A Speyside Sojourn, Part 1

It's less than a week away - my annual trip to Scotland - with 10 friends in addition to Dr Whisky, the Whisky Sidekick and the Wee Dram. Writing the "get prepared for an amazing weekend" email got me thinking about all the things I love about that area. 

First things first, no trip to Speyside is complete without one (and preferably a few) distillery visits. Here are Ms Whisky's picks for tours and grounds:

Best Tour: Aberlour gets this award, hands-down, for how engaging their tour is and value-for-money. Their tour guides are jolly (yes, I mean that - picture them doing a little jig during their coffee breaks) and well-informed, and for £12 you taste 6 whiskies. And I think the Aberlour whiskies are lovely. I dare you to find a better value tour. After a morning tour, you can wander into the town to have lunch at the Mash Tun or pick up a few provisions at the Spey Larder for a picnic along the riverside. 

Obsession with Casks: If you want to learn about the importance of casks, then look no further than The Macallan tour. This is a beautiful distillery, and the grounds outside of the visitors centre are perfect for sitting outside with an extra dram and some nibbles. 

Stay all Day: Visit the Glen Grant distillery, on the north end of Rothes village, for the Victorian Gardens which have beautiful flower beds and an expansive green lawn. You can take a quiet walk along a stream and enjoy a picnic after your guided distillery tour. 

Family-Friendly: As one of the last family-owned distilleries, it is nice to see that the Glenfiddich visitors experience is child-friendly. Glenfiddich is a welcome stop for any family visiting the area. Their tours are informative - after all, Glenfiddich is largely responsible for whisky's global popularity - and the grounds and buildings are spacious. The Malt Barn Restaurant serves tasty bistro-style food with locally sourced ingredients. While you're there, you can visit the ruins of Balvenie Castle which stand tall behind the distillery. 

I love visiting Speyside and I always look forward to more special discoveries and meeting lovely people along the way. What are your favorite Speyside distilleries to visit?

A Pressie for the Wee Dram

Ms Whisky has been a bit mum the past few months, and that's because.......Ms Whisky IS now a Mum! 

Now that the "Wee Dram" has joined the family, we need to add a few celebratory bottles to our collection. I'm on the hunt for two bottlings to buy now: a great 18 yo and a superb 21 yo. Why two? The little guy straddles the UK and the US, so we fully plan to celebrate both milestones with gusto. 

What do you recommend? 

Call me Old Fashioned

What is Ms Whisky up to this weekend? Friday's (much belated!) birthday dinner for Mr Whisky at La Bodega Negra was followed by a night cap (actually, a few) at Kettners Champagne bar. 


Who knew that one of Whisky Sidekick's fave spots for champers also serves a killer Old Fashioned! This sweetheart was made the right way: cube of sugar slowly dissolved in bitters, dash of maraschino cherry juice, 10 min later and two generous shots of Makers Mark were topped off by a twist of fresh orange peel.  

The Old Fashioned is not a drink to order if you are in a rush - it takes time and patience to make and to enjoy. The first alleged use of the specific name "Old Fashioned" was for a Bourbon whiskey cocktail in the 1880s, at the Pendennis Club, a gentlemen’s club in Louisville, Kentucky and more recently, fans of Mad Men have been lining up at bars requesting Don Draper's cocktail of choice. 


Feelin' swanky and want make your own? The Old Fashioned is typically made with bourbon or rye whiskey. Good brands to try include Makers Mark, Woodford Reserve, Four Roses (though this one is sooo good why put it in a cocktail???), or Buffalo Trace who supplies Islay's Kilchoman distillery with their casks. 


How to make the perfect Old Fashioned
1 sugar cube
3 dashes Angostura bitters
splash of water
1 maraschino cherry
splash of maraschino cherry juice (optional)
ice cubes
2 ounces bourbon or rye whiskey
orange peel

Place the sugar cube (or 1/2 teaspoon loose sugar) in an Old-Fashioned glass. Wet it down with 2 or 3 dashes of Angostura bitters and a short splash of water. Crush the sugar with a wooden muddler, chopstick, strong spoon, lipstick, whatever. Rotate the glass so that the sugar grains and bitters give it a lining. Wait........keep waiting......


Once the sugar is completely dissolved, add 1 maraschino cherry and a large ice cube. If you like your drink on the sweet side, as a splash of maraschino cherry juice, too. Add half of the bourbon or rye whiskey and stir for about ten seconds. Add more ice and the remaining bourbon and stir again for 10-15 seconds.


Take the orange peel and squeeze it with your fingers over the glass. Rub the peel around the top of the glass, then garnish.


