20th and Final Tasting...

So I've been dreading making this post, as it represents the end of an era, the end of scotch club as we've known it. Number 20, the last with the current format. With many members that have moved on in their careers, and many more about to make serious changes (including me & Max), we decided to end our Scotch Club on high note.

It's been an excellent 2 years, at times a little frantic and draining but incredibly fun, educational, and drunken. 20 events and 58 different whiskies (kinda 20.5 and 60, but who's counting?), and a slew of really amazing people to share really amazing whisky with. One of the things that has impressed me the most is the calibre of person we get to enjoy our whisky with. Everyone we've been sharing drams with - even (perhaps especially) the 1-timers like Barry, Bill, Kieran, Mood, Murph and Peter - has been an excellent drinking and conversation companion, and it's been a pile of fun learning so much about whisky with all of you.

That said, Scotch Club will continue in some format, as it seems I will be in Montreal for a couple more months. Come September or October, we'll see a tasting in some form or another.

I'd like to thank Max for being my partner in crime over all 20 events, helping me to build the club and procuring so much fine whisky over the duration, not to mention hosting so many "meetings." The only positive thing I have to say about you having to leave is that maybe now I'll get to go to the SAQ like a crazy pimp and blow $300 more often. So fun.

Equally, the two of us want to thank everyone that's come over the years, and especially our most faithful regulars:
Derek (Founding Member, 16 clubs attended)
Mark (15, not a single half-share there)
Allard (15, nor here)
Dara (Founding Member, 15, Host of Honour beside Max & Pat)
Ian M (Loyalty Award - 13/15 clubs attended since his first invite)
Stevens (12, nice kilt at Christmas 2009 btw)
Kevin (11)
Joe (11)
Norm (Founding Member, 10)
Laurent (10)
Jesse (10)

Honourable Mentions to Pat (9, thanks for hosting!), Nick (8), Rich (5), Kamran (4, pimp venue man!), Mitch (4), Ardeshir (3), Dave C (3) and IanB (2; and he hosted one of those!).

* * *

So how was the whisky? Well, Max and I picked out 3 of our all-time favourites from the history of scotch club. Predictably, they were all Islays. Less predictably, not one was over 10 years old! Even more, they're all cask-strength whiskies that pack a serious punch. We hadn't even spent the whole budget yet, so we decided there was only one thing to do - add another 4 people and another bottle.

I can't repeat the notes, I think they got erased merely by being in the same room as 16 men drinking 4 bottles of whisky with an average alcohol content somewhere north of 55%. It was a seriously amazing lineup of whiskies and men drinking, and it was great to share that last event and those whiskies with so many quality fellers. A big cheers to Ian B for last-minute hosting detail; and a wee cheers to Jason for squeaking into his 5th club.

Attending: Me, Max, Derek, Mark, Allard, Dara, IanM, Stevens, Joe, Nick, Jason, Mitch, IanB, Kieran, Murph,

Served:
Ardbeg Corryvreckan - I've lost the notes for this whisky before. Co-incidence? It's a shame, because this tasting confirmed my memory of it being a 9.5+ on a 10-scale. Not terribly complex, but pleasingly so and extremely well-balanced between sweet malt, salt air, big phenol and maybe some citrus. Absolutely divine.

Port Charlotte 6 - Simply can't say enough great things about this whisky. Stunningly good - big and juicy like some of the better Speysides with the soaring peat smoke of a classic Islay. What a distillation that was, and I'm glad to have partaken in 5 bottles of it at various ages with the club.

Bowmore Tempest 2010 - As fantastic as remembered. Such an amazing arrival, big, thick and syrupy with that signature Bowmore aroma. Really quite spectacular and cemented its place among the best of the 58 different whiskies we did with the club.

Caol Ila 9 Burgundy finish - No notes to present on this. While not the magnificent specimen that the 14-year-old Cognac finish was, still a perfectably acceptable whisky and a new record for high-test alcohol somewhere around 68%. A little longer in the barrel would have let the angels have a greater share and made it a little better without the addition of water, which washed out some great flavours. Good but not great.

May 2011 Tasting

Again with the delayed postings; this time because the May notes were lost (again), I knew they were in my apartment somewhere but apparently had more important things to do than look under the bed and come up with them. A record two months late, but better than never I suppose.

Our May tasting took place chez Dara, on the 20th (I think), and he is thanked for hosting a great club. It was great to finally have Claude down for a tasting, and were pretty pleased to help him get a bottle of Springbank off his hands we'd enjoyed tremendously at one of his charity tastings a couple months before. Big cheers to Max for procuring the other 2 bottles; to Jesse and Stevens on tasting #10; and a wee one for Rich on #5.

