Busy Times

Well...we are midway through this semesters tastings at the Quaich Society here in St Andrews. Since the students returned we have had 3 tastings...an informal one where we looked at 3 whiskies and paired them with the contents of their parent casks ie sherry, port and wine. An interesting tasting but nothing really stood out..we had a Springbank Claret Wood, Auchentoshan Triple Wood and I think the 3rd was Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban...but I could be wrong..Next up was a Springbank tasting..I was looking forward to this one but was hoping that the Claret Wood was not on the list as it did not really hit the spot at the previous tasting. Anyhoo the line up was: Kilkerran, Hazelburn CV, Springbank10, Springbank 12 CS and finishing off with the Longrow. Iain Scott gave us a fun tasting...even though he was pre-occupied trying to keep up to date with the Rangers score (they went out in the end lol). To be honest all the drams were drinkable but nothing blew me away..it was as if something was missing...I think it was body, mouthfeel...The last Springer I bought was the anniversary one and I really enjoyed it..maybe it's just me..getting a wee bit fussy in me old age...but then again neither Francis or Doug disagreed with me. There were a few 'oohs' at the table for the Longrow but the peat nevr came to life for us 3 old soaks. Next tasting for the Quaich was Diageo..but hey ho I'd already bagged me a place for Iain Mclune's Japanese Tasting.

Edinburgh tastings are fun...there is a childlike excitement that arises in me when I have to travel over the Forth Bridge for a tasting..catching the last train back to Fife is not always fun though...but I blame that on the raffles!! The Japanese tasting offered something a bit special...it's aye nice to try whiskies that are out of your price range. First up was Ichiro's Malt Double Distillery. This being made up of Hanyu(15yo) and Chichibu(2yo). Ichiro Akuto being the 21st geeration of his family to be making drinks...his grandfather built Hanyu Distillery which ceased distilling in 2000...the last 400 casks from Hanyu were rescued by Ichito. Since 04 Ichito has been putting out whiskies under the Ichiro's Malts label. In 07 he founded the Chichibu Distillery with it's Japanese Oak washbacks and pot stills from Forsyth's. I'm not one for writing massive tasting notes but this one had the crowd umming and ahhing. A lot of folks found it quite hard to pin down but it was a thumbs up from the table. 46% and £80 a bottle...not a bad start..I got treacle toffee and spice btw...told you I was not prolific!! Next up was the mighty bambino Double Matured Chichibu. One of the things I love about Chichibu is the labelling...every detail is on there...what kind of wood for the washbacks...type of barley..how much malt used..etc...one word, maticulous! This was a crackin' wee dram from which I got ginger and dark fruit. Double matured refers to the two casks it was matured in. First was a bourbon barrel (June 08-June 09) then into a new American oak hogshead till October 09. Bottling at 61.3% this young 'un had a maturity beyond it's months. For a bit more insight into Chichibu Distillery I can highly reccomend Nonjatta . Imported to the UK by the Number One Drinks Company this whisky has a good future! Third dram of the night was the Nikka Taketsuru 21yr old. Bottled at 43% this vatted malt has won many awards. Taketsuru is a doffing of the cap to the father of Japenese distilling, Masataka Taketsuru. A fascinating story of a young man who came to Scotland to study whisky making after the First World War. The book Japanese Whisky, Scotch Blend by Olive Checkland tells the story of his amazing business and personal life. Anyhoo back to the whisky and on the nose I got strawberries and peaches, a nice sweet smelling dram. On the palate it was fresh and clean with summer fruites and licorice and a bit of toffee. A lovely dram but it did not 'fill' the mouth...another few percent on the ol' abv maybe? But a cracker all the same...someone at the table said that it never quite had the peacocks tail, which seemed pretty apt.  Moving on to dram number 4...ooh la la..dram number 4!! I think for most this was the star of the show. Now as with all Jolly Toper tastings these drams were tasted blind...but as soon as you put your snout in the glass you knew you were dealing with a kick ass old grain...on the palate you got thick dark fruits with rich tobacco, like grandads old pipe...amazing mouth filling experience!! Turns out that that fella Ichiro has only gone and done it again...this time with a stunning drop from Kawasaki Distillery....and no..it's not a motorbike ;-) 33yo and coming in at a stonking 65.6% you wonder how they managed it. Sadly this distillery is another one consigned to the scrap heap. £240 a bottle btw...would I buy one...or a few Scottish ones...who knows...if only I had 240 notes burning a hole..

 Final dram of the night was brought in by Willie as a replacement for one that  never arived on time for Iain. Sticking my nose in this I only got one  thing...silage. Now this might not be to everyones taste but I love it...I was brought up on farms as a kid..maybe it's fond memories or something like that. Peat...plenty of peat on the palate with a sweet aftertaste...ahh it's aye good to say hello to peat at the end of the night..some folks compared this to Laph and Ardie..fair point. Turned out to be a 15yo Yamazaki distilled in 93. The 62% backed up the peat!! All in all a grand tasting and nice to have a wee explore of another branch of the whisky family tree. Had a nice wee sample of Karazuwa 85 from Iain...damn fine..had the 67 down in London a while back and I'm fast coming to the conclusion that if it say's No1 on the label...then it is that indeed. Just had time to do the usual tasting of the raffle bottles before it was time to dash for the train back over the border...fun fun!!

Well that was then...and this is now! So I'm about to finish typing this then it's off to find a wifi hostelry so that I can enjoy the penultimate Spirit of Islay chat. Tomorrow brings an abundance of fine drams as we have our annual visit from John from Compass Box at the Quaich Society. Next week is a Jolly Toper tasting on Thursday followed by a Bruichladdich one with Jim and Duncan in Dumfries hosted by the Drambusters ...bring it on!!!