Eight Years. It only feels like twenty.
The space of time separating our last anniversary update and this one feels like a gulf far larger than 24 months. Little did we know in the summer of 2019 that six months later would see a global pandemic that still grips the world in a variety of ever-shifting ways. Many of us have experienced lockdowns and long isolation, vaccines and variants. As so much of our personal and professional worlds have changed, so too has our group of intrepid travelers been forced toward creative solutions. Time has grown funny, yet we still feel it important to mark this space for a moment to reflect on where we’ve been and where we are now.
Year(s) in Review
The onset of the global pandemic and near-total lockdown of many areas meant it was no longer safe for us to gather as a group and we suddenly found ourselves at a crossroads. After eight years, would we cease everything altogether? Would we stand outside in the cold winds of someone’s backyard? Instead, following the lead of many groups and businesses, we transitioned to meeting virtually. And this stopgap offered opportunity. For while some of us bowed out for a variety of reasons, including virtual burnout, the digital medium enabled us to reach out to long-absent founding members who were scattered across the country and include them once again. Since this method means we can’t gather and sample the supply of previous whiskies as we did in the Beforetimes, we eventually settled on a new format featuring both the chosen scotch of the month and also a secondary whisky from private stock, donated from among us. This sample is smaller and usually not from Scotland. While this requires a little extra planning and postage, we’ve found the shift has been more than worthwhile and given some renewed excitement and energy to things, along with opening up more possibilities for the future. It’s made getting an updated group shot difficult like we’ve done in recent years, but we get together in person when circumstances and advanced planning allow.
There are currently about six of us meeting monthly, with visitors here and there. The new format means we are actually sampling more whiskies in a given year than we have heretofore. Late 2019 saw our hundredth review, but with the increased sampling we are closing in on our 200th review by late 2022. We continue to post twice a month and have remained on a consistent schedule, though we now have a growing cache of reviews yet to publish if we ever need them for leaner times or decide an uptick in review frequency is warranted.
As of this posting, we currently have 164 reviews, comprising 111 scotches and 53 world whiskies. We also now have 36 Musings, which means this biennial update is our 200th post. This feels pretty good for eight years on. We recently hosted our eighth World Whisky Day. Like our regular meetings, these larger tastings have been successfully hosted virtually. When able, some of us continue to travel around the country, making connections and discoveries, and then sharing them here.
Still Not Awards…
Our Pour Judgments post remains as a guiding light to how we operate as a group. While we’re thinking about refreshing how we review whiskies, grading them like so many other places still doesn’t feel quite right for us. Hopefully you’ve noticed we’re still not shy on expressing our opinions, and we like the concept of pulling an occasional whisky out of the line up when it is truly special, whether because of unanimous praise or for being inherently unique so as to stand apart from its peers. We are happy to continue to award our Scotch of the Year to the following:
Scotch of the Year – Year 7: Ledaig 18 Year. We’ve long held that age is only a number when it comes to the quality of whisky. But this scotch is a fine example of how a few years and the right cask finishing can certainly work wonders. Approachable, inviting, alluring and subtle yet never shy about the myriad elements waiting to be unwrapped. It’s sunflowers and darkness, with peat undertones and a sweet muted smoke that is there for the entire ride. Every scotch is a story and this one takes you on a wonderous journey.
Scotch of the Year – Year 8: One of the great things about being in a season of change and in charge of our own group (and website) is that we can rise to meet the moment when change is warranted. Like this year, when we couldn’t settle on one pinnacle scotch. What a problem to have, right? So, we present to you our first ever tie:
Ardbeg 5 Year Wee Beastie. Would it be Scotchology if there wasn’t an Ardbeg near and dear to our hearts? Group preference aside, this 5 year Islay surprised us with how balanced and complex it is without letting you forget the vibrancy of its youth. Even better, it encapsulates so much of the specific elements we adore about Ardbeg: the pepper and the peat and the caramelized smoke. Yet it also has some of the fruitier elements of the core spirit that so often get overshadowed by the peat and smoke in older iterations. For the price point especially, this felt like an exceptional value for the price and unashamedly punches above its weight.
Tamdhu Batch Strength. We love our Islays and bigger, bolder expressions around here, but one of the perks of this journey is the chance of getting bowled over by a surprise Speyside. This scotch took everything we loved about the 10 year and escalated it up a few notches. While not the most nuanced or complex journey, it is a powerful and delicious one nevertheless. We are not inexperienced in higher proof whiskies yet for some reason there contained a little bit of shock and awe in this one. Only the strong points from the distillery and none of the weak ones.
Special Mention – Balcones Brujeria. Again, while it might feel a bit repetitive to feature an entry from this American distillery here, it is not unwarranted. While we have had a remarkable run of unique and fascinating whiskies that didn’t hail from Scotland over the last two years, this one stood out among its peers for first being an incredibly powerful and complex dram but second for being universally loved by the group when we tried it. So much so that multiple samples were requested, which does not happen very often. Another high strength whiskey that does not require water to be ready to play. Starting with a single malt base that is justifiably heralded enough, the finishing in sherry casks resulted in a whiskey that can bear sustained exploration and have you enjoy the entire experience. The finish in the memory lasts even longer than the one on the tongue.
Social Media
Social media continues to chug along. We don’t always have time to keep on top of things, necessarily, but it’s nice to be a part of the whisky community when we do. Our Facebook site has started a small but steady uptick (21 Followers), which is pretty good for a platform we don’t use that often. Twitter remains constant and engaging (2,633 Followers), though we haven’t grown the audience much because of relative inactivity during pandemic. The big surprise has been our Instagram account, which we have not been super active but, for some reason, has really been found by a lot of people over the past several months (753 Followers). Hopefully as things become more adjusted, we’ll be able to engage a little more than recently.
Plans for the Future
Because so much has shifted in the past two years, we find ourselves at a very unique moment. Changing our meeting format, having some club members bow out while new ones join or others return, so much now seems worth reexamining after eight years. Will we keep virtual forever? Will our website still look the same after another eight years? How do we communicate about the whiskies we taste and the adventures we take? Everything is in flux, and it is both scary and exciting. While we don’t have plans, we do know enough to know that we want plans and we want change. When we do make those changes, though, we’ll let you know or you’ll be able to see them in movement here. For the next eight months or the next eight years, we hope you continue to share the journey along with us!
