What's better than steaks on the grill and a nice glass of whiskey on a hot, summer Sunday? Getting gifted SIX new whiskeys to try in a blind tasting!
A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine in Washington (Will of Whisky_Whiskey_Chronicles) generously sent us some samples of various whiskeys he and his wife had on hand, and I could not have been more excited to try them all out. When I opened the box, however, each bottle was labeled with only a number; I checked the rest of the box to see if there was a list of the whiskeys, but there was none. I reached out to ask about the whiskeys, and he said he would only let us know what was in each bottle after we had tried all of them. I had never done a blind tasting before, so I got even MORE excited and decided to make a day of it!
That Sunday, July 25th, I marinated a couple of rib-eye steaks for dinner, put together a meat & cheese board for snacking, and we got to tasting!
My boyfriend and I looked up tips for anything new we should know about when doing a whiskey tasting; however, most of the advice we found was hard to follow and a little pretentious for a couple of newbies like us to follow.
How to Taste Whiskey
I had been taught by a previous bar manager a couple of things, and whether it's right or not, it worked for us, so it's what we stuck with! He always said that before you take the first sip, to blow a little air out so you're not breathing in as you taste the whiskey. Why? To put it simply, so it doesn't burn your mouth, haha. Whiskey has a high concentration of ethanol, and when you take in a breath of air as you drink it, the vapors from that ethanol hit your tongue and mouth, activating pain receptors which causes that burning sensation. So take your first sip and try not to breathe in a lot of air as you're doing it. Then after you have the whiskey in your mouth, swallow and slowly breathe out, and that's where more flavors come up! I like to breathe out of my mouth right after a sip, and then out of my nose; you'd be surprised at how many complex flavors reveal themselves as you breathe out. Everyone has their own way of doing it, but this is how I like to taste. After I discover what I like, I usually like to drink it on ice or in an old fashioned.
What we had in the Blind Tasting
These are notes we wrote down as we tasted the six; can you guess what we were drinking? I'll reveal the bottles below!
Smell: Sweet, caramel. Maple syrup, a little cherry. Taste: oak, cedar?
Smell: Just a touch of gasoline right off the bat (most likely a scotch!), then cherry, plums. Taste: a touch of smoke; barley, or wheat.
Smell: Acetone (haha! A higher proof), caramel. Butterscotch. Taste: orange. Almost like an old fashioned. (Would probably add some ice or a splash of water)
Smell: orange, cherry. A little caramel at the end. Taste: malty; my boyfriend got a hint of licorice and apples.
Smell: cherry. Taste: burned at first (definitely a high proof), oak, cherry. Some nuttiness at the end.
Smell: pine. Smoke and sweet citrus. Taste: smoke & oak, woodsy.
Like wine, tasting notes and flavors are subjective to each individual person, so there are no right or wrong answers. However, we wanted to see if we were somewhat accurate in the direction of our notes, so let's see how we did!
The GlenDronach Original 12 Years Old: a single malt aged in sherry casks. Tasting notes from the GlenDronach Distillery's site: "Nose: Sweet, creamy vanilla, with hints of ginger. Spiced mulled wine and pear. Palate: Warm, rich oak and sherry sweetness, full mouth feel, raisins and soft fruits."
The Hakushu Single Malt Whisky Aged 12 Years: a Japanese "gently smoky" single malt. Notes from the Suntory Whisky site: "Nose: basil, pine needle, green apple. Palate: Sweet pear, mint, kiwi. Finish: Green tea, subtle smoke."
Maker's Mark Wood Finishing Series 2021 Limited Release: FAE-01: Kentucky Bourbon finished with 10 virgin oak staves. Notes from the Maker's Mark site: "Aroma: heavy wood, dark fruit and tobacco. Taste: Deep and dried dark fruits, big midpalate with strong tobacco and barrel extractives." Also, definitely a higher proof at 110.6!
High West Whiskey - Double Rye: blend of two straight rye whiskeys. Notes from the High West Distillery site: "Nose: mint, clove, cinnamon, licorice root, pine nuts, and dark chocolate, with a surprising dose of gin botanicals throughout. Taste: Rye spices up front, then menthol, mint, eucalyptus, herbal tea with wildflower honey and all spice. Finish: cinnamon and mint, gradually sweetening through the finish, with a hint of anise."
Jack Daniels Single Barrel Barrel Proof: Jack Daniels' first cast-strength Tennessee whiskey. Some tasting notes picked out of this article from Rickhouse Ramblings: Nose: "...loads of dark brown sugar...banana...expected dose of ethanol," "vanilla beans," "oak barrel char." Taste: "bananas, caramelized dark brown sugar, leather, allspice, and walnuts."
The Connemara: peated single malt Irish Whiskey. Description from the Connemara site: "An aroma of sweet barley with wafts of peaty smoke, kippers and well baked apple crumble. Tastes of lightly honey sweet, subdued clean rather than sooty smoke with peaty vegetal notes, sweet barley water, light spice and vanilla oak."
We both had so much fun with this blind tasting. I wasn't at all surprised to find that my favorite two were the bourbon (#3) and the sherried single malt (#1), that I'm still not a fan of too much peat/smoke (yet!) and I was surprised to find that I actually didn't mind the rye at all; usually before I drink a rye, I go into it thinking "I'm never a fan of rye whiskeys." However, I was surprised that I wasn't too turned off by the High West Double Rye! I used to own a bottle, and every time I drank it I kept thinking to myself "oh this is too spicy."
Meat & Cheese Board
I found the majority of the ingredients for our meat & cheese board at Trader Joe's. I honestly love their selection of cheese and the affordable pricing!
Goat Milk Gouda Style Cheese
Goat Milk Cheddar Cheese
Pecorino Romano Raw Sheep's Milk Cheese
Uncured Applewood Smoked Salami
Volpi Gourmet Uncured Pepperoni
Organic Sweet Bread & Butter Pickle Chips
Marinated Artichokes
Salted Pistachios (not from TJ's)
Our favorite was definitely the Gouda-style goat milk cheese. We love sheep's milk Pecorino Romano, but usually sprinkled on Italian food, like you would with parmesan cheese. This cheese was good, but a little crumbly to eat with meat like this, and next time I'll probably swap it out for TJ's New Zealand Grass-Fed Cheddar.
Steak Time!
We decided to use up the last of our rib-eyes from our D'Artagnan shipment for this whiskey Sunday, and they were absolutely delicious. I marinated them in my usual marinade overnight, and then we cooked them on our grill to medium-rare and ate them with caesar salads and roasted sweet potatoes.
The great thing about the food for this day, is that though it all felt like an indulgent cheat meal, we really didn't do too bad on the gluten and dairy. The caesar dressing was dairy free, the steak sauce was both dairy and gluten free, the cheese that we had was all either goat's milk or sheep's milk, and the salami & pepperoni were both nitrite/nitrate free with no artificial ingredients. The only gluten in the food we ate (I believe) was from the soy sauce in the steak marinade, which I've never had a reaction to, but feel like I should say for the sake of being honest. So we were able to treat ourselves to a fantastic meal while still being relatively good (I say relatively because of the alcohol and not all of the items on the meat & cheese board were organic)!
Overall, a pretty fantastic Sunday! Thanks again Will for the unique samples and fun experience, and hope everyone had fun reading!
**Why did we choose only goat's milk or sheep's milk cheeses? Why did we exclude gluten & dairy for the most part? Click here to read!
**Click here for the steak marinade I like to use!
**What was the D'Artagnan meat shipment I mentioned? Click here to read!
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