Tasting #54: Speyside Tasting

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Jul 22, 2020 | Tastings

Tasting #54: Speyside Tasting

On Wednesday, June 24th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 54th tasting. The focus of this tasting was whisky from the Speyside region of Scotland. We had bottles from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society as well as others to round out this great tasting.

Here is what we tasted:

Aberlour A’Bunadh Alba
SMWS 54.80 ‘Banana Mexicana’ – Aberlour
Cadenheads Miltonduff 11 Year
SMWS 1.217 ‘Mezzalunas at dawn’ – Glenfarclas
SMWS 44.118 ‘Get your castanets clacking’ – Craigellachie
SMWS 44.117 ‘Happiness is a warm bung’ – Craigellachie
SMWS 36.171 ‘A smooth ride’ – Festival Bottling of Benrinnes

35 members were online using Zoom for this really fun tasting.

For scores, please visit our Scores page.

Tasting #46: Burns Night

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Mar 12, 2020 | Tastings

Tasting #46: Burns Night

On Thursday, January 30th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 46th tasting. It was incredibly special evening as it was our first Burns Night for the club! Holly Seidewand from Bacardi’s Single Malts Portfolio hosted our group and brought along some special whiskies. We also added a few to make for a perfect tasting. The food consisted of charcuterie boards, haggis balls and a beef stew.

Here are the whiskies that were tasted:

Aberfeldy 12 Year
Aberfeldy 16 Year
Aberfeldy 21 Year
Aberfeldy Exceptional Cask 20 Year
Aberfeldy Exceptional Cask 24 Year
Craigellachie 13 Year
Craigellachie 17 Year
Craigellachie Exceptional Cask 19 Year
Compass Box Affinity

36 members were in attendance for this first Burns Night!

Tasting #42: SMWS November Releases

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Nov 15, 2019 | Tastings

Tasting #42: SMWS November Releases

On Wednesday, November 6th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 42nd tasting as a club! The theme of this tasting was New November Releases from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. We will be doing similar tastings once a quarter going forward as we really enjoy tasting some of the new expressions that are being released. 25 members were in attendance for this outing!

Here is a list of the whiskies we tasted:

SMWS 1.211 – Glenfarclas – 8 YR ‘Ironing a lemon’
SMWS 64.111 – Mannochmore – 8 YR ‘Pleasing sweetness, playful heat’
SMWS 44.114 – Craigellachie – 12 YR ‘Sweet peas and toffee trees’
SMWS 9.167 – Glen Grant – 23 YR ‘Part of the furniture’
SMWS 16.39 – Glenturret – 18 YR ‘Sweetness and spice laced with mystery’
SMWS 73.114 – Aultmore – 17 YR ‘Total eclipse of oloroso’
SMWS 10.176 – Bunnahabhain – 11 YR ‘Tea-smoked salmon’
SMWS 53.276 – Caol Ila – 6 YR ‘Ein kleiner deutscher samurai’

It was a fantastic night of tasting new expressions.

Check out the scores! Scores

Slainte!

Tasting #29 Recap: Bacardi Single Malt Scotch Portfolio

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Mar 11, 2019 | Tastings

Tasting #29 Recap: Bacardi Single Malt Scotch Portfolio

On Thursday, February 28th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had a great evening tasting Single Malt Scotch whiskies from the Bacardi portfolio. Our tasting was led by Holly Seidewand, the US Brand Ambassador for Bacardi’s single malts. Holly walked us through the history of each distillery, what makes them unique and added tasting notes to all of the whiskies tasted.

The event took place at Bailey’s Tavern in Saratoga Springs, NY, and we had 36 members in attendance.

Here is a list of the whiskies we tasted:

Aberfeldy 12 Year
Craigellachie 12 Year
Aultmore 12 Year
Royal Brackla 12 Year
Deveron 12 Year
Aberfeldy 16 Year

Here are some photos from the evening:

Tasting #26 Recap: Luxury Tasting

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Jan 9, 2019 | Tastings

Tasting #26 Recap: Luxury Tasting

On Wednesday, December 5, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its first higher-priced tasting that we named the Luxury Tasting. These were all bottles that we either purchased through auctions or were collected over the last year by the club. There were 16 members in attendance. This was the max number since we only had one bottle of each of the five bottles we tasted.

Here is a list of the whiskies we tasted: