"The Cabinet" is a Winnipeg based scotch whisky tasting club that meets every two months to sample, discuss and enjoy scotch and occasionally other related malt-based beverages.

Friday, February 2, 2024

Tak' The Low Road



O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

So goes the chorus of the classic Scottish song, "The Bonnie Banks 'o Loch Lomond". The Cabinet met last week to take a version of the low road. But before I get into that, a bit of trivia for you: the low road referred to in the song is death, the road the spirits take. The singer has been killed in the Jacobite wars and is returning to Scotland via that lowest of roads. That's why he and his true love will never meet again. A bit dark. But marvelous.

We did not take that low road. Obviously. Rather we took the Lowland road, and sampled the output of two distilleries near Glasgow. And the reason for that was that our first meeting of the year is always held as close as possible to Robbie Burns Day. Those of us who have kilts wear them. Burns lived in Dumfries, as low as you can get in the Lowlands, so these whisky choices seemed a fitting way to mark the occasion.

The Lowlands have very few distilleries, and even less are available here, so we had to satisfy ourselves with two Auchentoshans, the 12 year old and the Three Wood, and the new(ish) King's Inch from the Courageous Spirits distillery. These were all fine, but none were spectacular. The King's Inch, with it's green apple nose, and fruity flavours was the most interesting, and the Three Wood was enjoyable, with its dominant rich caramel. The 12 year old, however, was thin and dull. None had much of a finish. The Lowlands indeed. 

We wrapped up the evening with a detour to our favoured isle and the Ardbeg An Oa. Even though it didn't exist 230 years ago, Burns would have approved. Actually, probably not. He probably would have hated it. But he took the low road long ago, so we can safely put words in his mouth. 
"Ye're brilliant gentlemen, enjoy yer peaty Islay dram!" - Robbie Burns posthumous quote, January 26, 2024.

Slainte Robbie!


















Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Member's Choice Night, 2023

Our annual tradition of long standing is to have a rotation of members select the whiskies for the last meeting of the year. This most recent edition of "Member's Choice Night" could be called "From The Vaults". The three members assigned to make the selections asked the Secretary to submit a list of the bottles that had sat the longest since last being tasted. 

Capital idea! 

From this list they chose: 

Benriach 12 year old (last tasted in 2016)

Arran Cognac Cask (last tasted in 2012)

Aberfeldy 21 year old (last tastes in 2016)

The first thing we noticed was the dust. Nothing says "this bottle has been neglected in the cellar for years" like a good encrustation of dust. And so it was. 

In these pages we've previously discussed our fears regarding the effects of oxidation. All of these bottles were more than half empty and had a lot of oxygen rich head space to interact with during those many long dark lonely years, yet all of them were still delightful. Perhaps not as delightful as they once were (but then who among us is?) but delightful enough that it made for a very jolly evening of tasting.

To our surprise, the most delightful was the Benriach. At 46% abv, it's not cask strength, but it is more potent than the average scotch, and it packs a wallop of flavour. This is a full mouth experience with a long slow, marvelously astringent, finish. Somewhat bizarrely, the Arran was quite similar. I say bizarrely as it's an Island malt, whereas the Benriach is a Speyside, and it's a cognac cask finish, as opposed to sherry cask, and it is fully cask strength at 59.5%. Yet, there was a commonality in flavour profile. In a good way.

Trailing the pack was the thinner, lighter Aberfeldy 21. Still delightful, but just not as delightful. It's all relative.

To round the night off, we returned to the exceptional cask strength Chorlton bottling of the Ardmore 12 year old that appeared at our last meeting. This was our favourite whisky of 2023 and thus a fitting way to finish the year.

Slainte!







Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Alt Islay

The Cabinet assembled last week to, in theory, explore a few alternative malts from Islay. In other words, some of the recent bottlings that have moved away from traditional age statements. I write "in theory" because in actuality, the star of the evening came from somewhere else entirely. It came from near Kennethmont in the Highlands, some 370 km northeast of Islay, and it came via Manchester and Nurnberg.

I will explain.

The Cabinet has a firm membership of seven, but guests are welcome to join us (one at a time please). On the evening in question we enjoyed the company of a guest who has been with us twice before. This might be a record. In the past she has come from Mumbai, but now she is based in Nurnberg, Germany. And now (and of much greater interest to our members and readers), she has source in the UK who supplies her with the special bottlings of Chorlton Whiskies in Manchester:  https://chorltonwhisky.co.uk/uncategorized/chorlton-whisky-bottlings/  (Take note of the beautiful labels. They're all medieval in origin not only because of the aesthetics, but because they are public domain and royalty free.)

