"Robbie Burns Week" would be more accurate as we met four days prior to the actual "Robbie Burns Day", but we did meet fully in the spirit of the day. The Cabinet does not customarily meet in January, but as our cash account came out of 2012 looking pleasingly flush we decided to hold a "bonus" meeting on top of the normal six per year. What better time to do so than in proximity to Robbie Burns Day, the only true Scotch whisky holiday.
The centre-piece of the meeting was the unveiling of the new stocks. 2013 has been declared a Year Of Excellence at The Cabinet. This is a year where we will strive to drink only the very best in single malt scotch whisky. This was of course the raison d'etre of The Cabinet from the outset, but perhaps we've strayed a bit from that at times. It is not a coincidence that the Year Of Excellence has been declared at a time when our finances are (were...) in robust good health. Motivation plus money equals shopping. And shopping is what Al and Michael did on behalf of the club. Here then is what has been added to our stocks:
Tomatin 12 y.o.
Stronachie 12 y.o.
Glendronach Parliament 21 y.o.
Old Pulteney 21 y.o.
Edradour Chateau Neuf de Pape Finish Cask Strength
Rosebank 21 y.o.
This collection is a joy to behold. The Rosebank is incidentally a once prominent Lowlands distillery that was permanently closed in 1993. When these bottles are all sold there will be no more ever again. Stay tuned for a tasting later this year...
The program for the night was loose and was based more or less on three donations from members, plus a nip into an old favorite re-purchased during this recent re-stocking: the Old Pult 21. I won't go into tasting notes this time, but will rather just list what we drank and how we scored them:
Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 7.17
Kirkland Speyside 20 y.o. 5.5
Jura Prophecy 5.77
Old Pulteney 21 y.o. 8.5
The "Kirkland" might catch you off-guard and is perhaps worth a brief note. Indeed, as the name suggests, this is the Costco housebrand. It is only available in the US. It is labeled as a Speyside single malt, but there is no hint whatsoever as to its specific provenance. Even a diligent search on Google reveals only heated speculation, largely centred around Macallan as the probable origin, but no actual facts. It may be worth noting that we drank from a bottle that had been wrapped in brown paper and we were only told that it was a "20 year old Speyside single malt", so the score of 5.5 is not influenced by the declasse whiff of "Kirkland". Given that, the score suggests that if it is in fact a Macallan, it is perhaps from a more neglected corner of their distillery...
The evening was a jolly tribute to Burns with conversation ranging from the definition of rectum, through to skirt wearing by Luddites and on to octopus hunting with PVC pipe and bleach. The stand-out highlight though was a reading from Robbie Burns by Al in an impeccable Scots accent.
Slainte!
Photos will follow in a separate post.
The centre-piece of the meeting was the unveiling of the new stocks. 2013 has been declared a Year Of Excellence at The Cabinet. This is a year where we will strive to drink only the very best in single malt scotch whisky. This was of course the raison d'etre of The Cabinet from the outset, but perhaps we've strayed a bit from that at times. It is not a coincidence that the Year Of Excellence has been declared at a time when our finances are (were...) in robust good health. Motivation plus money equals shopping. And shopping is what Al and Michael did on behalf of the club. Here then is what has been added to our stocks:
Tomatin 12 y.o.
Stronachie 12 y.o.
Glendronach Parliament 21 y.o.
Old Pulteney 21 y.o.
Edradour Chateau Neuf de Pape Finish Cask Strength
Rosebank 21 y.o.
This collection is a joy to behold. The Rosebank is incidentally a once prominent Lowlands distillery that was permanently closed in 1993. When these bottles are all sold there will be no more ever again. Stay tuned for a tasting later this year...
The program for the night was loose and was based more or less on three donations from members, plus a nip into an old favorite re-purchased during this recent re-stocking: the Old Pult 21. I won't go into tasting notes this time, but will rather just list what we drank and how we scored them:
Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 7.17
Kirkland Speyside 20 y.o. 5.5
Jura Prophecy 5.77
Old Pulteney 21 y.o. 8.5
The "Kirkland" might catch you off-guard and is perhaps worth a brief note. Indeed, as the name suggests, this is the Costco housebrand. It is only available in the US. It is labeled as a Speyside single malt, but there is no hint whatsoever as to its specific provenance. Even a diligent search on Google reveals only heated speculation, largely centred around Macallan as the probable origin, but no actual facts. It may be worth noting that we drank from a bottle that had been wrapped in brown paper and we were only told that it was a "20 year old Speyside single malt", so the score of 5.5 is not influenced by the declasse whiff of "Kirkland". Given that, the score suggests that if it is in fact a Macallan, it is perhaps from a more neglected corner of their distillery...
The evening was a jolly tribute to Burns with conversation ranging from the definition of rectum, through to skirt wearing by Luddites and on to octopus hunting with PVC pipe and bleach. The stand-out highlight though was a reading from Robbie Burns by Al in an impeccable Scots accent.
Slainte!
Photos will follow in a separate post.
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