Scotchology

Malt Advocate announced their 2008 Whisky Awards at the New York WhiskyFest.  We took a little bit of time and pulled up some quick info about each of the award winners, hoping that something would be in the novice whisky drinker price range. Will definitely see if we can get our hands on othe Antiquary 21 (~$100), High West Rendezvous Rye (~$45) and the Ancient Ancient Age Ten Year ($15).

Top Ten New Whiskies for 2008 (listed alphabetically)

The Antiquary Blended Scotch, 21 year old ~$100
MA Rating: 94

The Balvenie Vintage Cask, 1976 vintage ~ $800
MA Rating: 94

Black Bowmore, 1964 vintage, 42 year old ~ $4,500
MA Rating: 97

White Bowmore, 1964 vintage, 43 year old ~ $6,000
MA Rating: 94

Brora , 30 year old ~ $400
MA Rating: 95

High West Rendezvous Rye, Batch No. 10 ~ $45
MA Rating: 95

Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve Irish Whiskey ~$250
MA Rating: 95

The Last Drop Blended Scotch ~ $2,000
MA Rating: 95

Parker’s Heritage Collection Bourbon, 27 year old ~ $200
MA Rating: 96

Willett Family Reserve Bourbon, 25 year old ~ $175
MA Rating: 95

Best Buy of the Year
Ancient Ancient Age Ten Year Old – $15
MA Rating: 85

American Whiskey of the Year
Parker’s Heritage Collection 27 Year Old Bourbon ~ $200
MA Rating: 96

Canadian Whisky of the Year
Canadian Club 150th Anniversary 30 Year Old ~ $150 – $200
MA Rating: 93

Irish Whiskey of the Year
Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve, 2007 Release ~ $250
MA Rating: 95

Scotch Blended Whisky of the Year
The Antiquary 21 year old ~ $100
MA Rating: 94

Scotch Malt Whisky of the Year
Black Bowmore, 1964 Vintage, 42 year old ~ $4,500
MA Rating: 97

We were fortunate enough to have a quick interview with Master of Scotch Steve Beal during WhiskyFest San Francisco. At almost every booth, people were telling us that he was the man to talk to. A quick bio from his website:

Steve is a very familiar figure to both the consumers who enjoy them and the those in the trade who make and sell fine single malts. He has earned the respect of everyone he meets with his endless energy and passion for all things Scottish and whisky in particular.

Steve is admired and well known by almost every top-shelf bartender, chef and waitperson in the San Francisco Bay Area and the West. Although he is the official brand ambassador for the Classic Malts of Scotland & Johnnie Walker Blended Scotch Whiskies, Bushmills Irish Whiskey, Crown Royal Canadian Whisky, Bulleit Bourbon and George Dickel Tennessee Whisky, many have come to consider him the unofficial brand ambassador for the category of whisky as a whole on the West Coast. He is regarded as one of the top distilled spirits experts in America.

We finally caught up to him late in the event and though we were a wee bit toasty at that point, we still managed to pull off a good interview. He gave us some excellent advice for the scotch novices like ourselves.

Scotchology: Do you have any advice for new scotch drinkers on how to get started?
Steve Beal: The really good news is there are so many scotches and other whiskies, that if you look around you’ll probably find one that you’ll probably like. The question I always ask after you’ve tried a few is do you like smokey ones or not?

If you like smokey ones, then look for the name of an Island on the bottle, like the Isle of Sky or Islay or Jura or Del La Mone, because those whiskies will have more smokey flavor. And if you don’t like smoke, you wanna look for the Highlands because they’re the lighter, sweeter and easier to drink ones. Not better than the others, just a little bit of a different style. Then, once you’ve done that, you can look at a map and find a whisky in the same neighborhood of one you like because the closer they are together, the more likely they are to share flavors. Whiskies are like wine, they share the characteristics of their region.

A neat thing to do is go to a bar like Swig, which is a very hip kind of fun bar, but they have 200-300 whiskies, bourbons scotches, irish. Or you can go to Bourbon and Branch, which is very famous for its whiskies. Or if you love Sushi you can go to Nihon, which has the best whisky selection in San Francisco. Then you can try them one at a time. Find the one you like, then you can go to your favorite whisky store, like D&M or the Whiskey Shop on Sutter St or John Walker.

Scotchology: Does higher price equate to higher quality?
Steve Beal: No, not really. It’s kind of what you like. For example a really great scotch from the Speyside is called the Singleton. It’s similar to the Macallan or even Glenlivet, but it’s a lot less expensive, because even though it’s a 110 year old as a distillery, it’s only just arrived in the US. And so right now people are just getting to know it, so the prices are a little bit lower. And it’s a really a $40-50 whisky you can get for under $30. Price is never an indicator of quality.

Scotchology: What can new drinkers do to guage quality?
Steve Beal: I’d go some place where they serve a lot and the bartenders know a lot about it and can help you out. You look at a good bottle of scotch and its about a $30-$100. A good bartender should present that to you like a very expensive bottle of wine. They should show you the label, they should put it in front of you, you should be able to hold the bottle and they should be able to tell you about it. And if they’re a really good bar, they’re going to give you a little capful to taste it to see if you like it.

San Francisco Mariott
October 10, 2008

Never since eating at French Laundry have our bellies become so expensive.

As novice scotch drinkers, we were incredibly excited to discover and attend the 2nd annual WhiskyFest event in San Francisco.  One glance at the list of whiskies being offered and we were instantly sold.  With our camera and audio recorder in hand, we were able to conduct several on the spot interviews with several of the distilleries and bottlers which we are still transcribing and will be posting them as we finish.

