
Nose: maple, vanilla, burned sugar, honey, four roses bourbon, muffins, cherries
Taste: apples, sugar, melons
Overall: Quite enjoyable, but the typical signature aspects of Balvenie were absent.

Balvenie 12 year old, 57.7% Re-fill Bourbon Cask
Nose: "smells cask strength", sugary, grassy, vanilla
Taste: honey, coffee finish "like Balvenie". Spiced honey coffee. The age "allows the spirit to talk". Pear drops also present. Needed water to fully develop
Overall: Very good. This is part of the double wood. Here we got the typical Balvenie flavors running throughout the whisky.

Sam swings the dog

Balvenie 30 year old, 49.2% American Oak
Nose: apple, plums, honey, pears and other dark fruits
Taste: Parmaviolet, woody, citrus notes still present 
Overall: Still Balvenie, a different kind of Balvenie (probably because most of us don't drink 30 year old whisky on a regular basis). Still a bit rough around the edges.

Balvenie 38 year old, 47.6% Spanish Sherry Butt
Nose: nice floor polish, jam, mint, grape, cinnamon
Taste: full bodied cooked red fruits. No citrus or honey notes at all.
Overall: a good whisky, a fine experience but it was not Balvenie in terms of typical expressions.

Balvenie 30 year old, Official Release
Nose: creamy, burned sugar, "smells like Balvenie", honey and spice, plums
Taste: cinnamon, oranges, honey with a coffee finish
Overall: The only way to describe this dram is elegant. It had all the elements of Balvenie and delivered them with class and grace.

There was so much amazing whisky present and it was awesome to have both Andy and Sam there to walk us through the affects of age on the spirit. We cannot express our gratitude for such an astonishing experience. Speaking of thanks, I would like to take this time to thank everyone who contributed to my birthday bottle of whisky, Glenfarclas 15 year old. I was thoroughly surprised and grateful to receive this gift for my birthday. So, thank you--to all of you. 

Thank you!

One Day You Will

It has almost been a month since Jamie took us on a tour through Glenfiddich's core range. One of the most well known distilleries in the world, Glenfiddich is a common brand of single malt scotch whisky. We discovered on March 8th that is a result of high quality whisky combined with the values held by the Grant family. The people behind this whisky make Glenfiddich what it is. The whiskies we had stand on their own without the intense marketing that comes with such a huge brand. That being said, the new commercials are pretty epic and awesome and I love them:

12 year old
Nose: pears, vanilla, toffee
Taste: candied apples
Overall: very drinkable, high standard house whisky

18 year old
Nose: mellowed pears, "amazing" green apples
Taste: hint of salt, buttery salted toffee
Overall: rounded off the flavors of the 12 year old. Obviously a more mature whisky and better for it.

15 year old, Solera Vat
Nose: honey, raisins, cinnamon apples
Taste: "Shandy!", spices (cloves cinnamon) rich alcoholic cream or milk
Overall: The society had tried this whisky previously at the finishes tasting, on this night it received a better reception in the middle of the Glenfiddich range.

Jamie surprised us with Glenfiddich new make

15 year old, Rich Oak
Nose: pineapple, mash tun, pencil shavings, ground up wood, cherries, toffee and caramel, "jigsaw puzzle with a 70's glam guitar", floor polish, marzipan, toasted hazelnuts
Taste: "Like whoa yo!", mulled wine, roller coaster of rich oak flavors
Overall: This whisky really surprised me on the night, the flavors it delivered were quite surprising.

15 year old, Distiller's Edition 51%
Nose: caramel, melon, biting and yet very fleeting taste. Hints of freshly ground pepper and vanilla.
Taste: Creamy, smooth notes of melon still coming through. Pear still present amazingly floral and seemingly delicate. A lingering finish that left you warm
Overall: This was many people's favorite whisky of the night. Its cask strength nature allowed it to develop a bit longer than many of the others.

Scott ponders the flavors of Glenfiddich

21 year old, Gran Reserva
Nose: intense and sweet, strong floral notes with hints of banana. Toffee, fudge, and figs all present as well.
Taste: Initially very soft and mellow, then almost on the verge of overwhelming with vibrant notes of vanilla, lime, ginger. The typical note of oak is still present as is the barest hint of smoke.
Overall: Wow. Just wow. An incredible balance of flavors are delivered because of the attention to detail during the maturation process for this incredible dram. The American oak casks deliver the Glenfiddich style while the Caribbean rum cask adds totally unusual flavors. Neither totally dominate, bringing a fully satisfying whisky experience.

