Date: December 2, 2009
My day started in absolute glee, because I was going to not just another awesome whisky convention, but this one is for the Small Batches and Prohibition Era Whisky's!
Getting to NJ: I went down to Penn Station, jumped on the NJ Transit, took the rail to the Convent Stop, and right off the rail is the Madison Hotel in Morristown NJ. Upon my arrival, the first people I saw at the entry door was Jeff and his wife (from the Whisky Guild) with their brand new beautiful baby girl. His beautiful wife was holding Cameron Islay, who was laying there so relaxed and at peace, like a great "Whisky Guilded Child" should be. The two are blessed to have such a peaceful baby.
She was smiling at me and melted my heart. So then, I walk down the stairs where all of the tables was located. Excitement would be an understatement to say how I felt as I walked around. Of course, there were a few brands I haven't tasted yet, such as the Lombard brands, where they had several different whisky's to choose from. I went straight to the gold, which was the Tidal Ebb. The Tidal Ebb is one of their whiskys that was lightly peated, extremely smooth, and light to my pallatte, which I enjoyed.
Next was the "Wild Scotsman" table, where my friends Keith Allison and Ellie Tam highly suggested me to visit that particular table. I met Jeff Topping, who is the Wild Scotsman, and John McDougall, along with Mario Takeyama. To give some background on the gentlemen, Mario is the founder, CEO, and Executive Producer of Lounge 1492. It is located on 11 Price Avenue, in Colombus Ohio. "Lounge 1492 is a community that is passionate about discovering and sharing the fine living experience through exploration, education, and interaction", says Mario Takeyama.
Their vision is called "An exploration of discovery", and their mission and objective is to develop "A cultural exploration in cigars, cuisine, wine and spirits, beer, art, music, literature, awareness, education, information, interactive logging, video and product reviews, live and online learning opportunities, effective distribution tools, events, entertainment and networking, live and online for visitors, dealers, distributors, and producers. Also, to support traditions, artisans, and craftsmanship."
I spoke with Jeff, who produced The Wild Scotsman 15 year Vatted Malt, which is 46% ABV, non chilled filtered with natural coloring. This vatted malt has about 10 separate casks, with about 1 coming from each region of Scotland, and to note, this received 95% out of 100% in the Jim Murray Whisky Bible in 2007.
Next, I tasted the magnificent Wild Scotsman Black Label, which is a vatted malt as well, that comes from one sherry and 3 bourbon casks that is blended from the regions of Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside, and Islay, which is 47% ABV, and also non chilled filtered with natural coloring. This whisky received a gold medal in the San Francisco World Competition in 2009, which is my absolute favorite from the Wild Scotsman. I will have to say that Jeff did such a great job in this blending process, I have to stand up, clap, and say "Well Done!"
Next, I met John McDougall, who is the former manager for Laphroaig from 1970-74, where you can definitely tell his experiences from working at that distillery. My favorite whisky from John is the Vatted Islay brand that's 13 years old, with a 54.7% ABV with natural coloring, non chilled filtered, and it contains 4 separate casks from the Islay region such as Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Bowmore, and Bruichladdich.
As John says, "This is my interpretation of running the Laphroaig distillery for 4 years". He says that "Each cask captures a different aspect of Islay, which is the boldness from Ardbeg, depth of Laphroaig, the sea air of Bowmore, and the sweetness of Bruichladdich." Along with the great whisky, the kind John Mcdougall gave me a signed book from his 1999 book called "Wort, Worms, & Washbacks, Memoirs from the Stillhouse." I cannot wait to read this book, because he said, "If you know whisky, have the education, and know the jargon, this book is for you".
Of course, I will begin blogging and reviewing it after I finish "Raw Spirit," by Iain Banks, and The Barrtender's Gin Compendium" by Gaz Regan.
Mario, John and the Wild Scotsman has really made an impression on me. I was honored to meet these lovely gentlemen, and I hope it will be a long lasting friendship. I will finish this part of the blog with a quote from Jeff which is what I want you to remember as the last words from this gentleman, "The traditional craft and history of the old world scotch malt whisky is the bedrock and inspiration for my brands." So If you truly love the classic Islay whiskies, please do yourself a favor and try one of his brands.
Now it was time to go see my friends at Bunnahabhain, and there I tasted the new Deanston 12 year, which was amazing. I never had this whisky before and I was quite surprised by the slight peatiness that I adore, and the sweetness that the Highlands almost always delivers.
A little bit about the brand: the new Deanston 12 year is from Perth Shire, Scotland. It has a golden amber coloring, floral and citrus fruit with a sweet oakiness, and a light heather honeycomb nose. It tastes in the beginning, of a lot of honey, orangy fruit, a little of ginger, toffee, and sweet maltiness. The finish is long and balanced, with a surprisingly spicy honey note that slowly fades away. Bravo to Deanston!
After that, I turned around to the OPICI table, where I had the Usquaebach 15 year, which was quite amazing because I haven't had that for almost a year, and I think it was hard to distribute in the United States, and now OPICI Distributors has brought it back to the states!! Such a great whisky-thank you OPICI!!
Later on, I visited this Organic Spirits Table, Maison Jomere Organic Spirits Company. They presented five brands which was the UK 5 Organic Vodka, the Papagayo Organic White Rum, the Papagayo Organic Spice Rum, the Juniper Green Organic London Dry Gin, and the Highland Harvest Organic Scotch Whisky. Out of the five, I tried the Juniper Green Gin, and it is exactly what it is titled as, a HUGE presence of juniper berries along with coriander and angelica Root.
This is a gin that I highly suggest to drink with tonic or sparkling water. Also, I'll use this in a complex and well balanced organic recipe. As a gin lover, I would definitely throw it on the rocks, even though it can stand alone neat at room temperature. Make sure when creating your organic recipe, that you do not put any ingredient that is too pungent or powerful in taste, because it would deconstruct the original idea for producing an organic gin like this.
I had their scotch whisky next. For the tasting of my first organic whisky- I liked it. It was very smooth, very light, didn't have much sweetness, and not much presence of heather. I can actually say that this was a very interesting organic whisky. I would like to congratulate Paul Davis for creating such a great organic whisky!
Next up in this heavy hitting night, I moved along to the Bay Way liquor table. Mr. Pat Mc Carthy, who is the whisky ambassador for the company, gave me a tasting of the Stranahan's Colorado whisky. It's a small batch, 47% ABV, and it is gently spiced with a great texture and weight. It is very smooth and flavorful. Who knew that Colorado can produce something other than a great football team? So if you ever see this brand, I suggest you get a little bottle of it and test it out yourself, you'll be pleasantly surprised. And if not, feel free to comment on it on this blog.
At last, I would not(can't) say any names, but I had the great opportunity in tasting the 1908 Johnnie Walker Red, 1965 SpringBank, and a few others that I won't say!! At this point, I'll just tease and tell you guys about how honored I was in tasting these lovely whiskys! All I can say is that THEY WERE OUTSTANDING!
To complete the night, I went downstairs and grabbed some food from the buffet. Then I wanted a nice smoke, but I was out of a pack of my lights. I then experienced something that I never imagined of doing and you won't believe where the receptionist told me to get a pack from... they told me to go upstairs to the Rod's restaurant and I'll find a vending machine! I never in my life expected to ever pull a pack of lights out of a vending machine, like they did back in the day! How groovy-right. Kudos to the Madison Hotel
Night Cap:
I ended the night by getting back onto the NJ Transit rail. I headed back home to the city, and I would have to say that Morristown.... you showed me a great night!
Slaandjivaa!
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