Tasting #60: Feis Ile 2020
Tasting #60: Feis Ile 2020
On Wednesday, September 30th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 60th tasting! This was a very special one. We were able to get our hands on a number of the Festival bottles from this year’s Feis Ile 2020 which was canceled due to the Coronavirus. Most of the Islay distilleries still released Festival Bottles so we did our best. We also added some hard to get Scotch Malt Whisky Society Festival bottles.
Here is what we tasted:
- Bunnahabhain 10 Year by Douglas Laing Old Particular – pre-tasting dram
- Caol Ila 16 Year Festival Release
- Lagavulin 20 Year Festival Release
- SMWS 3.314 ‘Loungecare stave exoticism’ Bowmore 15 Year Festival Bottle
- SMWS 29.270 ‘Collateral drammage’ Laphroaig 8 Year Festival Bottle
- Laphroaig Cairdeas 2020 Festival Release
- Port Charlotte 16 Year Festival Release
32 members were online using Zoom for this really fun and rare tasting!!
For scores, please visit our Scores page.
Tasting #36 Recap: Feis Ile 2019
Tasting #36 Recap: Feis Ile 2019
On Wednesday, June 26th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had a really special & unique tasting that focused on bottles recently brought back from the Feis Ile Music & Whisky Festival on Islay. This was a first for the club and probably one of our best tastings to date! It was a packed house and there were 20 members in attendance.
Here is a list of the whiskies we tasted:
- Bunnahabhain 17 Year Sauternes Finish – Feis Ile 2019
- Bowmore 15 Year Ex-Bourbon – Feis Ile 2019
- Laphroaig Cairdeas Triple Wood Cask Strength – Feis Ile 2019
- Lagavulin 19 Year – Feis Ile 2019
- Caol Ila 22 Year – Feis Ile 2019
- Octomore Event Horizon – Feis Ile 2019
For scores from the tasting, please go to Scores.
It was a fantastic evening recapping the Feis Ile and tasting some of the superb whiskies that we brought home to New York. Everyone enjoyed this special treat. Cheers!
Tasting #19 Recap: Drams For Fams
Tasting #19 Recap: Drams For Fams
On Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the Saratoga Whiskey Club took part in a North American initiative started by the Edmonton Scotch Club in Canada called Drams For Fams (#Drams4Fams). The purpose of the initiative is to raise money for a local food bank or other charity in the form of a whiskey tasting. Many different clubs in Canada and the United States took part in this and a lot of money was raised. It was great to be a part of this and we look forward to making an even bigger contribution next year.
The format for our tasting was a lot of fun. Bottles were donated by members and the club for this tasting. All money raised went directly to charity. Participants were able to taste up to 10 different whiskies of the 13 that we had available for the group. Henry Street Taproom provided us a great spot in their restaurant and some awesome appetizers as well. It was a perfect night for tasting a lot of whiskey (but then again, when is it not the perfect night!). All in all, we had 22 people attend this great evening.
Here are the whiskies we tasted and the scores they received:
- Blood Oath Pact #4 Bourbon – Score of 88 (avg. of 10 scores)
- High West American Prairie – Score of 83 (avg. of 5 scores)
- Michter’s Barrel Strength Rye – Score of 85 (avg. of 9 scores)
- Elmer T. Lee Bourbon – Score of 87 (avg. of 6 scores)
- Glenmorangie Lasanta – Score of 75 (avg. of 3 scores)
- Ardbeg Auriverdes – Score of 83 (avg. of 6 scores)
- Boone County 12 Year Single Barrel Bourbon – Score of 84 (avg. of 7 scores)
- Glenmorangie Spios – Score of 82 (avg. of 5 scores)
- Whip Saw Rye Whiskey – Score of 82 (avg. of 9 scores)
- Pikesville Rye – Score of 84 (avg. of 2 scores)
- Weller Antique 107 – Score of 79 (avg. of 4 scores)
- Laphroaig Cairdeas – Score of 83 (avg. of 3 scores)
- Johnnie Walker Blade Runner Director’s Cut – No Score
A fantastic evening was had by all. We can’t wait for next year!
Tasting #11 Recap: Islay Exclusives From Our Trip
Tasting #11 Recap: Islay Exclusives From Our Trip
The Saratoga Whisk(e)y Club had Tasting #11 on two nights, October 11 and October 25, 2017. The focus of the evening was bottles that we hauled back from Islay on the first Saratoga Whiskey Club trip to Scotland. These were very special bottles as most were distillery exclusives and not easy to find. We had a great turnout of 30 people, both members and non-members. We had eight different whiskies at our tasting, one from each of the eight distilleries on Islay. Here is a list of what we tasted:
- We started with a Charlie Wells Dry Hopped Lager from England
- Lagavulin Jazz Festival Bottling 2017
- Ardbeg An Oa
- Caol Ila Distillery Exclusive 2017
- Laphroaig Brodir
- Bunnahabhain Feis Ile 2017 Moine Port Pipe
- Kilchoman Distillery Exclusive 2017 – Rum Finish
- Bowmore Warehousemen’s Distillery Exclusive
- Port Charlotte Valinches Cask Explorations 16 & 17
Overall it was a fantastic tasting with lots of special whiskies! It is always great bringing back bottles that are not available locally.
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.