Glenfiddich is the most awarded whisky in the world. After a night experiencing the dynamic flavors that they offer, I don't stop to wonder why.

Look at the smiles on our faces!

Trying it Blind

Our 8th Annual Bottling Tasting was last Thursday March 1st. Jan from Douglas Laing and Darren from The Whisky Shop come together and present us with four whiskies that we taste blind. Scoring the whiskies throughout the night, the one with the highest is bottled by Douglas Laing with the Society's name on it. Jan and Darren gave us some great whiskies and a fabulous night with a couple of surprises was enjoyed by all. My tasting notes were confiscated with the others (the notes will go onto our bottling) so these notes are what I remember from the night.

Benriach Heart of Speyside
A welcome and warm up dram from the committee. A fairly light and sweet dram to get the palate thinking about whisky

Allt-A-Bhainne 11yo
This was the first whisky we tried blind. With only six votes, it came last in the competition. I thought it was very basic without a lot of character. I got burned hair and other such pleasantries on the nose. It finished with a lingering bitter taste.

Corey isn't too sure about the first dram

Craigellachie 12yo
Coming in at third place with ten votes was our second blind dram. A bit more complex than the first one as it had some spice and a little kick to it.

Ardmore 7yo 
With thirty-one votes, the third dram won first place and will be bottled with the society's name in the next couple of weeks. This one smelled of burned sugar cookies with red fruits and had a very complex body to it. My personal favorite of the night, I am pretty happy that it won.

Bowmore 9yo
Third place was awarded to the fourth dram of the evening. The only dram from Islay, this was very seaside smoky for me. Personally, I thought it was not as complex as the third one. But I know many people were upset that this didn't win. 

As the results were tallied and counted by the committee, Jan revealed that he had some whisky in the back for us to try. However we would have to share because he only brought one bottle.

Jan and his "one bottle" of Big Peat

A gallon of Big Peat (this version called the Really Big Peat) was brought out to the delight of everyone present. Everyone enjoyed it and it was an excellent close to the tasting. 

Braw, honeysuckle, mulled cider, Egyptian tobacco, and hot embers at the gates of Hell

On February 23rd, Nick Malcolm from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society came to our humble society with five bottles of single cask, cask strength whisky for us to enjoy. By bottling unusual whisky from all over the world, these drams inspire conversations and debates about tasting notes. Every cask they bottle is extremely unique and it really demonstrates everything that I love about whisky: its variable character.

Cask No. 97.21 "Laurel, meadowsweet and honeysuckle"
(Littlemill 21yo 54.7%)
Nose: light floral, treacle, chai tea with cream, citrus notes mostly mandarin that evolves into mandarin pancakes. "whisky warehouse" "pinewood and lemon sorbet," "play dough," "hint of pears." "herbal sorbet".
Taste: spicy, pine. cloves, rooibos, mexican rice, creamy, honey "gummie sweets," "coconut," "tropical lime".
With water: many more of those citrus notes and very fragrant fruits.

Cask No. 105.18 "Mulled cider and beef goulash"
(Tormore 28yo 54.5%)
Nose: sweet and sour pork, red apple pie, cloves, caraway. damp and rich. Applewood smoked bacon. "Guiness HP Sauce," "appley with spice," "oak, cognac". 
Taste: fresh. Promises to be a big chunky sherried whisky but is then very subtle. "licorice," "cider apple sauce," "Worcestershire sauce and bbqs, red grapes".
With Water: Sweet shop, bacon bits, brie, bleu cheese. Becomes more bitter like a struck match.