Attending: Me, Max, Derek, Mark, Dara, Ian M, Kevin, Jesse, Stevens, Rich, Kamran, Ian B, Kamran, Nicolas.

Springbank 12 Claret Finish (Highland - Campbelltown)
Many of us had sampled this a couple months before, and found it to be a great offering from the last of the Campbelltown distillers. We'd done a 16-year-old Oloroso finish back in October and quite enjoyed it. This expression spends 7 years in refill bourbon, 3 years in fresh-fill Claret, and finally 2 years in re-charred casks. I was pretty happy to give the guys a taste of what was probably the best of Claude's 10-whisky charity extravaganza.

Nose: Serious wine & vanilla. Sure smells like a cask strength - lots of sweet alcohol notes.
Palate: Grapey and sweet up-front over big vanilla and malt. Sweet, beautiful, complex and balanced.
Finish: Very dry, with a touch of smoke. Incredible balance with the wood. Great whisky.
Overall: Some of the best wood I've encountered in whisky. A whole pile of exciting flavours having a bloody great party where everyone gets along and there's no belligerent drunk causing everyone else problems. A solid 9/10, maybe a bit better.

Arran Malt Machrie Moor (Highland - Island)
One of Scotland’s younger distilleries, Isle of Arran is recently established and prides itself on an uncompromising “no peat, no caramel, no chill-filtering” operation. This is their first bottling of a lightly (14 ppm) peated malt they’ve been producing since 2004, and is also limited to a 9000-bottle release.

Nose: Peaty with a touch of malt. Really smooth.
Palate: Smooth arrival but a little watery up front. Lacks body. Strange little ketone peak just before the finish.
Finish: Woody and a little sharp. Decent peat, but nothing too overwhelming.
Overall: A pretty underwhelming scotch, altogther. I've had their 10-year-old on a number of occasions, and quite enjoyed it. This is nothing like it; and Arran should probably leave the peat alone for now. Barely rates 8/10.


Caol Ila 25 (Islay)
One of the club's perennial favourites, we've done 3 expressions of this already: the 12-year-old, the Distiller's Edition, and a 14-year-old cognac finish. All have been rated very highly by club members, and at least two of those are on my top-10 of all-time. Fair to say there was a good amount of anticipation for this bottle.

Nose: Rich, dark fruit, some peat and earth as well. Some sharp alcohol notes as well.
Palate: Heavy arrival is beautiful. Slick and oily, loads of big wood flavour, less of the signature oily, tarry peat flavours than I expected (and look forward to).
Finish: Very woody, a little bit of peat rising and trying to make itself heard. Cask strength alcohol content intrudes here, but water kills a lot of that beautiful oily arrival.
Overall: A good whisky, but a disappointment nonetheless. As so often happens with some of our older and more expensive whiskies, I feel the wood has overwhelmed the spirit a little and younger expressions deliver better balance of wood with the whisky itslef. Maybe I wanted too much... 8.5/10.

March 2011 Tasting

One of the dangers of not spitting out your 6 ounces of scotch after tasting it is that you tend to get a little drunk. You might get drunk enough to, for example, pass out or break a glass. Or even lose the tasting notes. Anything can happen. Frankly I'm surprised it hasn't happened before; and a damn shame it is because we tasted some real crackers in February: Ardbeg Supernova, Ardbeg Corryvreckan, and the Glenmorangie 18. The Corryvreckan was defintely the star of the evening, monstrous character and staggering complexity. Fantastic whisky, a 9.5 or 10 for sure.

The March 25th tasting finally knocked off a whisky that had again been haunting Max: the Glen Isla 29. Ably hosted by Dara, we ended up with a spectacular lineup and all the whiskies were hits. Cheers to Max and Mark for procurement, Dara for hosting, Stevens for pouring (haven't had a blind tasting for a while), and Ian M on Scotch Club #10 (of the last 11). Less so for Nick on #5 of 15.

Attending: Me, Max, Mark, Derek, Allard, Dara, IanM, Norm, Joe, Jesse, Stevens, Nick, Rich, Camran, Mitch

The Peat Monster (Compass Box, no age statement)
I tried this at the Black Watch tasting back in September and was pretty impressed. American John Glaser has some highly unorthodox ideas about whisky and it makes the Compass Box lines pretty unique. It's a real shame you can't get this in Quebec, because the $65 price tag at the LCBO makes this a pretty good deal. Definitely worth trying if you like the Islays.

