Stephen and I attended a scotch tasting at the Kensington Wine Market
last Wednesday. We were served six different scotches, ranging from
very mild to practically undrinkable
(for some), along with some nice cheese, oat cakes, and other little
appetizers. And haggis. Can't forget
the haggis.
Our host, Andrew Ferguson, gave us a bit of an introduction to scotch and
scotch tasting, and explained his own approach to it. Unlike wine,
apparently you aren't supposed to swirl scotch to bring out it's
nose. Doing so is more likely to bring out the alcohol and burn your
nose faster, making it difficult to detect the nose. Nose and taste,
and then add a few drops of water. Water helps open up the flavors,
which may otherwise be hidden under the alcohol. Never add ice, as ice
closes it up. Andrew noted that some scotch experts would be appalled
at even adding water, and would be especially appalled by the presence
of oat cakes and cheese. So ultimately, it comes down to doing whatever
you want to best enjoy a dram.
Unfortunately for me, I have some nearly permanent low level sinus
congestion that makes it difficult to pick out subtle flavors and
smells. This made the first whiskey, a 17 year old Auchentoshan,
pretty boring.
The second, a 9 year old from the Arran distillery on
the Isle of
Arran in the coastal highlands, was much better. This one smelled a
bit sour and citrusy, but also a bit yeasty, like bread dough. It
tasted slightly sweet and grassy.
The third was a 12 year old Tullibardine, which was quite fruity,
tasting of apples and pears. The fourth was probably my favorite, a 15
year old Highland Park independent bottling by Alchemist. It tasted
earthy and sweet, but was easy to drink and wonderfully tasty.
The last two scotches were the strongly peated, smokey ones. First
was a 10 year old Longrow from the Springbank
distillery. It smelled faintly of smoke and wood, and tasted quite
smokey. It also tasted a bit earthy and a bit like molasses, and later
on it suddenly reminded me of smoked salmon.
The last was a 12 year old special release Lagavulin from
Islay. This one was very smokey, muddy, and a little charred. Under
the smokey taste there was a salty peaty taste, and adding water made
it much nice, though it was still very strong. Apparently it is good
with cigars.
I generally like things with strong tastes, but the Lagavulin was
almost too strong. I wouldn't want to drink more than one dram of that
in a sitting. I liked the Springbank Longrow a lot though, especially
with that earthy taste. I like that in beer too, which is why Keepers
Stout is so good.
Another lightly peated scotch that was suggested was Bowmore,
and if you like rye whiskey,
apparently Alberta Springs Premium is one of the last remaining pure
rye whiskeys. In any case, it was an entertaining way to spend an
evening, and something that I'd do again.
