Suggestions for future whiskey nights

[Nick]

Hello, this is my first post so it may be a bit rough around the edges. Apologies.

I really enjoy the monthly tasting sessions and as an avid attendee I would like to suggest that a future tasting session might revolve around whiskey that has spent some time in rum casks. After tasting the Bushmills Caribbean rum sample some months ago I thought there was a lot more to discover in this unique pairing.

I would also like to suggest another Japanese whiskey night. I would love another opportunity to drink more samples of this whiskey style as I missed the last one unfortunately.

Another suggestion for a tasting, but which may fall out of the scope of a whiskey society, is a night sampling beer that has been aged in whiskey barrels. Considering whiskey is distilled from a basic beer wort it’s not too outrageous a suggestion, is it?!!

As to increasing IWS membership numbers, perhaps more people might attend more of the tasting nights if the whiskey to be tasted were commercially available. I for one, as a novice, can be put off attending such nights offering 'rare examples' because what I really want to learn about is whiskey that, if I like it, I can go out and buy. I feel that such rare example whiskey tasting nights cater more to the expert and whiskey hunter than the average whiskey drinker who simply wants to know more about the whiskey he sees in bars and off licenses, and in the whiskey book he received as a gift last Christmas. It certainly won’t stop me going to such nights as I enjoy them all but it may put other people off. And that’s the catch – cater to the masses with readily available whiskey nights or offer something unique to the die-hards. Tricky.

Anyway, these are just a few suggestions I thought could be considered for the future.

See you tomorrow at the Tyrconnel night,

Nick

[John]

Hey Nick!
Welcome to the forum
Some good suggestions there - I like the idea of the rum cask finish comparisons!
All the best,
John.

[kurtbenoit]

I like the idea of the rum casks night. I was at the bushmills night and everyone at my table was blown away by the rum cask. Also maybe a night of whiskey cocktails would be good too.

With increased membership/attendance would there be any future hopes of offering bi-monthly tastings?

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

As to increasing IWS membership numbers, perhaps more people might attend more of the tasting nights if the whiskey to be tasted were commercially available. I for one, as a novice, can be put off attending such nights offering 'rare examples' because what I really want to learn about is whiskey that, if I like it, I can go out and buy. I feel that such rare example whiskey tasting nights cater more to the expert and whiskey hunter than the average whiskey drinker who simply wants to know more about the whiskey he sees in bars and off licenses, and in the whiskey book he received as a gift last Christmas. It certainly won’t stop me going to such nights as I enjoy them all but it may put other people off. And that’s the catch – cater to the masses with readily available whiskey nights or offer something unique to the die-hards. Tricky.

Just to bring this up as it is not the first time it has been said ... however it a slight misconception that a lot of the whiskey's offered up by society are not available. However where the society has possibly fallen down is letting people know where? However we don't want to be seen to be promoting online retailers as that is not what we should be doing. But members should be aware that a lot of these bottles can be got if you look in the right place.

Firstly on availability in Ireland.

Whiskey availability in Ireland is still far behind most European countries. Ally in the Celtic whiskey Shop is still the standard barer for consumer choice however his stock still pales compared to some of the bigger UK, Dutch, German and French retailers. Also bars with decent whiskey menu's is few and far between and the bog standard bar still only has a minimal offering. So on that basis it is hard to keep it fresh with out going outside these boundaries.

However there are a multitude of online whisk(e)y shops that offer the whiskey aficionado the gate way to an Aladdin's cave of choice. The last tasting any extra stock was purchased from one single online retailer to save on postage. And that is the trick when shopping online. Buy 3, 4 or 6 bottles and it makes it worth you while. but if your going to buy singly it may not be worth your while.

The example of the Lowland tasting was gathered by half member offerings and a few bought on line as Ally only had Auchentoshan available.

Glenkinchie 12yo Or Here

Littlemill 12yo Or Here

Auchentoshan Valinch 2011 Or Here

Inverleven 1991 Or Here

Bladnoch 19yo (No longer available but similar version available directly from Bladnoch distillery) Or Here

Rosebank 22yo (No Longer available but similar versions available at Whisky Exchange)

There should be a thread with a list of recommended online sellers which I will try and dig out when I have time.

Hope this clears up why we regularly use "other" means but we also try and and support our local retailers too which is very important also.


Can't find the link but here is [urlhttp://forum.irishwhiskeysociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=42&start=0&hilit=Loch+Fyne#p126]another thread[/url]

[DavidH]

Even for the Lowland tasting, we ourselves advertised it as bottlings from silent distilleries and otherwise "hard-to-get" whiskeys. We have been playing up the exclusivity and "unique" opportunities while entirely missing the attraction of bottles that can be picked up in UK Duty Free, say. It might not even mean changing the whiskey selections, just making it clear up front that attendees will learn stuff that is useful in a decent whiskey bar / shop / duty free.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

We have been playing up the exclusivity and "unique" opportunities while entirely missing the attraction of bottles that can be picked up in UK Duty Free, say. It might not even mean changing the whiskey selections, just making it clear up front that attendees will learn stuff that is useful in a decent whiskey bar / shop / duty free.

