Whiskies With Beer Connections

 

Six of the eight drams we enjoyed

It's fair to say most of the club members like beer almost as much as whisky, and for August's tasting we had a line up of no fewer than eight drams, all with beer connections.

Two Brewers

We started off in Canada with a single malt from Two Brewers, based in the Yukon, making it just about as far flung a dram as we've had. Brewers malts were used to create this no age statement bottling, and there were some maple syrup casks in the mix as well.

This definitely had a sweetness but also a sting and so you felt it all the way down. A little harsh and definitely tasted young. But also had a real mapley sweetness about it, with sherbet another tasting note to the fore. Robust flavours and pleasant. At £80 this was "expensive but interesting". It was 46%. Those who had it with water said it took quite a bit of it and held up well. "Sweet, weird and nice" was one verdict.

Gouden Carolus

Belgium next for a 3-year-old Gouden Carolus, made by the Het Anker brewery. This one is aged in bourbon casks then some which previously held their own beer.

This was very sweet on the nose, with hints of toffee apples, sticky toffee pudding and a "chemistry lab". Sweet and beery, very smooth "but weird" we thought. Certainly another interesting dram although some in the group weren't so keen, while others suggested trying it with water again. It was 46% and cost us £55.

Circumstance

Back to the UK next and Circumstance distillery, the Bristol-based outfit showing off some of their organic credentials with a cask strength single grain. The beer connection was the use of saison yeast.

The most noticeable thing here was a strong aftertaste of liqourice, although it did mellow a bit after a few sips. "Weird again" but became more lively with a bit of water, some felt. It was 60.3%. We weren't quite sure how much this one actually cost us, but they do have a range of organic drams on their site for the £45-55 mark.

Holyrood new make

Whisky number four wasn't actually whisky at all really, but was instead a new make from Edinburgh's Holyrood. They've released lots of these new make expressions which is quite unusual. In this example, some brewers yeast and chocolate malt helped give it a beer influence. Not technically whisky, but whisky adjacent, anyway.

This was very dry indeed. The taste was very reminiscent of buttered toast or burnt toast, so quite distinctive. The finish was more of a dark chocolate. This was 60%. It's out of stock now on the Holyrood site, but was previously available for £36.

Cheshire IPA cask

After a half-time break and a chance to fill up our actual beer glasses downstairs at the Seven Oaks, we were back for another quartet.

And it was a case of moving on to whiskies actually finished in beer casks. Number five took us close to home with The Cheshire IPA cask. This was mostly 3-year-old liquid, matured initially in STR casks before a final blast in ones which previously held their Jester IPA.

This smelt lovely and floral, and tasted delicious too. After the ones we'd had in the first half, there was the feeling that "this is a normal whisky!" Pear drops and Parma Violents, green apples and citrus. Some real classic favours, in fact whisky flavoured whisky, you might say. It comes in and 46% and offers good value at 40 quid.

Teeling dark porter

Teeling next and a visit to Dublin, almost a full decade after they came to see us with a selection of drams. This was a dark porter finish whiskey, we think a blend. Beer finishes are a real feature of their range, and they often exchange casks back and forth with the nearby Dock Brewery.

We liked this one, too. A mixture of cereal and chocolately flavours, so very much like Coco Pops. A short finish, but very nice, and a general thumbs up. Again this was 46% and decent value at just over the £40 mark.

Glasgow / I&G finish

The Glasgow distillery was the origin of whisky number seven, a golden beer cask finish from a partnership with high-profile Scottish brewery Innis and Gunn.

At 58% this was a "real bruiser". We "sort of" got dried fruits on the palate, certainly a little bit raisiny anyway. Biscuity, like shortbread. A little bit of water did the job for quite a few of us. It's mostly sold out, but it's £55-60 where available.

Caol Ila 12yo

Which brought us onto the almost inevitable big peat finish. A Murray McDavid, 12-year-old Caol Ila, matured in imperial stout casks.

This was very nice stuff, although at first we didn't really feel like we got too much beer out of it. A pretty typical Caol Ila really, not that this is a bad thing. A long aftertaste, so that was very pleasant, and maybe made it a trifle softer than a typical Islay. Lovely really. I've written at the end of my notes "probably the best whisky of the night but I want to vote for someone else" so who knows what I really meant by that. This was 52.3% and was £89.

It did well in the dram of the night voting, but not quite well enough. The winner was dram seven, the Glasgow/Innis and Gunn collaboration, with 12 votes, ahead of the Caol Ila with 10. All except the Belgians got at least one vote, though!

