Tasting #75: Starward Australian Whisky

Tasting #75: Starward Australian Whisky

by | Dec 5, 2021 | Tastings

Tasting #75: Starward Australian Whisky

On Wednesday, March 31st, the Saratoga Whiskey Club held Tasting #75! The focus of this tasting was Starward Australian Single Malt Whisky. We were joined by David Vitale, the founder who now lives in Seattle. We had a big group on Zoom to learn all about Starward whiskies and we also did a virtual tour of the Distillery with the distillery manager who joined us online from Melbourne. Pretty awesome stuff!

Here is what we tasted:

  • Starward Nova
  • Starward Two Fold
  • Starward Solera 3 Year
  • Starward Single Cask from Astor Wines
  • Starward Single Cask from Park Ave
  • Starward Single Cask from Wally’s
  • Starward Single Cask from Chicago’s Women Who Whisky Club

It was a great night of whisky and conversation with the great group of people at Starward.

Tasting #73: Tomatin Vertical Tasting

Tasting #73: Tomatin Vertical Tasting

by | Nov 30, 2021 | Tastings

Tasting #73: Tomatin Vertical Tasting

On March 10th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 73rd tasting! The focus was the wonderful Highland Distillery Tomatin. We did an entire Vertical Tasting of Tomatin, including 7 different whiskies. 32 members were in attendance for this great Luxury Tasting. We were also joined by Scott Adamson from the Tomatin Distillery. He joined us via Zoom at a very late hour of the night for him. It was really fantastic.

Here is what we tasted:

  • Tomatin 12 Year – vintage bottling from the 1980’s
  • Tomatin 14 Year Port Wood Finish
  • Tomatin 15 Year Limited Edition Moscatel Finish
  • Tomatin 18 Year Oloroso Sherry Finish
  • Gordon & MacPhail’s Connoisseur’s Choice Tomatin 16 Year First Fill Bourbon
  • Tomatin 30 Year Bourbon and Traditional Oak
  • SMWS 11.41 ‘Smoke, mirrors and honey traps’ 31 Year Single Cask

It was a great evening of whisky! Scores can be found here: Scores

 

Tasting #69: Westland American Single Malt

Tasting #69: Westland American Single Malt

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Tastings

Tasting #69: Westland American Single Malt

On Wednesday, January 27th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 69th tasting. The focus of this tasting was Westland American Single Malt Whiskey out of Seattle. We were joined by Jeff Greenstein who walked us through the core line expression followed by three limited edition Westland bottlings. We were fortunate to get our hands on two Garryanas from 2019 and 2020 and an exclusive single cask for the NY market. It was a fantastic tasting and thanks so much for Jeff for joining us and co-hosting such a fun evening.

Here is what we tasted.

  • Westland American Single Malt – American Oak
  • Westland American Single Malt – Sherry Wood
  • Westland American Single Malt – The Peated
  • Westland Garryana 2019 – Edition 4/1 – Limited Edition
  • Westland Garryana 2020 – Edition 5/1 – Limited Edition
  • Westland Single Cask #2781 – NY Exclusive Market Release

52 members were online for this really great tasting.

YouTube video: YouTube Video

For scores, please check here: Scores

Tasting #66: American Whiskey

Tasting #66: American Whiskey

by | Jan 4, 2021 | Tastings

Tasting #66: American Whiskey

On Wednesday, December 30th, the Saratoga Whiskey Club had its 66th tasting! It was the last tasting of the year and a great way to end it. We all can’t wait for 2021!! The focus of this tasting was American Whiskey. We dove into some Bourbons and then finished with 3 single casks from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society that were Bourbon, Rye and American Single Malt. On top of this, one of our members made ginger snap cookies with our logo on them! See the photo below. It was a really fun evening and a nice way to end the year. Here is what we tasted.

  • Pre-Tasting Dram: Kyro Malted Rye Whisky – from Finland – yes, not American
  • Penelope Straight Bourbon Whiskey – Rose Finish
  • Elijah Craig Straight Bourbon Whiskey – Toasted Barrel Finish
  • Knob Creek 12 Year Straight Bourbon Whiskey – 100 Proof
  • SMWS RW2.1 American Rye Whiskey ‘Out of the ordinary – in a very good way!’
  • SMWS B6.1 American Bourbon Whiskey ‘Ginger-spiced sponge’
  • SMWS 142.1 American Single Malt Whiskey ‘Made in New York, New York’

53 members were online for this really great tasting.

For scores, please check here: Scores

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

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

by | 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