Netflix and Distil 2

The full line-up

For October's tasting club member Dan brought us a sequel to his 2019 event Netflix and Distil, with another selection of drams connected to film and TV.

It wasn't whisky in our glasses to start with. Accompanied by the snowbound opening sequence of A View To A Kill we had an old style 1980s bottle of Stolichnaya, as enjoyed by Roger Moore shortly after biffing some Bolsheviks in deepest Siberia. These days it's been rebranded as 'Stoli', presumably to play down its Russian origins. But there was no doubting the pedigree of this particular bottle, imported to Italy at 40%. We paid £23 but post-Brexit fees brought it up to about £50. Not being a group of vodka connoisseurs, the sole tasting notes for this were "it's nice" and "it's very nice" but it was a very enjoyable way to ease into the evening.

Our six new friends (plus a vodka)

Drink number two, and the first whisky, was an even bigger curveball. Having watched a clip of Rwanda-themed drama Black Earth Rising, Dan produced a bottle of - yes - Rwandan whisky. The bottle was from the extremely little known 1000 Hills distillery and was supposed to be a 3yo, although on tasting it we really couldn't be certain it was actually whisky at all. It smelt unpromising ("terrible") and tasted like schnapps. A bit of liqourice in there, and shoe leather, with trace notes of vomit (!).

Things improved quickly with the next dram, a 3yo Old Overholt straight rye accompanied by a clip of James Cromwell playing that distillery's owner in Boardwalk Empire. Very pleasant, this, with pepper, cumin and aniseed all coming through on the nose. It was perhaps a little light on flavour on the palate, although it was definitely sweet. We picked out little bits of orange too. It was 40% and cost us £43.

In the classic series The Wire, everyone's favourite Baltimore cop McNulty (improbably played by Old Etonian Dominic West, but that's acting for you) is a noted Jameson's drinker, and in one scene describes Bushmills as "Protestant whiskey". Dan took us to one of the show's most memorable moments, the wake for officer Cole, when his colleagues toast him with a dram and a sing along to Body of an American by The Pogues. For our own purposes, we had a glass of a Single Pot Still Jameson's. It was quite sweet, with toffee apples, vanilla, orange and ginger all coming through. At £49, this was 46%.

A packed crowd!

The newest Batman film was the theme for the fifth drink. Lots of product placement in the movie for Dewar's, but instead we went to the sister distillery Craigellachie for a 13yo finished in Armagnac. It smelt absolutely great on the nose: we got nectarine, orange and toffee. Then it was waxy with a touch of smoke on the palate. A bit of heft to this one, we absolutely loved it.

Think whisky movies and it won't be long before you come across The Angels' Share from veteran director Ken Loach. There's loads of the good stuff in the film of course, and Dan produced a 17yo Ledaig for us, produced at the Tobermory distillery on Mull. This was from a bourbon hogshead and independently bottled. Mango, pineapple and slightly smoky as befits a Ledaig, but there was a lot more than just peat to this one. Really good we thought! It was £105.

We finished off the evening with a clip from the film Constantine and a drop of Ardbeg. They drink the 10yo in the film and we've had it before, so instead we had a bottle of Ardbeg Bizarre-bq, what I fear we are duty bound to call a 'collab' with someone called DJ Barbecue (presumably not his birth name). This was meaty and smoky with an undoubted barbecue flavour profile. Puffs of charcoal and soot supposedly, but we definitely got smoked ham, cinnamon and coffee. It smelt absolutely superb. This was 50.9% and it's available for £76.

That brought us to the dram of the night voting, and it was an absolute triumph for the Ardbeg with 14 votes. In second was the Craigellachie with the Ledaig third.

Thanks to Dan for picking out such a great range of whiskies and sourcing some highly appropriate clips for us all to enjoy. Also thanks to all at the Britons Protection for hosting us once again, and to all club members for attending and making it such a successful evening.