Two nights ago the Cabinet gathered for it's annual end of year "Member's Choice" night. This year Ivan, Grant and Michael were accorded the honour and responsibility of making the evening's selections. Entirely by coincidence, as they did not coordinate amongst each other, they chose our three most costly whiskies (excepting the Glenfiddich 30 year old, of which there is little left and which is in a dizzy-making price class of its own, probably requiring a unanimous vote to finish off).
But first we allowed our guest, Jeff, to pick a whisky. His attention was drawn to the unfamiliarity of the Penderyn Portwood, a Welsh malt. It has been written up a couple of time before, but in summary here I will recap that it is pleasant and accessible, albeit perhaps a bit simple and a bit sweet. The colour is remarkable though.
Then to kick off the orgy of sticker shock drinking, Ivan called for the Mackinley's Rare Old Highland, more commonly referred to as "The Shackleton". We love this scotch. It may be gimmicky. It may be yet another example of the marketing manager's art, but they got everything right: the packaging, the story and most importantly, the whisky itself. It is rough and raw and maritime, yet still balanced and drinkable. Read our original review here: http://whiskycabinet.blogspot.ca/2013/10/whiskies-of-character.html
$300.57 through the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission (no longer available).
This was followed by Grant's pick of the Rosebank 21 year old. Ah, the Rosebank. A distillery shuttered in 1993, it produced an exemplary Lowland whisky. No fireworks or paroxysms of delight, but just a very well put together dram with a lovely long finish and a drinkability that belies its cask strength. First tasted here:
http://whiskycabinet.blogspot.ca/2013/06/everything-new.html
$371.60 at MLCC (no longer available).
And then finally Michael, who had missed the last meeting where the Ardbeg Supernova was tasted, asked that it be brought out. The careful reader will recall from the last post (http://whiskycabinet.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-blind.html) that the Supernova was not well received, to put it politely. To be sure it was still a chaotic mess of big flavours, but somehow the complaints were less this time and a few appreciative noises could even be heard. Perhaps it was the Christmas spirit taking hold. What was useful, albeit surprisingly so, was the addition of "maple water". Yes, maple water - the thin vaguely maple flavoured liquid that comes out of the trees before it is boiled down into the sweet sticky stuff we call maple syrup. Although the touted health benefits claimed are almost certainly bogus it ends up being the perfect foil to the cask strength Supernova. Who would have thought that the marriage of two spurious marketing driven products could turn out so well? Earthy pretensions colliding with spacey ones. I'll spare you the obvious puns and cliches. Suffice it to say we enjoyed the result.
$342.83 at MLCC (limited quantities still available).
What a jolly evening it was. The best antidote to grey grim weather is to drink several hundred dollars worth of scotch and trade stories about the Himalayas, the Arctic, men failing at convincing anacondas to eat them and women succeeding at driving tractors in pointless directions.
Slainte!
But first we allowed our guest, Jeff, to pick a whisky. His attention was drawn to the unfamiliarity of the Penderyn Portwood, a Welsh malt. It has been written up a couple of time before, but in summary here I will recap that it is pleasant and accessible, albeit perhaps a bit simple and a bit sweet. The colour is remarkable though.Then to kick off the orgy of sticker shock drinking, Ivan called for the Mackinley's Rare Old Highland, more commonly referred to as "The Shackleton". We love this scotch. It may be gimmicky. It may be yet another example of the marketing manager's art, but they got everything right: the packaging, the story and most importantly, the whisky itself. It is rough and raw and maritime, yet still balanced and drinkable. Read our original review here: http://whiskycabinet.blogspot.ca/2013/10/whiskies-of-character.html
$300.57 through the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission (no longer available).
This was followed by Grant's pick of the Rosebank 21 year old. Ah, the Rosebank. A distillery shuttered in 1993, it produced an exemplary Lowland whisky. No fireworks or paroxysms of delight, but just a very well put together dram with a lovely long finish and a drinkability that belies its cask strength. First tasted here:http://whiskycabinet.blogspot.ca/2013/06/everything-new.html
$371.60 at MLCC (no longer available).
And then finally Michael, who had missed the last meeting where the Ardbeg Supernova was tasted, asked that it be brought out. The careful reader will recall from the last post (http://whiskycabinet.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-blind.html) that the Supernova was not well received, to put it politely. To be sure it was still a chaotic mess of big flavours, but somehow the complaints were less this time and a few appreciative noises could even be heard. Perhaps it was the Christmas spirit taking hold. What was useful, albeit surprisingly so, was the addition of "maple water". Yes, maple water - the thin vaguely maple flavoured liquid that comes out of the trees before it is boiled down into the sweet sticky stuff we call maple syrup. Although the touted health benefits claimed are almost certainly bogus it ends up being the perfect foil to the cask strength Supernova. Who would have thought that the marriage of two spurious marketing driven products could turn out so well? Earthy pretensions colliding with spacey ones. I'll spare you the obvious puns and cliches. Suffice it to say we enjoyed the result.$342.83 at MLCC (limited quantities still available).
What a jolly evening it was. The best antidote to grey grim weather is to drink several hundred dollars worth of scotch and trade stories about the Himalayas, the Arctic, men failing at convincing anacondas to eat them and women succeeding at driving tractors in pointless directions.
Slainte!
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