Night before last I attended the first of what I hope will become an annual Whisky Fest in Austin Texas. It was held at Opal Divine's Freehouse, a local restaurant and pub that features Austin's best single malt menu. It was small compared to the big national and international festivals and there were no major whisky luminaries present, but you have to start somewhere. Two or three hundered malt enthusiasts must have been in attendance throughout the evening, enjoying the chance to sample about forty-three whiskies. The producing companies had their families of malts grouped together, so there was a table for Allied, a table for Pernod Ricard, one for the Classic Malts (Diageo) - and no they didn't bring Lagavulin, and so forth. The representatives for the brands were provided by the distributors. A good portion resembled Johanna's "Whisky Wenches" but without the tartan mini-skirts. So most of the servers were not whisky experts, and this wasn't the place to pick up any insider information. An exception was the server representing Bruichladdich, who like the others was provided by the distributor (I think) but seemed fairly knowledgible about the whisky.
The whiskies in attendance were Ardbeg 10, Aberlour 10, Aberlour 15, Balvenie 10, Balvenie 12 DW, Balvenie 15 SB, Balvenie 21 PW, Bruichladdich 10, Bruichladdich 15, Bruichladdich 17, Bruichladdich 1984, Cragganmore 12, Dalmore 12, Dalmore 21, Dalmore Cigar Malt, Dalmore 30yo by Cadenhead, Dalwhinnie 15, Glendronach 15, Glenkinchie 10, Glenmorangie 10, Glenmorangie 12 SW, Glenmorangie 12 PW, Glenmorangie 12 MW, Glenmorangie 15, Glenmorangie 18, Glenfiddich 12, Glenfiddich 15 Solera, Glenfiddich 18, Glenfiddich 30, Glenlivet French Oak, Glenlivet 18, Glengoyne 17, Glengoyne Scottish Oak, Glenrothes 89, Highland park 12, Highland Park 18, Laphroaig 10, Laphroaig 15, Macallan 12, Macallan CS, Scapa 12, Springbank 10, and Talisker 10.
No I didn't sample them all.
I sampled more than I should have, probably, because after a certain number I must confess that I could no longer discern their finer points. But I was happy to try several on that list which I had not had before, as well as reacquaint myself with some old favorites. I'm still surprized at how good a whisky the Glenfiddich Solera Reserve is. I liked it better than the 18yo. I had yet to try the Macallan CS so I was happy to taste that one. While it's a nice whisky, it's not in quite the same class as the Aberlour A'bunadh in my opinion. The Scottish Oak was a lively Glengoyne and deserves some more investigation. I missed the Glenlivet French Oak, which I also wanted to try. Just too many to try them all! But the star of the evening for me was the Bruichladdich 1984. What a fine whisky! It had some of the elements that I found in the "French Market" 10yo: a confection of clean sweet malt wrapped in dry sherry. But it wasn't as sherried as the FM10 and had the benefits of age as well. Really a stellar dram.
Saw a couple of old friends and met a couple of new friends. Tasted the Springbank 175th as an aside. And walked out with my tasting glass - although I'm not sure I was supposed to do that. Anyway, it's now a souvenir of the evening.
Bart