Other Live Tastings

[TheTross]

So, who would like to be part of the committee that makes final decisions of theme and date?

In the interest of getting this moving, I'll step forward for that.

[Ryguy]

So, who would like to be part of the committee that makes final decisions of theme and date?

In the interest of getting this moving, I'll step forward for that.

Aye, same here. I'm ready and willing!

[Ganga]

Thank you gentlemen. It's a good place to start with you two making the final decisions. I'll leave it to you two to make the final decision based on input from the other interested parties.

So far it looks like the first weekend of October (3 or 4) and Irish whiskies. Is there any other comments? I'd suggest that you two make a final decision by the middle of next week. Then make a call for people to post their interest in splitting samples and we'll see what can be done in the various parts of the world.

Willie, interested in being the third?

[Ganga]

I see that no one has stepped up with any other suggestions. Shall we say Irish whiskies? Oct 4? Or is Oct 3 better? Ok, committee it's up to you.

After that, let's get organized as to what we need to do to get this going. Basically, we need to find out about what needs to be shipped where. I don't anticipate too much in the needs of international shipping.

[Willie JJ]

Willie, interested in being the third?

Sorry, I missed this. Yes happy to help.

Irish is good. Far too neglected.

I suggest the Saturday (4th) as it may ease problems with members in the Americas being at work when the tasting starts.

We need to select some bottles I think.

[Ryguy]

Ok Irish Whiskies it is, Saturday, October 4th. Who's interested in participating from the US/Canada besides Mikeymad, Ganga and myself?

And yes we do need to select some bottles, any suggestions anyone?

[cathach]

Well here's my 2 cent for an intro to Irish whiskey. Bearing mind by the way that there are only 3(ish-it's complicated) working distilleries at the moment


Blends:
Black Bush (Bushmills)
Powers (Irish Distillers)
Jameson 12yo (Irish Distillers)
Jameson Gold (Irish Distillers)

(Single/Unblended) Pure Pot Still:
Greenspot (Irish Distillers)
Redbreast 12yo (Irish Distillers)
Redbreast 15yo ncf (Irish Distillers-a real gem this)

Single Malt:
Connemara Cask Strength (Cooley Distillery)
Locke's 8yo (Cooley Distillery)
Tyrconnell 10yo Port/Sherry/Madeira Finish (Cooley Distillery)
Tyrconnell 15yo Single Cask
Bushmills 10yo (Bushmills)


If you could pick 2 bottles from each category you would have a fairly wide church. Ideally as much pure pot still as you can find too as it is unique to Irish whiskey. Cooley is a distillery that is criminally underexposed as well and their current finishes despite the current brouhaha on the practice are IMHO a masterclass on the process.

Beware however premiumisation in the Jameson family, their prices are really over the top at times, although American, British and European board users should be able to find everything at around 30%-50% less than in Ireland.

[Ryguy]

Many thanks for the info cathach!
A couple of these I had on the list I started last night. Available to me from Binny's are the following, listed with price so that others can compare.

Redbreast Irish 12 Year Old Pot Still Irish Whiskey $45.99

Connemara 12 Year Old Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey $93.99
Connemara Cask Strength Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey $59.99
Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey NAS? $39.99

Tyrconnel 12 Year Old Irish Whiskey $29.99

Greenore 8 Year Old Single Grain Irish Whiskey $49.99

I'm going to suggest 4 bottles, one from each group. Plus maybe even a couple others (not on this list). Any thoughts suggestions anyone?

[cathach]

samswine.com has

Connemara Cask Strength @ $56.99

ludwigsfinewine.com has

Redbreast 12yo @ $36.95
Connemara Cask Strength @ $50.00

It can really pay to shop around although I know in some states you can't get stuff shipped to you. I think it might be up to CA or NY member to grab the bargains and help out the others; if you want the more economical route.

[Ganga]

Lots of availability through W&L Depot. I also know that they are not the best at keeping the website up to date. But at least we have an idea. I'd also note that we should not be looking at the best price for individual bottles but rather best price for a set.

Bushmills - $17.99 (16.99 at TJs)
- 10 yo - 32.99
- 16 yo - 32.99
- 21 yo - 96.59
- BB - 24.99 (separate listing on site as just BB at 26.59?)

Connemara - 36.95
- 12 yo - 89.95
- CS -50.59

Greenore Single Grain - 39.99

Jameson - 19.59
- 12 yo - 29.99
- 18 yo - 66.99

Killbegan - 14.59

Knappogue Castle - 29.99
- 1992 - 27.99

Michael Collins Blend - 24.99
- Cask - 37.99

Powers - 15.99

Red Breast 12 yo - 37.59

Tullamore Dew - 15.29
- 12 yo - 32.95
- jug - 33.99

Tyrconnell - 24.99

[TheTross]

I can quite obviously get hold of loads of Irish expressions, as can anyone in the UK, so it's where we draw the line with regards to how many we try. 5-6 samples seems to me to be a decent number, and I do think we should look at all areas - blends, grains, single malts - for the widest perspective. After all, I want to use this as an opportunity to learn about Irish whiskey, not just to get drunk*

For the record, I've tried:

Clontarf
Classic Blend
Reserve Blend
Single Malt

Connemara
Cask Strength
Peated
12yo

Jameson
NAS

So I have a long way to go! I'm not against trying any of these again though.

