Once we arrived there, we just kicked back a little, messing with the Wii while sis & her boyfriend prepared a nice meal. As usual, the food didn't disappoint, she made Salmon marinated in Whisky & Lemon, served with stir fried vegetables with balsamic and pasta with home made pesto. Yes, sis knows how to cook :)
After dinner, we played with the Wii some more and then got our stuff ready to go to the whisky tasting. The good thing is, my wife doesn't like Whisky at all, so we had a designated driver for the evening, allowing my sister, her boyfriend and myself to taste the goodies that they had lined up for us.
When we got there, we were introduced to the rest of the group, and got started. There were about 2 dozen bottles to choose from. I limited myself to 4, I wouldn't want the alcohol to cloud my judgment :) I'm not very good at describing the flavors, I usually rate Whisky as excellent-good-ok-meh-no thanks-nasty-please kill the person who created this vile concoction. But I'm going to try to do it a bit differently, so here are the tasting notes:
Caol Ila unpeated 8yo 2006 release (59.8%vol)This was the first one I tasted. With almost 60%vol alcohol maybe a bit harsh to kick off with, but I really like the Whisky from Caol Ila (hell, it's my favorite) so I wanted to have a taste as clean and uninfluenced as possible.
It felt light but a bit oily in the mouth, but very smooth. The taste seemed fairly sweet slightly flowery & fruity and a bit herbal with a touch of oak in the end. Excellent!
Littlemill 12yo (40%vol)I chose this one, because I haven't tasted a lot of Lowland Whisky. Not to mention that the Littlemill distillery burnt down a while ago, so opportunities to sample this particular Whisky are getting more rare.
This was probably the most boring of the bunch. It was good, but nothing spectacular. The taste was gentle with a hint of sweet. The color was more remarkable than the taste, it's very, very pale. I think this would be an excellent Whisky to get people started on single malts with.
Yoichi 12yo (45%vol)I was thrilled to see that there was a couple of Japanese bottles on the table too. I've been meaning to try some of the Japanese stuff, but I have a couple of bottles I need to finish first before buying something new and most of them aren't found very often at the local pub.
At first it was surprisingly sweet and mild but after that it became slightly metallic and a bit peaty, but not enough to completely block out the sweetness. This Whisky certainly makes me want to taste more of the Japanese stuff.
Amrut Cask Strength September 2007 bottling (61.9%vol)I was surprised to find an Indian Whisky on the table. I didn't even know they made Whisky in India. But as I like Indian food and have a slight addiction to Indian Masala Chai, I decided to give it a go.
It's a cask strength, I knew it was going to pack a punch with it's almost 62%vol, but after the smoothness of the 59.8%vol of the unpeated Caol Ila, this completely caught me off guard. That first sip was like getting kicked in the mouth with a boot covered in spices. Now knowing what kind of impact to expect, I ate a little bread and drank some water to clear my taste buds and went for a second attempt. Now that I was prepared for what was to come, a storm of spiciness with fruits and a bit of malt. The finish seemed long even for a cask strength with a nice oakiness to it and a lingering spiciness. Next time I try this one I will add a drop of water, I like the taste, but the 'cask strength' is a bit too much for me.
The verdict: I liked the Caol Ila best. Caol Ila just makes 'my kind of Whisky'. And the others? I'm glad I was able to taste something new. Every single one was special in it's own way. A dying breed, my first ever Japanese Whisky and of course the Indian with a spicy punch. All in all it was an evening very well spent. Good food, good Whisky, good company. What more could a person wish for?
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