Whisky Boys – Back to School (again), Week 5
It’s Tuesday 11th October 2011 and Scott and myself are on the train from Croy to Glasgow Queen Street, for our weekly trip to the Glasgow Metropolitan College. It’s week 5 of John Lamond’s Advanced Whisky Trail and this weeks topic is “Brands and Crafts”.
Scott and myself are joined by the usual suspects which include previous guest taster James Farrelly, Mark Connelly of The Good Spirits Company, Drew Nicolson, Andy from Glencairn Glass, Jim Schultz of Thistle Chiropractic in Helensburgh and not to forget our two Whisky Compadres Alan and Bob.
John is off and running and in no time is discussing the examination of independent bottlers, influences on flavour, chill-filtration, 40/43/46 cask strength, e150, grain species – yields versus flavour.
This lesson was followed by a different than normal tasting, the students were all asked to bring along a spirit if their choice (to be kept a secret), for the other students to do a blind tasting on and if possible, identify. There were some great flavours to enjoy and some not so great, the spirits we tasted included the following:
Kersch
Pimms
Rum
Frangelico
Mekong
Sambuca
Morgan Spice
Polish Vodka
Austrian Schnapps
Scottish Gin
After a thorough cleansing of the palate, normal service was resumed and we went onto taste another 4 great Whiskies supplied by John, these included:
Jacobite Blended Malt Whisky – Bookers Cash and Carry
Glen Garioch Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (1797 Founders Reserve)
Black Bottle
Ledaig 10 Year Old
Another fine selection of Whiskies from John Lamond, these fine drams are available in most good Whisky Shops and can be purchased online by using the shop window below, you will need to take a visit to Bookers Cash and Carry to buy their Jacobite Blended Malt Whisky though.
We have a week off next week due to the October Holidays but return again for Week 6 on the 25th October.