Thanks to all club members for taking part in such a great evening, and to everyone at the Seven Oaks for hosting us again.

Whiskyology: The Science of Whisky Tasting

The evening's six main whiskies (bonus drinks not pictured)

After another highly enjoyable Christmas party for the members, during which we brought back all of the unfinished bottles from 2018 and had a decent go at putting that right, we had to wait until the last day of January for the club's first tasting of 2019.

11yo Dalmore - with water

And it was chairman Adam who presented an evening dedicated to two of his main interests - chemistry and top quality booze - as introduced us to a tasting he called Whiskyology: The Science of Whisky Tasting. With the weather outside below freezing,  this was something we were all looking forward to evening more than usual.                                                                                                                Adam explained that he wanted us to reflect a little on how the appearance of whiskies can influence how we perceive their taste: whether that's to do with the marketing, price tag, or even just how it looks in the glass. And with that, he kicked us off with a pair of whiskies tasted blind.

The Dalmore again, but with caramel

The first looked light and tasted "a bit creamy" according to some early tasting notes. While the second appeared to be a totally different proposition. A much darker colour, as if it had been sherried or, as someone suggested, "it's certainly been in something" and was a lot sweeter than the earlier dram.

Adam revealed that they were both the same whisky, more or less. An 11yo Dalmore from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, called Chocolate Melting in the Greenhouse, Adam gave us the first with water already added, diluting the strength down to 43%.

Our third Dalmore in a row

The second had a drop of caramel for colour and was also 43%. Despite their shared origin they certainly seemed to taste very different, underlining Adam's point about the visual effect making such a difference.

As a bonus whisky we then had a drop of another similar dram, so similar in fact it was bottled from the same distillery on the very same day. Also from the SMWS, it was Gardener Takes a Break. This was much stronger tasting, again sweet and spicy, and certainly packing all of its 60%.

Next came something completely different. Or rather two things, as we had a pair of drinks from one of the few distilleries in the world known to produce both beer and whisky from the same brew.

It's Belgian whisky!

This producer in question is in Belgium, probably nobody's idea of a whisky heartland, but we're all about exploring new things at Manchester Whisky Club. The drinks came from the Het Anker brewery in Mechelen, under the Gouden Carolus brand.

On tasting them both, you wouldn't have them pegged as being from the same source. The whisky had a bit of a punch on the nose but was at 46% was quite mellow when compared with the beer, which was 8.5% but didn't really taste it. Instead, it was dark, juicy and highly drinkable.

The beer.

If we were going to have one of these again it would probably be the beer to be honest.

After a half-time break it was time to return to Scotland and some highly peated whiskies. The next drink was one of the Big Peat blends produced by Douglas Laing, marrying together various whiskies from Islay. This particular bottling was the 2017 Christmas edition, an 'all-Islay' edition featuring at least a bit from each distillery on the island, including the long-shut-but-soon-to-restart-production Port Ellen.

About half of the whisky was Ardbeg, and more or less everyone loved it: "spicy" and "gorgeous". With Islay going through an expansion, and other new distilleries joining Port Ellen, there'll be plenty more peated whisky where this came from in the future.

The Big Peat.

If there's one distillery most associated with the peaty taste of Islay, it's Laphroaig. The classic 10yo, traditionally considered a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it dram, is usually likened to TCP. But for Adam it brings back linseed oil, putting him in mind of his grandad who used to enjoy a drop: the taste of a particularly whisky can vary for each of us, depending on times and places we associate with it.

The Laphroaig we were enjoying here was the 2017 Cardeas quarter cask, one of an annual series of releases the distillery does under that name. We very much liked this too, although so did plenty of other people as you'll be lucky to find a bottle anywhere online for less than £180.

The evening ended with something out of the ordinary: a little bit of homebrewing, or at least home spiking. This involved taking Aldi's standard Islay single malt, apparently a perfectly reasonable 7yo Caol Ila, with phenols.

The Aldi whisky with added phenols.

This is a chemistry thing that has something to do with making something taste peaty, although by this stage of the evening my notes were becoming even less extensive than usual. In fact, beside this drink I've only written: "wheeeee!" so I'm afraid what it actually tasted like may well be lost to history.

There was just time for some dram of the night voting, and the winner was the bonus dram from SMWS, Gardener Takes a Break.

Huge thanks to Adam for such an expertly-led evening full of information and fun, which I've only just scratched the surface of here. There's much more on Adam and Kate's blog. Thanks also to everyone who attended plus the Briton's Protection for hosting us once again.

The line-up of whiskies, mostly drained.