Scotland

For those who don't already know, WhiskyFest is a great show put on by John Hansel and Malt Advocate Magazine. They hold 3 shows every year in Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

The focus is squarely on our favorite brown spirit and the products represented are predominantly whiskies. Brandy,  Vodka, liquers and Rum make appearances but are in the extreme minority.

For us, it's a whisky wonderland.

Every one of these shows has its own personality and character. Some of that comes from the format, some from the attendees and a health chunk comes from the sponsors. People like John Hansel and Riannon Walsh work very hard to keep these three forces in alignment and aimed in the right direction.

WhiskyFest is very much an industy showcase. The major players and minor importers are on the same footing here. Everyone has the same space to work with, but that doesn't imply that the presentations are at all equal.

Mark and I trace the genesis of our whiskey adventures back to a science fiction convention in March of last year, but perhaps the biggest watershed for us was attending WhiskeyFest San Francisco in 2007. WhiskeyFest is an annual event hosted by Malt Advocate Magazine in Chicago, New York and as of last year, San Francisco. They rent the ballroom of a major hotel and fill it with whiskey exhibitors to the tune of about 250 different bottles from all over the world. I wrote about one of our more colorful experiences there in The Teacher's Pet, but there were many more important moments from that night. Really, we went from drinking almost exclusively Irish whiskey to finding some of the most exceptional Bourbon, Scotch and world whiskies we've seen to this day.

Every field and venture has it's dangers. Being a whisky afficianado is no exception, and while some are well known (having a dram too many of the Laphroig and drunk-dialing an ex) some are a bit more...exotic. As a for instance, last October my esteemed WhiskeyBro Mark and I were perusing the plethora of possible pours at WhiskeyFest SF. If there was a bit of stagger to our step, well, it had been a long night. We encountered the Dalmore table with gusto, but not quite as much as the fiery Scot who walked us through the tasting. In fact, "fiery" and "gusto" don't quite do justice to the force we reckoned with. Suffice to say that we did not treat the Scotch in front of us with sufficient gravity, which resulted in, well....ice chucking. That's right ladies and gentlemen, Richard Paterson himself, award-winning, third generation, master blender for Whyte & Mackay threw ice at my brother-in-law.

UPDATE: I've decided to catch up with the rest of the world and start using a 100 point scale. We probably will never rate anything below 30 points (because we're not planning on rating anything that doubles as an industrial floor cleaner) but the conversions to the old ratings will be easy enough.

• Bushmills Original - 50
• Jameson Original - 50
• Crown Royal - 50
• Crown Royal Special Reserve - 55
• Midleton 2007 - 85
• Bushmills 21 - 87

I think this works, considering I also placed Bushmills 1608 at an 88

Original Story:

The other night, Mike, Travis and I got together to do some serious tasting. Before we began we had four new bottles to open. We tasted Bushmills 10, Bushmills 21, Midleton 2007, The Balvenie Doublewood, and Scapa 14.

This is hard work. There are so many great flavors there to try and quantify, codify and categorize them is very difficult. But that is what we do and we try to do it well.

One of my idle daydreams is to take possession of and restart a silent distillery. The two news stories here and here point to good news for the Scotch industry but bad news for me and my idle daydreams.

Soaring demand for Scotch whisky around the world has prompted another major distiller to announce expansion plans, this time on Speyside.

Chivas Brothers yesterday said it was reopening its mothballed Braeval Distillery and extending its Glenlivet production plant.

Diageo is also adding capacity like crazy:

Work started recently on the £40million plant at Roseisle in Moray - part of a total £100million investment in whisky by Diageo.

as is everyone else in the industry:

Ah blessed science.

To develop and select the Whiskey Bros. approved Rob Roy we need research. We pulled up the eight blended whiskys that we happen to have on hand: Buchannan 12, Chivas Regal 12 Chivas Regal 18, Famous Grouse, Johnnie Walker Black, Johnnie Walker Green, Johnnie Walker Red, And Suntory Hibiki for evaluation. We promptly put the Hibiki back away where it belongs, before my wife beat me.

The Rob Roy was First served at the Dorchester Hotel London, 1909 and Johnnie Walker was the Scotch of choice. Hence our inclusion of the three most common varieties of Johnnie Walker in this test.

We've decided to persue the "Perfect" Rob Roy, also known as Beal's Cocktail which is made with equal parts dry and sweet vermouth, a couple of dashes of bitters and Blended Scotch Whisky.

The Rob Roy is basically a Manhattan made with Scotch whiskey. It is named for Robert Roy MacGregor.

I don't have my own recipe yet, but I will get one together after some experimentation. I think that finding the right ingredients for me will take some thought. Many of the Scotch whiskeys that I would choose are "done". The idea of using Vermouth and bitters to "enhance" a scotch seems like using neon spray paint to enhance the David. Maybe that's just the single-malts talking again.

