Aye Alice ... Tis Whisky

   I used to think that scotch whisky drinkers were a bunch of old men sitting around in big leather chairs smoking cigars, sipping scotch out of expensive crystal glasses, chortling over bad jokes and talking about the stock market. Lately, I've noticed that drinking scotch has become much more mainstream. A younger crowd is diving into the scotch whisky market with enthusiasm and they're not drinking their father's scotch. They are looking for a better scotch and have done their homework on the Scottish distilled malted barley business.

  One of the easiest ways one can start learning about whiskies or increase their knowledge about scotch whisky is to attend a whisky tasting like I recently did in the lovely village of Carp at a local cafe called Alice's. One of my fellow somellier's, Dustin was hosting a scotch whisky tasting at the cafe.
  The best part of attending a whisky tasting is that you get to sample a good selection of whiskies without having to max out your credit card at the LCBO. Only to discover that you only like one or two of the whiskies and the rest of the bottles sit in the back of your cupboard with those extra Thanksgiving napkins with the cartoon turkeys on them.

So Dustin's plan was to start us off with a mild 17 year old single malt scotch called Glencoyne which is made just north of Glasgow. It has a relatively low peat content so our tastebuds would not be overwhelmed with the first glass. The whisky is aged in sherry casks and some of that sweet sherry comes to life when a touch of water is added.
 
The next scotch was an 18 year old single malt from the famous Glenfiddich distillery in the heart of the Highlands. Smooth and layered with a slight sweetness and spice from the Oloroso sherry casks that the whisky has been aged in.

We moved on to a 10 year old single malt called Springbank which is from the Campbeltown area. A nice little scotch with a hint of peat at the end.
From there we tried a Taliskers scotch  from the Island region which is on the west coast of Scotland. I found this scotch to be a little sharp on it's own and it seemed to have better flavour with a touch of water.

 We ended the night with 2 scotchs and an incredible little dessert called bacon shortbread cookie with chocolate drizzle. Yes, that's right ... bacon. At first  it sounded like a weird baking accident but that little cookie was so good it had everyone asking for seconds.
  The Bowmore 18 year old single malt from Islay definitely had some peat going on but it had a really nice caramel flavour to it.
  The final scotch was a 9 year old single malt called Port Charlotte PC9 from Islay. If you like that peat flavour in your scotch this is the whisky for you. One person aptly described the initial taste as "crunchy".

Not bad for an evening of laughter, discussion and I increased my knowledge about Scotland and scotch. I tried six whiskies for a decent price and now I know which one I will buy the next time I have friends over.

Cheers !