The Cabinet met one week ago today for the traditional end of year "Member's Choice" night. There were a couple unfortunate last minute regrets due to illness, but we did have a guest and it ended up being a convivial and fun evening.
The first selection was by Michael, who chose the Old Pulteney 12 year old, which had just been purchased by the club. Regular readers of this blog might recall that the 21 year old version was a club favorite, arguably even the club favorite. What a difference nine years makes. Whereas the 21 y.o. is complex and marvelously balanced, the 12 y.o. is simple and distressingly unbalanced. It unfortunately has too much heat and rawness to be placed in the same category as its elder sibling. In fact, we wondered whether perhaps the alcohol statement of 40% was in error. It burned more like 45%. The Cabinet intends to secure an appropriately calibrated hygrometer and test the alcohol content. Results will be published in a future posting. In summary though, it's by no means a bad whisky. Not at all. It's just not the Old Pulteney we love. The respected whisky writer Jim Murray called the even younger Old Pult 8 y.o. "excellent" and writes that "You don't have to wait too long for this one to mature." Perhaps we missed something. We do however accept that a measure of our experience with any whisky is an expectations game. Score: 6.1.
Next stop was Oban 14 y.o., Ivan's pick. This has been another club favorite in the past and was a nice point of comparison to the Old Pult, being another coastal Highland whisky. One would be foolish to complain about this fine malt and there were murmurs of approval and pleasure from around the room, but the membership was evidently in a parsimonious mood and handed out a score of only 6.7.
Grant then did something interesting. Grant often does something interesting, but this was more remarkably so. For his "member's choice" the took the Amrut, quite possibly our most reviled whisky of all time, and contrived to make it drinkable. We were skeptical. Deeply so. But wrongly so. The Amrut was used as the base for a hot toddy with homemade chamomile and fruit tea and a dollop of maple syrup. This effectively neutralized the Amrutness of the Amrut. Bravo.
Finally, by common consent, we decided to round out the evening with the Springbank 10 y.o., our only Campbelltown whisky. This also burns a bit like the Old Pult, but only a bit. Behind that fire is the complexity and subtlety that scotch lovers crave. Coincidentally, this ended up being the third maritime whisky of the evening and indeed it does have a hint of salt. The finish is marvelous and lingering. Score: 8.5. Scrooge had left the room.
All this fine whisky was complemented by fine food, especially Cory's home-made salami, and fine conversation ranging over important subjects such as survival in the bush and the "stadium buddy" (look it up...).
Merry Christmas and Slainte!
Next stop was Oban 14 y.o., Ivan's pick. This has been another club favorite in the past and was a nice point of comparison to the Old Pult, being another coastal Highland whisky. One would be foolish to complain about this fine malt and there were murmurs of approval and pleasure from around the room, but the membership was evidently in a parsimonious mood and handed out a score of only 6.7.
Grant then did something interesting. Grant often does something interesting, but this was more remarkably so. For his "member's choice" the took the Amrut, quite possibly our most reviled whisky of all time, and contrived to make it drinkable. We were skeptical. Deeply so. But wrongly so. The Amrut was used as the base for a hot toddy with homemade chamomile and fruit tea and a dollop of maple syrup. This effectively neutralized the Amrutness of the Amrut. Bravo.
All this fine whisky was complemented by fine food, especially Cory's home-made salami, and fine conversation ranging over important subjects such as survival in the bush and the "stadium buddy" (look it up...).
Merry Christmas and Slainte!
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