Cask No. 35.57 "Egyptian tobacco"
(Glen Moray 34yo 53.8%)
Nose: Big sweet notes, melon, cherimoya, pineapple, lots of fruit, flavored tobacco. "juice green apple skin, lemon abas oil," "old brewery," "coke float"
Taste: Wow. Pipe tobacco, toffee, fudge and caramel. Youthful vigor but dry in the mouth. Banana fudge. "salted leather," "candyfloss/ fruity sweets," "vanilla ice cream"

Cask No. 93.50 "Hot embers at the gates of hell"
(Glen Scotia 20yo 58.6%)
Nose: trout, algae, polluted river, pork fat, bacon grease, sulfur, mackerel, dirty and fatty. "old socks," "rotting, or dull old water".
Taste: stick to your teeth fat, chips in hamburger fat, burned oil. "ember oil," "gasoline," "clammy" "ash".
Through Water: citrus and toffee

Cask No. 33.115 "Man that's braw!"
(Ardbeg 11yo 55.4%)
Nose: salty sticky toffee pudding, sea side custard, salty caramel, cherries, pepperoni and pineapple. "Charcoal orange-creme crates" "sea weed" "hints of leather"  
Taste: serious bite, burned veggies (sweet potatoes, bell peppers, butternut squash) cooked red onions. But still very sweet and light. sublte hints of moss, earth. sits at the front of the mouth. "wet peat. a burning barn" "hot dogs with mustard. open wood fireplace" "Islay- 'nuff said."

The whiskies were so good, even Tom was smiling!

Pure Decadence

Sherried whiskies and chocolate. Personally, I don't think that life gets much better than when you get to spend an evening drinking whiskies paired with chocolates.This is always our most popular tasting of the year, and with good reason. It is pure and complete decadence.

500 chocolates perfectly crafted by Megan

Dalmore 15 yo
Nose: orange peel, spices
Taste: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, a bit later you came across chocolate oranges with a vanilla coffee finish
Chocolate: orange blossom and vanilla bean center in white chocolate
Post-chocolate: initially very bitter and full of oak notes. The dominant sweeter side of Dalmore was lost in the smooth silk of the white chocolate. But it evolved into marzipan, nutmeg, kona coffee with cream and brown sugar.
Overall: A great introduction into heavily sherried whiskies. Very easy to drink and a great dram. Perfectly matched with the white chocolate.

Glengoyne 17 yo
Nose: herbs, grassy, rosemary, thyme, pear, light and fresh, melon rind
Taste: bouncy green apples, "grass--green, green grass"
Chocolate: a truffle with a white chocolate chai center wrapped in milk chocolate
Post-chocolate: brings out the sweeter notes: Christmas cake, cinnamon, oranges, and nutmeg.
Overall: the least sherry infused whisky of the night. This served as a great example of how a spirit can be subtly influenced by a small amount of time within a cask.

Olivier and his baby, Dalmore.

Glendronach 15 yo "The Revival"
Nose: red fruits, nutty, chocolate covered pretzels
Taste: "maple syrup",  "chocolat", plums, dates, honey, milk chocolate
Chocolate: salted caramel
Post-chocolate: the whisky "gets bigger" but the sweet notes are rapidly subdued and the wood and oak notes become more and more noticeable.
Overall: Another great pairing of the night. This was my favorite dram a great whisky that became more and more complex.

Glenfarclas 105
Nose: green apples, icing sugar, pear, sweetie shop
Taste: "Christmas cake on steroids or soaked in alcohol", hazelnuts, chocolate covered bananas
Chocolate: bitter orange creme wrapped in dark chocolate
Post-Chocolate: oranges, coffee, extremely sweet
Overall: A big crowd pleaser. The pairing of this chocolate and dram was truly fantastic and many loved it.

100 people enjoyed the tasting

Ardbeg Uigeadail
Nose: earthy, peat, sherry "grinds out the harsher edges" that Ardbeg usually has.
Taste: root vegetables, earth, peat, plums, pinot noir, over-ripe grapes, citrus (oranges and lemon)
Chocolate: extra dark chocolate truffle.
Post-chocolate: sweeter notes come through stronger. The heavy peat comes a bit later and not as strong.
Overall: This dram won the hearts of the peat lovers that night. A wonderful expression of Ardbeg's unusual nature. Eimear's absolute favorite dram of the night.

This semester has been packed with great whiskies that have created awesome tastings. However, I think that this one tops them all (so far). The pure ecstasy of indulging luscious home and hand made chocolates that complimented all the whiskies perfectly... it is an experience that lingers long after the night is over.