Jamesons or Bushmills

HAPPY St PATRICK'S DAY

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Whether you prefer the sweet malt taste of Bushmills or the fiery citrus of Jameson's this is a good week to stock up on some Irish whiskey. You want to have some on hand for St'Paddy's next week. It won't hurt to come down to the pub for a pint of Guinness either and don't forget to wear some green.

Next Sunday we have the March whiskey tasting event and we are featuring 2 outstanding Irish whiskey's in Tullamore Dew and Middleton Rare.

Tullamore Dew Voted ‘Best Irish Blended Whiskey’ at

2011 Icons of Whisky Awards Dinner

10 March 2011 - Last week, at the prestigious Icons of Whisky Awards dinner in London, Tullamore Dew 12 Year Old won for the ‘Best Irish Blended Whiskey’.  Chosen amongst a very competitive shortlist of other whiskey brands, the outstanding win is a true testament to the pride and care we take in producing the very best whiskey in Ireland. 

                              

I particularly enjoy Irish whiskey prior to dinner or with Seafood appetizers the citrus notes are a natural match. I have been a fan since I first started working in my mothers bar The Duke of Westminster in Edmonton in the early 80's. Even though it had an English name it was predominantly an Irish Pub with the requisite Irish entertainment ant list of characters. It was hard to get through a shift without some excuse to have a shot with the boy's. When I think back to the back bar in those days we still had Jameson's and Glenlivet but there were a lot of things like Pinch, Ne'Plus Ultra, and Captains Table that have disappeared off the Bar in the last 30 years. Maybe that says something about how those iconic whiskeys like Jameson's stand the test of time by being consistent, recognizable and tasty.

Connections

What started as a post about a great Okanagan wine story is changing into how connected we all are to the wine industry here in the Valley. Back a dozen years ago I bought some Nichol Syrah grown on the Naramata bench and was impressed that you could even grow this grape this far north and that it could be this good. I held onto it for a long time and used it for some wine paired dinners and special occaisions. But as these things go I didn't think much about it after I was out as there are so many new wines and wineries everyone gets lost in the mix.


So here is where we get to these connections I'm talking about a few months ago I get a phone call to see if I would be interested in tasting some wine from D'angelo I said yes and Christy their new rep shows up. During the tasting I find out this is her first presentation.  Turns out she has some property and is growing some Grapes for Howling Bluff. She does a good job and I buy some Cab-Merlot which sells quite well. She comes to see me this week and now has 3 new wineries in her portfolio including Robin Ridge ( good Similkameen Pinot Noir), Elephant Island Fruit winery ( I catered Miranda and Del's wedding years ago, try the Apricot Dessert wine in the Hot Tub) and Nichol Vineyard. I bought some Syrah and Pinot Gris from Nichol and wanted to try it when it arrived so opened the Syrah and tasted it with some good customers. Well this vintage is as good or better than the 98 I bought all those years ago. So Mike proceeds to explain the trellessing method that Nichol uses to get the Syrah to have all this body and I can't help thinking how every time you start a conversation about wine here in the Valley that you always end up knowing more about someone than when you started. If you stay here even for a short time you will be connected to something in the local wine industry and that creates an amazing chain of events.


By the way go out of your way to find and try this wine it embodies the true taste of the Okanagan and the spirit that makes this region unique in the world of wine.

Nosing Master Class

This is a start to a long journey of recognition training. I am trying to develop a master nosing class for our whiskey club and am using a nosing kit with 24 standard aromas in it. So how to begin, pour a little whiskey and decide which of the aromas are in it sounds simple right?Not so, the aromas are very close in certain areas and you have to work at it to decide which one is the closest. I say closest because the aroma kit gives you the broad brush stroke and you need to fill in the detail. So what I did was choose 6 aromas that i thought would be close and nose to find their presence. By the third whiskey a format arose, nose the whiskey, taste the whiskey, determine if aroma is present (simple yes no maybe), go back to yeses and decide if aroma is exact or similar. Then you may have to go back to the kit and pick a couple more aromas in the same family to see if something else is closer.For the group I think it will be important to start with very distinct whiskeys with strong specific aromas that are easy to identify. I am looking forward to putting this to the group to see how the format plays out.

What did I learn from the exercise?

The citrus in Irish whiskey is similar but not exactly like the orange in the kit, Laphroaig has some rose water in the finish and is more phenolic than peaty even though some peat is present. 2 of the 3 people I tried the yes, no, maybe with on Knob Creek found a aroma of clove and I didn't. You need fresh glasses for each aroma as they linger in the carafe for a long time. Lastly that there is always more to learned and everyone can benefit from trying this kit.  

Molson M

Funny how a day can be, opened my email this morning with the sell sheets for this beer in my in box and later in the day the Molson rep walks in unrelated to let me try the beer.I don't know what I expected exactly but I kind of thought it would be somewhat like a American style Lager similar to Sam Adams or Brooklyn needless to say I was disappointed. Lots of money has gone into packaging and fancy taps to help create head, individual regulators for constant pressure they even go as far as to suggest they won't sell it to you if  you don't push with beer gas. M stands for Microcarbonated or Minor carbonation I'm not sure there is a difference this beer is carbonated at a lesser level than regular lager but that is about all. As a result you pick up more sweetness in the nose somewhat fruity and it makes it easier to drink quickly. I'm sure this will appeal to a demographic that doesn't particularly like Beer but falls short with real Beer lovers.

Tequila Again

I bought this tequila Duty free on my way back from Mexico. It was the most expensive tequila I have ever purchased at $87.50 but it came highly recommended by the sommelier at the resort we stayed at. Frankly I was sceptical of buying a Jose Cuervo product as my experience had been limited to their blended products and my Teenage memories. "Boy was I wrong" I am seriously thinking of pouring this at a whisky tasting as I think it will fool at least half the group. It has all the characteristics of the best barrel aged spirits with great complexity on the nose and palate with a smack of Agave. It is a blend of mostly 3 year aged product with some additions of older vintages up to 30 years, not many tequilas are as old as this and it sure comes through. This may become my new only on special occasion beverage. In BC this Tequila sells for $184.00 so look for it when you travel it is great value.   

First Family of Tequila Celebrates Mexican Culture by Commissioning Local Artist to Design Box

This year the limited-edition handcrafted wooden box for the 15th installment to this collection is adorned with the artistic styling of Pablo Vargas Lugo.

Reserva de la Familia is an award-winning Extra Anejo (aged) Tequila made from hand-selected, 100% pure blue agave grown in the Cuervo estate’s richest volcanic soils. Reserva de la Familia, a crown jewel of the Jose Cuervo portfolio, is considered to be a collectable masterpiece by spirit connoisseurs around the world for both its superior taste and uniquely designed packaging.  Each year since 1995, the Cuervo family has selected a renowned Mexican artist to paint the new handcrafted wooden box for its ultra-premium vintage Tequila – part of its continuing support for promising Mexican artists and local culture