Well, we finally did it....after being told by many of my friends how great scotch is, we broke down and attended one of John's famous tastings. My buddies Tony and Wes thought it was time to move up a bit too and came with me.
My only previous tasting of scotch was 100 Pipers back in high school and boy did I hate that!!! Of course, my palate was quite a bit different then.
We arrived at Monk's a little early and had a beer and some frites to lay a good foundation. It seemed most of the other attendees were long-time scotch lovers. A good beer friend of mine, Sherry, was there and I had forgotten she said she was a great scotch person.
John started out by giving us some of the basics about Scotland and its famous product. He then put us to the test by pouring a mystery scotch to see whether we could tell what it was. Of course, our table had no idea! It turned out to be Black Bottle, a blended mix of all 7 distilleries of Islay. It was his pick for a best buy of 2005 in his magazine, Malt Advocate. A very nice start!!! My palate was alive with this warm oaky, peaty flavor......I was in heaven and much relieved I didn't dislike it.
Now we were ready for whatever came our way! Next up was Pittyvaich, a Speyside Scotch(43%) from Gordon and McPhail. It was 12 years old and was sweet and fruity, another surprise after the last one.
A Highland Park 15 year old was the next pour and was a lot darker than the previous libations. From the Orkney area, it has a flowery sweet and lightly peated flavor with a heathery aftertaste. Orkney is well known for their heather fields and for the most famous herbal beers from Scotland.
Moving right along, John presented us with a McAllan Fine Oak 17 year old which would not be available until later in 2006. McAllan was famous for only using sherry casks to age its scotch, but decided to compete in the larger market and now ages in both sherry and oak barrels. This Fine Oak series is their entry into that market. This excellent scotch had lots of vanilla and fruit in its palate and nose.
Ben Riach, another Speyside distillery, produced this Curiositas scotch with a very smoky flavor. By this time, the diversity of styles we were presented with, gave us a good overview of most of the regions of Scotland.
Now the big guns came out, a Gordon and McPhail product from the Strathisla distillery, a 20 year old cask strength(62.8%) drink from Speyside, really blew us away!! It had flavors of vanilla, licorice, and a very warm sweetness on the tongue and throat. I love big beers and I guess I love big scotches also!! As a matter of fact, I searched this one out with the importer and found a similar product(17 year old cask strength) in Chicago and ordered it...wonderful!!
Lastly, came another Islay product from Bowmore Distillers. It had a warm, smoky, briny palate and was one of Malt Advocate's Top 10 products.
I have to tell you that it was a great experience and one I think many beer lovers shoud try. One of these tastings is a good way to start as you get to taste some very expensive scotches for less than the price of a couple shots in a bar or one bottle from a store.
There will be another one coming up on April 18 at Monks Cafe. Call 1-215-545-7005 for reservations and info. Don't miss it!