Wish You Were Beer

August's line-up of whiskies.

New club chairman Adam led the tasting for the first time in August, and he had a selection of paired whiskies and beers for us all to try. He also produced a club first - a PowerPoint presentation - to showcase the research he had put in to each of the chosen drinks, which Adam ran through after we'd tasted everything blind.

Teeling / Galway Bay

The effort was much appreciated as we got stuck into the first of the evening's 12 glasses. The opening pairing got us off to a stout beginning. The beer was clearly something black and chocolatey, although not all that strong. And the whisky, which tasted kind of familiar to many in the room, must have been finished in stout casks, we guessed.

This was a particularly close pairing as it turned out. The whisky was from club favourites Teeling, finished in casks from Galway Bay stout. The beer was also Galway Bay, their milk stout called Buried at Sea. The members' noses were certainly on point at this early stage of the evening, as sure enough the stout is a certainly drinkable 4.5% (it's £2.49 a bottle) while the Teeling Stout Cask is 46% and available for £40, again offering decent value. Perhaps best of all, nobody felt the need to break into a few bars of the song Galway Bay, although if Adam had saved this pairing until the end no doubt someone would have had a go at it.

Weller / Welde

Pairing two gave us a whisky that immediately put us in mind of a bourbon, with that classic sweetish, vanilla sort of flavour. The beer was what got more of us talking, in so much as it smelt terrible. Lots of people didn't like the nose at all, and that extended to the palate as well. "It tastes of regret" was one of the more charitable tasting notes, but certainly not inaccurate.

The bourbon in the bottle was from the Buffalo Trace family. As Adam explained, this is quite an extended family, with a huge range of brands familiar in the US (although perhaps less so here) all being produced at the distillery in Frankfort, the historic capital of Kentucky. This one was under the Weller name, and we liked it a lot. It's 45% although the price is highly variable because it's so scarce over here, so good luck getting hold of it. The beer, which evidently went down less well, was Bourbon Barrel Bock produced by German brewer Welde which spent time in bourbon, rum and tequila casks. At 6.6% and £2.49, you can probably give it a miss.

Glen Moray / Windswept

We finally visited Scotland for pairing three, and while the whisky seemed a little bland, it was certainly highly drinkable. "A young Speyside" was one guess from the membership, and indeed the distillery in question was also correctly identified! The accompanying beer was a strong brown ale, and we liked this one too.

Indeed, it was a bit of a surprise to discover the beer was 9%, because it again seemed nice and easy to drink. The common thread between these drinks was the Glen Moray distillery, with the whisky a 40% expression finished in port casks and available for the very reasonable £25. The beer was made by brewery Windswept in nearby Lossiemouth and called The Wolf of Glen Moray. It's £8 plus postage though so it's probably one to save for when you happen to be passing, unless you're ordering a job lot.

Highland Park / Harviestoun

After a half-time break and a chance to get further refreshment, as if it were needed, from the bar at the Briton's Protection, it was on to pairing number four. And what stood out immediately from the two was the beer. Sticky and meaty, this was like an intense, spicy barbecue. The whisky was perhaps a touch less immediately memorable, lightly peated, and a little more pleasant on the nose than the palate.

The beer we enjoyed so much was an Ola Dubh black ale produced by Harviestoun, and finished in whisky casks from Highland Park. Sure enough, the accompanying whisky was indeed Highland Park, on this occasion the standard 12-year-old bottling that you can probably pick up in your local supermarket for £30 or so. The beer is 8% and £4.49, and Harviestoun has been something of a pioneer in cask aged brews so there are plenty of versions to try if you want to investigate.

Double Barrel / Wild Beer

There was another distinctive taste to beer number five. On this occasion it was salty, "like being hit by a wave in the sea", or munching on some salt and vinegar crisps. This did divide opinion a little, but overall this was the first beer of the night to actually be preferred to a whisky (although given we're the Manchester Whisky Club, this probably wasn't entirely surprising). The whisky was a bit peaty, but overall certainly seemed more conventional.

As it turned out, the whisky was not exactly conventional, being a 'double barrel' blended malt concoction of Ardbeg and Craigellachie, bottled by Douglas Laing. At 46% and £48 this got a general thumbs up. The beer, a Belgian Dubbel from the Wild Beer Co. called Smoke 'n' Barrels involved casks of both Islay whisky and red wine, which helps to explain the real mixture of flavours on the go. Certainly worth trying once even if you don't like the sound of it, it's £5.49 and 7.4%.

Smooth Ambler / KBS

As is often the case, by the last dram of the night the tasting notes that I managed to record had become somewhat less expansive. All I really ended up putting was that the beer seemed quite treacly, and that the whisky tasted like a bourbon. But these were both accurate statements so there's no harm in leaving it at that.

