I won't go into a tonne of detail, but SMWS basically has a committee of a few folks who really love whisky and select single casks from a very wide variety of distilleries to bottle unfiltered, with no colouring added, and at cask strength. There's a catch - only members can buy their independent bottlings. Their bottlings are identified with basically anonymous labels (i.e. you won't know where the whisky came from unless you dig deeper) but they do tell you a lot about each whisky's character with both the title and their committee tasting notes. I must say, after having been subjected to a fair bit of marketing nonsense the past few years, their titles and tasting notes are shockingly helpful/accurate (probably because they do the smart thing and rely on a committee rather than on a single palate). They also have locations throughout the world and hold tastings and such.
I attended their September Outturn tasting here in Calgary and it was my first time trying SMWS whisky or attending one of their events. It was refreshing because the folks who put it on, Kelly and Rob Carpenter, went to the effort of eliminating the ages, regions, prices, etc. from each tasting note so it truly was a basically blind tasting... just what do you taste, what excites you, etc. about each dram. Great for conversation in the group and this really plays to what I've said many times in the past - never buy based on age or price. This is for people with a Passion for Scotch! As you might guess, it also made for a relaxed tasting with no snob factor which is always nice. Check out the selection of drams we tasted in the screen shot below.
 |
| click picture to enlarge |
You can access the tasting notes through the SMWS and I will tell you that they do give a really solid idea of the profile of each whisky. You need to pay attention to the little nuances stated too because I noticed for one of the drams that it had a note to it (that was described in the tasting notes) that was off-putting to me... honestly, its the first dram in a while that I can say I didn't like. Others in the room actually liked the same one quite a bit so don't get the idea that I am saying anything negative about SMWS, it just was a flavour profile that was good and got to a note that I didn't appreciate.
The other drams I found were all excellent and very tasty and very unique - in a few cases totally different from anything I'd ever tasted and the kind of thing that made me want to be a member a immediately. Honestly, for a while I felt as if I was in an old fashioned soda and ice cream shop as I noted various flavours like cream soda, coke, cherry coke, ice cream, etc. If they pump out that kind of individuality every month, it could be a very tasty, exciting, and a bit expensive proposition. But as Bud Fox's old man in Wall Street said, "Money's only something you need in case you don't die tomorrow." The variety of unique flavours is staggering and the fact that these are single casks really brings some notes to the fore-front that might only be a whisper in typically distillery bottlings. I should say, at the end of the night, we did get the regional information as well as the ages, etc. I am happy with my self because my three favourites were the youngest (8 years old), the oldest (30 years), and one in the middle (21 years).
Anyway, I love flavour and this event brought it to me in spades.
No comments:
Post a Comment