Where else to find a good Old Fashioned? 
One of my favourite cocktail bars in London is Fifty Five Bar & Lounge in Camden. All of their cocktails are made to spec and the music playlist is fun and upbeat. You won't find any lounge lover tunes here or drink-making short cuts. Even with a bar queue10 deep, they'll patiently stir the sugar cube for the full 5 minutes required.  2-for-1 happy hour Monday-Saturday from 4-8pm. Don't fancy a crowd? Wait until the college/happy hour fans leave at 8.


Details
La Bodega Negra: 16 Moor Street  London W1D 5NH 
020 7758 4100
Kettners Restaurant and Champagne Bar: 29 Romilly St. Soho, London W1D 5HP
020 7734 6112
Fifty-Five: 31 Jamestown Road  London NW1 7DB 
020 7424 9054

The Angel's Share

When you visit distilleries, much is made of "the angel's share" - the philanthropic gift of spirit given up to other, less worldly spirits during the whisky's long maturation. The aging process results in evaporation, so each year sleeping in the cask causes 1.5-2% loss of volume as well as a reduction in alcohol. 


Filmed entirely in Scotland and featuring a whisky-related caper, Ken Loach's latest Cannes Jury-prize winning film, The Angel's Share, not only surprises audiences with its comedy, but is also winning praise for its authenticity and characterisation. Highland whisky fans will be delighted to know that the distillery scenes were shot on-location in the Highlands at Balblair distillery. 


I recently visited Balblair with Whisky Sidekick and another whisky gal, and we fell in love with the site - and the spirit as well! The tour guide was on holiday that week, so we were treated to a tour and tasting with Distillery Manager, John MacDonald, a native Highlander who has decades of experience in the industry. 

It was clear from the very beginning of our tour that John is a stickler for detail - he even tests the grist himself several times a day! He also personally selects all casks for bottling, and one of his recent projects is offering visitors the opportunity to hand-fill their own cask-strength bottle of Balblair. 

I HAD to fill a bottle for Mr Whisky's upcoming birthday, especially because he missed our Highlands trip due to a last-minute business trip. We're impressed by the 1992 vintage (and frankly - ALL of the vintages we tried), and I'm looking forward to cracking this one open sooner rather than later!

Balblair is several miles outside of Tain along the southern cost of Dornoch Firth. While in the area, Dunrobin Castle is also worth a visit - especially for their impressive Falconry. There are daily birds of prey demonstrations and visitors can hold, feed, and fly their impressive birds. The Castle Tea Room serves a tasty baked potato with locally smoked salmon and creme fraiche. If you're driving back to Tain from Dunrobin, leave the A9 road for the scenic drive along the coast near Dornoch for a great view of the local seals in Loch Fleet. 


The Angel's Share is playing from 1 June. 


Well, Mr Whisky, sorry you missed the trip, but hope you have a Happy Birthday!

A big brew ha ha

It seems unthinkable that Ms Whisky would visit a brewery, but as the saying goes, When in Rome..... 


Not only is San Diego home to amazing weather, a multitude of great microbreweries also call America's Finest City 'home'. In the last few years, San Diego's microbrewery community has just exploded, and recently Ms Whisky met some friends at the tasting room of Green Flash Brewing Company to see what all the fuss is about. 


Beer and whisky-making have quite a lot in common - at least in the first part, and every whisky distillery tour guide will tell you that the wort tastes just like warm beer. And while beer may not mature for decades, many of the craft beers produced in San Diego do spend several months maturing and settling so that customers get a perfectly fresh product. 

The tasting room at Green Flash is a great deal - only $1 per tasting glass! Open your tab, stand at the bar and chat with the staff or step outside on the patio to enjoy the California sunshine. 


Many of the breweries give proper guided tours on the weekend, and for our weekday visit, one of the Green Flash staff kindly took us on a short walkabout to see how it is all done. 

Filtering removes yeast, tannins and impurities that contribute to off flavours and haze.

Some of the styles are matured in barrels. About every 2 years Green Flash does a special release stout that is matured in ex-bourbon barrels. 

Once the beer is done, it is stored for weeks or even months to allow the brew to settle and reach optimum taste.

The strong, Double India Pale Ale style of beer is thought to have originated in San Diego in the '90s. These IPA's pack a hoppy punch and typically have an alcohol content above 7.5% by volume. My two favorites beers from the Green Flash tasting were the "low" alcohol (4.5%) Saison Diego, which is brewed with spices and has hints of citrus and ginger and at the other end of the spectrum the rich, smooth, chocolaty Double Stout Black Ale.


Other local favorite breweries include Stone, Alesmith, Lost Abbey, and of course Karl Strauss - the one who started it all back in 1989. 


If you fancy a visit, you can join an organised brewery tour (the better to enjoy safely!) or create your own customised tour. Several companies offer tours and transportation, including Brewery Tours of San Diego and Brew Hop. The San Diego Brewer's Guild has a downloadable map and guide for more independent minded visitors. 

