7G Tasting Society inaugural

They were giving away free high grade whiskey last night at one of the classiest new places located in one of the hipper districts of SD. A dozen seats out of forty principals & their +1s were empty. More elbow room for me.
Now the bad news.

The event was fronted by a cowboy casual clad Diageo rep who showed no shame when I asked him to confirm his employer. I don't expect strangers in neutral social encounters to exhibit a conscience of social justice. Experience has proven that sanctimonious standard to be counterproductive on my part. He did bring the booze I drank at no charge.

Diageo aka Coca Cola doubtless will point to such self aggrandizing astroturfing as this. But plenty of us remember the resource grabs and murderous power plays that make their paychecks & dividends blood money. E.g. Malvern  & Colombia. Ibid

"after the disastrous year of 1982 severely crippled the whisky industry, {Diageo nee} DCL would close Glenlochy one more time and this time it would not reopen. May of 1983 was the final date of production and in 1986 the distillery was scheduled for demolition, before that decision was appealed by the Lochaber District Council. Eventually, most of the main infrastructure would be removed and converted into a hotel, on the condition that no distillation would ever take place there again (a typical Diageo deal)."                        per DD 8.26.12

 

D/CC isn't, in any fashion, Bruichladdichesque artisans furthering the peaks of spirits craftmanship in league with sustainable locally focused culture. That firm is the JPMorgan among too big to fail/jail cartel elite of the international beverage industry, largest among behemoths, swing trading distilleries like 2006 credit default swaps.

The proof this is a bad thing is in the proffered quaffs, 7 items, priced regionally in this table,
 begun with

 ~ Oban 14, much better than I remembered it from the last time I ordered it experimentally at some empty hotel fern bar. It rates a check plus, meaning one bottle belongs on your liquor shelf. Medium light peat, thankfully, plenty butterscotch and mild honey when given time to bloom in the glass and on the tongue. Still overpriced consequent to Scotch chic and brand price gouging.

But there is a rare fond spot in my heart for fair Oban as one of those that got away. It isn't a small  place, and I had only a brief hour there before the Craignure ferry left dock during my sole foray to thistledom and moss drenched Mull thickets.
Jim McEwan makes a rational defense that turning an honest buck from peated barley ain't cheap or easy.

 ~ Oban 18 was appreciably superior to the younger sibling with a notably prolonged finish. It is two star, meaning you should have a bottle to sample and another in reserve. Noting the $5 per additional year, bite the bullet & buy since those Costa Mesa samaritans can't hold the line on price forever despite their longstanding yeomanry in doing such, upon which I have oft relied.

 ~ Oban DE. Approx. an additional year in sherry cask. More smoke, more spice, Not good things, surprisingly for this preferred finish. Note that the sherry is a fino. Delicate refinement of an old heavy scotch makes no more sense than a razor edge on a battle ax. It will only be chipped & spoiled by the first skull it splits. If you're beyond flush, one of these bottles is acceptable completion of the entire expressions' collection, but many better squanders of that C-note are in my wish list.

A wisely anticpated product sequence schedule then went pear shaped as they say in Avon.

Throughout, presenter E. shared many useful kernels of knowledge I greatly appreciated as an aficionado. He provided both standard and peat smoked barley grains for comparative background. Consensus was the first had Grapenuts flavor. To me, the second was dubiously redolent of bacon.
Other tidbits included Oban's long 100 hour ferment compared to a 40 hour industry standard, characterizing the longer as yielding "grassy notes" ( One of many common flavor profile descriptives I've never distinguished ) and the shorter as nutty.

He repeatedly cited the distinction in volume between American standard cooperage and the two larger standards used for sherry. He brandished a barrel lid exhibiting the four common grades of char. He distinguished U.S. oak as "white", French as "red", yielding taste elements of vanilla & dry fruit respectively. He attributed sweetness as the prime taste contribution of wood.
Re the heathen but necessary practice of adding water to liquor, he asserted it the equivalent of allowing wine to breathe.

He revealed the shibboleth of holding spirit on the tongue a second for each year of age.
My preference is minimum 120 seconds per, doubtless my dour & thrifty Calvinist heritage begrudging loss of flavor to my undeserving and unappreciative throat, but nevertheless confident in a full measure of redemption by fumes' reflux to my nose.

Of terroir, he cited Islay in SE Scotland as characterized by peat flavor, to Skye attributing smoky style.
And so he blithely benedicted attendees to a wretched demise via the "dark side" (his phrasing)., more ominous than the stygian fuel blocks of peat he'd laid on the table in doomladen foreshadow.

 ~ Talisker 10. This is why inexperienced drinkers hate Scotch. It tastes like a band aid. No other flavor elements can survive the iodine onslaught.

 ~ Talisker DE. Approx. a year additional in an amoroso sherry cask, not typically a superior form of sherry. Dump it in a can of cherry coke, punch it with a squeeze of lime and call it a craft cocktail. Just don't serve it to me. Brown sugar icing on a band aid is a waste of panocha.

 ~ Lagavulin 16. A scabby band aid with the flavor of iodine AND hydrogen peroxide.
How lovely White Horse, that once common now near extinct bargain blend, could be primarily predicated on this abomination is beyond my ken.

~ Lagavulin 12 cask strength 56.5% abv. There is a limit beyond which horror cannot be compounded. From my excessive experience, I've drawn a line for purchasing below 50% abv, but I rarely water the very best tasting liquor. I was eager to make an exception in this case, but band aid flavor will not be denied, let alone enhanced, by mere dilution.

As for the stalwart 7G crew, kudos & thanks are not adequate expression of my effusive delight in being the beneficiary of your stupendous ground breaking effort in establishing a dedicated facility for investigation of spirits. You already had three local competitors in your niche market, but not one, as far as I know, has shown similar respect for their clientele by offering a regular & frequent opportunity like your Tasting Society. For all my judgmental severity re product & producers, I beseech you not to banish me from your hallowed congregation for my profane repudiation of the sacrament.

Allow me to suggest you guide guest presenters to the true path of righteousness & glory by independently including a ringer every meeting or other of an artisanal oddity as alternative benchmarks. In the same vein, I notice there is an unopened bottle of Edgefield in one of the wall display cases.