It turned out that both of these were American. The whisk(e)y was a blended bourbon from the Smooth Ambler brand, sourced from the huge MGP distillery in Indiana. At 50% and £70 this was certainly good, but not as memorable as the beer, which was Kentucky Breakfast Stout. Whether anyone would actually drink a 12.3% bourbon-finished beer for breakfast or not is another thing, but at £6.99 it's worth trying at any time of the day.

Overall the whiskies won the day, but within that it was a triumph for the whiskey over the whisky. The voting revealed our top choice was the Smooth Ambler after it initially tied with the Weller, while the leading beer was the Smoke 'n' Barrels despite the love-it-or-hate-it reception it got from the membership.

Thanks to everyone for attending another successful tasting and in particular to Adam for choosing and then explaining such a fascinating selection of drinks. Thanks also to the Briton's for hosting us once again.

The full line-up!

Born In The USA

The Town Hall in Thursday's sunshine.

It would be easy to write that it was a different sort of Manchester Whisky Club this month, coming as it did three days after the terrorist attack at the Arena. If you looked around the city centre on Thursday you could see the odd unusual sight: the armed police strolling through Albert Square, for example, and the extra bag searches taking place outside the Bridgewater Hall.

But inside the Britons Protection there was nothing out of the ordinary at all. If to carry on as normal in the face of terrorism means settling in for an evening of American whiskies, then I suppose we all carried on as normal, which is as it should be.

We ended up tackling no fewer than seven bottles for our Born In The USA night, including a surprise bonus bottle at the end, more of which later.

The first six.

It was our first American tasting in almost three years, and Martin kicked the evening off with a bottle he returned with from a recent trip to Florida, and the Winter Park Distilling Company in Orange County. The Bear Gully Classic Reserve, a bourbon, is the first craft bourbon made in the state, and to our palates had the distinct taste of walnuts about it.

It's very corny too, in that it tastes like the sort of thing you might have at breakfast time (not that having whisky at breakfast is necessarily recommended). It's very sweet too, and at 53.3% and a US price of about $40, it's good value as well.

Bear Gully Classic Reserve.

From the south-eastern United States, we moved to the Pacific north-west, and in particular Spokane in Washington State for dram number two: the Triticale Whiskey from Dry Fly Distilling.

Triticale is not exactly a word on many people's lips. It's a hybrid of wheat and rye, which was first bred in labs in Scotland and Germany in the 19th century. Dry Fly's bottling stakes its claim as the world's only straight triticale whiskey, the 'straight' tag meaning that it's been aged for at least two years and has no additives.

Dry Fly Triticale.

The Dry Fly is actually a 3yo, and we liked this one too. It's an easy drinker, a bit oily, a bit grassy, a bit gingery, and it tastes stronger than its 45%. It's available here for about £48.50, which represents reasonable value. Dry Fly also has a 10yo single malt on the way, which should be well worth keeping an eye out for.

After those independent distilleries, we went to one from the Jim Beam stable next: Booker's True Barrel Bourbon. Very strong and spirity, it comes in at a weighty 63.7%. Its notes of Christmas cake were perhaps a little out of place on such a baking hot late spring evening, but this got approving nods all round as well. One to sip.

Booker's True Barrel.

A 7yo, we got ours for about £45, but rumours abound that price is about to increase significantly as Beam Suntory aim to make it more of a premium drink, so it may well be worth grabbing a relative bargain while you can.

We had a half-time break next, and with the temperature rising throughout the pub the staff opened the fire escape at the Britons to help get the air through. This gave us a rare opportunity to get a slightly different view of Manchester and, in particular, the Beetham Tower, against a cloudless late evening sky.

The view from the back.

But after getting our breaths back it was onto the fourth drink, and like the Booker's True Barrel it was another one from Kentucky: namely the Pikesville Straight Rye from the Heaven Hill distillery.

This 6yo was named the second best whisky in the world by Jim Murray as recently as last year, and picked up the World's Best Rye award at the World Whiskies Awards, too, so it's got quite a pedigree. And we certainly enjoyed this one as well.

Very smooth, and someone suggested a touch of Parma Violets on the palate. Quite how anyone has the recall to remember exactly what Parma Violets taste like is beyond me, but we'll go with it anyway. It's 55% and £70. Whether that price tag is quite worth it was up for a bit of debate. But there's no question it's a very pleasant drop indeed.

Pikesville Straight Rye.

Next we went to Texas, and the Lone Star State's best-known distillery, Balcones. Based in the city of Waco, it has become quite the craft distilling powerhouse in recent years, previously under the stewardship of the now-departed enfant terrible of American distilling, Chip Tate (for more on the history of that relationship and Tate's new venture, check out this profile from the excellent Texas Monthly magazine).

We got stuck into their Texas Single Malt Whisky, the Balcones take on a Scottish single malt. Made using a process known as 'yard ageing' - allowing staves to be seasoned for two to three years rather than the more typical six to nine months before they are made into barrels - is what helps make this distinctive.

Balcones Single Malt.

It's absolutely terrific on the nose, and very biscuity. If anything it's not quite as spectacular on the palate, but regardless, everyone loved this. At 53% and £95 it's not cheap, but it is a great whisky (and yes, they call this one whisky rather than whiskey).

It was back to Kentucky for whisky number six, its capital city Frankfort and a name you may well be familiar with: the Buffalo Trace distillery. One of its best-known expressions is the George T Stagg, and we had a go at its little brother, the Stagg Jr.

Matured for nearly ten years and bottled at a not-insigificant 66%, it certainly packs a punch. Another great, bold whiskey, although for some in the room this was almost a bit too strong. Others picked out a bit of black cherry on the palate, although whether this was actual black cherries or black cherry yoghurt, is a discussion that may yet be continuing. It's £76.

Stagg Jr.

At this point we took a poll for dram of the night, and although there were a few votes elsewhere, there was a 9-9 draw between the Pikesville and the Balcones. Thankfully, we got a surprise opportunity to break the tie! There was an extra bottle for us to enjoy at the end, courtesy of Gareth from Maverick Drinks who joined us for the evening.

And it was another Balcones! This time, the Balcones Brimstone, a bottle dating from the days when Chip Tate was still involved with the distillery. After distillation he smoked the spirit and yes, it was certainly smoky.

Balcones Brimstone.

For folks who enjoy a peatier Islay this was something to savour, almost like a barbecue whisky. Or, as someone put it, it tastes of Frazzles (again, who has had Frazzles recently and can genuinely remember what they actually taste like? I think we should be told). Opinion was divided which led to a some memorable exchanges ("It's sooty!" "No it's not!") but then this was the seventh whisky of the night, so we can be forgiven for not exactly being at our conversational best. It's 53% and £78.

We re-ran the dram of the night vote and someone switched sides, giving the Balcones Texas Single Malt a 10-9 victory over the Pikesville Straight Rye. But in truth, this was a truly excellent tasting, one of the best ever: some of the other whiskies which didn't even feature in the voting might even have been drams of the night on other occasions. I think we'll all be taking a closer look at the American section of our favourite whisky retailers in future.

And so thanks to everyone for an excellent evening, but in particular Martin for selecting such a great group of drinks for us, Gareth for joining us and supplying that extra bonus bottle, and thanks also to everyone at the Britons for hosting us once again.

Living The American Dram

The night was the 27th June 2013, the place, the Castle pub on Oldham Street. A slow and constant drizzle had settled over Manchester but inside the Castle there was plenty of southern state sunshine courtesy of this month's whisky club lineup.

This was to be the club's first non- UK/Irish based tasting and featured some of the best Whisky and Whiskey the USA hd to offer.

Before we start all at the club would like to say a huge thanks to everyone at the Castle for making the club feel so welcome and Jonny in particular for providing us with the wonderful facilities.

The surroundings really did add to the atmosphere of the night, the Castle really is an incredible venue.



The Dukes of Hazard were kind enough to drop off some supplies!



We had a good turn out on the night with people from the waiting list and even the Castle itself in attendance. The room had a great buzz about it.



Above was the night's lineup. From Left to Right - Kentucky Vintage, Four Roses Single Barrel, Balcones True Blue, Sazerac Rye and Buffalo Trace White Dog Mash #1

Kentucky Vintage Small Batch Bourbon - 45%

When you think of traditionally styled bourbons you might automatically think of well known names such as Jim Beam, Four Roses, Bulleit, Makers Mark or Wild Turkey. This bottle of Kentucky Vintage Bourbon from Kentucky Bourbon Distillers Co is anything but well known and anything but mass produced. This bourbon is sold as small batch and individually hand labelled.

This whiskey itself is matured for longer than most standard bourbons at a whopping 8 years. Other bourbon expressions are matured for the minimum 2 year term in order for the spirit to be labelled as Bourbon Whiskey.

Nose  - Intense sharp sweetness, bananas and demarera sugar under the grill, oak, warm caramel, cinnamon and star Anise and some sort of citrus note such as lime rind.