Nose: Slightly herbal on the huge peat aroma, some gristy malt and vanilla.
Palate: A little young and sharp up front. A nice, subtle roasted sugar base under the big Laphroaig-type flavours - strongly herbal, medicinal and obviously enormous peaty goodness.
Finish: Bittersweet malt and big chewy phenol. Yum.
Overall: Not a complex whisky, but a damned fine one. I can't decide if it needs more time in the barrel or less, but it feels like it could develop further and lose a bit of the raw alcohol notes up front. 8.5/10

Caol Ila 14 Cognac Finish(Islay; Gordon & MacPhail)
I know - cognac finish?! Never heard of such a beast. That's why when Max saw it in Illinois, we agreed to put it first on the list. Caol Ila is probably my favourite distillery, and so getting hold of this bottle was, well, just magic. An absolute steal at US$80 and the clear favourite of the night.

Nose: Unique. Beautiful combination of smoke and a fruity, juicy malt sweetness.
Palate: Sweet, juicy malt, big fruity wine notes overtop of the expected Caol Ila tarry, earthy peat flavours. Great balance, fat and sweet and smoky all at once.
Finish: Still fat and juicy and magnificent. Smooth finish, with pleasant lingering peat and a rising oakiness. Beautiful.
Overall: We've gone wrong with private bottlings before (Old Malt Cask Highland Park 23, for example) and I figured this bottle would be either stunningly magnificent or completely horrific. Fortunately, it was the former. The most complex offering I've had from Caol Ila, and really a unique and fantastic whisky. 9.5/10.

Glen Isla 29 (Speyside; Signatory)
Another private bottling, this whisky is a peated number from Speysiders Glen Keith distilled back in the 1970s. Apparently a number of Speyside distilleries experimented with "the dark side," making some peated whiskies for a time. Apparently they didn't get what they wanted out of these experiments, as the practice didn't continue long. A little piece of whisky history bought at an amazing discount price because it lacked the box (US$220; would have been $600 in the sleeve). Both the oldest and most expensive whisky we've sampled to date.

Nose: Soft caramel and pear. Some ketone notes that fortunately evaporate quickly. Roasted malt and just a mere trace of phenol.
Palate: Smooth as silk. Sweet and a bit woody over subtle malt and hints of smoke. Deep and complex, with new stuff in every sip.
Finish: Pleasant oakiness with lasting phenol. A little ester or ketone present, but doesn't ruin it.
Overall: As with some other whiskies we've had, the price is more for the unique and novel nature of the whisky and the age statement. Although a good whisky, and fun to think we've had some of the last of this whisky on the planet, not worth $220 (let alone $600!). 9/10

May 2010 Tasting

So it finally happened. We finally had such a poor turnout that we couldn't run a full-scale tasting; scheduling it on the Friday of May 24 weekend was maybe a bad idea in retrospect. It was a stretch to get even 8 guys to show up. We decided to scale the tasting back to 2 bottles and 3 rounds each, and indulged in the Caol Ila 12 and the Glenlivet 21 that Mark and Max brought back from Watertown. Then at the last minute, Mark had to back out due to an illness in the family. Still, the 7 of us managed to have a great time and came in on-budget. Thanks to Max and Pat for hosting yet again, we promise to give you guys a break next month. Good times were had by all; a lot of laughing about TB and speculation about what the Habs will do this off-season after their out-of-nowhere playoff run... and no keg this time meant that things weren't so bad the next day.

Attending: Me, Max, Laurent, Ian M, Jesse, Pat, Jason

Glenlivet 21 (Speyside)
Sold in a heavy hardwood case, this is one fancy-looking bottle o' scotch. Felt like maybe they should have spent the extra money on product before we even opened it up. I'm not a big fan of the Glenlivet 12, but was thinking that this should be an entirely different animal after another 9 years in the barrel. This bottle is from the same batch as Jim Murray tastes in the 2010 Whisky Bible, so it was fun comparing our impressions to his knowing it was the same stuff.

Nose: Vanilla, cream, honey. Heavy but imbued with an alcoholic sharpness I didn't appreciate.
Palate: Great arrival. At first I didn't get much fruit - mostly malt and heavy burnt caramel. Silky and smooth. Oddly, on the 3rd ounce, we started tasting some strong banana notes...
Finish: A little raw still, heavy alcohol. Some burnt sugar and that bitter wood you get in the 12-year-old's finish.
Overall: For once, I was completely behind the tasting notes on this one, although I didn't like the mouthfeel as much as Mr. Murray seemed to. Certainly didn't make up for the disappointing finish. 8 or 8.5 on 10.

Caol Ila 12 (Islay)
Full disclosure: Caol Ila is my favourite distillery and this is likely a heavily biased review. The earthy, oily tones of their scotch produce a unique taste that I just love; there is some of it in the Port Charlotte and the Ardbeg Uigeadail we had this spring but it is much stronger in the Caol Ila. This was end up being the overwhelming favourite of the night, with all seven of us rating it higher than the Glenlivet.

Nose: Oh, so good... peat, malt, and that wonderful earthy, oily character.
Palate: Oily, smooth arrival with a gorgeous natural sweetness, then the signature Caol Ila flavours take over - oil, creosote, smoky peat, darkly roasted malt. Salty.
Finish: Nothing dry here - just that sweetness combined with the leftover oiliness and peat. Only wish it could last even longer...
Overall: A fantastic scotch and a steal at US$60. All the guys agreed this was something amazing, like a cute girl who's great in bed and enjoys cooking and cleaning - you want her around the house all the time. 9 or 9.5/10.

Feb 2010 Tasting

Finally, my posts have caught up with my journal. Our February tasting took place on the 19th at Max & Norm's place (thanks guys!) on Max's last weekend there. As I organized my journal and whisky lists, and out of a raging sense of curiosity, I tallied up all the single-malt scotches I have ever tried more than just a sip or two of. This tasting brought me to 50 different whiskies from 27 different distilleries.

This was one of our best tastings of all-time, second only to Christmas. The two cask strength whiskies (both over 55%) wreaked some havoc on us all the morning after, but all 3 whiskies were hits. Erin again sent some of her great baking over with Kevin, this time fresh cookies. Scotch Club rookie Jesse went 3 for 3 on the blind tasting with great confidence.

Attending: Me, Max, Norm, Mark, Dara, Derek, Kevin, Laurent, Allard, Jesse, Richard.

Glengoyne 12 (Highlands)
Bottled at some 57.2%, this is a powerful whisky that uses an entirely unpeated malt. It's distilled on the Highland line and actually matured in the Lowlands. Grabbed this at the SAQ after a mini-tasting (man, I love mini-tastings at the SAQ), where I found it outscored the Glenlivet Nadurra cask strength.

Nose: Light fruits - pears, apples.
Palate: Some sweetness - fruit, honey, a little caramel. Strong, but not unpleasant, alcoholic aroma over oaky herbals.
Finish: Long, dry, with oak and straw notes.
Overall: Smooth for its strength, this is a nice, light and enjoyable scotch. Good complexity for a 12-year-old. A solid 8.5/10.

Caol Ila Distiller's Edition 1996 (Islay)
We gave the Islays another stab, this time with my favourite distillery. This scotch has much broader appeal than the Laphroaig Quarter-Cask, being finished in Muscat casks and having far less phenol (around 35 ppm). This one was much better-received than the Laphroaig, scoring #1 or #2 on everyone's list. Can't figure out why it's $100 at the LCBO but $130 at the SAQ.

Nose: Some grape over great smoke and peat notes.
Palate: A little grapiness up front giving way to Caol Ila's signature earthy, oily peat smoke. Complex and balanced throughout with a little caramel and spice.
Finish: Long but not especially complex - good smoke and peat.
Overall: This is my favourite distillery, and this was no disappointment to me. It's like your girlfriend in a wig - you like that she's the same girl, but you like that she looks a little different tonight. Tied with Laphroaig Quarter-Cask for #4 and #5 on my all-time list. 9.5/10.

Convalmore 21 1984 (Speyside)
Bottled 2006 by Gordon & McPhail
We let Max go wild at an enormous liquor store in Chicago with $200 for a single bottle. He was like a kid in a candy store, and to his credit, picked up this beauty from Convalmore, which we'd never heard of. This distillery closed in 1985, so it was fun to get a taste of something we'll likely never see again. Another cask-strength bottling, this one weighed in at 57.1% and managed to be quite smooth despite that.

Nose: Grape and cherry, bright alcohol.
Palate: Caramel and dark fruits, going to oak and malts, with a hint of smoke. Round and balanced.
Finish: Alcoholic, some bitter oak and quite dry.
Overall: Easy to see why this was used so extensively in blends - nothing spectacular, but absolutely nothing unpleasant. It's nice, but I felt like the price tag had more to do with novelty value than quality. 8.5 of 10.