Fortan

The Cabinet had it's 99th meeting on Thursday evening. You read that correctly. We have met 99 times since that auspicious inaugural event on January 15, 2010 (subsequently proclaimed as "World Cabinet Day", if you weren't aware). You can be assured that the 100th meeting this December will be appropriately marked. Dignitaries have been invited at attend. Complex preparations are being made.

This 99th meeting was more ordinary. No dignitaries. No pipe and drum band. No extra extra special bottle. During most of our meetings, we examine a region, or a style, or find some other common thread to bind the selected whiskies. This time, however, we left it up to luck, or "fortan" (FOR-shtan), as they allegedly say in Scottish Gaelic. This meant writing the names of the 44 bottles of whisky we currently have in our stocks on slips of paper and placing them in the Ceremonial Laphroaig Hat. Six members were in attendance and each drew a selection. As we only do four pours per meeting, the last three draws were pooled for us to pick a favourite from. This was to mitigate the possibility of drawing only unloved whiskies. (Which was, in fact, The Cabinet Secretary's dark purpose as he continues to seek ways to make use of those bottles.)

But there was no need. "Fortan" smiled, and all six selections were greeted with delight, or something very closely resembling it.

1. The King's Inch - A lovely full-bodied lowland, with notable sweetness. A good opener, but alas there was only enough left in the bottle for each member to have a dribble. (Insert obvious joke regarding the King's "Inch".) 

2. Caol Ila 12 Year Old - This is the business. Old leather and pipe tobacco.

3. Laphroaig Select - The is the business's cooler older brother. As one member put it, an ashtray that's been left out and covered in morning dew. Now, if that doesn't make your mouth water, you have no business being near a bottle of scotch.

4. Bowmore 15 - To be frank, by this point my palate was blitzed, but the dark fruit and subtle peat still came through. I'm sure there was "a bunch of other stuff" too, and we all loved it, but we were also all distracted by stories of dead Delica vans and giant metal moose.

5. Two Brewers (Yukon) - To compensate for the very low volume first pour, we allowed ourselves a fifth. This is obviously not a scotch whisky, but it is a good whisky nonetheless. Very round in the mouth and pleasingly malty. 

(Incidentally, the remaining draw was Kilchoman Machir Bay, also very worthy.)

On to Meeting #100!

Slainte!