Ideally we could do with deciding on several expressions per category, preferably widely available on both sides of the pond, then put those in a poll to be whittled down to the ones we'll use for the tasting. Decisions on who buys what bottle can come after that.

But first things first: now we have a date and theme, we really need a list to see who's provisionally taking part in this before we do anything else, just to get a rough idea of numbers.


*I don't, of course, mean that bit.

[Willie JJ]

Right you are Stuart. We need two lists; one for either side of the Atlantic. Once that is established then it is clearer how many samples we are likely to be dealing with.

Provisionally:

North America:
Ryguy
Ganga
Mikeymad?
Wave?

Europe:
The Tross
Willie JJ
Collector57

Cathach I'm not sure if you're just helping us out, or if you're also going to play so I haven't put you in the list, but it would be great if you joined.

We need to pin down the players fairly soon to manage samples, so if anyone else is up for it then update the list with your name in it in a new post.

Wrt to bottles, Cadenheads have some single cask Cooley if I remember correctly. It might be fun to have something like that in the mix, or perhaps we should focus on more widely available bottles.

Cheers

[Ganga]

I'm going to move this into a new thread for the more specific discussion of what we would like to try. Tross, good point about getting at least some good similarities between Euro, NA.

[Ryguy]

It may also be time to start thinking about a special event for the late January-March time frame.

I agree Ganga, I think it is time to at least start discussing the next "Other Live Tasting", not to be confused with the Regular "Monthly Live Tastings". I figured I'd move the discussion over here to make it easier.

With some time we were all able to really make things happen with the Port Ellen tasting, and I think it worked out really well. Looking forward to the Irish too, this stuff is all new to me.

A couple past suggestions have been Bourbon or Japanese whiskies. What do you all think?

[Ganga]

Bourbon, Japanese or blended scotch whiskies work fine for me.

If Bourbon is the desired choice, I would suggest that Ryan, Mikey, Tim and myself organize the whiskies. We've got access to some very good bourbons.

I think this is the appropriate thread for discussion of what the tasting should be. When the main selection is main a new thread can be opened to discuss the detials-whisk(e)y and time.

[Ryguy]

I would be happy to do Bourbon next if the rest of the group is ok with it. I have a large selection available here to me, and I'd have no problem buying 2-3 bottles (more if needed) and sending samples out.

That applies to members within the US and also to our friends in the UK. As far as the UK goes, it would make more sense to send a package or two out, and have a couple people over there disperse them to the rest of the group.

[Ganga]

Everyone happy with Bourbons for 1st quarter 2009? Here's a generic list of Bourbons take from Hi-Time:

Ancient Age
Baker's
Basil Haydens
Black Maple Hill
Blanton's
Booker Noe's
Buffalow Trace
Bulleit
Corner Creek
Eagle Rare
Elijah Craig
Elmer T Lee
Evan Williams
Fighting Cock
Four Roses
G&W Private Stock
GT Stagg (not listed)
Hancock
Henry McKenna
Hirsch
Hudson
Jefferson
Jim Beam
Kentucky
Knob Creek
Maker's Mark
Michters
Noah's Mill
Old Crow
Old Fitzgerald
Old Forester
Old Grand Dad
Old Pogue
Old Wellers
Old Whiskey River
Old Williamsburg
Pure Kentucky
Rebel Yell
Ridgemont
Rock Hill Famrs
Rowans Creek
Russells Reserve
Sam Houston
Van Winkle
Wathers
Willett
WL Wellser
Woodford Reserve
Yellowstone

This presumes listed correctly and may not be all inclusive. Also please note that several of these have more than one Bourbon.

If this is the next tasting, a new thread is in order and discussion of these should take place. Then are US folk can start looking for what is not reasonable in the UK.

[Willie JJ]

Oh goody another tasting.

I'm up for a bourbon tasting, although it will take time to gather samples. Who knew there are so many bourbons. I've never heard of quite a few of these, for example, Rock Hill Famrs and WL Wellser

Anybody else on this side of the pond up for bourbon?

[Ganga]

My bad, typo. Wellers. Not sure if Old Weller and Wellers are from the same family or not. Yes, Willie I was quite surprised too. And these excluded many of the American whiskies NOT listed as Bourbon.

If we agree to Bourbon, I can run a check past S'tan for suggestions.

[Deactivated Member]

Somehow I missed this discussion.

Live tastings are great but don't fill the diary with them. Remember that I am also planning a few as we go along.

My next one will be late November / early December and will be called something like "Christmas Drams".
In fact, I'm putting up a poll for this to suggest dates & drams.

