My First SMWS Tasting Part 2

for part 1 please click here

After the official tasting flight with the 5 aforementioned whiskies the night wasn't over yet. First we had the chance to sample some other expressions from the current SMWS outturn for 5 Swiss Francs a dram. I thought that this is a great deal because in a bar you would pay much more for single cask whiskies of this quality.
The first expression that I tried was the 35.140 called "Kreatives Füllhorn" or "Cornucopia of incredible creativity". This malt was distilled at the Glen Moray distillery in 1994 and was matured in a first fill toasted oak hogshead for 20 years until it was bottled at 55.5% ABV in 2015. Olaf explained to me that this toasted oak hogshead is the same type of cask that is used to mature the Glenmorangie Astar (Glen Moray belonged to the same concern as Glenmorangie until 2008). This whisky was absoultely incredible. On the nose I got cinamon and gingerbread aswell as some nice caramel notes and it also had a stunning mouthfeel. I think out of all the whiskies that I tried that night this was my favourite.
The next whisky that I tried came with a warning from Olaf. He told us that the name "Zorn der Götter" which means as "wrath of the gods" (In UK this expression is called "gritty-turned-pretty") doesn't lie and that everyone should try this at his own risk. This whisky from the Ardmore distillery was matured in a refill Gorda for 17 years, from 1998 until 2016 and was bottled at 57.5% ABV. I found this one absolutely incredible but I totally understand why a lot of people, including Olaf, don't like that one. It was a dirty sherried whisky with a lot of meaty and sulphury flavours and it got also some medicinal and ashy notes to it. I would recommend this to everyone who likes that style of whisky which is sometimes associated with sherried Ben Nevis or Mortlachs but someone who isn't into that style might pass on this one.

My Desert Island Dram

2 days ago I told you that I will be featured on another whisky blog. The blog that I'm talking about is The Amateur Drammer who has a series called Desert Island Drams. In this series each week a person from withing the whisky world nominates the one whisky that they would take to a deserted Island if they could only pick one.

When Andy contacted me and asked me if I want to take part and nominate a dram I got really excited. But it also got my brain working really hard. What whisky would you choose if you know that it would be the only one that you can take with you.

My First SMWS Tasting

sLast Friday I had the chance to attend a special tasting of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS).

The SMWS is an organisation that bottles single cask whiskies at their natural cask strength exclusively for their members. It all started in the late 70ies when a group of friends shared the cost to buy a cask from the Glenfarclas distillery. Over the time the group grew bigger and they purchased more casks. In 1983 they decided to open membership to a wider public and the society was born. Over the years the society has expanded and there are now branches all over the world. One of them is the Swiss branch who was founded by Scottish expats who were members of the SMWS. What's really special about the Society is that they don't put the name of the distillery on the bottle but a code. Each distillery has a certain number and the code is composed of this number and a second number which expresses the cask. So the 25th cask from Clynelish, which is distillery no. 26 would be called 26.50. Every bottling has also a quite unique nickname and some very wild tasting notes, you will see what I'm talking about later in this article.

The first time I learned about the society was a while back. It was my mothers birthday and I enjoyed a dram when my neighbour aproached me and told me that he is member of the SMWS. (read the full story here) Ever since he told me that I should come to a tasting in Zurich with him but most of the time he couldn't make it. A month ago, again on my moms birthday he asked me if I want to go with his friends instead of him. I didn't hesitate because I was really interested as I had only heard great things about the society so I was really eager to finally check out what all the hype was about. 

After I was done with working at the whisky shop I met up with Peters friends. I already knew two of them because I visited a whisky collector with them last year (you can read the whole story in the article I linked above). After grabbing a little snack and a beer we then headed to the location of the tasting which is only a 5 minutes walk of our shop. 

After entering we were seated by the host, Olaf Meier who is the SMWS brand ambassador and we took our seats. A really funny conicidence was that the persons opposite the table were teachers at my old highschool. They weren't teachers of one of my classes but I recognized them and we started talking about my old school and whisky. It was really funny and we all enjoyed this evening

Then the tasting started and we were served the first of a 5 whiskies. The bottle was 39.108 and had the nickname "Omelette Surprise" (The German names are different to the English ones. In UK that one is called "Baked Alaska"). This expression from the Linkwood distillery was distilled in 2004 and after maturing for 10 years in a refill barrel it was bottled at 61.3% ABV in 2015. This whisky was quite fruity and very palatable. A nice start indeed.

Whisky-U Being Featured On Another Blog

Very soon I'm going to be featured on another whisky blog. Watch this space...

A Memorable Night At Acla Da Fans

Last week I attended a stunning tasting again. It took place in a village 10 minutes away from Zurich so after I was done with classes at the university I took the train to go to an event that would turn out to be one of my greatest whisky experiences. I didn't know anyone that attended the tasting in real life but I knew a lot of them through a Swiss whisky forum. Right after I got there a guy came to me and greeted me because he recognized me from my profile picture. He then introduced me to other people from the Whisky Forum. This was really nice and I apreciated it because I participated in some bottle sharings and had arranged that I could get the sample bottles at this tasting. After I completed the deal I took a seat right next to the guy who shared three fantastic bottles (I won't tell you what they are yet so you have to read it in another article, cheeky right?) and introduced myself to the other people at the table. Then before the tasting even started the dramming action began because some of the other people at my table passed around samples. I got to try a new Japanese whisky called the Fujikaj. If you have read some reviews of this whisky you might question the state of my mental health but I just wanted to test if it is really that bad (The chap who brought the sample didn't like it aswell, so please don't insult him in the comment box please). My conclusion was that all those reviews were right to tear this whisky apart as it was one of if not the single worst whisky I've come across so far. It smelled like burnt rubber and wasn't really palatable aswell. Thomas, the guy who served me this, made up for it by serving me a 15 years old Bowmore bottled by Malts of Scotland.

Then the tasting began and they kicked it off with the a travel retail exclusive - The Glenmorangie the Tayne. This expression of the Glenmorangie is the second in a series called the Legends Collection. It was matured in ex-bourbon casks (surprise, surprise, it's Glenmorangie after all) and then got a finish in amontillado sherry casks. It was quit a nice in the nose but for my taste it lacked depth and power on the palate.