Last week, courtesy of a work function, I was able to curate and host my first (proper) whisky tasting night. Finally! This is something I’ve been planning on doing for quite some time!
The venue was The Puffin Rooms in Liverpool and the night was intended to be an introduction to single malt scotch whiskies by exploring the six (yes, six!) traditional whisky making regions of Scotland.
Based on the whiskies available at The Puffin Rooms, I was able to find a single malt that was from the region and exemplified the traditional characteristics of that region. Yes, there is a lot of narrative within the more experienced players that there is no such thing as a regional style – or at least so much so these days because of the masses of experimentation, number of distilleries, and highly competitive marketing…
That all being said… here’s the line-up of the night:
Lowlands
Lochlea – Our Barley (46%)
Despite being the start of an introduction to scotch, we started with a relatively new name to the game. What I like about the distillery is that they’ve not come out saying that their first release is the best whisky ever. They’ve focussed on their core ingredient: where it all starts. The barley from the farm. This is a light start to proceedings but still a quality way to kick things off. Lighter body, grassy notes, apple, barley sugars, and a touch of oak spice. This allowed everyone to get their tastebuds adjusted. Here is my review of the whisky: Lochlea – Our Barley.
Highlands
Fettercairn – 12yo (40%)
For the Highland region I wanted to pick something with an age statement, to get that conversation going about ages vs NAS and focusses on flavour profiles. We also got to experience a slightly richer and more rounded whisky with heathery and honeyed notes, but still with noticeable malty body and oakier sensations. Everyone also got to have a look at the very eye-catching bottle and its embossed unicorn which also presented the opportunity to all about the Gladstone estate, the Scottish national symbols, and their unique cooling ring. Here is my write up about the whisky: Fettercairn – 12yo.
Food was served at this point and The Puffin Rooms did not disappoint. A lovely selection and time to get the stomach lined before…
Speyside
Aberlour – A’Bunadh (61%)
We came in with a big hitter and a much-revered exponent of the heavily sherried style known from Speyside. Aberlour have only actually embraced the Speyside title on their bottles recently, having kept the “Highland” title on their bottles until a few years ago. A big Sherry hitter with rich fruit sensations and Christmas cake notes. For the uninitiated this was a huge experience and once tempered with water and/or getting used to the sensations, this got people smiling. And loose lipped. Cask strength will do that. It was also an opportunity to talk about the strength of distillates off the stills and the maturation process. I also now discover that I have no post about an A’Bunadh on this site and I’ll look to fix that quickly!
Campbeltown
Springbank – 10yo (46%)
Here I got to talk about the former whisky capital of Scotland and to show off the fine wares of Springbank. This was also the first introduction to peated malts (albeit low levels) in the line-up and was also timed with the venue opening its cigar sampling options to the crowd. By this point, a 46 percenter did not seem to phase anyone and what we actually got was an appreciation for a rounded out single malt with the touch of maritime and smoke notes, and this certainly made those smiles grow wider. Again, I realise I have managed to omit a belter from my tasting notes on this site (maybe just because I’ve tried it that many times and before I started the site) but… I’ll get into the WU cabinet and put one up soon enough!
Islands
Highland Park – 15yo (44%)
One of the “newer” regions, in terms of when it has been recognised as a category in its own right, outside the sweeping Highlands statement that it was previously caught by, we took a trip to Orkney for this one. It was also great to sample something that’s not in the supermarket as I was originally intending to go with a classic HP12 for this category, but this was a well appreciated upgrade. It also gave me the chance to talk about higher age statements, the use of peat, and to talk about how much of a role marketing has in the whisky world! Here are my notes on this release – albeit now featured in their standard Viking-symbol-embossed, clear glassware rather than the porcelain bottle that this age statement was recently reintroduced in: Highland Park – 15yo.
Islay
Laphroaig – Quarter Cask (48%)
The peatheads visiting WhiskyUnplugged may well have strolled straight down here to see which Islay was shared on the night. Well, I could have gone for their flagship 10yo, but I wanted something different and – selfishly on a night like this – I went for my preferred heavily peated tipple. Lagavulin 16 was nearly the choice, but again I wanted to veer away from the immediately available choices for the attendees on the night. Big peat flavours. Maritime notes. Tar and TCP. Rich sweetness. Unctuous joy. It also gave me the chance to talk about the peat, my stories from the island, and the impact of cask size as well as its previous contents. For the cigar smokers of the night, this went down well. For those who didn’t like peat: the inevitable. A grimace, a wince, and some minesweeping from the fans. Here are my old notes on this – ones I might look to revisit soon: Laphroaig – Quarter Cask
I really appreciated that everyone there on the night really lent into the tasting and gave it a go. Lots of questions came up that I was all too happy to try and answer as best I could. The team at The Puffin Rooms (particularly Amy) were fantastic in support. Plus, they give 35ml measures as standard!
I can’t wait to do it all over again.
Thank you so much to all that attended and to O’Connors and The Puffin Rooms for making it happen.
Now…
If you’ve made it this far…
You were either there on the night and want to maybe see what I think of you (you are lovely) OR you want to know what was the favourite from the night…
Well… it was almost unanimously the Springbank 10!
Let’s see what it is next time.
M
whisky unplugged 