December 30, 2011

I have a thing for Scotch.  Maybe it's because of the Scottish family heritage, maybe it's because I just like whiskies in general, maybe it's because I have some latent penchant for "the finer things in life" as it were.  I don't really have a lot of in-depth knowledge about Scotch, so naturally I decided on a complete whim to dive in head first and have a Scotch tasting party.  I subsequently spent a few weeks researching Scotch, it's regions, and it's food pairings, because, as our friend Hunter S. Thompson said, if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing right (interestingly enough a good friend of mine once gave me a book about Scotch, Still Life with Bottle, written and illustrated by a good friend of Mr. Thompson).  It ended up going extremely well (at least I thought so), with about 18 people turning up, and about that many people going home with a warm fuzzy belly full of good spirits (double entendre intended).  Following you'll find what we drank, what we ate with what we drank, and my thoughts about the whisky.

Bowmore 12 year:  This Scotch hails from Islay.  I already knew that I liked Islay malts, and was happy to try a new one.    For food, I paired this extraordinarily peaty drink with baked brie, asparagus lightly cooked in butter, roasted herbed potatoes, and smoked almonds.  Each of these went together very well in their own way I thought.  The smoked almonds really brought out the smoky character of the malt, and the greasiness of the cheese mingled nicely on the palate.  Amber color, intense peaty nose, bold smoky palate.

Talisker 10 year:  I was most excited to try this Scotch.  Talisker comes from the only distillery from the Isle of Skye, and is considered one of the "classic" Scotches.  I paired this Scotch with crumbled Gorgonzola and Kalamata olives, smoked salmon and cream cheese on lightly toasted french bread rounds, an Irish cheddar, and smoked Gouda.  The Gouda really stole the show for me, the creaminess and smokiness of the cheese mixed with the whisky to create some serious mouth happy times.  Talisker was one of my two favorites of the evening, maybe my favorite.  I'll definitely be buying more in the future.  Gold color, smoky and peaty nose, spicy peaty palate.  Delicious.

Glenmorangie 10 year: Glenmorangie comes from the Highland region, and was actually the only Scotch of the evening that I didn't care for.  I paired it with Granny Smith apple slices drizzled with honey (from Frenetae, shout out to my sister Heather!) and cinnamon, milk chocolate with cherries, and Havarti cheese.  The whisky reminded me of trees, and was sharp.  Still developing my Scotch vocabulary, I'll taste it again when I can do a better job describing.  Light gold color, flowery herby nose, piney woody tree palate.

Cragganmore 12 year: Several people thought this Scotch was badass just because the name reminded them of dragons, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this was my second favorite of the evening.  Cragganmore comes from the Speyside region, and I definitely look forward to sampling more of what Speyside has to offer.  I did a very simple pairing of dark chocolate and Havarti cheese for this whisky, and found that the food pairing was lacking.  I'll have to do a better job researching food next time I have a Cragganmore (and there will be a next time).  This Scotch had a delicacy to it, lots going on.  Gold color, herby fruity nose, fruity palate with hints of herbs.






So that was that.  After the official tasting part was over, we all hung out, finished the Scotch, picked at the leftover food, and made merry until the wee hours of the morning.  By some serendipitous twist, no fewer than five good friends from out of town (New Orleans, Washington D.C., Arcata, Oakland) were in town for the event, and being able to catch up with all of them was a bonus cherry on top of an already amazing evening.