30 April an enthusiastic mix of club members and new comers, met up at Hyde Park Shopping Centre at Whisky Brother Shop. The aim of the tasting was to introduce us to whisky and to go through the basics of producing whisky.
Marc is knowledgable and provides an informal environment for learning more about the spirit we so enjoy. Facts and processes are explained and then illustrated through tasting of various whiskies. Questions at any stage are encouraged and answered well.
As a club we have discussed the distillation process and the differences in Scoth whisky (single malt, blended etc) but it was refreshing to have someone who has seen it explain it to us. One can't learn everything from Wikipedia.
Whisky is complex and Marc carefully broke down the various stages that the product goes through to finally reach the golden liquid we drink so often. We never understood the various factors that influence the colour, flavour and nose and Marc opened our eyes to all these factors. He carefully explained each aspect and made us appreciate whisky and it's flavours even more.
Marc selected 6 whiskies for us to taste. The notes below are based on memories of the night and hopefully the list is correct!
To start with, Marc let us taste South Africa's Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky. Floral, vanilla and toffee nose and sweet with a hint of spice on the palate.
Clan Denny "Islay" was our second whisky and consists of single malts from 5 distilleries on Islay. As the island is famous for, the nose has an obvious earth and peat hit softened by a vaniall and salt combination. The palate delivers on the smokiness but adds a spicy vanilla finish. A long finish, some found that the whisky lighter when water was added
Next up was Compassbox's Great King Street Artisan's Blend. What was interesting is that the exact breakdown of the whisky and wood is available. We all thought Marc was impressive when he revealed the percentages! A sweet, citrus nose with definite "apple pie" descriptions and a hint of hay. The palate is soft with spicey tropical fruits, vanilla, almonds and creme brulee coming together for a nicely balanced finish.
The Glendronach "Original" 12 year old was next. A sweet and creamy vanilla nose with stewed fruits and Christmas cake hints, the Glendronach is a single malt matured in sherry casks. The palate is silky-smooth and full of sweet fruits and oak and sherry tones.
Marc then shared a rather special whisky in our eyes - the Balvenie 15year Single Barrel Cask. This whisky is bottled from a single cask and each bottle bears the cask number, cask fill date, bottling date and bottle number. This note taker missed the cask we tasted from. That means that the tasting notes won't be accurate and irrelevant. We certainly enjoyed it and loved the concept.
The final whisky for the night was Lagavulin 16year old. This whisky is a single malt that is finished in mature sherry barrels. The nose is a mix of roasted nuts, cinammon and caramelised sugar. On the palate the rich toffee combines with a sweet smokiness to create a lingering finish.
Marc has frequent tasting at the shop and is also available for groups, corporates or just 8 enthusiastic whisky drinkers! Visit his site here and sign up for the newsletter.
Thanks again for hosting us and for teaching us so much!
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