Zane goes to New Zealand and samples some locally distilled and bottled whiskies: http://www.fancast.com/tv/Three-Sheets/96540/1339974453/Kiwi-Scotch-Whisky/videos
Some interesting tidbits include an historic recreation of a copper home still (Oh, if only the 3DC can setup our own!). It is a short 3 minute clip, but fun none-the-less.
The full 24 minute episode (original air date 7/20/09)can be found here: http://www.fancast.com/tv/Three-Sheets/96540/1194652684/New-Zealand/videos
-Seamus/Jason
OK… So we’ve made some rather lofty claims on our web site. Chief amongst these is “The 3 Drunken Celts are set to change all that you know about whiskies…” Well here’s the start of that:
The 3 Drunken Celts Whiskey Tasting Notebook!
You’ve seen us using them at Whiskies of the World in San Francisco, and other tasting events we attend, now get your own so you won’t forget what you’ve tasted and more importantly, what you thought of the taste! Simply said, these are essentially blank notebooks designed to guide tasters through their own note-taking while tasting various whiskies. The notebooks include free-text sections as well as basic rating scales to capture your own reactions to the whiskies you are tasting.
There is more information about this new offering below… I’ve a personal beef with tasting notes and ratings as are currently done by the whiskey world at large; eg: Would I like a given “98” rated whiskey? Would it be good on a hot summer afternoon? Is it thick and warm or thin and refreshing? Is it complex or curt in its story? The “98” really doesn’t mean anything to you unless you were the one who tasted the dram or at least know what scores in each of the individual categories the reviewer has used that then where added up to the 98. I’m pretty sure we, the 3DC, can do a damn site better than that. I find that some whiskies that rate highly I don’t like while others that do not rate so highly, by the experts at least, are rather enjoyable and visa versa on both these statements.On the most rudimentary level what I’d like to know about a bottle of whiskey I’ve never had is how thick the dram is, how strong the taste is, how long the story is. I find that I prefer a stronger, thicker dram in the winter and a lighter more complex one in the summer so knowing the viscosity, boldness and length of story goes a long way towards picking out a dram I’m not familiar with. Additionally, these are categories that can be reviewed with far less subjectively. We’ll use a 1-5 scale. For example, if it drinks like a 10W40 motor oil, as far as viscosity is concerned, you’d give it a 5 and if it was thin as water you’d give it a 1. The same scale will be used for Boldness and length of story.
From there, more traditional tasting notes regarding descriptive verbiage of the nose, flavor and finish can come into play when deciding between drams I already know to be appropriate to my mood’s general requirements at the time. I should be noted that the evaluations, 1-5, in the categories above are not indicative of quality or approval. A 1 is no better than a 5, just an empirical take on the dram’s properties. This is what makes our system drastically different from the status quo as well as makes the future database a much more useful tool.
The last category, and notably the least important, is an indication of how much we liked the dram based on own personal taste with an A-F scale. This is simply intended to be a reference or reminder of our overall impression of the dram as time passes and also a means for others to get to know our individual preferences while reviewing the database. For example, Seamus really likes the Balvenie 21, and so does Fergus, so Fergus looking over Seamus’ favorable review of the Edradour 10 cask strength would lend Fergus to think he may well want to try it too. Simple huh?
To this end we have introduced a 3DC tasting notepad on our Café Press shop page.
We are also, in time, going to be able to start logging these tasting notes onto our web site for others to reference. The idea here is that you can try things that others have tried and get to know each other’s tastes and preferences. Once you get to know the others preferences you may be inclined to try something you’d not normally have tried simply because someone with similar tastes as your own rated it favorably regardless of what the late M. Jackson or J. Murray has said about the dram. Not that they don’t know their business. As Fergus and Seamus will tell you, I’ve nothing but the highest admiration for Jim but his tastes have developed far beyond my own and his sophistication of pallet is also well out of my current personal reach. He has highly rated things I don’t care for and has panned some of my favorite drams as well so as much as I like the man, I can’t rely on his ratings to determine whether or not I’m going to like what’s in the bottle in front of me. I just know if Jim liked it.