And that is another point you remind me of ... what is regularly available to one person may not be available to another. It really depends on many factors. I live in Galway so don't have the selection that ye guys in Dublin have. Neither have I had an opportunity to avail of Duty free offering on any sort of regular basis of late. I've not even been to the T2 shop. Yet I know how to get my hands on a multitude of choice, this is something I've had to learn on my journey and is part of the fun. People just need to be aware that there are many ways of sourcing bottles. Online retail is great but we also need to be aware that if you want a better local choice you have to shop local more and it is only then it will improve.

I'm post up some of the links that I have collected over the years in a seperate thread.

Click Here

[rathbeggan]

Speaking as an occasional presenter, for my tastings I had to rely on bottles provided by other members (and myself). I indicated where they could be obtained, which was not always in Ireland but could have been online or in Duty Free. As WhiskeyChaser says, it's possible to track down a lot of things if you're interested and look around.

Speaking as a regular attendee, I like to try stuff I haven't had before and also stuff I'll never buy because it's too expensive (I have never spent more than €100 on a bottle) as well as new stuff. There are a lot of bottles in the CWS I've never had and wouldn't mind trying without having to stump up for a full bottle to find out what they're like.

There's no harm having a mix of tastings of course. The "battle of the blends" tasting would have met some of Nick's suggestions about trying regularly available whiskey.

[rathbeggan]

This thread has two themes - availability of bottles; and suggestions for future tastings. Having commented on availability separately, here's a couple of suggestions for future nights:

Scottish Highland Malts
Scottish Speyside Malts

We've done Island and Lowland, this should more or less complete the picture. We could also do a night on "peated mainland Scotch" (Ardmore, Tomatin, Benriach ... all reasonably easy to get by the way!) as usually when we look at peated whisky we've looked at Islay and Talisker.

Canadian Whisky - Canada was traditionally the fourth major whiskey nation after Scotland, Ireland and the US, but it's slipped behind Japan lately and will probably be eclipsed by India soon too. It is hard to get some Canadian whisky in Europe because of EU rules but we might be able to put something together

Triple distillation comparison - Scottish malts (Auchentoshan and Hazelburn) irish malts (Bushmills), Irish SPS or blends, Woodford Reserve Bourbon

Tasting strength comparison - some people recommend tasting whisk(e)y at 20% abv, some recommend 40%, others recommend cask strength. We could do a comparison by tasting, say, Powers at 20% and 40%, a malt at 20% and 40%, and a cask strength whiskey at 20%, 40% and cask strength (or do one 40% whiskey and two cask strength whiskies). It would be interesting to see what differences we found.

I'm not volunteering to host all these mind!

[DavidH]

The social aspect of last month's tasting was interesting. For those who were not there, we were not led through the tasting but invited to work through the whiskeys in front of us in our own time. That led to some good conversation at the table.

Taking this aspect a little further then, a suggestion for a tasting format could be to take away the chairs entirely, put the tables around the outside, give everyone a bunch of tokens and a tasting glass, and invite them to choose their own pour. This could handily use up leftovers from previous tastings.

This would really get everyone talking to everyone, I believe.

[Luke Gough]

We've previously had Ireland Vs Scotland courtesy of Diageo, i.e. Bushmills Vs J. Walker, Glenkinchie, Talikser, etc.

Here's an idea; a similar night pitting the Pernod Ricard distilleries/brands against each other, e.g. Jameson/Powers/Midleton Vs Chivas/Ballantines/Glenlivet.

Any thoughts/comments?

[DavidH]

It's a very neat idea, Luke. I like it. And it fits Nick's original suggestion of ensuring that we don't neglect the widely-available whiskeys.

[rathbeggan]

Luke's idea doesn't sound geeky to me. Given that it would involve just one company, we might be able to ask it to, em, assist us in our analysis...

[John]

Resurrecting an old, but certainly a worthwhile thread here!

Just as a suggestion, in terms of whiskey & food pairings, how about a whiskey and cured meat tasting or even a whiskey and fruit tasting?! The former is inspired by recently having some Redbreast 12yo and Pata Negra ham which worked extremely well for me anyway! The latter is inspired simply by going over some of the excellent tasting notes provided on this site primarily, as well as others, where references are constantly made (& rightfully too!) to various profiles akin to an array of fruits.

Too late for this year maybe but perhaps worth considering for 2014?!