Tasting #14 Recap: Oyster-Paired Whiskey Dinner

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Feb 6, 2018 | Tastings

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!

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Cheers!

Tasting #13 Recap: Blended Scotch Whiskies and Blending Workshop

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Feb 6, 2018 | Tastings

Tasting #13 Recap: Blended Scotch Whiskies and Blending Workshop

The Saratoga Whisk(e)y Club had Tasting #13 on December 13, 2017 and January 3, 2018 . The purpose of this tasting was to explore and learn about the world of blended scotches. We had four Premium Blended Whiskies to taste and then we did our own Blending Workshop using four Single Malt Scotches and one Single Grain. It was a lot of fun tasting the premium whiskies and then trying to match their flavors or blended profiles using the single malts and single grain. It was definitely not an easy job, but someone had to do it!

Here is a list of the Premium Blends we tasted:

Chivas Regal 18 Year Signature Gold
Johnnie Walker Director’s Cut Blade Runner Edition
Compass Box ‘The Lost Blend’
Exclusive Blends 1991 Edition

Here are the Single Malts and Single Grain that we used for our blending workshop:

Ancnoc 12
Glenfiddich 12
Caol Ila 12
Auchentoshan 12
The Exclusive Regions Single Grain 12

Overall it was a very educational tasting and a lot of fun!

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 #12 Recap: Scotch Malt Whisky Society House Tastings – November 2017

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Dec 5, 2017 | Tastings

Tasting #12 Recap: Scotch Malt Whisky Society House Tastings – November 2017

The Saratoga Whisk(e)y Club had Tasting #12 on various nights throughout November, 2017. It was the first time we tried doing more informal tastings at people’s houses. This was also a different tasting in that we did it as a blind tasting. None of the guests knew from what distillery any of the bottlings came from. They also did not know how old each whisky was or the price. It was very interesting to see what happened when the bias was removed, the pre-conceived notion that a whisky has to be good because it is from a certain distillery or because of its price. We had a good turnout of 22 people over the course of four different nights, both members and non-members. We had eight different whiskies at our tasting. Here is a list of what we tasted:

We started with a beer and this varied from house to house
SMWS 41.89 ‘Tarte Flambe’ Dailuaine 12 Year
SMWS 37.83 ‘An odyssey of flavor’ Cragganmore 12 Year
SMWS 55.31 ‘Sparkling, lively and playful’ Royal Brackla 17 Year
SMWS 36.114 ‘Tap-dancing tongue teaser’ Benrinnes 13 Year
SMWS 54.42 ‘A washing day in Spring’ Aberlour 9 Year
SMWS 46.45 ‘A two-way street’ Glenlossie 23 Year
SMWS 48.74 ‘Coffee kisses and lucky tatties’ Balmenach 10 Year
SMWS 73.79 ‘Hopped-Up!’ Aultmore 16 Year

Overall it was a fun tasting and it made you think! It’s amazing how much more difficult it is not knowing what you are tasting.

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 #11 Recap: Islay Exclusives From Our Trip

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Nov 1, 2017 | Tastings

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.

Tasting #8 Recap: SMWS – Scotch Malt Whisky Society

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | May 30, 2017 | Tastings

Tasting #8 Recap: SMWS – Scotch Malt Whisky Society

The Saratoga Whisk(e)y Club had Tasting #8 on two nights, May 10 and May 24, 2017. The focus of the evening was a special selection of bottles from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. It was a great turnout of 23 members. We had four different whiskies at our tasting, three from the Speyside region and one from Arran. Here is a list of what we tasted:

We started with a Bell’s Lager of the Lakes
SMWS 7.133 ‘A Boiled Bag of Sweets’ – Longmorn 12 Year Old
SMWS 39.110 ‘Builders At Breaktime’ – Linkwood 14 Year Old
SMWS 121.89 “Sweet As A Nut’ – Isle of Arran 16 Year Old
SMWS 44.65 ‘Subtle Complexity’ – Craigellachie 24 Year Old

Overall it was a fantastic tasting with lots of special whiskies! This was our first time sampling some of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottles.

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.