This is how the non-Islay 60.7% abv Ardmore 12 year old (bottled in December 2022) came to dominate our Alt Islay night. And dominate in the happiest possible way. There was some sentiment in the room that this was the best whisky we have tasted this year. It is a beast. A beautiful, glorious beast that punches you in the mouth. Also in the happiest possible way. We are not masochists. From nose to finish, there is so much going on here that descriptors were piled on top of descriptors. But here on The Cabinet Blog we do not list "hint of this, whiff of that, note of the other". We simply tell you what we like, and how much we like it. We like the Chorlton Ardmore. And we like it a lot.

The guest's other gifts did, however, fit the putative theme. She brought another Chorlton, a Staoisha 8 year old (59.9%, December 2021 bottling), which was also marvelous but in an entirely different, fresher, livelier way. And she presented us with a North Star bottling, the Caol Ila 12 year (2006) at 54.6%. This was very fine too. But very fine sadly stands in the shadows of exceptional.

Joining the Caol Ila in the shadows was a new Bruichladdich "The Organic" 10 year old (50.0%), which was even better than very fine, but still suffered by comparison. It will get its own night to shine at some point in the new year.

And finally the perplexing and infuriating Arbeg "Ardcore" (46.0%). We disliked it before. We tolerate it now. It's difficult to get past the absurd punk theming and the ridiculous price point - double the Bruichladdich. Presented blind it would fair better. It would be fine. Probably not very fine, but fine. But context is important. Context is where half the fun is.

What a night.

Slainte!















Monday, September 4, 2023

The Peated Isles

Almost two weeks have passed since The Cabinet met to enjoy a liquid tour of The Peated Isles, so I am afraid your correspondent will once again have to excuse the brevity of the post and instead point to the photos. It's been too long. I've been busy. But look! Over there! Pretty pictures. Pretty pictures of scotch whisky. Delicious scotch whisky. Such delicious scotch whisky. 

As I have often commented before, The Cabinet leans coastal. We can appreciate a well crafted Highland, Lowland, or Speyside, but peated malts from within sight of the sea are what makes us smile, and sometimes even giggle, with delight. Well, ok, not exactly "giggle", but definitely make inarticulate but unmistakably positive noises. 

"The Peated Isles" featured were Skye for the Talisker 10 year old, Orkney for the Highland Park Valfather, and Islay for the Bowmore 15. All retail for around $100 here, so it was a fair fight, although ultimately not really a fight because we loved them all. Possibly the Talisker the most, but this is somewhat hairsplitting. 

Note below the Sargeant-at-Arms' careful measuring of each member's pour. We are men of science, not dissipation. Not much dissipation anyway. Not that night. And never in the presence of cameras.

Slainte!






Wednesday, June 21, 2023

End of the Alphabet, End of the World

Sometimes the Cabinet Secretary's inspiration fails him. Sometimes the Cabinet Secretary forgets that a meeting has been scheduled. Sometimes the Cabinet Secretary scrambles at the last minute to select the whiskies for tasting. But then he peers in there and sees that the bottles in the bottom right corner, at the end of the alphabet, have been accumulating dust. Literal dust. But metaphorical too. And then he looks outside and notes the apocalyptic orange sky and the dead tree beside the Cabinet Summer Quarters, on the banks of the Assiniboine River, and thinks to himself, "end of the alphabet, end of the world". Sometimes it all works out anyway. And it did.

As it happens, the five bottles at the end of the alphabet originated in five different countries: Sazerac Rye (USA), Sexton (Ireland), Penderyn Sherrywood (Wales), Paul John (India), and Scapa 10 y.o. (Scotland). Some of you will be keen to hear about these in more details. You are out of luck. Sometimes the Cabinet Secretary is lazy or busy or both (an oddly viable combination). Sometimes the Cabinet Secretary will decide to give the blog entry over to the photographers in the group. Before doing so, he will make one comment: whoever you are, avoid the Sexton (generic "likker") and seek out the Scapa (a scotch lovers ambrosia). The rest depend on who you are. 













"The Secretary"

"The Luthier"

"The Stormophile"

"The Sawbones"

"The Producer"

(Missing: "The Monkey Wrangler" and "The Sergeant-at-Arms".)

Slainte!