"Around Scotland" - Home Tasting

[Maccy]

Last weekend I held a home whisky tasting with 8 guests - all of whom were not particular enthusiasts, and who were not experienced in the range of whiskies and flavours. I would like to think that they have a better appreciation now.

Got Maxine to make some pretty labels highlighting whisky regions and set them up:

Lowland - Glenkinchie DE 1989
Speyside - Aberlour 10
Southern Highlands - Deanston 12y.o.
Northern Highlands - Old Pulteney 12y.o.
Islands - Talisker 57 North
Islay - Lagavulin 16
Campbeltown - Springbank 10

I surprised my English friends with a taste of St George's Chapter 9 and we then settled into a bottle of Glenlivet to while away the rest of the evening.

A very good evening was had by all.

I would be interested and grateful to hear of any ideas that others have had to vary whisky tastings. Thanks to anyone who can assist.

[Willie JJ]

There are lots of things you can play around with I guess. I suggest:

Maturation: Bourbon, sherry, wine casks, 1st fill, 2nd fill, etc.
Style: Bourbon, sherry, peat (and combinations)
Category: Blend, single grain, blended grain, blended malt, single malt. (Also the unofficial category of single blend which is rare and usually expensive these days, but both the Lochside and the Ben Nevis are yummy. Loch Lomond is cheaper but not as good.)
Distillation types: Double, two and a half, triple.
Regional style?: Try a bunch of Speysiders for instance and see if any of your guests think they really have anything in common. Or an Islay tasting with Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich.
Ages: A range of ages or all the same age.
Distillery focus: A vertical tasting of different ages or just different expressions/maturations.
IBs vs OBs: No explanation required I think.
Lesser known gems: Clynelish, Longmorn, Mortlach, etc.
Famous drams: Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Macallan, Highland Park, etc.
Dearly departed: Expensive though.
Sub regions: e.g. the far North.
18th vs 19th vs 20th century stills.

Of course you can mix and match and create more ideas from the basic elements, but really all you need is a bunch of decent bottles of whisky in my opinion.

Cheers

[mongo]

18th vs 19th vs 20th century stills.

is there an easily accessible list of these?

[Willie JJ]

Whisky-distilleries.info timeline

[mongo]

thanks! are the stills all as old as the distileries they're in though? and, in any case, given production expansions over time--presumably through introduction of newer stills--wouldn't it be difficult to know if a given whisky was from highland park's late 18th century stills or from stills added when production was doubled a century later? or am i completely wrong in connecting production expansion to expansion of the number of stills?

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Stills generally last about fifty years, as I recall, so none will be that old. Best you can hope for is that they replicated the shape of originals. Heating methods will have changed, anyway...if you could sort it out, steam-fired vs coal-fired would be interesting.

[Willie JJ]

Yes I said stills but I meant distilleries. No stills will have survived from C18 or 19.

steam-fired vs coal-fired would be interesting.

That's a really nice one although there not a lot of direct firing left in Scotland.

[mongo]

a tasting of similar profile/age whiskies from distilleries that use differently shaped/size stills would be interesting too.

[Peat Sampras]

Washback category: Wood washbacks (and the different types of wood used) vs stainless steel vs corten steel (only 4 existing: Scotia, Pulteney, Scapa and Tamnavulin)

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Somebody has cast iron, don't they? Can't remember who.

[Peat Sampras]

Somebody has cast iron, don't they? Can't remember who.

that's news to me but why not!

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Maybe it was the mash tun.

Edit: Yes, I'm sure that's it. Never mind.

[Peat Sampras]

Maybe it was the mash tun.

Edit: Yes, I'm sure that's it. Never mind.

which leads to the next category: Mash tuns

Full lauter, semi lauter, manually turned etc...

[Peat Sampras]

btw, according to http://whiskystory.blogspot.com/2011/03 ... hbacks.JPG the washbacks in Pulteney ARE cast iron... But I strongly doubt it!

[Maccy]

Thanks Willie for some great ideas. Your suggestions are greatly appreciated. I am already thinking of my next tasting.

I thought I might also try "summer malts!" I must throw a "Nadurra" into that one!