April 2018 Tasting Recaps

April 2018 Tasting Recaps

April 2018 Tasting Recaps

The Saratoga Whiskey Club had a very busy Spring in 2018 with 3 different events in April.

On April 11, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits had Pete from Pernod Ricard in Saratoga Springs for tasting #17 at Bailey’s.  Four different great whiskies were tasted along with great appetizers from Bailey’s.  Thanks to Meghan for putting this together for us!!

Throughout April we also had home screenings of the Bourbon documentary NEAT: The Story of Bourbon.  This was tasting #18 for the club.  We paired different bourbons with different parts of the documentary which was a lot of fun.  Each house was very different with food & drink.  It’s a great documentary and we highly recommend it.

At the end of April the Saratoga Whiskey Club filled its own barrel of whiskey at the Albany Distilling Company.  We had a great day distilling whiskey for our barrel and learning what it takes to fill a 53-gallon barrel.  We all got to sign the barrel and now get to wait at least four years to decide what to do with it, other than drink it!

May is turning out to be a very busy one as well.

It was a great month!  Stay tuned for more from May.

Cheers.

Tasting #16 Recap: 2017 Award Winners

Tasting #16 Recap: 2017 Award Winners

Tasting #16 Recap: 2017 Award Winners

The Saratoga Whisk(e)y Club had Tasting #16 on two nights, March 14 and March 28, 2018. The focus of the evening was Award-Winning whiskies from 2017. We had a very large turnout of 30 people for the two tastings. We had four different award-winning whiskies at our tasting, a Scotch, an Irish, a Bourbon and a Rye.  Here is a list of what we tasted:

  • We started with a Kelso Pilsner or IPA
  • Glenmorangie Astar – Ranked #2 Whiskey of the Year by Whiskey Advocate Magazine
  • Redbreast 12 Cask Strength – A continual winner in its category by the World Whisky Awards
  • Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, Batch B517 – Ranked #1 Whiskey of the Year by Whiskey Advocate Magazine
  • Kentucky Owl 11 Year Rye – Figured this needed an award as well for 2017! 😉

Overall it was a fantastic tasting with lots of special whiskies!

Please sign up for our quarterly newsletter if you are interested in learning about future tastings. Sometimes there are extra spaces available for non-members.

Here are some photos from the tasting.

Tasting #14 Recap: Oyster-Paired Whiskey Dinner

Tasting #14 Recap: Oyster-Paired Whiskey Dinner

Tasting #14 Recap: Oyster-Paired Whiskey Dinner

The Saratoga Whisk(e)y Club had Tasting #14 on Wednesday, January 31, 2018, at Henry Street Taproom. Chef Matt Weekes dished up some great courses that we paired with various whiskies from different countries. It was a six-course dinner and four of the courses were oyster-focused. It was a fantastic evening of 19 people and everyone had a great time. Most of the pairings were on point and we look forward to more Henry Street Taproom events in the future.

Here is a list of the courses and the whiskies that we paired:

  • Course 1 – East Coast Raw Oysters – Savage Harbor Blondes from Prince Edward Island paired with Talisker Distiller’s Edition 2015
    • Pairing Comments: “Yes, yes, yes, yes, great, yes, good, works, two thumbs up, great, great, A, very good”
  • Course 2 – Salad Course – Charred Beet and Citrus Salad
  • Course 3 – West Coast Raw Oysters – Gigamotos from British Columbia paired with Glenmorangie Nectar D’or
    • Pairing Comments: “No, yes, yes, yes, fav!, yup, okay, spice strong, 5 out of 10, good, not as good, B, eh”
  • Course 4 – Fried oysters atop a corncake with deviled egg mousse paired with Teeling Single Cask Carcavelos
    • Pairing Comments: “great, yes!!, yes!, o yea, good, wrong oyster, swap with #2, well-paired, A-, very good”
  • Course 5 – Baked oysters with bacon and horseradish paired with Jefferson’s Ocean-Aged Small Batch Bourbon
    • Pairing Comments: “delish, yes x2, fantastic yes, yes!, delish, very good, favorite, dulled whiskey, really good, bacon washed out whiskey”
  • Course 6 – Hudson Valley Duck Breast served atop a faro risotto paired with Oban 14
    • Pairing Comments: “nice, yes yes yes, excellent, hell yea, good, two thumbs up, good, very very good”

What a great night, whiskey and food!

Please sign up for our quarterly newsletter if you are interested in learning about future tastings. Sometimes there are extra spaces available for non-members. We’ll also keep you up to date with our upcoming events!

Cheers!

Hillrock Estate Distillery Visit – January 28, 2017

Hillrock Estate Distillery Visit – January 28, 2017

Hillrock Estate Distillery Visit – January 28, 2017

A group of us from the Saratoga Whiskey Club visited the Hillrock Estate Distillery on Saturday, January 28th, 2017.

Our day started with a great lunch at Fish & Game in Hudson, NY, and continued with a 2pm tour and tasting at Hillrock.  Our guide, Bobby Haight, did a good job explaining the process at Hillrock.  It was an interesting day as they had malted some rye which is not something you normally see.  The visit ended with a tasting of 5 different Hillrock expressions and we had some local cheeses to taste as well.  We also talked with Tim, the operations manager, who answered a lot of our questions and gave us some insight into Hillrock’s future plans.  It is a great distillery.

If you are interested in joining us for any future distillery visits, please sign up for our quarterly newsletter which has more information.