Whisky tasting night!

Author
Discussion

Russ T Bolt

1,686 posts

282 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
quotequote all
Podie said:
Hmm, odd. Resent via PH.

Pitch up at 19:20. Access to TWE is via Laithwaites.
Got it now, thanks Podie, see you tomorrow.

Podie

Original Poster:

46,630 posts

274 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
quotequote all
Russ T Bolt said:
Podie said:
Hmm, odd. Resent via PH.

Pitch up at 19:20. Access to TWE is via Laithwaites.
Got it now, thanks Podie, see you tomorrow.
Cool smile


Podie

Original Poster:

46,630 posts

274 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
quotequote all
Lefty said:
Have fun chaps, very jealous!
Will sort out some pics, list of whisky and tasting notes.

vixen1700

22,669 posts

269 months

Thursday 30th October 2014
quotequote all
Have a great night. smile

pmanson

13,374 posts

252 months

Thursday 30th October 2014
quotequote all
A very enjoyable evening! Thanks for organising Paul.

A very varied selection of whisky to try and nice to put some faces to names.

crmcatee

5,691 posts

226 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Yup many thanks to Podie for organising.

A most enjoyable evening, even with the eclectic choice of music from next door smile

A good choice of different whiskies and some surprises in there, the last one of the evening was left field to say the least smile


Nice meeting people and catching up again Paul.


Now if only I could get to sleep.

Podie

Original Poster:

46,630 posts

274 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Really enjoyable evening. Nice to see old friends and make new ones. Had some interesting whisky, some lovely stuff and quite a few laughs.

Thanks to everyone who came - more stuff after a few coffees!


pmanson

13,374 posts

252 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
I fear today may be a long day!


mr_tony

6,328 posts

268 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Great work and many thanks for organising Podie.

Really varied selection and I've ended up with a bottle of something I would never have picked in a million years without trying it.


Cheese Mechanic

3,157 posts

168 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
mr_tony said:
Really varied selection and I've ended up with a bottle of something I would never have picked in a million years without trying it.
Which is what these type of events are all about imho.

Don't keep us all in suspense , spill the beans on what was "served" up biggrin

Mr Trophy

6,808 posts

202 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Spill the beans... What did you taste?

crmcatee

5,691 posts

226 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Whisky of course.

Podie

Original Poster:

46,630 posts

274 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
I think a few non-attendees were interested in the list as well - so here's what we sampled, and in the order we tried them. It was a blind taste, with a reveal after each dram. Chris who ran the session also gave a pretty good history lesson as well, although after 20 minutes we were all gagging to get stuck in!

I've linked to the TWE site, but noted prices in store (online adds delivery).

The list
1) Glengoyne 18yo Distillery Bottling - £76.45

2) Benriach 1990 24yo Single Malts of Scotland - £94.95

3) Chichibu On the Way - £102.95

4) Glenglassaugh 26yo Distillery Bottling - £185 (out of stock!)

5) Glenlivet 1981 32yo Signatory - £165

6) Bw3 Elements of Islay - £62.95 / 50cl




Added bonus!
Courtesty of PHer hoegaardenruls we also had a Hammerhead 20yo, a Czech whisky, which was quite a surprise and IMO very drinakable!




My thoughts
The Glengoyne was nice, with a real bourbon taste in there and no peat or smoke. Not as good as the now discontinued 17, which was a real sherry hit - but as soon as we moved onto the BenRiach it felt thin and over priced.

The BenRiach is a Single Malts of Scotland (TWE's own) bottling. Single cask and wow, really blew the Glengoyne into the weeds. Quite a dram, and worth its price tag.

By popular demand a Japanese whisky was added, and the Chichibu was a surprise. A real buttery taste and very drinkable. One of around 7000 bottles - and called "on the way" as more will be released as it ages - currently about 4 years old. Reminded me of the PH whisky casks in being so young and so well rounded.

I was delighted at the Glenglassaugh's inclusion - one of the few I'd not tried. So well finished, a real delight - if it hadn't have been out of stock I think a few of these would have been sold. Again, bodes well for the PH whisky casks.

I usually like Glenlivet, but this was smokey and peaty. Not soft as I expected - and the colour was amazing (no E150 either), and improved with water.

I'm not an Islay man, but the BW3 is quite floral, with a touch of lavender. Still a bit smoke and peat hit though. It's a NAS bottling, but believed to be Bowmore and around 17/18yo. The aim is to give the "house style" but for the money I think I'd go for a typical Bowmore offering.

The Hammerhead was a real surprise. Dangerously drinkable, and I'd probably buy a bottle if I saw one. TWE have had them in the past at 23yo.

Overall
A fun night out, and tried whisky I wouldn't have purchased and that's a good thing. I think it was pretty good value for money - although I'd be interested in hearing views of others.

If the demand is there, then I'll look at doing another tasting night in 2015 - probably around March or April time.

Huge thanks to everyone who attended and made it a great night. smile

Podie

Original Poster:

46,630 posts

274 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Oh, and further to last night's conversation about over ageing and Glendronach, here's the article I mentioned - http://maltandoak.com/glendronach-15-is-it-the-bes...

pmanson

13,374 posts

252 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Glenglassaugh was the highlight for me and I would have purchased one had it been in stock.

Looking forward to trying mine when I get home!

krallicious

4,312 posts

204 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Sounds like a good evening. I have a couple of bottles of the Chichibu Port Pipe and it is fantastic. Looks like I might have to try On the way too.

Podie

Original Poster:

46,630 posts

274 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
krallicious said:
Sounds like a good evening. I have a couple of bottles of the Chichibu Port Pipe and it is fantastic. Looks like I might have to try On the way too.
Apparently, they head over to Scotland annually to pick their own barley!

Cheese Mechanic

3,157 posts

168 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
All credit to all involved. Fascinating selection of whiskies.

Will the next event have any kind of theme , or again a selection randomly chosen by TWE ? (Which I assume this event was?)

Podie

Original Poster:

46,630 posts

274 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Cheese Mechanic said:
All credit to all involved. Fascinating selection of whiskies.

Will the next event have any kind of theme , or again a selection randomly chosen by TWE ? (Which I assume this event was?)
I chose TWE as I've used them a lot over the years and had good advice. There are other places in London that will do tastings, but TWE seemed to offer the best value (value of whisky vs price paid).

It started as an "18yo or above" tasting, and was rebranded as "premium whisky" due to the inclusion of a Japanese whisky (at the request of several of the group) and the NAS BW3. I also made it clear that I wanted things that most people wouldn't have tried before - try an push boundaries just a bit. The fact that a few of us said "I'd never have bought that unless I'd tried it" is quite a success IMO. I left the choices to Chris at TWE and I think he did a great job.

If we wanted to go for a theme, or a region that would be possible. The budget can be increased, and the choices become even more premium. Sadly, we didn't make 15 people this time, as that's the point where the number of people vs the whisky choices hits a real sweet spot.

The only other consideration, is that I wouldn't want to present 6 whiskies to someone and them hate every single one (e.g. 6 peaty whiskies to a sherry head).


ETA - so, you can pretty much do what you want and tailor it. The difficulty is confirming numbers, because until you draw a line under the numbers you can't go picking your whisky.

Edited by Podie on Friday 31st October 11:14

hoegaardenruls

1,218 posts

131 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
A very good night, and very interesting selection of whiskies to try, that Chichibu was superb. Was good to meet some other PH'ers.

Thanks again to Podie for putting in the time and effort to arrange this, and TWE for hosting. As mentioned, I would be keen to attend again.

And to put some temptation in the path of anyone who liked the Hammer Head, it's still available at a very reasonable price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hammer-Head-1989-Single-Wh...