I urge you to give our little experiment in changing the whiskey world a try. We’ve put a PDF copy of one of the pages up in the downloads page if you’d like to “try before you buy”.
Please let us know what you think and feel free to post a version of your tasting notes to the list for a while so we can see what you think of the drams you are trying.
Yis, Raz/Randy
Yes, the 3DC have finally embraced social media 2.0 and have created a twitter stream. Follow our real-time tasting notes as they happen at:
http://twitter.com/3drunkencelts
For those not familiar with the concept of Twitter: it is a website which allows users to update their current status with what they are doing right now, in 140 characters or less. The 3DC will be utilizing this social media outlet to post tasting notes on various drams, links to new blogs and news articles, and other random whiskies related content.
You can also join in the fun if you are on twitter by following us and entering your own content stream related to the 3DC by using the hashtag: #3DC
With a nod to the Bard:
Eoin
Happy Friar John Cor’s Day everyone!
For those who don’t read enough books; the first written record of making whisky is attributed to Friar John Cor who was recorded on June 1, 1496 as procuring supplies for the making of copious amounts of whisky for his Majesty, Jimie the IV. Not particularly an event of note excepting that this is the first known record of whisky production and indicatory of a healthy and long established tradition of distilling whisky in Great Briton, else wise he’d not been making 1500 bottles of the stuff.
In honor of this, the 3DC has decided on mass to start honoring this man and this recorded event for the first 3 days of June. I myself will have at least one different dram a day for the 3 day festival and record the results in my tasting book. I think with some thought and planning we may have to set up some event going forward to do this properly, but this year at least we are flying by the collective seats of our collective pants.
Now for the bitching part of this: the British do not deserve to have anything to do with the history of their own country as they are evidently criminally negligent and painfully ignorant of anything that doesn’t wear either a toga or a horned helmet. It seems that the collective British citizens are so jaded by the history all around them that they disregard it like Las Vegas does 10 year old casinos or Hugh Grant does a lady of the night in the back seat of his car.
Back to Friar John. He did his distilling in Lindores Abbey (http://www.darkisle.com/l/lindores/lab
Since the Mid 1990s the owners have in attempt to spread the word, and make a buck too I’m sure, started bottling blended whisky that is a rare dram out there on the market. Now this would be nothing like the whisky Friar John made but at least they are making an attempt at getting the tradition going again. Hey it’s a start, right?
Well, you’ve got a year to make your plans. Mark it down in your calendar; June 1st-3rd = Friar John Cor’s Day.
The Gospels According to Seamus: The Exiled years
(Whiskies of the World, 2009)
(To follow along the timeline of events, use Twitter search to locate all our Tweets posted with the #3DC tag: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%233d
A panoply of emotion washed over me before my departure for this year’s event. My excitement was still present, yet not as palpable as in years past; I was muted by an underlying exhaustion from a looming deadline, one which I was determined to ignore once I locked the door to my house.
My expectations for this year’s event were lower than they’d been in the past. I knew well in advance that the economic climate would result in lower attendance from the paying public as well as distilleries and distributors, etc. Of course my expectations for the fun to be had outside of the grand tasting were just as high as ever.
My friends, I am here to tell you, the weekend did not disappoint!
Friday really got off to a slow start for me. Out the door at noon, after working some that morning, saw me at Don’s bar (Caper’s Café) in PDX waiting for my flight. A few good random conversations about the upcoming tasting started to really get me in the mood for things to come. And the Bushmills that was waiting for me as I sat down didn’t hurt either 😉 A quick flight later and I found myself in
And that long night didn’t disappoint. In typical 3DC fashion, we donned our utilikilts (well, Fergus and I did) then found and took over a corner portion of Nihon, a self-proclaimed sushi whisky bar, which surprisingly enough could indeed be easily called one or the other without compunction. Once we’d filled our gullets with fish, sake, and beer (oddly enough), we made the tough choice to head to the Irish Bank to really get the night going.