MT

[Ganga]

MT, please note the proposed time frame of late January to March. Shouldn't interfere with anything you do in November-December.

[Ryguy]

Oh goody another tasting.

I'm up for a bourbon tasting, although it will take time to gather samples. Who knew there are so many bourbons. I've never heard of quite a few of these, for example, Rock Hill Famrs and WL Wellser

Anybody else on this side of the pond up for bourbon?

Anyone up for Bourbon? Other suggestions are very much welcome, if you have any ideas, please suggest them here.

[Ryguy]

There are some very good bourbons to be had over here Nick. And all very reasonably priced, at least compared to a single malt that is.

I've only recently had a chance to try more bourbons and they've all been good to very good IMO. I think a tasting like this would be quite interesting, plus I think it would help give more of an understanding when it comes to bourbon cask influence on single malt whisky.

Any other takers??

[Ganga]

Now, you've got me thinking Ryan. Maybe a selection of 4 or 5 Bourbons ranging from top to bottom and a Bourbon casked single malt as a way to look at the influence. Hm, Jim Beam might be an excellent choice if I can only remember who gets those casks.

[jmrl]

P'm very happy to try more Bourbon. Can we through the net wider and try some other non-Bourbon US whiskeys? Or should that be another tasting? Bernheim Original is great not to mention Stranahans. Bring it on. Japanese and Scotch blends a great idea too.

[Ganga]

My thoughts are that Bourbon is such a large entity unto itself that it should be done separately.

I have no problem doing a second one that covers rye whiskies separately and even a third to cover the other American whiskies.

[Ryguy]

I agree, there are alot of Bourbons out there, probably more than people woudl expect. American whiskies and Rye can come at a later date, or perhaps we could even combine those two.

Let's do bourbon first.

[Willie JJ]

Oh goody another tasting.

I'm up for a bourbon tasting, although it will take time to gather samples. Who knew there are so many bourbons. I've never heard of quite a few of these, for example, Rock Hill Famrs and WL Wellser

Anybody else on this side of the pond up for bourbon?

Anyone up for Bourbon? Other suggestions are very much welcome, if you have any ideas, please suggest them here.

I've never found a bourbon I liked, until a couple of GTS samples arrived recently.
Wow!

So, are there others as good? Maybe now is the chance to find out?

I'll send you some of the Blanton's Gold I have. It's definitely worth it.

[Ras Mazunga]

When?

Have a few ready.
open: EC12, WT12, Bakers 7
and a few still closed.

[Ganga]

Bourbon discussion moved here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=9851

[Ryguy]

I would just like to clarify a few things, especially to the newcomers on the Forum. The "Other Live Tastings", along with the "Monthly Live Tastings" are not held just for a few select people, they are put on for everyone in the Forum to enjoy and learn more about new whiskies, and most importantly to have fun. In fact the more people that particpate the merrier. It's a great way to get a large range of tasting notes from many different people, as well as being able to branch out beyond ones comfort zone and try some new things.

Ganga, Myself, WillieJJ & The Tross are just a few members of the Forum who have merely given their time to help see things through and to keep things going with the Other Tastings and also Monthly Tastings that are held here. Extra thanks to Ganga for keeping the Monthly Tastings polls going monthly.

I'd like to thank Whisky Magazine for allowing us to use the Forum for this reason, and I'd also like to thank everyone who has participated in the past with us, and I look forward to seeing some new faces around for future tastings.

Cheers!

[Spirit of Islay]

Nice shout Ryan !
Just like to add that most of these guys swap samples for nothing , usually everyone pays the postage to each other (does that make sense ?) , no charges for whisky . Your not forced to do this , if you've got the bottles that are of that months malt you can just use them . Most of these guys like to trade samples anyway !
It's good to see new people on these tastings , nice to see new impressions of expressions .
Like Ryan says the more the merrier !

[Ganga]

Anyone up for a blended whisky tasting in April or May? I've started collecting some blends to do a tasting anyway.

[Ryguy]

I would be interested in this, it's just another reason for me to try more whisky.

[I_SPEY]

I would just like to clarify a few things, especially to the newcomers on the Forum. The "Other Live Tastings", along with the "Monthly Live Tastings" are not held just for a few select people, they are put on for everyone in the Forum to enjoy and learn more about new whiskies, and most importantly to have fun. In fact the more people that particpate the merrier. It's a great way to get a large range of tasting notes from many different people, as well as being able to branch out beyond ones comfort zone and try some new things.

Ganga, Myself, WillieJJ & The Tross are just a few members of the Forum who have merely given their time to help see things through and to keep things going with the Other Tastings and also Monthly Tastings that are held here. Extra thanks to Ganga for keeping the Monthly Tastings polls going monthly.


I'd like to thank Whisky Magazine for allowing us to use the Forum for this reason, and I'd also like to thank everyone who has participated in the past with us, and I look forward to seeing some new faces around for future tastings.

Cheers!

You're a nice guy, Ry