World Whisky Day

Wondering how you'll celebrate the very first World Whisky Day on Tuesday 27 March? No need to panic if you've left it to the last minute. The organisers have helpfully posted all events to a searchable map. 


There are several locations in London, including a ticketed tasting at Milroy's of Soho. Tsuru Bishopsgate is holding a Japanese whisky tasting with dishes from their kitchen, and you can book here. 


Alas, I have a business meeting in the evening, so I'll try to stop in to Milroy's for a quick afternoon dram. 


How will you celebrate?

Hail Cesar!

I absolutely love meeting people who are passionate about what they do. You know it immediately - their eyes light up and their speech becomes even more animated. 


Last night the Whisky Sidekick and I were invited to a Whisky Master class at the Capital Hotel London where we were under the tutelage of Bar Manager, Cesar Da Silva. Cesar tells us he spends on average 1 1/2 hours each day researching whisky and testing new concepts - all this in addition to being responsible for the bar operations of the entire hotel! It is no surprise, then, that he has the accolade of being the youngest ever UK Keeper of the Quaich. One of the key requirements of entry into this Society is to have made a significant contribution to the Scotch whisky industry, so WS and I were looking forward to what he had in store for us.

Before even meeting Cesar, I knew we were in for a treat by the looks of the eclectic selection of whiskies and spirits on the shelves. We learned later that he makes a point of scouring the market for interesting and good value whiskies. 

Perched at the bar where we could watch the smooth operations of the bartenders and servers, the Whisky Sidekick and I were presented with an intriguing lineup of three whiskies with cheeses selected to enhance the tasting experience.  

I was happy to see that my new go-to dram discovery , Glen Garioch 12YO, was the first one we would try. Next we would try a Kilchoman 2011 release followed by Talisker 18. 

Glen Garioch 12YO with Beaufort cheese
Region: Highlands     Pronunciation: geery  

Matured for 8 years in ex-bourbon fill casks and then a further 4 years in ex-sherry casks, this is a well-rounded, full-bodied whisky. Cesar believes this whisky will mature well into the 20's and 30's. 
Color: warm caramel
Taste: creme brulee, poached pear, vanilla, toffee
Finish: with a bite of Beaufort , I feel the milkiness of the cheese and the smoothness of the whisky. A great start.

Kilchoman 2011 Release with Bleu D'Auvergne cheese
Region: Islay     Pronunciation: kilhoman

Built in 2005, Kilchoman is the first distillery to be established on Islay in over 124 years, and even the young'uns are generating a lot of interest. This release was matured in ex-bourbon fill casks and then in ex-sherry casks for 3 months before bottling. 
Nose: smoke, lots of smoke and a hint of grain
Taste: POW!! The smoke and grass explode! 
Finish: There is a seriously rocking party going on inside my mouth. Alongside a bite of bleu d'avergne cheese and a grape, the explosion is tempered and we enjoyed the moistness of the cheese with a pop of citrus. There is little to no saltiness to this one.

Talisker 18 with Livarot cheese
Region: Highlands - Islands (Isle of Skye)    

I don't think of Talisker as being peaty, so I was surprised to learn from Cesar that it uses far more peat than typical Islay whiskies, and the difference is heating the barley for almost half the time.
Nose: earthy, toffee
Taste: smooth whiff of smoke, with some toffee
Finish: The Livarot cheese comes from Normandy and is an incredibly strong cheese. I didn't care for it on its own, but the earthiness of the Talisker-Livarot combination was perfect. Together, the flavours were rich, deep and round. Not a hint of peat....


Happy and satisfied, the Whisky Sidekick and I kicked back with the remainder of the Talisker 18 to make plans for the weekend. Little did we know that Cesar had a surprise in store for us! 


We were presented with a frozen bottle of The Balvenie Signature Aged 12 Years, which was poured into cute little frozen cocktail glasses. I've often recommended that new whisky drinkers start their home bar with a bottle of The Balvenie Doublewood, so I was really curious to see what freezing did to one of my favorite drinks. Ms Whisky is on record opposing ice with scotch, and all of my whisky education was telling me you shouldn't drink it cold. But, Cesar had a grin on his face for his pièce de résistance.  

Next the server brought out a plate with a small chocolate cake. Cesar had heard me mention my whisky & marmalade adventure, so he had the chef add little drops of orange marmalade - brilliant! 


The cake was hiding warm lava-chocolate that, when combined with the cold Balvenie and the sparkle of orange, left both of us speechless. When we recovered our senses, all we could say was Wow - this experiment worked! An amazing sensory experience.






Ready to try this for yourself? The Capital Hotel is on Basil Street in London's Knightsbridge area with Harrods and Harvey Nichols just steps away. Put yourself in Cesar's expert hands for a perfect retreat after a busy day of shopping.