Annual whisky gathering
Last night I went to an annual whisky gathering organised by a local whisky club. I'm not a member of the club, but my friend is so I went along with him. The attendance fee is USD10 and that includes dinner. In addition, every attendee has to bring along a bottle of his or her choice to share. They're not too strict on what you bring along, as long it's at least 70% full. Since it's a local club and its all whisky lovers, you wouldn't expect anyone to bring along a crap or cheap bottle of whisky.
I took this along with me. It's a 12 years William Cadenhead, I bought it a few months back. In addition, the cork on the top of my Glenrothes started to disintegrate recently and there was only about half an inch left on the stop. I was 75% into my bottle, so I figured I'd take that along with me. I didn't want to waste it in case the rest of the cork fell off before I could finish it.
I didn't have much expectation for a USD10 sit down dinner. This was the appetiser, and if you're thinking what I thought last night when I saw this, you'd understand why this is the only food photo I took and I'm not going to talk about the food anymore.
There was over thirty people last night, and when everyone brings a bottle, or two, whisky in some cases, this is what you end up with. I can't think of any whisky lover who won't be envious with the sight of this. It's like a kid being let free inside a candy store. Everyone is free to help themselves to whatever they want, and of course there were some bottles that were more popular than others. I lost count of how many I tried during the night.
My favourite bottle wasn't one of the 'ófficial' ones. The guy sitting next to me is a bit of a serious drinker, as in enjoys fine stuff, not an alcoholic. He bought along another bottle of brandy which he didn't put out to share, but kept it on our table.
The Kimenez Spinola is a limited edition batch of 350 bottles, and is the first time I've had Spanish brandy. To be honest, I never thought about Spain producing brandy. It was a bit like sherry, sweet, but not sickly sugary sweet, more like a light fresh smooth sweet. And boy, was it good!!!!
I was quite tempted to get a bottle as the guy said they still had some in stock. That's until he mentioned the price. USD170!!!
Oh well, for USD10, I had a crappy dinner, but got to sample lots of great whisky and an exceptional brandy, plus came back home with half a bottle of my William Cadenhead. I'll call that a good night's out.