A Good Time Was Had By All: Scotland’s Classic Malts
Master of Whisky Robert Sickler ventured from Ohio’s capitol city to our EQ cooking school for a spectacular Scotch tasting last Friday, May 16. Possibly there is no group of EQ students more devoted to their favorite product than our Scotch crowd, and they came out in force tonight for 8, count ‘em eight delicious and definitely classic single malts.
Robert Sickler is a whisky ambassador for Diageo, the large liquor group with such holdings as Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal and George Dickel. Tonight was strictly a single malt event, featuring eight whiskies that marched us right around the compact Scottish nation from Lowland to Highlands and everywhere in between. We sipped on:
1) Glenkinchie Distillers Edition
2) Cragganmore Distillers Edition
3) Dalwhinnie 15 year
4) Clynelish 14 year
5) Oban 14 year
6) Caol Isla 12 year
7) Talisker 18 year
Lagavulin 16 year
The Distiller’s Edition whiskies feature extended wood finishing, such as Glenkinchie, which sees extra aging in Amontillado sherry wood. Several of these whiskies, such as Lagavulin and Dalwhinnie, have been available in America since Diageo launched the Classic Malts range in 1993. Others are relatively recent arrivals, including Clynelish from the Northern Highlands, and Talisker 18, much older than the usual Talisker 10.
Our next Scotch tasting comes up Saturday, July 12 when I will lead our faithful students in “McGilligan’s: The Whisky Islands of Scotland.” We’ll taste all the island distilleries (except those from Islay, which we’ll get back to in the future). Slainte!
Tags: scotch, Scotland, single malts, spirits, whisky