Dave's Free Press: Journal
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal
violence, pornography, and rude words for the web generationen-usZ Whisky blending
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/whisky-blending
This evening I went to a tutored whisky blending session run by John Glaser, the founder of <a href=http://www.compassboxwhisky.com/>Compass Box</a> (sorry - Flash site). Compass Box produces some interesting blends, and they also <em>really</em> piss the Scotch Whisky Association off. Annoying suits has got to be a good thing! You can get a good idea of the stupidity that was involved here when the SWA said "<a href=http://www.compassboxwhisky.com/html/spicetree_readmore.htm>quality is completely irrelevant</a>".<p>The first half of the evening was devoted to tasting some of their blends. I was very impressed by <a href=http://www.compassboxwhisky.com/html/oakcross_readmore.htm>Oak Cross</a> and <a href=http://www.compassboxwhisky.com/html/peatmonster_readmore.htm>Peat Monster</a>.<p>The second half was us paying punters blending our own whisky. I ended up mixing 30% Rosebank, 50% Aultmore, 5% Caol Ila, and 15% an un-named experimental whisky that the Compass Box people have been playing with. The end result was really quite good if I may say so myself.<p>Obviously we tasted all the drams before blending them, and I have to say that normally I wouldn't particularly like that particular cask of Rosebank (although I've had some lovely Rosebank in the past, this cask didn't do anything special on its own), nor would I normally go for the Aultmore. My first instinct was to mix something quite peaty with lots of Caol Ila with a little of the Rosebank and Aultmore to soften it, and not use any of the <em>very</em> woody Experiment at all, but the particular cask of Caol Ila we were playing with was even more peat-reeky than normal, and would have over-powered everything else and produced a rather one-dimensional drink. So I decided instead to use the lighter whiskies to make something more delicate, and give it more body with the Experiment. I couldn't resist adding just a wee drop of Caol Ila though. Got to have some GRRR in a whisky! 2007-05-21T22:56:54Z