Everything started well at the bank, but we quickly found ourselves being hushed by our waitress Zoe, at the bequest of management. Mind you, we were in the back room, signing Irish traditional songs, in an Irish pub, and buying lots of booze… you’d think management would understand that. Awe well, we just continued signing and ordering drinks, and the threat of getting kicked out seemed to pass.
As normal, we ended up back at the hotel quite late, still enjoying the night. Fergus immediately began opening up some small flasks and challenged us to guess what each contained. Admittedly, I was something like zero for 3, while impressively, James nailed them. Seems he hadn’t quite destroyed his palette yet. At around 2.30am we finally turned in, and the giggling commenced (I had hoped to have the video link available here, but –someone- hasn’t uploaded it yet). Like 12 year old school girls we are…
Saturday morning came all too quickly, but with relatively little pain. My previous 3 years’ worth of experience paid off this time around and allowed me a pleasant, if not tired morning. After gathering the crew and milling about the Whisky Shoppe, we made our way to the traditional Irish coffee and Lark in the Morning run. Having not yet checked the store hours, we arrived about 45 minutes early, and so opted to wait it out at a pub down the road where we enjoyed the worst Irish coffees I have ever had, and a rousing round of Whisky trivia from the game Sean had purchased just an hour before. (We had so much fun with the game, I returned and bought a copy for myself!)
After Lark in the Morning, it was back to the Bank for a –quick- and small bite of lunch, then to the hotel to get ready for the evenings festivities. Suits donned, we hopped the cabs to our next tradition: a light dinner at Kennedy’s (an Irish pub and Indian restaurant). Yes, typically Indian foods wouldn’t be advisable just prior to a whisky tasting, but we’ve never been ones for convention, and to be honest, it has never caused us a problem. The key is a –light- dinner; just enough to satiate you for the next 3 hours until you’re on the boat and can maintain a solid balance at the buffet there. Plus, I like to think that a bit of curry livens up the palette and gets you ready to really dig into the tasting. I AM starting to sense some dissention among the ranks regarding Kennedy’s, so that may well change next year.
Once dinner was complete, we trekked down to see the Museum Mechanique, and moseyed amongst the tourists as Fergus was on another mission to find more tiny flasks to use during the tasting as storage for some of the better drams. Fresh out of luck, it was time to head to the boat and queue up for our
The line was shorter than years past, as was to be expected this time round. The economy seemed to have culled the crowd down to just the serious aficionados and the lucky few who haven’t felt the tightening of the belts.
Once on board, the fiscally conservative times were felt even more dearly. There were not quite as many booths set up this year, though the two decks were still both utilized; that, combined with a lower attendance made the event feel sparse.
Personally, that initial impression set my tone and temperament for the evening to a more muted experience. I focused directly on just the tastes and didn’t bother talking to any of the ambassadors, distribution reps, or any others manning the booths. Instead, I would shoulder my way into a booth, obtain a pour, and then immediately back out to a location where I could set my glass down and take some quick notes without being jostled or feeling like I was in someone’s way.
And now, what you’ve all come here for:
Jason/Seamus’ tasting notes from the Whiskies of the World Expo, 2009.
Keep in mind that my notes are a bare minimum due to the structure of the event (ie, this is a meandering from table to table event, not a seated tasting), and as such my notes are typically made whilst maneuvering from one table to the next, trying not to spill… Additionally you will note how my tastes became slightly more amiable throughout the evening and my tasting notes less detailed, but more flowery.
Tullamore Dew, 10 year
Nose: Very sweet, almost floral.
Flavour: nice mild oak, a caramel sweetness follows.
Finish: very short and simple.
