ScotchBuddy

WhiskeyFest San Francisco Oct 10

There is a Whiskey Festival in San Francisco in October.  I'm buying my ticket right now!

http://maltadvocate.com/whiskeyfest-sf.asp

Sweet Smoke

I met my friend Ian McFarland (a good Scottish name!) at St. Stephan's Green today, and told him I'd started a Scotch blog--he was a supporter, and when I introduced him to Wishart's clusters, he immediately declared that he was a sweet smoke man.  They had Glenmorangie at the bar, so I ordered it.  I'd realized, seeing it at the bar (one of only about 5 single malts), that I'd probably chosen the wrong representative for the Sweet Smoke group (I chose Old Pulteney). 

But as I drank it, I decided I may still be on track, because I don't find the smoke very pronounced in the Glenmorangie.  (It was pleasant enough, but didn't have enough character for me.)  For my exemplar, I'd also considered Oban (more famous), but it's much more expensive.  Smokey or not, I prefer my Scotch a little drier.

It's good, I've got two friends who now know their clusters.  I need to collect a person from each cluster, and we'll do some guest posts.

The Exemplars

So, if you took a look at Wishart's clusters, you can see it's interesting, but a little hard to digest.  I took the liberty of naming each cluster and choosing an exemplar for each cluster.  I tried to choose the exemplar on the basis of it's availability and price, in both cases aiming for the whiskey within the reach of most people.

Here are my selections:

• A "Sherry": Macallan 12 year ($39.99)
• B "Nutty": Aberlour 12 year ($35.99)
• C "Fruity": Glenlivit 12 year ($25.99)
• D "Light Fruit": Auchentoshan "Select" ($23.99)
• E "Light Flowers": Glen Moray 12 year ($25.99)
• F "Malty": Tomatin 12 year ($29.99)
• G "Sweet Flower": Glenfiddich 12 year ($25.99)
• H "Sweet Smoke": Old Pulteney 12 year ($39.99)
• I "Dry Smoke": Bowmore "Legend" ($23.99)
• J "Peaty": Laphroaig 10 year ($32.99)

If you want to try each cluster, this is a good start.  The prices are based on Beverages & More, a California chain that offers some of the best prices I can find.

Why Scotch?

I was a student in Japan in 1991.  I landed a job as a bartender in the high-end bar of a dead-end town.  I had never worked in a bar before, but there was no training required:  95% of the customers ordered the same drink, mizuwari (水割り).  Whiskey and water. 

I was a great bartender.  About 50% of the Japanese suffer from Alcohol Flush Reaction, and they cannot drink that much.  I, on the other hand, with my evolved Irish liver, could drink people under the table all night long.  While working there, I developed a taste for good whiskey (and bad karaoke).

Back in the U.S., I befriended a chap in the U.K., Rod Fine.  He was coming out for a visit, and he asked if I drank Scotch.  I said no.  He said he'd fix me.  To get ready for his visit, I went straight out and bought a little tasting kit from Trader Joes, with 4 single malts in it.  I sat down one evening and started to develop my own taste in Scotch.  The photo is from my visit to Rod's beautiful English countryside.

Since then, I have been to Scotland, and imbibed many interesting Scotches.  Recently, my friend Sara expressed some interest, and I thought it would be great to recreate my first tasting experience.  But as I started to do so, I realized that standard Scotch categories are senseless. Then I found a great site, Whiskey Classified. I love what David Wishart has done, but I want to take it further.  I created an introductory tasting session, and I'd like to share it with you. 

The wine world is full of bullshit posing as discriminating taste.  The vodka world is even worse.  Scotch Whiskey is not as bad, but people spend too much time imitating the people around them, and not enough time figuring out what Scotch THEY like.  Let me help you out.  I'm your Scotch buddy.