I hope everyone had a great holiday season! It’s time to get back into the tasting swing of things, and there’s no better way to kick off the New Year than by celebrating Scotland’s national poet’s birthday, Robert Burns. Join the Kelowna Scotch and Fine Spirits Society, Monday, January 25th, where we’ll be tasting scotch from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS).
For this event, there is a dinner “pairing” option which is highly recommended. The chef at BNA specifically put together “off-menu” courses to pair with our SMWS whiskies, including of course, Haggis! Participants can either register for just the dinner, just the whisky, or both (best choice). It should be a great event with prizes and excerpt readings from Burns’ most famous poems.
The whiskies for this special tasting are selected from Scotch Malt Whisky Society. They have the largest selection of single cask, single malt whiskies in the world. All whiskies are straight from the cask, to the bottle. Unfiltered. Undiluted. Unrivaled. Capturing rarity and perfection in a glass, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s single malt whisky attracts curious and discerning whisky lovers from all corners of the globe. Only ever bottled from a single cask and selected from a range of over 130 whisky distilleries every Society bottling is exceptional. You’re in for treat!
The panel imagined themselves on a misty moor cupping a mug of consomme laced with sherry while munching custard filled doughnuts and caramel bars for breakfast. In the distance was a trail of burning heather and a plume of gun smoke. Lunch was a fine spread of mustard crusted ham, dressed crab, Iberico ham and honey glazed ribs. For dessert, sherry trifle, zabaglione and chewy orange fudge. A shower of rain amplified all the aromas and flavours, increasing the sweetness. The hunt for game ended with damp hairy tweeds scented with eucalyptus and wild boar on the grill.
Paired with Haggis stuffed with baby portabella, 5 year old cheddar, rye crouton and mustered cream.
One panel member came over all broody, reminded of bubble bathed babies wrapped in fresh towels. Others found it very juicy, bouncing with green grape, apple chews and lemonade lollies. Ginger gave a lively spritziness to taste, baby was then soothed by vanilla Jell-O instant pudding, and peanut butter on bagels. The addition of water opened spearmint, elderflower soap and brioche on waxed paper. Mother hen found her baby swaddled in a newly laundered crochet blanket, while the rest found sweetly iced christening cake decorated with white lilies, lychee and pea shoots. A bonny, blooming bairn!
Paired with Clam cullen skink style, smoked tuna “bacon”, white leek, and scallion biscuit.
Wow – the nose had so much – burlap, canvas, leather, bandages, first aid boxes, surgical soap, seashells, seaweed, tar, bonfire smoke – it was like M*A*S*H set up camp on an Islay beach. The palate spoke confidently of harbours and hospitals – lobster pots, fish boxes, fishing boats, salted macadamias, heather and mussels lined up against Big Red gum, Elastoplasts and sweet peat-smoke. After reduction, the nose twitched at a breeze carrying heather, peat and crab claws over the machair. The palate became easy-drinking; medicated sweetness, both cooling (menthol throat sweets) and with pleasant heat on the finish. The distillery looks out to the Isle of Texa.
Paired with duck confit leg , roast parsnip puree, curly endive, brown butter and sherry vinaigrette.
Sweet caramel on the nose – Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers to be exact – then Newberry Fruits (sugar-covered fruit jellies with runny centres), then a host of other fruity scents – mango, light orange, raspberry, apricot. The first taste matches some of this – ‘mango cream fondant chocolate’; ‘Thornton’s Summer Fruit Chocolates’ – but there is also a tropical spiciness like mango chutney with a dash of chili. With water the nose folds into emulsion paint for a moment before resuming the fruity/chocolate theme – Maltesers, Bakewell tart,croissant with strawberry jam, white chocolate. The taste? Sweet and fruity (Gallia melon), with light spice and peppermint Aero in the finish.
Paired with goat happy days goat cheese, white truffle, and potato croquette.
The initial nose was a combination of oak shavings and linseed oil with sweeter aromas arriving very quickly. We discovered very ripe peaches and nectarines, toffee apple sponge pudding, Scotch pancakes, Bourbon vanilla buttercream and Terry’s Chocolate Orange. Sweet flavours dominate on the palate neat as well, but at the same time zesty as a lemon or lime rind, mouth drying and fizzy like orange flavoured Tango popping candy. Adding a drop of water increases the sweetness on the nose; orange cream fondant, fudge, caramelized sugar, vanilla pods and candied orange and lemon peel. The taste is like an iced mulled wine with cloves and cinnamon and a true Sorrento Limoncello.
Paired with pudding sticky toffee, butterscotch, vanilla bean ice cream, and rolled oats.