We are pretty confident that we’ve tasted scotches and other whiskies that we would never have considered ordering at a bar, so it was an incredible experience to have access to all of the spirits being poured.  Though a bit pricey, especially for a VIP ticket ($150), we think we broke even in pure dollar value about 35 minutes into the event.

Of course this wasn’t just about “getting your money’s worth” in the literal sense.  To have a ballroom full of master distillers, distillery representatives/experts narrating each pour, and connoisseurs ready and willing to answer any question was far beyond the now seemingly immaterial entrance fee.

The distillers (or their representatives) were all very friendly and talkative, so we learned quite a bit from each one.  They spent a good amount of time answering our questions while constantly pouring drams non-stop for everyone.

Tips
- Hydrate before, during and after.  Start drinking the morning of the event and right on through.  You’re going to be putting a lot of alcohol in your system and your body will need water.

- Don’t try to drink everything.  Although you are only supposed to get small tastes, everything is hand poured so expect quite a few generous pours.  On average, we would say you’ll be getting 0.5-0.75 oz pours.  We ended up sampling over 55 spirits.  With 0.5 oz pours, that would be the equivalent of 18 shots of hard liquor in a 4.5 hour time frame.

- Pace yourself and eat food.  Drinking this much alcohol, you’ll notice that your tongue is the first thing to go.  The Mariott had food stations setup everywhere and our plan was the sample spirits for 45 mins, then take 15 minute food and water breaks.  This can also help give you taste buds a mini-break.  James favored the saltine crackers to help clear his palate between tastings.

- Plan ahead.  With over 100 distilleries, bottlers and distributors on the floor, you simply won’t have enough time to visit each one.  We would highly recommend visiting some of the distilleries you enjoy and sampling their entire line, as well as picking a handful you’ve never tried before.

- VIP hour.  Our goal was to sample all the available VIP hour spirits (there were 11 total), and though we accomplished that, the hour went by a lot faster than we thought.  We would recommend to hit the rarest of the VIP’s first, as there’s a chance you might not get to them all.

- Take notes.  With so much alcohol in your system, it will become more and more difficult to remember what you drank.  We recommend a voice recorder if you have one.

Notables
Suntory 18 – Very complex and fruity.  Finish is sharp and biting on the tongue.

Ilse of Jura 21 yr – Strong vanilla on the nose and palate and a finish that is just “happiness” with hints of almond and toffee.

Glenmorangie Original – Our first time tasting the Glenmoragnie and were quite impressed!  Very smooth for a 10 year with hints of vanilla.

Glenfarclas 35 Cask Strength – Wow.

Highland Park 30 yr Cask Strength – Very smooth and complex with a slight peatiness in the finish with a little toffee.  Very long and comfortable finish.  A drop of water really helps to open up the flavors.

Balvenie 21 yr. Portwood – Very sweet fruity port nose, creamy on the palate and very smooth, soft finish.   Almost a dessert scotch.

Strathmill 31yr  – Bottled at 48.1% cask strength from refill bourbon casks.  Only 120 bottles in America.  Very rich and complex and surprisingly smooth for a cask strength.

Final Thoughts
Overall, it was an incredible experience, especially for the novice scotch drinker.  We highly recommend the VIP hour for an extra $40, as you’ll make up for the price difference after the first two samples.  On a very rough estimate, we’d say that walking into a bar and getting the same drinks would have easily been over $500, so definitely a fantastic value. We can’t wait till next years WhiskyFest!  Hope to see you there!

- Find out more about WhiskyFest at maltadvocate.com.
- WhiskyFest San Francisco 2008 Picture Gallery

Below is a comprehensive list of all the spirits we were able to sample:

Ardbeg
- 10 yr.
- Uigeadail

Balvenie
- 12 yr. Doublewood
- 15 yr. Single Barrel
- 17 yr. Rum Cask
- 21 yr. Portwood

Bowmore
- 12 yr.
- 15 yr.
- 18 yr. (VIP hour only)

Buchanan’s
- Red Seal (VIP hour only)

Bushmill’s
- 1608 (VIP hour only)

Cragganmore Distiller’s Edition (VIP hour only)

Duncan Taylor
- ROR 1982 Linlithgow 21 yr.
- 1970 Glen Grant 37 yr.
- 1969 Tamdhu 34 yr.

Famous Grouse
- 18 yr.

Glenfiddich
- 18 yr.
- 21 yr.

Glenfarclas
- 12 yr.
- 17 yr.
- 21 yr.
- 25 yr.
- 105 Cask Proof

The Glenlivet
- 21 yr.
- 25 yr. (VIP hour only)

Glenmorangie
- Original
- Port Wood Finish
- Sherry Wood Finish

The Glenrothes
- Select Reserve
- 1985

Glenspy 31

Gordon & MacPhail
- Caol Ila 25 yr.

Greenore 15 yr. (VIP hour only)

Highland Park
- 12 yr.
- 15 yr.
- 18 yr.
- 19 yr. Cask Strength
- 25 yr.
- 30 yr.
- 35 yr. Cask Strength

Isle of Jura
- 10 yr.
- 16 yr.
- 21 yr.
- Superstition

Jack Daniel’s
- Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel
-
Jameson
- Rare Vintage Reserve (VIP hour only)

Johnnie Walker
- Blue (VIP hour only)

Laphroaig
- 15 yr.

The Macallan
- Sherry Oak 18 yr.

Strathmill 31 yr. (VIP hour only)
Stronachie 31 yr. (VIP hour only)

Suntory Yamazaki
- 12 yr.
- 18 yr.

Wild Turkey
- Kentucky Spirit (VIP hour only)

We’re two young working professionals who have just discovered that we really enjoy drinking scotch!  This is our journey as we try to help other scotch drinkers who might have just started as well.