I think I will try Scotch that is generally available, one that could take the new flavors as an addition instead of grafitti. Johnny Walker Red or Black are used commonly but I try to be different, so maybe Glenfiddich. Using Johnny Walker Green seems like a case of subtraction by addition, but anything is possible. I won't know until I try. A lowland single malt Scotch would be from the same neighborhood as Rob Roy himself, though bitters and Vermouth aren't exactly local.

The IBA describes it this way:

Now that was fun!

 The day was rainy and somewhat miserable, but this didn't dampen our spirits at all. We were prepared for an entertaining evening where we were part of the main draw.

Mike went down early to drop off the whiskey and to scope out the location while Mark was still working at his day job. There were many supplies that had still not ben acquired and they would have to come at the last minute like so much of this event.

My regular job requires me to travel from time to time. I find myself in Texas this week. Funny thing about Texas, they love Canadian whiskey.

When I spoke with John Hall at Forty Creek, he told us of his Small Batch Reserve. I managed to get a couple of bottles in from Toronto by way of Vancouver. He also told us that the only markets for this 6000 bottle run were Ontario and Texas. Since I'm here, I'm trying to get some.

Last night, I went to two different local liquor stores. Somehow I ended up in a dry city surrounded by dry cities and we barely made it before they stop selling at 9pm. I was surprised to see the extent to which Crown Royal is promoted here. They've got two 50ml bottles in a little purple baggie on huge endcap displays of 1.75L bottles.  One place skipped the Special Reserve and only carried regular Crown, Cask No.16 and Crown Royal XR.  I've also heard that Crown Royal outsells Jack Daniel's here.

There were a lot of firsts last night. Last night was the first time the CADHC had a Whiskey Bros. Whiskey Tasting at their event. This was also the first time we had done an event like this one and our first time out with the point cards. The first time I'd served whiskey in the same room with a camel was also the first time we had done a party at Long Branch Farms.

Best though, it was the first time many of our guests had tried the whiskeys we brought.

Mike spoke about our selection process for this suite, and I can honestly say that we were on the right track, but the audience was a bit of a surprise. We had assembled a list that was heavy on Bourbons and fairly common bottles, and adding in more Scotch as it became possible via donations. As it happens,this crowd was very much into the single malts. We had quite a few people that were interested in the high end stuff, more than I imagined.

Some had never tried premium single malts, others had some experience but wanted to learn more. Diageo provided us with a flavor map that helped us explain the regions and traditional flavors of Scotland better.

The days are ticking away and we're busily putting all the pieces in place for our first big event of the year. We've gotten some amazing donations that have ballooned the whiskey list from the originally intended 30 up to an incredible 50!

I'm thrilled to announce the arrival of Eagle Rare, Blanton's, Sazerac Rye, and Buffalo Trace from our friends at Buffalo Trace. This is a batch of bourbons that we wouldn't have been able to serve without their support. Skyy Spirits ensured that there would be no shortage of single malt variety with their donation. Malt Advocate has sent us a box of the first issue of 2008 to give away, and they have also helped getting me in touch with the right people to make this event possible. Diageo has promised to help as well, but Steve Beal has been ill, our best wishes go to him for a speedy recovery.

Back in November down at WhiskeyBros HQ, Mark and I were enjoying some old favorites and discussing what exactly belonged on the list of whiskey to bring to the upcoming tasting. It was an extremely interesting and elucidating discussion for both of us, in that it gave us an opportunity to discuss what our favorites were, and why, as well as trying to find the perfect mix to fit a western themed event. Another important factor we took in to account was the actual experience of our tasters; are these people who can tell a Highland Scotch from an Islay by the nose? Or are these people who have enjoyed the occasional Jack Daniel's or Johnny Walker when it was around, but haven't explored much? With all this in mind, and a budget besides, we set to work building and cutting a list of whiskey that would be accessible to novices while still providing something special for the aficionados.

It's amazing how much writing can pile up in a short time. Even more amazing is how much a little cut can affect one's ability to write. So this will be my attempt to catch up on everything that has happened in the last few days.

Whiskey Bros. is pleased to announce our sponsorship of the Coastside Adult Day Health Center's  (http://www.coastsideadultdayhealth.org) annual Texas Hold'em Tournament.  We will be hosting a whiskey tasting event to benefit the CADHC, who will be using proceeds from this event to continue their work providing care for seniors.

WHEN: Thursday, January 31st, 5pm - 10pm
WHERE: Long Branch Saloon & Farms (Google Map)
TICKETS: Poker and Dinner: $100 buy-in with $75 rebuy. Dinner only: $25. Whiksey Tasting: $25 at the event. Includes shot glass and 20 point tasting card. See below for advance purchase details.

One of my co-workers has brought me a bottle of The Macallan Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskey.
It's a bit early to start drinking though.
We will open it here and share it around the office before I take it home and it takes up temporary residence in The Box.
More too after we taste :)