With a stop in Wick along the way...
Entirely coincidental to the previous meeting's theme, last night The Cabinet took another look at the Orkneys, courtesy of one of our members who had just returned from there. Trevor and his family spent two and a half weeks in Scotland and he was able to take in two distillery tours - Highland Park in Kirkwall on Orkney "Mainland" (the somewhat confusing name of the principle island in the chain), and Old Pulteney in Wick, on the actual mainland mainland of Scotland, about a half hour's drive from the where you catch the ferry to the Orkneys.
Trevor returned with oatcakes, whisky infused chocolate, a Talisker cycling jersey for me that I had specially tasked him to obtain and, most significantly for The Cabinet, a 10 year old cask strength Scapa which is unattainable here. And he also returned with stories. With mouth-watering stories of the tastings and tours. He had also popped into Talisker (see cycling jersey reference above), but did not take the tour there and reported it to be very busy. In contrast, both Highland Park and Old Pulteney were quiet, with only five or six tour guests each. The styles of the tours were very different though. Old Pult is smaller and much more informal. They were permitted to wander around everywhere and poke at everything - at one point being invited to lick a few drops of the 30 year old leaking from a barrel. Highland Park on the other hand was more restricted, more professional, but also more informative. One nugget of information he returned with was the Highland Park guide's insistence that the whisky be "chewed" far longer than we thought reasonable. One is to move it around one's mouth long enough that the saliva begins to make it noticeably viscous. Ok. We all did this. It definitely gives you more for your money in that you are tasting the whisky longer, but you are also tasting it differently as this seems to ramp up the burn until you feel that your tongue and the insides of your cheeks have been injured. File under "interesting".
While all this was described we worked our way through the Old Pulteney 12 and 17 and the Highland Park 15 and Dark Origins. All of these have been reviewed before in these pages. It was very pleasant to return to these while hearing about their distilleries and while sitting in "The Cabinet's Summer Residence" alongside the rushing Assiniboine (it does rush at this point), gleaming quicksilver with the dusk.
And then, to close, the Scapa 10. Aye yai yai! At 59.2% this is a punch in the mouth and then some. So packed with flavour (cherries? licorice? bitter orange?) and so intense it punches you in the mouth, knocks you to the ground, drags you around a little and then gives you a quick little boot to the side of the head. What's not to love? Radically different then the Scapa Glansa. We will return to it soon.
Fine scotch whisky, dark chocolate, old French cheese (thank you Jason), a rushing river and tales of beautiful Scotland and of wild storm chasing in Kansas and of hot women in stilettos stomping on stamp collections (don't ask) - is it any wonder Cabinet thrives?
Slainte!
Entirely coincidental to the previous meeting's theme, last night The Cabinet took another look at the Orkneys, courtesy of one of our members who had just returned from there. Trevor and his family spent two and a half weeks in Scotland and he was able to take in two distillery tours - Highland Park in Kirkwall on Orkney "Mainland" (the somewhat confusing name of the principle island in the chain), and Old Pulteney in Wick, on the actual mainland mainland of Scotland, about a half hour's drive from the where you catch the ferry to the Orkneys.
(Note the highly stylish jersey on the right.
Nothing says serious cycling like a smokey peaty scotch whisky!)
Trevor returned with oatcakes, whisky infused chocolate, a Talisker cycling jersey for me that I had specially tasked him to obtain and, most significantly for The Cabinet, a 10 year old cask strength Scapa which is unattainable here. And he also returned with stories. With mouth-watering stories of the tastings and tours. He had also popped into Talisker (see cycling jersey reference above), but did not take the tour there and reported it to be very busy. In contrast, both Highland Park and Old Pulteney were quiet, with only five or six tour guests each. The styles of the tours were very different though. Old Pult is smaller and much more informal. They were permitted to wander around everywhere and poke at everything - at one point being invited to lick a few drops of the 30 year old leaking from a barrel. Highland Park on the other hand was more restricted, more professional, but also more informative. One nugget of information he returned with was the Highland Park guide's insistence that the whisky be "chewed" far longer than we thought reasonable. One is to move it around one's mouth long enough that the saliva begins to make it noticeably viscous. Ok. We all did this. It definitely gives you more for your money in that you are tasting the whisky longer, but you are also tasting it differently as this seems to ramp up the burn until you feel that your tongue and the insides of your cheeks have been injured. File under "interesting".
While all this was described we worked our way through the Old Pulteney 12 and 17 and the Highland Park 15 and Dark Origins. All of these have been reviewed before in these pages. It was very pleasant to return to these while hearing about their distilleries and while sitting in "The Cabinet's Summer Residence" alongside the rushing Assiniboine (it does rush at this point), gleaming quicksilver with the dusk.
And then, to close, the Scapa 10. Aye yai yai! At 59.2% this is a punch in the mouth and then some. So packed with flavour (cherries? licorice? bitter orange?) and so intense it punches you in the mouth, knocks you to the ground, drags you around a little and then gives you a quick little boot to the side of the head. What's not to love? Radically different then the Scapa Glansa. We will return to it soon.
Fine scotch whisky, dark chocolate, old French cheese (thank you Jason), a rushing river and tales of beautiful Scotland and of wild storm chasing in Kansas and of hot women in stilettos stomping on stamp collections (don't ask) - is it any wonder Cabinet thrives?
Slainte!
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