In Singapore, the weekends are never long enough for us. Just as we’re beginning to have some fun, Monday hits us like a bad hangover.
For this weekend, that’s doubly true for me. Two days of utter bliss, followed by probably the worst Monday ever.
Day 1 of the best weekend ever was the annual Whisky Live, held at the incomparable Raffles Hotel. My friend Sheryl and I were quite taken with the old world charm, mixed with the essentials of modernity. A fitting metaphor for a whisky event, indeed!
We picked up our goodie bags at the registration counter. The organisers were almost ruinous in their generosity and we found a wealth of vouchers, a guide to the whiskies and even a specially made Glencairn glass to be used for our tasting pleasure.
Sheryl and I had signed up for a masterclass conducted by Johnnie Walker global ambassador Tom Jones(no, not that Tom Jones), and not along after arriving, we were led to a cosy room upstairs for Tom to regale us with the story of John Walker and the rise of his (pleasantly) evil global empire. I actually didn’t know there was a set angle to the Johnnie Walker labels (28 degrees) ; nor did I know that the square bottles were used so that they could stuff more bottles into a ship (to build that evil empire).
All this was well lubricated with a generous tasting portion of Blue Label, said to be “the pinnacle of blending”. I do like the smoothness and the characteristic muted smokiness of the Johnnie Walker blends that really came through in the blue label. I thought I caught a bit of honey and citrus fruit as well. All in all a respectable drink.
As with every whisky live event, there’s a whole room full of exhibitors more than happy to share a little bit about their wares and give generous tasting samples.
With such a dizzying array of choices, we couldn’t figure out where to even start. Fortunately, Glenfiddich came to the rescue with its interesting take on whisky food pairings.
Themed around five tastes: sweet orange marshmallows, sour lemon gumming, salty caramel, bitter chocolate and the half sweet, half salty fermented soya taste of unami, this mini exhibit invited us to eat parts of it while sipping our choice of Glenfiddich whisky.
I myself had a Solera Reserve 15 Year Old while Sheryl got a 18 Year. The 15 was full of honey and toffee sweetness with a bit of spice. Delectable, especially when paired with the salted caramel and umami flavours in the exhibit. I did feel that the orange marshmallow and lemon gummies were out-of-place. The tastes and textures were not quite right for me; too spongy and tart. Perhaps bitter orange chocolate and lemon cream instead next time?
We did get the chance to try quite a number of other fine whiskies, some from surprising places.
Confession: I didn’t think that up and coming Taiwanese brand Kavalan’s single malts were particularly good. The nose was always superb, but the taste was rather bland and the drink on the whole lacked body. But I was surprised to sample a great dram of the Kavalan Solist ex-bourbon cask. With a great nose of sherry and vanilla, it had a great taste of vanilla, apples and pears, and a nice citrus and vanilla finish. Quite a surprise, considering the relative youth of Taiwanese whisky. We’re excited to try more from this up-and-coming distillery.
We also tried something a bit off the beaten path. An American brand was there to promote their latest whiskies. The whiskey was produced in New York, which I admit I had not known even had a distillery.
Sadly, I thought that most of those whiskeys were a tad overpowering and lacking in subtlety, despite (or perhaps because of) the huge bold rye flavours. I did think that the Hudson Manhattan Rye was worth a second try. While a little strong and in-your-face for me, it has a nice spicy, vanilla flavour.
At a whisky tasting event, the idea is to broaden the experience a little, and experiment with some different whiskies. We got a bit of a chance at the Balvenie station, where our helpful guide Sherry (a fortunate name) gave us the 5-minute tour of some of the great Balvenies.
The four great whiskies you see are Balvenie Doublewood 12 Years, Balvenie Doublewood 17 Years, Balvenie Carribean Cask 14 Years and Balvenie Portwood Cask 21 years. A quick sample of all four reminded me of the huge influences that the casks of wood that the whiskies are matured in have on the final character on the whisky. The Doublewoods are made by maturing the malts in oak whisky casks for most of the years of its maturation, then sherry for the last few months, and finally bottled. The nose is honey and vanilla, the taste is honey, toffee and spicy dried fruit, with a nice and slow finish. The 17 year has a bit more character than the 12 year, with the flavours more pronounced, bolder, sweeter and much spicier.
The Carribean Cask malt follows the same processes as the Doublewood, but are actually finished in a Rum cask instead of a sherry one. So, it still inherits the sweet toffee flavours, but adds another layer of sweetness, instead of spiciness, thanks to the rum cask being used. Sheryl loved this one, but I found it a little too sweet for me. I do see myself taking it as a stiff aperitif though!
My favourite of the lot was Portwood 21 years. The casks used to finish the whisky maturation were formerly used to mature fortified port wines, which are very sweet grape wines indeed. Some of the character has rubbed off into the malt. Lots of sweet flavours. Full bodied ,with floral notes not found in the other 3, with strong honey and dried fruit tastes. Yum!
Two other whiskies really stood out. In fact, they stood out so much that I burnt a small hole in my wallet getting them.
Glendronach Allardice 18 years. A great dram, named after one of the founders of the Glendronach distillery. Fully matured in sherry casks, this has a rich, spicy character. Full of raisin tastes and sweet orange chocolate. Looking forward to going in depth with this one in a future post.
Benriach 1988 Generations. Bottled exclusively for Sgwhisky, this one stood out for me as my second favourite whisky of the whole day (right behind the Balvenie 21Yo Portwood). This one is even more interesting, as the casks used in its maturation are Barolo casks. Great stuff: Barolo is one of my favourite, full-bodied Italian wines. Full, rich nose and flavour of oranges, ginger and honey. Lingers on the tongue,, with slight tastes of walnut and almonds. I look forward to sharing more about it with you guys in a future post!
After a whole day of tasting, our tired tongues longed for a chance to settle down and enjoy a refreshing drink. We headed outside to the fountain areas to try some of the cocktails that were created for this event.
Our bartender served us a nice Monkey 47 cocktail. The taste eludes me now, but I do remember it being a saccharine orange. What was important was that it helped us cool down after a hard day’s work (well, a bit of it was work, at least).
We did have room to try one final drink:
Solerno was a rather interesting one. Not quite like Cointreau, this orange liqueur is sweeter, with less of the bitter notes that one finds in a Cointreau. Was really great with a bit of Prosecco (which is best described as a form of Italian sparkling wine similar to Champagne). Great stuff.
All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves at Whisky Live 2014. With such a wide variety of things to taste and do, we certainly couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday. Swaying ever so slightly to the side as we walked, we left for home in the highest spirits.
Looking forward to Whisky Live 2015 already.