Viscosity: 3
Boldness: 1
Length of Story: 1
Personal Taste: C
Compass Box, Hedonism Maximus
Nose: some iodine followed by a richness
Flavour: a lot of spice, followed by a modest apricot at the end.
Finish: slight oak, and a very long finish
Viscosity: 4
Boldness: 4
Length of Story: 4.5
Personal Taste: A-
Tomintoul, 31 year
Nose: iodine and rubber
Flavour: anise, light clove, cornstarched rubber
Finish: vanishes quickly, ends with a note of gnawed toothpick.
Viscosity: 4
Boldness: 3
Length of Story: 1
Personal Taste: C+
High West, 21 year
Nose: general spice, then a more solid clove, followed by medium sweetness
Flavour: more spice, and the expected rye sweetness
Finish: a bit sour, gently ends with sweetness reminiscent of sherry wood finish.
Viscosity: 2.25
Boldness: 4
Length of Story: 3
Personal Taste: B-
Bols Genever, gin
Nose: LOTS of juniper (I have a lot to learn about gin, as all I get is the berry)
Flavour: more juniper, slight bitterness.
Finish: still juniper
Viscosity: 3
Boldness: 4
Length of Story: 2
Personal Taste: C+
Glen Rothes, 1985
Nose: mild brininess followed by mellowed oak
Flavour: sweet followed by the same brine on the nose.
Finish: rich, then a mild oak, followed by a slight caramel
Viscosity: 3.5
Boldness: 3
Length of Story: 3
Personal Taste: B+
Auchentoshan, 3 Wood
Nose: rich oak (possibly French oak?)
Flavour: deep oak layered complexity, sweet like the Balvenie double wood, but more refined.
Finish: layered and lingering oak, sherry wood on the end.
Viscosity: 3.5
Boldness: 4
Length of Story: 3.75
Personal Taste: B
Auchentoshan, 18 year
Nose: spice, followed by stale iodine
Flavour: immediate iodine, then sweet like a Speyside, followed by solid richness
Finish: more richness of subtle oak
Viscosity: 3
Boldness: 4
Length of Story: 3
Personal Taste: B-
Auchentoshan, 12 year
Nose: typical 12 nose for a Speyside, oaky, spicy, and rich
Flavour: sweet rich fruit
Finish: spicy richness similar to the Jameson’s Distillery Reserve
Viscosity: 3
Boldness: 4
Length of Story: 3
Personal Taste: C+
Johnnie Walker, Green Label
Nose: Floral sweetness of plum, cut grass, and apricot
Flavour: just oak. Tastes like a low-end whisky, single note dram.
Finish: worthless
Viscosity: 3
Boldness: 3
Length of Story: 2.75
Personal Taste: D
Aberlour, a’bunadh
Nose: “My nose is done”
Flavour: ginger/cinnamon, spice, iodine, rich but crisp
Finish: cask strength closes the story early
Viscosity: 3.5
Boldness: 4
Length of Story: 3.75
Personal Taste: B
Scapa, 16 year
Nose: sweet and floral with fruit, almost like the J/W Green label.
Flavour: mild and light, sweet, tastes like the Green label should!
Finish: fades slowly, gradually with oak and fruit
Viscosity: 2
Boldness: 2
Length of Story: 3
Personal Taste: B+
Tomintoul, 27 year
Nose: -no notes taken-
Flavour: -no notes taken-
Finish: -no notes taken-
Viscosity: -no notes taken-
Boldness: -no notes taken-
Length of Story: -no notes taken-
Personal Taste: B
Compass Box, Eleuthera (purchased at the Irish Bank after the Grand Tasting completed)
Nose: -no notes taken-
Flavour: iodine and mild peat, some smokiness
Finish: -no notes taken-
Viscosity: 2
Boldness: 3
Length of Story: 3.5
Personal Taste: B+
I actually left the tasting about an hour earlier than in previous years. That should tell you something about my mental state and how the entire event came off to me. While I had a grand time, by
That next bit, for me at least, is to head out to a nicer dinner. That started the first year when we stumbled into the Boulevard for dinner, and continued on for the next two at various other restaurants. This year Yan and Deb headed back to the Boulevard, while a larger crew was set on just heading back to the bank. I was ready for something else though, and conned James and Cat to accompany me to a new place, just down the street from our hotel (as it turns out).
