Tasting #70: Rye Whiskey

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Mar 5, 2021 | Tastings

Tasting #70: Rye Whiskey

On Wednesday, February 10th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 70th tasting. The focus of the tasting was Rye Whiskey. We hadn’t done a focused Rye tasting since very early on in the club’s history. So it was great to go back to this ever-evolving category of whiskey. Most of the bottles came from a recent trip to Kentucky when we picked up our New Riff barrel for the club. The others were sourced locally and the last one from Tom at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Here is what we tasted.

Castle & Key Restoration Rye – Batch 1
MB Roland Single Barrel Rye
Pinhook 4 Year Rye – Westport Whiskey & Wine Store Pick
Nulu 7 Year Rye – Party Source Store Pick
Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye
SMWS RW3.1 ‘Big, bold, fruity and spicy’ 7 Year Rye – NY Distilling

32 members were online for this really great tasting.

YouTube video: YouTube Video

For scores, please check here: Scores

Tasting #65: Ex-Red Wine Barrique and First Fill Sherry

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Dec 16, 2020 | Tastings

Tasting #65: Ex-Red Wine Barrique and First Fill Sherry

On Wednesday, December 9th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 65th tasting! This was a very unique tasting in that we focused on specific finishes and first fill Sherry. The tasting started with three different whiskies finished in ex-red wine barriques followed by three Sherry bombs that were fully matured in first fill Sherry. It was really delicious. Here is what we tasted:

SMWS 9.174 ‘Strawberry Jalapeno Ice Cream’ – Glen Grant 15 Year
SMWS 66.161 ‘Chateau du pork scratching’ Ardmore 13 Year
SMWS 95.37 ‘Adventurous African safari’ Auchriosk 7 Year
SMWS 7.237 ‘Nutty by nature’ – Longmorn 12 Year
SMWS 7.233 ‘A syrupy sweet tale of romance’ – Longmorn 13 Year
SMWS 30.111 ‘Inferno Toffee Pudding’ – Glenrothers 12 Year

32 members were online for this really great tasting.

For scores, please check here: Scores

Here is a YouTube video of the tasting: YouTube

Tasting #61: Single Cask Nation

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Oct 16, 2020 | Tastings

Tasting #61: Single Cask Nation

On Wednesday, October 14th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 61st tasting! We were joined by Jason from Single Cask Nation to go through their company’s history and to taste some of their great whiskies! It was a really informative tasting about their philosophy, palate and how they go about selecting casks. We had six different whiskies to sample and they were all very good.

Here is what we tasted:

Stones of Stenness 19 Year Orkney Single Malt Scotch
Milk & Honey 2 Year Single Malt
Blended Malt 10 Year
Aultmore 8 Year Single Malt Scotch
Aultmore 30 Year Single Malt Scotch
Ruadh Mohr (Glenturret) 10 Year Single Malt Scotch

32 members were online using Zoom for this really fun and rare tasting!!

For scores, please visit our Scores page.

Tasting #60: Feis Ile 2020

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Oct 7, 2020 | Tastings

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 #59: Teeling Irish Whiskey

by Saratoga Whiskey Club | Oct 7, 2020 | Tastings

Tasting #59: Teeling Irish Whiskey

On Wednesday, September 9th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 59th club tasting. Jody McLoughlin from Teeling Whiskey joined us on a Zoom call to go over Teeling and its history and whiskey. We even did a virtual tasting of the distillery while on the Zoom call. We had 50 members in attendance for this great virtual tasting.

Here is what we tasted: