The Gang at the Iron Horse
Some whisky-tasting nights leave you warm and fuzzy (effects of alcohol); others leave you warm and fuzzy (great host(ess), good friends). Wemyss Malts’ tastings do both.
We’ve come across these quirky whiskies at various whisky festivals, but had never had a tasting of our own until last year, when the worst winter weather in living memory (and Ian Black’s) decimated numbers and only a few hardy – or reckless – members braved the icy temperatures of the Iron Horse basement.
Fast forward to our May 2011 tasting and the warm and snugly upstairs of the Iron Horse was the perfect venue for a second outing. As whisky tastings go, it got off to a strange start – gin! Darnley’s View, to be precise, the London Gin Wemyss has brought out to its specifications. Containing six botanicals, it is four times distilled in the usual way, with a fifth in a pot still. Choc full of citrus, elderflower, coriander and some other stuff, it was actually very refreshing.
But the main business of the evening was whisky and our first dram was a curious concoction; a new blended product for the UK duty free market, which hostess Susan Colville wanted us to try. The Spice King is a blend of 12-year-old malts, at 40% and heavy on the Talisker and Highland Park.
Carrying on from the company’s habit of giving their whiskies names that resemble the taste of the ingredients, we next had Honey Pot, a 15-year-old Glen Moray, bottled at 46%. Orange Tree was next, a 22-year-old Glen Garioch, followed by Ginger Compote, a 1996 Benrinnes.
Treasurer Ian Black remarked that the drams seemed to be improving by the pour, and wondered if that was because they were improving by the pour, or if he was just getting mildly pissed! Answers on an email please.
But the fact is that the choice of drams by Susan did seem to lead to an appreciating in quality, and certainly the Dalmore 21, masquerading as Mocha Spice, was very pleasant. The Islay Smoke Stack delivered a 15-year-old Caol Ila with all that dram has to offer.
Facebook birthday boys Erik Burgess and your humble chairman were surprised by a couple of great bottles from Susan. Mine will featured Round the Barrel at the end of the month, along with another couple of birthday specials.
* A reference to one guess at the provenance of a dram which proved to be in an entirely different region. Thereafter every guess at the identity of the whisky being tasted inevitably led to a tentative: Is it Tomatin? Until Ms Colville broke ALL her mum’s rules and used a rather rude word to suggest there were very few, if any, Tomatins on taste this evening.