We had a lovely, and relaxed dinner at the E&O Trading Company, which was very special for me as it gave me some quiet one on two time with Cat and James. One of the problems with a big group at a 3DC gathering, is the relative little time we all have to connect at any deeper levels; dinner Saturday night has kind of become that time for me where everything is a bit quieter and smaller, and I can enjoy the company in a more intimate fashion.
Of course, after dinner, the three of us walked back to the Irish Bank, where the rest of the group was waiting for us (having just arrived and seated nay 10 minutes prior). More drinks were quickly ordered and before we knew it, song erupted and a jovial time was being had by all; including Zoe and Tulasi who seemingly became our private wait staff. No shushing this time around as management was not on the premises, so we were free to whoop it up as we always do. After a bit, John Glaser darkened the doorway to a roaring round of applause and cheering.
John has become a bit of a friend to the 3DC and has been generous and gracious in sharing his knowledge and wisdom, oft times to some lively disagreement or purely contrarian jabs from Fergus, Raz, and myself. He still seems to get our sense of humour, and apparently enjoys us all the same, as this is the second year he has accepted Fergus’ invite to meet us at the Bank after the tasting to wind down (or up) a bit.
This time around, Fergus didn’t disappoint, and produced the last bottle of cider he had made, keeping the Dregs so that John could have a taste and those two could chat about finishing whiskies in cider barrels. Surprisingly, John stayed well past the time he had initially indicated he would. He always seems to do that around us… 🙂
Having had quite enough to drink, and quite a long day already, I attempted to head back to the hotel room earlier than normal. I was able to make it out of the Bank with a little chiding, and even made it down the alley way heading to the hotel, when my progress was waylaid by seeing James off in his cab, and encountering Raz heading back to the Bank after seeing Cat to her room (poor thing was really bad off by the end of the night due to a nasty cold-type illness coming on).
I’d thought Raz was done for the night when he walked Cat back to the hotel, but I was surprised to see he actually still had some life in him… That really was all the urging I needed to turn around and go back to the Bank with Raz to close it out. And close it out we did.
Sunday morning again arrived well too early, though once again, lessons learned in past years came through for me in this one, and I was up and feeling great. No hangover and was hungry for breakfast, which was dealt with at Lori’s Diner.
From breakfast, the crew headed into
To fill the void, we started heading to Yan and Deb’s hotel room for some sake, but were stopped short as we passed by and subsequently turned and entered a tea shop offering tastings. I am unsure how long we really spent there, but we must have gone through a series of at least 10 different teas to taste and walked out of the shop with a few bags of leaves and a LOT more knowledge than we entered with. In typical 3DC that serendipitous and yet random tasting experience proved to be another of the highlights of my weekend.
Followed closely to the tea tasting was enjoying the view from Yan and Deb’s hotel room while we all imbibed in some sake that they happened to have left over from earlier in the weekend. And damned if those two don’t have impeccable taste in sake. It was such a treat and wonderful way to close out our weekend in the city.
Of course, like every year, our weekend must come to an end, and with that Raz and I headed back to the hotel and made our way to
The flight home was only endurable by virtue of the complimentary wine
Sadly, once I returned home, it was back to the grind stone of work. Because things have been so busy for me, it really has taken me nearly a month to finish this write-up with any sense of completeness. I know there are a ton of stories I am forgetting at this point, but in all honesty, I just don’t have the wherewithal to write anymore even if I could remember them.