Palate- Initial light brush of maple syrup, buttery, back to the sugar from the nose, treacle tart, lots of vanilla extract and sultanas

Finish- Medium length, very warm but then quickly fades to delicate notes of candy floss (or since we're going US cotton candy!) and slight oak and smokiness.

Four Roses Single Barrel - 50% Barrel 11-3

 Next up on our tour was an offering from renowned bourbon producer Four Roses. In this instance it came in the form of their premium bottling, the Four Roses Single Barrel. In this case the bottle was from warehouse NV and barrel 11-3 which incidentally is the same batch that Jim Murray of whisky bible fame scored a whopping 94 points.

The single barrel is a high quality offering and has been matured for 2+ years. The standard Four Roses Yellow label is made up of a selection of ten single barrels from the Four Roses stable. Incidentally if you're ever looking for a good bourbon to replace the usual suspects of Jack Daniels (which isn't actually a bourbon) Jim Beam etc check out the standard Four Roses Yellow Label bottling. For £20 it's a steal.

Nose  - An all together different beast from the Kentucky Vintage. Where the KV was delicate and light the Four Roses is deep and rich. So much going on here, intense plumb crumble, strawberry jam, créme caramel and warm parkin cake.

Palate- A lovely warmth & oily mouthfeel. Definitely feels older than it is. Oreo cookies, another breath of the plumbs from the nose, and a warming cinnamon fragrance leading to a wonderful hint of Peruvian chocolate (yes chocolate really can be that unique!) and finishing off before the tail with black cherry compote

Finish- The cherry lingers before being shouldered aside by a sweet yet powerful Oak.



Balcones - True Blue 50%

Now our next bottling is a very interesting dram indeed. Balcones you say? Who are these upstarts? Well, Balcones are making shockwaves throughout the Whisky/Whiskey industry. Founded in 2009 by a chap in Waco (yup a town called Waco), Texas named Chip Tate, Chip and a few friends purchased a run down warehouse, went on to make their own stills by hand and started to produce some of the most highly sought after small batch whiskies on the market.

As you can tell from the description above the entire Balcones range is lovingly crafted by hand and only produced in small unique batches. True Blue is one of the best whiskies in their range and is our first purely corn whisky of the night (its worth noting Chip has used the traditional Scottish spelling rather than whiskEy). In this case the corn used is blue corn, hence the name.

Nose  - Heavy and rich, spice, lots of spice, possibly nutmeg. Butter in a hot iron pan, honey, and warm fudge cake.

Palate- Starts off sweet more brown sugar here, then banana bread and Jamaican ginger cake followed by cinder toffee and honeycomb.
Finish- A long and warming finish with a return of the spices, there even starts to be a hint of sweetcorn with salt crystal butter before slowly fading away with a lovely warming glow.

 

Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey - 45%

We now move onto our first and only Rye Whiskey of the evening. Sazerac Rye, now produced by Buffalo Trace, was originally named after the famous coffee house in New Orleans where the Sazerac cocktail was invented.

Rye whiskey is named as such as the mash itself used to create it must contain at least 51% rye. This bottling is labelled straight rye as his has been aged for 2 years or over. In this particular case a 6 year maturation. Rye is fantastic in cocktails and is known to be a spicy and punchy offering. Sazerac is no different!

Nose  - Spiced oranges, ginger and rainbow peppercorns.

Palate- More orange, possibly blood orange this time, root beer float, cola cubes, very peppery again and finally a bit of Irn Bru can you believe!!

Finish- Liquorice root, more citrus and yet another heated kick followed by lingering vanilla and oakiness.

Buffalo Trace White Dog Mash #1 - 62.5%

White Dog Mash is a very interesting spirit. This is basically the very same mash used to create the famous (and great value for money) Buffalo Trace bourbon. The only difference is that this particular spirit has not been matured for 2 years to soften and mellow in virgin oak casks. Oh no no no. This bottle of wet death has been taken straight from still to bottle.

The mash itself consists of corn, rye and malted barley - the normal mix for a bourbon mash.

It's no wonder this is only bottled in very small bottles and again, very small batches!

Nose  - Initially thinking 'oh god what have I done' before realising there are layers here. Lychee syrup, cocoa dusting and bakewell tart.

Palate- Surprisingly smooth, obviously not to the extent of a matured bourbon but considering the mash involved and the abv there is more sugary syrup, a bit of rough cut marmelade and pepper.

Finish- Quite short but peppery and warm, this is everything that the Baijiu could only wish to be!

We had a great selection here tonight, 2 bourbons, a unique corn whisky, a wonderful rye and finally a little bit of white lightening! I think overall the vote was ties between the Sazerac and the Four Roses but all the drams both Whisky and Whiskey alike stood up to the scrupulous tastebuds of the MWC members.

Until next time!