The Whisky Journeyman

A great time had by all at 's Bourbon & BBQ Brouhaha.

The food at Baba Kevin's was great quality and paired well with the .

Smooth Ambler Spirits , which I want to feature more expressions from because it's quality stuff from my wife's home state, made the Contradiction. It was immediately enjoyable. Sweet without being cloying.

Jimmy Red, which is made from 100% by Highwire Distilling Co., was earthy and sweet. After adding a bit of water it really began to shine.

The old bottling of Elijah Craig from Heaven Hill Distillery has a 12 y.o. age statement on the back, and it acted as a benchmark with which to compare the others. It was nuanced, with a subtle sweetness, cranberry, and noticeably more wood influence than the others.

Each one had it's strong points, but folks were evenly split between the Contradiction or the Jimmy Red as their favorite.

Thanks to everyone who joined us, and thanks to Baba Kevin's Barbecue for giving us the space and a little extra time.

If you're interested in joining the for a meet-up, let me know, and we'll see what we can do. Cheers, y'all!

#台北 #台灣 #台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #波本 #威士忌 #特別

Last week, the very generous Jimmy Chiang , the owner of iCheers 愛酒窩 , invited a few folks to try some of his upcoming offerings and sample some of the last drops of some truly magical amber liquid.

I kept wondering why I was smelling and tasting rye in the Port Dundas 1978, which hadn't been in a bourbon barrel. A quick Google search showed they were using rye in their mashbill.

Every whisky was great, but some were genuinely amazing. If you enjoy whisky, Icheers has a lot to offer!

#台北 #台灣 #威士忌 #單一麥芽

Last week's 🌹Amour pour Ardmore🌹tasting was great!
These are pictures of members enjoying the bottles they took home after our The Ardmore Legacy .

Meet-up featured:
🔹Ardmore Legacy
🔹Ardmore 12 Portwood Finish
🔹Ardmore 20 y.o. (1996)

Ardmore Legacy is a great value everyday dram for me.

The 12 was awkward, but interesting. I wish I could have tried it in a different, more wine-finished focused line-up.

The 20 y.o. was nicely nuanced and easy to approach even at a higher ABV.

Wish Beam Suntory Taiwan would have been able to spare someone for the meet-up, but I helped fill in to the too often ignored distillery and its bottlings.

Thanks to Ann and Leo from WhiskyLand
for giving us the space for our meet-up.

If you're interested in whisky or would like to learn more about it with a friendly group of folks, let me know.

Cheers!

#台灣 #台北 #台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #威士忌 #單一麥芽

Recently bought this Speyburn Single Malt Scotch Whisky on the of my friend and fellow whisky club founder Wade Kaardal in #台中 .

It's the 46%ABV, version.

Orchard fruits, malt, and american oak vanillas on the nose and palate. It still has a subtle new-make note, especially on the palate, though.

Overall, not bad, especially for the price. Great in a whisky and soda , but decent enough neat. Definitely made me interested in what more aged expressions will be like.

#單一麥芽 #單一麥芽威士忌 #威士忌

The fine folks at Cottingham Group Ltd. were kind enough to send samples of their newest single cask bottlings of a 10 y.o. Edradour 艾德多爾 單一麥芽蘇格蘭威士忌 and from Edradour Distillery.

I'll post my in the comments below 📝 👇.

But, at least today, the Ballechin's peaty wood-smoked vanilla and rich short-bread impressed more than the Edradour's baking spices, malt, and sherried sweet-meats.

#台灣 #單一麥芽威士忌 #威士忌 #樣品酒

Recently offered a chance to lend my nose and palate to a friend to help with a .

⏳Sat with these samples for about 3 hours. Unpeated first, then peated, in sets of 3s or 2s. Before and after adding water.

It was good fun, and an interesting experience.

🤞Hopefully my choices, if part of the final cut, do well in the Taiwan market.

#台灣 #威士忌 #單一麥芽威士忌

A friend of mine, Jimmy Chiang, is an importer and of whisky, among other things.

A few days ago, a mutual friend and I took him up on his invite to a private tasting of some of his soon to be released whiskies. The Blair Athol 11y.o. was a personal favorite.

We were enjoying ourselves so much that our gracious host brought out the last drops from whiskies long since sold out.

It was a fantastic tasting, as usual.

Looking forward to taking him up on a bespoke tasting of his whiskies for the , too!

#台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #單一麥芽威士忌

After hours of , the sample sets for the 's Loch Lomond: A Cornucopia of Combinations tasting are ready to send out!

Looking forward to chatting with Gary Mills, global brand ambassador for the Loch Lomond Group,
about Loch Lomond Whiskies , made at one of 's most fascinating distilleries.

Until then, slainté mhath, folks!

#台北 #威士忌 #台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #單一麥芽 #單一麥芽威士忌 #羅夢德湖

I organize a screening of The Water of Life with 好同好威士忌協會 GBUDS Whisky Society on behalf of this past Wednesday.

The film was a lot of fun.

The 4 expressions of Bruichladdich single malts and the were a treat, too.

