I should probably have written Whisky Live, but the extra ‘e’ somehow seems to add something to the word.

On Saturday I attended Whiskey Live in Auckland. Whiskey Live is a whiskey event that creeps around the globe dousing various cities in whiskey for the day. The Auckland event was mostly about Scotch, with a single lonely ‘Bourbon’ producer, a little whiskey from Tasmania and New Zealand, and I think some Irish whiskey floating around somewhere. In the U.S. there is probably a little more American whiskey. Maybe the Auckland event could have done with some more American whiskey, but then that might have distracted the focus a little.

At any rate there was a huge range of Scotch whiskey. All the Scotch distilleries I knew of were represented, plus plenty I had never heard of. The range of whiskey was impressive enough, but the venue provided the finishing touch. The Civic Theater is a truly amazing piece of art deco architecture and filling a grand old building like that with fine whiskeys and a crowd gathered specially to sample them made for a somewhat magical occasion.

As I walked in a got handed a bag full of goodies, most crucially a tasting glass and a pile of tasting vouchers. I flicked through the guide book to see what was on offer and found way too much information to actually take in. I tried finding a table and looking through the book in detail. This didn’t work either though. A cocktail competition starting up in the bar across from my table threatened to distract me further, the guide book contained too many possibilities to digest, and time was of the essence. I decided to start by sampling the New Zealand ‘bourbon’, and take a random wander looking for the New Zealand bourbon producer as a way of getting my bearings.

The show was divided into three levels. The circle level of the Civic seemed to mostly be Islay whiskeys, the foyer level offered a cocktail making competition and whiskeys for retail sale, and the lower level contained the main show floor, a huge range of Scotch whiskeys plus a few from New Zealand and Tasmania. The New Zealand ‘bourbon’ was on the lower level so I started there.

The Old Busman ‘bourbon’ came in two varieties, a seven year old black label and a four year old gold label. I started with the black label. I hadn’t been sure what to expect but it was a pleasant enough surprise. It was smooth to a fault with some vanilla and a little bit of tannin. While pleasant it was not very exciting or complex though. It seemed like it could make a nice smooth mixing whiskey. The distiller compared it to Gentleman Jack. It has been too long since I’ve tried Gentleman Jack. However, I remember it as being a pleasant enough whiskey that was too smooth for its own good. There may be something in the comparison. After that I tried the gold label. This one was less pleasant, coming across initially with a slightly peculiar whiff of old sock or similar. An odd taste like that could almost be impressive in an Islay whiskey but in a bourbon it was just odd. After a few sips that smell seemed to dissipate. All in all the New Zealand bourbon was nothing I would bother to seek out again. The production methods were also apparently slightly unorthodox, with the spirit being matured in stainless steel tanks and ‘oaked’ using wood chips. While the result was not unpleasant it also lacked character.

Next I tried a couple of whiskeys from Sullivans Cove, a Tasmanian distillery. They were both decent if not especially memorable. The second was the show bottling, and was a very light and smooth whiskey. It wasn’t the type of thing I would normally drink but good nevertheless.

After that I headed upstairs to try some Ardberg. The 10 year old was the only variety on offer. Compared to the Islay whiskeys I am more used to drinking (i.e. Laphroaig or Lagavullin), it was anything but peaty – despite the brand rep (who unlike most of the reps there didn’t really seem to be a whiskey person) talking up that aspect of the taste. Still, I had to agree with her that there was something quite elegant about it compared to others from Islay. It was less exciting as some but definitely nice.

I spent a little while watching the cocktail competition, and by that stage it was time for the first of the two master classes I had enrolled in. The first master class was titled Secrets of Scotland and basically introduced five lesser known distilleries. The class was taken by Dominic Roskrow of Whisky Magazine. The session was a little light on solid information about the distilleries and whiskeys but he was an entertaining speaker. The five whiskeys are summarized below:

- The first whiskey was from the Arran Distillery on the Isle of Arran, which is Scotland’s newest distillery. I found it unusual stuff. It reminded me a little of Chinese Baijiu, with some odd fruity flavors. Unlike Baijiu the experience was clearly pleasant rather than unpleasant. Dominic described it as creamy, something I didn’t pick up myself. Despite this being an island distillery the whiskey wasn’t peated. I guess that was one reason the fruit flavors were so evident. I was not sure how much I actually liked this but it was one of the more interesting whiskeys of the day and one I would definitely like to try again.

- Whiskey number two was a Bunnahabhain from Islay. This one was mildly smoky, rich and sweet. It was extremely drinkable stuff but somehow not a favorite with me. Dominic reckoned it was great stuff for a session. He is right but I found it a little one dimensional.

- Number three was a rare one, a discontinued 15 year old Longmorn from Speyside that had been couriered over specially from Scotland. Apparently Pernod Ricard now owns Longmorn and decided to discontinue the 15 year old and replace it with a 16 year old at twice the price. The result has been that the 16 year old has failed to take off while the 15 year old has become a collector’s item. This one was delicious stuff. It was smooth and rich with caramel flavors, but simultaneously sharp and full of citrus and orange notes. Definitely a stand out. Longmorn shares warehouses with Benreiach, who make some unusual peated Speyside whiskeys (e.g. Authenticus).

