On Friday I
went to a very special tasting. After I finished work I took the train to
travel away from Zurich to a village near St. Gallen. The village is called
Mörschwil and it is like the Swiss epicenter of whisky because two of the
biggest whisky shops are located there. The shop where I went is called House of Single Malts and it is definitely worth a visit. After arriving at the shop
I was greeted by the owners Ivan and Manuela who were really nice hosts. They
introduced me to the other guests (we were only 10) and explained the plan for
the evening because it wasn’t going to
be your everyday kind of tasting, we were about to attend a bottle killing
session (or as it is also called a heelslayer session) and the whole tasting
was designed to be a game.
Before
explaining the rules of the game we were served a first whisky and I
immediately knew that the long train ride was more than worth it. The first
whisky we were served was the stunning Laddie 22 from the Bruichladdich
Distillery. I got really excited because this whisky has sadly been
discontinued and I haven’t had the chance to taste it yet. It was a fantastic
start to the evening and I will give a more in depth review of this in another
article. Meanwhile Ivan and Manuela explained us the rules to the game. There
were around 50 near empty bottles that were lined up in 12 rows. In front of
every row was a card which was Jack, Queen, King or Ace. Every card represented
a certain kind of whisky. The bottles behind the Jacks were the least desirable
most of them being Swiss whiskies. The bottles behind the Queens were some good
whiskies like for example a Glendronach 18 port Finish or a Tobermory 19 by
Cadenhead’s. The bottles behind the Kings were mostly peaty whiskies and the
bottles behind the Aces were some true Jackpot whiskies, most of them being
rather old and rare. There was another deck of cards which would be passed
around the guests. Someone had to draw a card and the whisky would be the
counterpart of the card he drew.
The person who was 7 places away from the one
who drew the card had then to roll a dice and the resulting number determined
how many people would get a dram of the whisky. The first person who didn’t get
that whisky would then draw the next card. There were also two wildcards which
allowed choosing a whisky of your liking. The game was so much fun and the
people were really nice. After a while we didn’t only taste our own whiskies
but we shared them.
As I’ve
already said the evening couldn’t have started better than with the dram of
Laddie 22 but it quickly got even better because the first card that I drew was
an ace. The whisky that I got was a true stunner: A 30 years old single cask
from the Glenrothes distillery. Unluckily for the other people at the table the
person 7 places to my right rolled a 1 and so I was the only one who could have
a dram of this beauty.
Glenrothes 30 yo Single Cask |
The second
whisky that I got wasn’t that exciting. The person a few places to my left drew
a Jack and we got a glass of a Swiss whisky. It was a whisky called Old River
which is produced by the Aare brewery which is located in the Canton of Bern.
This version was 4 years old and part of their premium line. As you can imagine
it wasn’t really pleasant after the Glenrothes and I didn’t enjoy it very much.
The next
card that was drawn was a wildcard and the man who drew it chose a whisky that
was a 1964 vintage since this is the year his wife was born. It was a Single
Grain from the closed North of Scotland distillery bottled by Scott’s
Selection. As I already mentioned the atmosphere was very friendly and the man
asked me if I wanted to have a taste of this special whisky. It was a very nice
gesture and I am truly grateful because it was a special experience.
The next
time I got to taste something I didn’t have more luck as me and some others got
another glass of a bottle behind a Jack. This time it was a whisky from the
Locher Brewery that produces the Säntis Malt which I think is one of the best
Swiss whiskies. We got to taste the Snow White edition which is a special
edition that is released in winter. This whisky is matured for 4 years in beer
casks and was then transferred to a cask that had previously held an apple spirit.
I found this dram much more agreeable than the Swiss whisky I tasted earlier.
After a
while Manuela and Ivan surprised us with a wide range of delicious hors d’oeuvres
and after enjoying a few bites we continued the game. This time I was a little
luckier because we drew a King and we got another Bruichladdich this time a
Port Charlotte (the smoky version of Bruichladdich) PC 8. I saved that one for
the end because I didn’t want to drink a peaty whisky now as it would cover the
flavours of other unpeated whiskies that would still come but I will write a
few words about this whisky here. This was a very special dram because just
like the Laddie 22 it is rather hard to find nowadays. It is very palatable for
its high abv (60.6%) and has some lovely salted caramel character.
My next
dram was a Glendronach 15 years old Tawny Port Finish which was a stunner too.
Like most whiskies that are finished in port casks it is very fruity and sweet
with notes of strawberry jam, honey and hazelnuts.
Before we
got served a desert our hosts allowed us to get one whisky of our choice. It
was tough to choose between all those fantastic bottles but in the end I
decided to get my first taste of a Karuizawa. This is a closed distillery from
Japan that is highly demanded at the moment with bottles being sold for crazy
prices at auctions. The version that I had was the Spirit of Asama which is one
of the more affordable Karuizawas but this one was bottled at 55% abv. It was
fantastic and I will give you a more detailed review in another article.
Karuizawa Spirit of Asama |
Another whisky that I chose myself was a Blended Scotch: The Spirit of Freedom
30 years old. This blend was created by the owners of Springbank J&A
Mitchell to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of
Bannockburn and consists of 75% malt and 25% grain whisky.
During the
whole evening we had a lot of fun. The other people who attended the tasting
were really nice and I made some new friends. The atmosphere was very friendly
and as I mentioned before we started sharing and comparing our whiskies over
the course of time. Two notable mentions that I got to taste from other persons
were a Bunnahabhain 1979 sherry cask by Berry’s own Selection and a Glenburgie
1966 by Gordon & MacPhail which was matured in a sherry cask aswell.
I had so
much fun that I totally forgot the time and I had to leave in a hurry to catch
my train home.
I want to
thank Manuela and Ivan who were the kindest hosts you could imagine. The idea
of the game was genius and it worked out so well even though they haven’t done
anything similar before. They also only charged us a rather modest amount which
they used to buy the delicious hors d’oeuvres. I can recommend everyone to
visit their shop because they are not only kind but also very knowledgeable.
I also
recommend you all to go to tastings and other whisky related events because you
can learn a lot, they are so much fun and you easily make friends with
likeminded people.
Slàinte
mhath, U
My head is spinning from the whole experience you described! So many sensory inputs with the smells and tastes and the rush of drawing a card! The adrenaline rush from that seems like what you could get from gambling! Thanks for sharing this with us! It sounded incredible!
ReplyDelete