Before I get started on some whiskey recommendation
Lets go over some of the basic of whiskey tasting
- Always take neat ( no ice, no water back) if its your first time tasting a particular whiskey
- First smell it, similar to smelling wine but be sure to open your mouth a bit to allow alcohol vapor somewhere to go.
- Take a small sips first and rinse it in your mouth. ( easiest way I find is to pretend that you are chew gum)
- now you can enjoy the whiskey
- Repeat the smell if you ate some food in between sips or drank another whiskey in between.
So one of my favorite whiskey bar in LA is Alexander steakhouse's bull and barrel located in Pasadena right next to city hall.
They hosted whiskey tasting once a month and invite some of the best whiskey master in the world to educate us. Before I go on more. Im not a whiskey master by all mean, I am a whiskey enthusiast. The night we had famous Chris Uhde introducing us to some of he's favorite whiskey from around the world. We start the night with American Bourbon , then Japan, and then finish it up with Irish and Scotch.
The first whiskey we taste is the West Wind Bourbon.
This Bourbon stand out from the rest of the select due to the fact that it is made from 9 different grains. Those 9 different grains are Corn, Rye, Barley , wheat, Rice,quinoa and Triticale.( i can't remember the rest). It is aged for 2 years and sits in the glass bottle for another four. you can grab this whiskey for roughly about 60 dollars. It is a very strong and intense whiskey, it smell a bit smoking and the initial taste profile is strong and spicy, but the finish is almost desert like with scent of chocolate. (hint: pour it into a cup and let it sit for a few mins it taste a lot better afterward)
The next one we taste is the Ohishi Whiskey
People who knows me knows that I love Japanese whiskey. And let me tell you what, this one did not disappoint me.
This one is very unique because it is a Rice Whiskey. It is only sold outside of Japan (possibly only US). Other than Mochi rice that they use on this whiskey they use koi grown rice, which involve growing koi fish in rice paddy to help them controls the weed and also the koi's natural discharge (pee and poop) are helping fertilizing the grains. Fancy!! Other things that's fascinating is that this whiskey is fully aged in a sherry oak cask from the beginning to the end. Not many distillery does this due to the high cost associated with it. So the flavor profile for this whiskey very very smooth. It is silky because of the rice, but you can also taste the oaky-ness from the sherry. It is a great whiskey for the price range of 80 dollars.
Next one is probably my favorite whiskey of the night. The Tipperary Boutique Selection Watershed. It is a small batch whiskey that only bottle about 1800 of them. These whiskey are top notch. Only six first filled barrel are selected to bottle this. And they are selected by one the top notch whiskey master Stuart Nickerson. They use their ballindoney water to lower the alcohol content to 47% or 94 proof. Each of the bottle is numbered since they only bottle so few. Theres not age on this whiskey, but that doesn't mean its not as good as some of the aged one. Flavor profile is grain heavy, smell similar to crackers. Taste like your tradition whiskey but a lot more smoother. But. BUT! what's crazy about this whiskey and what make me enjoy it so much is the fact that if you click you tongue after you swallow it, these strong tropical fruit alcohol vapor comes out and fill you whole mouth.
Like I said this one is my favorite and I highly recommend it. Its roughly about 60 dollar if you are interested in getting one.
The last one we will talk about it today will be the Tamdhu.
This is a single malt scotch that is fully mature in sherry cask
The taste is very similar to the ohishi and also kavalan sherry cask
However, the Ohishi is a little bit too mellow and kavalan sherry cask is a little bit too strong
This one found just the right balance to it.
Taste profile is a little bit oaky and sweet at the same time.
Personally I still prefer my 28 year highland park cadenhead better, but it is also a lot more expensive compare to the Tamdhu.
The Tamdhu 10 years is roughly about 60 dollars.
Oh and ask me about the whistle pig and Highland park on the first picture if you want to know more about it.
Happy fourth of July and for the people who are not in the states happy Tuesday :D
If you like the article please help me upvote it and hit follow. If you have any question please leave a comment below I will do my best to answer it. Again I am by no means whiskey master, I just love whiskey and I am sharing with you guys what I found and like.
Enjoy you day. My next post will be about some cool gadgets I found and like on Amazon.
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