Chair's Selection

The Cabinet met last Thursday to consider the Chair's Selection. Unfortunately the Chair was unavailable at the last minute, but he did forward his list of selections so we proceeded under the able guidance of Michael as Acting Chair.
Al had selected an eclectic range of whiskies from the depths of our stores in order to showcase some that perhaps hadn't gotten much attention during previous meetings. Before we began tasting these though Trevor brought a "mystery bottle" kept concealed in a brown paper bag for a blind tasting, so that one kicks off the tasting notes compiled by Jason below:

Mystery Bottle: No lasting effect on the palate...alcohol taste..good

for a mixing scotch.

Penderyn, Madeira Cask: 

Can notice the tropical fruit, raisins and vanilla. Can
taste raisin bread pudding / rice pudding.

Arran, Cask Strength Cognac Cask: 

Tasting of dark chocolate, citrus such as orange and
grapefruit, pancake syrup notes at the finish.

Note: This scotch is extremely rare with only 480 bottles ever produced and a very low likelihood that there will be anymore on the future due to the restricted availability of cognac casks.
Kilchoman 3 Year Old, Spring 2010 Release: 

Iodine, peat, smoke, smoked chocolate, sweet at the end
with still more smoke.

Ardbeg 10 Year Old:

Soft peaty flavour, light smoke, sea, not as expected to be
considering previous Ardbeg bottles..expected much stronger.

The "mystery bottle" was "Clan MacGregor" a faux-Scottish sounding blend from the distilling house of William Grant (and therefore not actually "faux"...). This apparently sells for $12 and gets a shockingly favourable review here:

http://www.whiskyintelligence.com/2010/02/clan-macgregor-36-months-40-imported-blended-scotch-whisky-2009-scotch-whisky-tasting-note/

We finished with another "mystery bottle" - Mexican mezcal... "Smokey, peppery, oily, wormy..." Ok, not actually "wormy", but the smokiness is interesting and is part of what sets it apart from tequila.

The evening was lively and enjoyable, made all the more so by Cory and Grant's fabulous home-made charcuterie!