- Number four was an independent bottling of Caol Isla. Caol Isla is widely used in blending, especially by Johnny Walker. Apparently Caol Isla only recently started getting promoted as a single malt, in response to the shortage of Lagavulin – supposedly caused because of a miscalculation of barrel sizes when planning Lagavulin’s inclusion in the malts of Scotland whiskey pedestal you see in bars and bottle stores. The whiskey was peaty but pleasantly smooth at the same time.

- Whiskey number five was Ledaig (pronounced le-chig), a peated whiskey produced at the normally non-peated Tobermorey distillery on the Isle of Mull (same side as Islay). Two peated whiskeys in a row may have been too much for me and this one did not come over as pleasantly as the previous one. Once again it was peaty but beyond that it did not make much of an impact on me.

With the master class finished I went and did some more exploring. I tried one of the Benriach whiskeys. I meant to try the Bunnahabhain Islay on the neighboring stand but somehow forgot to do it. I also tried the Tullibardine port wood finish and didn’t like it that much. It was kind of heavy. Obviously when you taste too many whiskeys in quick succession your perception starts to get a bit out of whack, but I think these dark whiskeys finished in richly flavored barrels are just a bit much for me.

I watched some more of the cocktail competition and saw an English bartender from Sweet (a bar I have been hearing a lot about but have yet to visit) making an interesting drink using Famous Grouse, homemade blueberry liqueur, rosemary flambéed in Grand Marnier, and possibly some other ingredient I have forgotten. It looked impressive and the result had an interesting rosemary flavor. I was not sure if the whiskey carried through very strongly but my taste buds had probably been pretty much desensitized by that point. Upstairs I tried some Laphroaig Quarter Cask and got chatting with a guy who had had been in the previous master class, visited the distillery, and spent the next couple of years flavoring his BBQs with a chunk of peat he cut out of the ground there.

By this stage it was time for the next round of master classes so I headed back for another session with Dominic Roskrow. This session was on the influence of wood on whiskey and was more interesting than the previous one. I guess the nature of the topic was such that it was easier to give some interesting information. In my by that stage somewhat inebriated state, the following bits and pieces struck me as interesting. Apparently around 75% of the taste of whiskey comes from wood. Actually it would have been fascinating to have had the chance to try some fresh, unaged whiskey in this class. That would be the real way to learn the influence of wood on its flavor. I wonder why they didn’t do something so obvious? Apparently wood also takes out of whiskey as well as adding to it, with fatty acids remaining in the wood after it has been used to age whiskey. Interestingly, the ‘ale’ from which whiskey is distilled is a sour ale that is purposefully produced in unhygienic conditions, something like a Belgian Lambic. The strength of that beer is around 7%. Again tasting some of that beer would be a good way to learn more about how whiskey gets its flavor. Never mind. On the subject of caks, apparently Bourbon casks are 1/10 of the price of sherry casks (due to the Bourbon regulations mandating new casks ensuring a continuous supply of used ones). Meanwhile, sherry cask conditioned whiskeys are much darker than bourbon cask conditioned ones. Anyway, on to the whiskeys, of which again there were five:

- Number one was an Auchentoshan Three Wood from Glasgow, matured successively in Oloroso, Pedro Ximenez and Bourbon casks. My notes were getting scanty by this point though I remember enjoying this one.

- I can’t read my own writing to see what the name of the distillery was for number two. It looks like Glenfiddich but that somehow seems wrong. In any case, it was an ‘oak cross’, meaning that it was matured in a mixture of virgin and bourbon oak. I think the ratio was that 1/15 of the whiskey was matured in virgin oak casks and the remainder in the usual bourbon casks. In any event it was tasty.

- Number three was an organic whiskey. It seems I gave up on trying to spell the distillery – it looks to have been a ‘Ben-something-or-other’ [added later: I believe this was Benromach]. This was maybe the most interesting whiskey of the day. I really liked it. It was matured purely in virgin oak casks and as a result had a massive oak flavor. Obviously this made it taste uncannily like Bourbon, but of course it was made purely from barley rather than a corn dominated mixture of corn, rye, wheat and barley. It was like a weird cross-over and was definitely a drink to completely change your perceptions of whiskey. I was so impressed by this one that it ended up being by far the most lasting influence of the whole session. I think I have had a similar whiskey before from Compass Box (or maybe I am thinking of one matured in used chardonnay casks), but in any event this one was a real stand out.

- Number four was an 18 year old Glenmoragie. It was very nice but didn’t leave an especially deep impression.

- Number five was another whose distillery I ended up not noting. I think it was called something like Bira Boonah. The whiskey was very strong (67% I think), very dark, and was heavily influenced by the cask. Despite the intense dark color this one was not at all cloying, perhaps partly because of the high alcohol.

This second class evolved into a pretty lively question and answer session, perhaps another reason why the last couple of whiskeys didn’t get quite the attention they might otherwise have done. Then was some discussion after the class, a little time to race around trying a couple more whiskeys before the show packed up, and then it was time to stagger home. To get more out of the tasting side of things it would probably be sensible to spit the whiskeys out rather than finishing every sample. You just can’t drink that much whiskey and stay focused. On the other hand it seems like a waste to pour the stuff away. I think there were a few spittoons scattered around. I didn’t see too many people using them though. More water stands for rinsing glasses might also have been good.

It was a good event and I’d definitely go again. Next time round it would be good to get hold of the program a little earlier and have more time to read through the material and plan what I really want to sample.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pm and is filed under New Zealand, Scotch (single malt), Tastings and comparisons, baijiu (chinese spirits), bourbon, whiskey/whisky. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.