Ardbeg 1975

[Deactivated Member]

I know that many of you have experimented, perhaps on numerous occasions, with the combining of food and whisky. I have been able to host a couple Whisky Dinners and therefore have also had the opportunity to experiment with food and whisky.

My overall conclusion is that it doesn't work. Nor do I believe it will ever work.

Whisky is too strong to accompany food. Your taste buds are frazzled as the alcohol and flavour attacks your tongue to a point that the food is near tasteless.

After a night of say five courses and five whiskies your whole mouth feels like it has climbed the Mount Everest of flavour tests.

Will it always be the case that you can only have one whisky with the dinner?

But that is just my opinion of course.

What say you?

David Stirk

[This message has been edited by David Stirk (edited 17 January 2001).]

[lexkraai]

Hi David

Allow me to completely disagree with you! Personally, I feel whisky and food can combine beautifully (whether you use the whisky for preparing the food or as a dram to accompany it).

But obviously you shouldn't overdo it and be very careful as to the pairing and quantities. I certainly wouldn't have five different whiskies to accompany a five-course dinner, but two drams maybe, one to go with the main course and a very different one to go with dessert. Really use the taste of the whisky to be synergistic with the taste of the food and you don't need large swigs for that at all.

Two very different opinions; anyone else feeling strongly about this?

Slainte, Lex

[georgebarkman]

David, I agree with Lex. A little whisky, properly sellected, with food is just fine. If it is over done however you wind up spoiling both.

George

[Nano]

David,

I have often enjoyed the following:

Oban & raw oysters
Old Pulteney & Alaskan King Crab
Laphroaig & Kippers
Balvenie Port Wood & Bananna Flan
Macallan & Vanilla Bean ice cream

You see, I have never gotten whisky to work very well with main dishes, it is very overpowering, but with appetizers and/or desserts, it is quite the contrary.

Slainte!

Michael Wade

[Deactivated Member]

Hi David,

Just to remind you: you shouldn't drink whisky with food but you have too cook with it....hahahahahaha sorry just kidding.
I agree that some whisky's are not suiteble to drink wile eating your dinner, howevere there are some combinations wich are possible
But if you like chocolate, than you might be able to use a lot of whiskies by the chocolate.

[Tim]

David:

I tend to agree with you, however I have found that enjoying a good Scotch prior to dinner to be most rewarding typically I'll start with Scotch before dinner, have some wine with dinner and end the evening with another Scotch and an excellent cigar.. now that is a great paring Scotch and Cigars! (don't do it everynight though, I had to cut it down to only days that end in y) :> )

[Deactivated Member]

POSTED ON BEHALF OF CHRIS BROUSSEAU

I know it is quite a la mode lately to promote cooking with whisky and matching food to whisky much like wine, but I still find whisky too overwhelming when taken with or in food. Lets face it, whisky and other spirits do not go well with food. Besides, you do not see too many cookbooks on the market entitled, "1000 best gin and curry recipes" or a food lovers guide to vodka cuisine.

The only whisky I have found that goes well with food is a Bowmore flamed over Christmas pudding. Besides,I do not want to wash down my melba toast with a gulp of a GLen thingY at $5.00 a snort. I use my homemade wine for
that.

An Quaich Chapter meetings (Canada) revolve around whisky and dinner. Now when I first heard this I was skeptical. Although I enjoy wine or beer with food, whisky, I thought - never.

After contacting a few friends, we felt we would give it a try and started our own Chapter. Our evenings begin with introductions, announcements and a bit of whisky trivia. One of the members then introduces the first whisky - the apéritif. A brief history of the whisky is presented followed by proper nosing and tasting of the whisky. The appetizer is then served. Between the appetizer and the main course, the second whisky is introduced in a similar fashion. The third whisky is introduced and enjoyed at the end of the meal as the digestive. So in fact, the whiskies are taken between course and not with the food and it all works remarkably well.


Chris Brousseau
Canada

[jj42]

I was this past summer introduced to a very good salad, Skopska Salada (don't harrass me on the spelling, it's Bulgarian and I am Danish) where the 'trick' is to roast the red bell peppers and skin them before cutting them and mixing with tomato, cucumber, onion, olives, feta cheese and pour over a little oil and vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

This was served with Rakia, an Eau-de-Vie from Bulgaria, much like Slivovitch from Yugoslavia, based on plums or apricots.

It works very well indeed, as do the Danish way of marinated herring where you have snaps and beer to wash it down.

You may point out that Rakia and Snaps may be far from Whisky in taste and complexity, but, even if I haven't tried, I think whisky and food may be a good combination.

Of course we know about a splash of whisky in a sauce or for flaming, but actually a lot of liquors will go well in cooking, I have tried also gin, pastis, cognac, and rum.

For serving whisky to drink with the food, well, I think this may be an interesting experiment, I have only tried good chocolate and whisky together, so far.

I think my first try will be with a salad of some kind, or another starter.

*goes off to think about this in the kitchen*

[exil]

I sort of agree with David and Tim.

While I have had very little experience in drinking whisky with food, I must say I would never drink whisk(e)y with a heavy meal. I enjoy a good dram as an appetizer, almost to the point of preferring it to port, but I think something "lighter" would go down more easily with a meal.

I'd also fear that some of the finer flavours of a good SMS might be lost to spicy food - not something one would want to have. A cheaper wine on the other hand will do just fine on most occasions.

And afterwards, another dram and perhaps a Montecristo or a H. Upmann...

Just my 2 cents worth,
J.

[jobarez]

I'd just got one bottle of adbeg 1975 for £69. I dont now if i should drink it ore save it!
(you cant find it in sweden where i live)

/Jobarez

[BruceCrichton]

Would you pay £69 for an ornament?

If not, then drink up!

[howarths]

Well, there's two ways of looking at this:

1. Maybe it will be worth a tidy sum of money in a few years.
2. Maybe it's a fine whisky that you'll enjoy!

The choice is yours. For what it's worth I have a number of single cask bottlings (mainly Adelphi) which can do nothing but go up in value. However I own them to drink not to collect. I have no problem with those that want to collect for enjoyment or as an "investment", but I believe whisky is for drinking and enjoying, preferably with like minded friends, hence all but one of mine are open!

Happy drinking/collecting.

[jobarez]

Hmm...

I think that I´ll save it some time. It´s in fact a single cask from Douglas Laing. But if I get merried I´ll gonna drink it.

Thanks.