Stay tuned…. I am still hopeful that Raz and Fergus will finish their own write-ups one of these days. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll all get to experience the frivolity that is 2 giggling adult men at
Well wonder no more… now you can read up on the 3DC at the Caid Wiki:
http://wiki.caid-commons.org/index.php/3_Drunken_Celts
An excerpt:
What’s in a Name?
Much discussion went on around the naming of this group. The logic of the three founding members went something like this: “We all have Celtic based personas so there should be some reference to that. There are three of us so that needs to be in there too. Some reference to drinking and the like should be in there as well.” Pretty simple really. It only seems complicated now that the membership roles have grown well beyond 100 so the logic, or lack there of, goes something like this: “We don’t want to keep changing the name do we? Nope” There you go. It should be noted that the 3DC never really were “3”. Without the indulgence and kind assistance of Siobhan and Magraig (Seamus’ and Raz’ kind ladies) none of this would have come to pass.
Greetings 3DC,
Well plans are getting finalized for the Whiskies of the World Expo 2009 (Date:3-28-09). Heck, I’ve already bought my plane ticket. As to event tickets, if you plan on attending, please contact Fergus directly. He is our ticket coordinator for this event and is intending on negotiating with the event staff directly on our behalf. If you are intent on getting your own ticket you can do so on the event’s site. The official 3DC hotel this year is the Hotel 480 as recommended by our Local 3DC rep theJamez. Thanks for the leg work James.
We’d love to have as many of you attend as can make it. This is after all the end all be all of whisky events. It makes our wee little shin digs look like nap time at the preschool. Even Mathias thought he’d seen it all until last year and he was blown away at what he saw and learned. Ask him yourself if you like.
Event information:
VIP Ticket Price: $120.00 ($115.00 General Admission so just pay the extra $5)
Event ticket site: http://celticmalts.com/shop/
Hotel: Hotel 480, stumbling distance from the Irish bank. The hotel itself is under renovation but this should be done before the event. We can get the cheaper, pre-renovation, prices by booking now.
Hotel site: http://www.hotel480.com/
As an alternate places of lodging I’d suggest either that the Hotel Des Artes (http://www.sfhoteldesarts.
Raz-
All…
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Raz – Hmmm, Whisky Sugar cookies are good. I’m starting with the Edradour series we are here to kill and proceeding on to the Edradour 16 for good measure. No tasting notes here sorry but it’s good to see so much good stuff on the table just on the fly.
Meliko – Going through the Edradour series was very interesting; they’re all quite different. Least fave was the port, most fave was the burgundy, with the chardonnay and sauterne also both relatively pleasant. The 12 year had the most readable story: sweet and caramel to the nose, initially mellow then gently smoky on the tongue.
Fergus– The 14 year Balvenie is sweeter than the 12 and is improved when you try a rum before tasting the 14. Trying it with a 72% dark chocolate does not seem to improve the taste and if you try it with chocolate the whiskey seems to avoid the areas the chocolate cover. The Balvenie 12 signature being better than the 12 double wood has the opposite effect from the 14 balvenie the whiskey is improved by the chocolate and the whiskey layers itself onto the chocolate flavor.
Raz – The flaming heart (Compass Box) is like being bum rushed by a dorm full of exchange student co-ed fetishists.
Jean – I concur with Fergus’ opinions on the Rumwood with the chocolate. The Rumwood on it’s own is complex, but adding water eliminates the complexity and makes it flat. I really enjoyed the Balvenie Signature with the chocolate – very smooth and buttery. Overheard: ‘Oh, dude – uh, oi’
G – The Balvenie signature 12 starts without the bite of so many others. It rolls smoothly through the mouth and departs with a gentle kiss; a definite favorite. The add of the dark chocolate broadens the flavor. With this start, sampling the nose of the Edradours was all that I could contribute to that particular effort. A sip of the Dos Maderas (yes, rum) was a great post-food flavor. The additional ‘sweet’ made for a good dessert, so the sip fit very well. And the Welsh Penderyn seems to simply be a glass of water that happened to be in the room when some poor sot opened a Laphroaig.