Thanks to David Pan and the folks from Gbuds and Bruichladdich and 獵酒人 9hunters.com for your help on Wednesday. Also, thank you to William from Patio Burgers & Craft Beer 美式漢堡餐廳 for giving us the whole house, and to all of the guests who joined us for the evening.

If you're ever in Taipei and would like to join us for an event, send me a message, and I'll see what we can do.

Slainté mhath, folks!

#台北 #台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #單一麥芽 #威士忌 #電影

This past Saturday, I organized a event for with a theme of Something with a Story.

Check out the fantastic line-up in the pictures below.

We were lucky enough to have Geoff from Gwhisky join us, as well. Link for his channel below.

Many wonderful drams to try in .

I brought 2 bottles, but the most unique was a long bottle of Salvation single malt whisky from Holy Distillery that I had signed by the owner and master distiller, Alex Chang. Roses was the smell and flavor note everyone agreed upon. Very .

If you want to know the story of Alex's journey, he holds tours and tastings at his distillery in Yingge (鶯歌) just outside of Taipei City. Call or email in advance to set up a tour.

If you are interested in joining us for a meet-up, let me know and we'll see what we can do. Until next time, slainté mhath, folks!

#台北 #台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #威士忌 #單一麥芽威士忌

The folk at Cottingham Group and I worked together to bring the Benromach Whisky range to the for a fantastic night for us all.

Line-up included:
🔸 Benromach 10
🔸 Benromach 15
🔸 Benromach 12 Cask Strength ( )
🔸 Benromach Vintage Batch 1/ 2010 (also cask strength)

Clear majority favorites were the 15 and Vintage Batch 1.

I have a soft spot for the 12 Cask Strength over the Vintage, but there is undeniable quality in the whole range.

🙇‍♂️🙏🙇‍♂️
Many thanks to everyone who attended, Steven Parker and the folks at Cottingham Group for their help, and Bill from Craft House for giving us the space.

If you want to join for a meet-up, let me know, and we'll see what we can do. Until the next one, slainté mhath, folks!

#台北 #台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #單一麥芽威士忌 #百樂門

Whisky history time!

A member of the Taipei Whisky Club asked for information on this, and it's related to topics that interest me, so I thought I'd write it all down here. Photos below for reference. Here we go...

Black Diamond blended malt was released into Taiwan (among other 'key whisky markets') along with another blended malt called Tiger's Eye about 10 years ago. These didn't fare very well because of poor marketing and tone deafness on the part of the folks trying to bring an unknown into an already oversaturated market. I remember ads on the sides of buses and in the middle of magazines. I wouldn't be surprised if the local Edrington folks knew the products would struggle, and so put few resources toward its promotion.

From what I understand, blended malts had gone out of fashion here near the early 2010s, with only a small few staying around until a more recent resurgence among aficionados. It was mostly seen as an upmarket drink for banquets, 熱炒, or KTVs, or (if it had a decent age statement) a deluxe gift for the casual whisky drinker. Better than blended whiskies, but not as revered as single malts.

As a side note, you can thank folks like Paul Wang and his work with Douglas Laing & Co. Taiwan and the likes of Monkey Shoulder's marketing to a younger audience for that resurgence, by the way. Back to the blended malts we started with, though.

They were introduced at an inopportune moment in the market. Add to this that it was a no-age-statement going for nearly $2,300NT (you could buy Glendronach 18 for about $1,800NT at the time) with much cheaper, established, age-stated products from the same company, and that makes for a hard sell unless you launch a major campaign to justify it. As you can imagine, they didn't, so it lingered on shelves.

As a further side note, it hasn't helped that shop owners, probably sore about being saddled with expensive but hard to shift stock, have never discounted it, either.

A few years after its lackluster release, Edrington decided to sell off Glenturret (the 'home of the famous grouse' and majority component in all of their blends and blended malts) to pay for the expansion of the Macallan distillery.

This was the end for all of their blended malts, except for the rebranded Naked Grouse, as the company refocused on producing and promoting their single malts, and why these premiumized expressions were discontinued.

It also meant an end to the age-stated blended malt Famouse Grouse bottlings, including my personal favorite the 18. Thankfully, there are still a few pockets of those lying dusty on quiet store shelves or squirreled away in some savvy people's personal liquid libraries.

#台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #威士忌 #歷史

The had our most recent meet-up this past Wednesday. The theme I organized around was A Dram for the Season.

The night featured:

🔸Single Minded Dailuaine 10 y.o. from Douglas Laing & Co. Taiwan (thanks Jimmy from iCheers 愛酒窩 )

🔸The 2021 Seasonal Release from Glen Scotia .

🔸 Mackmyra Jaktlycka (thanks to the folks at Mackmyra 麥格瑞 瑞典單一純麥威士忌 for making this available)

🔸A Midwinter Night's Dram from High West (Act 5 Scene 4).

😆The Knockando 12 made it's way in briefly, but it wasn't planned.

The flavors and tastes definitely kept with the spirit of winter holidays.

If you'd like to join us for a future meet-up, just let me know, and we'll see what we can do. Slainté mhath folks!

#台北威士忌酒俱樂部 #單一麥芽 #單一麥芽威士忌 #威士忌