What an evening! 6 Whiskies, 6 Amazing things to eat or drink... all from the smoker or barbecue! Ewald Strömer from Bruichladdich was there six of his finest single malts. The only rule was that every food course we paired with the whiskies had to come from the smoker or barbecue. As they a picture speaks 1000 words so have a look at the picks and we’ll see you next time.
Peolple say that parents don't have a favourite child but if whisky events were children then this was my personal favourite from 2017.
The theme was salt, sugar & smoke and that we had! Whenever we do a tasting at Blackline then we put in a little extra effort with the food. I started the evening by smoking some walnuts to accompany the crispy winter salad to go with Jansson's temptation. If you've never had it, it's loaded with potatoes and anchovies and then baked in the oven until the anchovies start to melt. Amazing with a whisky or beer. Sweet? Nope but the dessert was: plum and apple compote with whipped cream, meringue, star anise and clove.
This set us up well for the whiskies that followed:
We started with the 10yo from Teaninich, which is located in the Northern Highlands close to the shoreline of Cromarty Firth. - Fruity and exotic with a salty finish and a hint of smoke. A big up to Michael from Borco for Prophecy from Jura that came next - heavily peated and very costal. We mostly found sweet and nutty notes in the background but in general it gave us a shape of things to come. Whisky number three was the 2016 edition of Longrow Peated, which I bought ages ago for the next time we had a smoky tasting in Eppendorfer Weg. The fine Campbeltown malt was very complex, lots of fruitiness, green apples and the freshness of mint. But what about the smoke? oh yeah there was smoke! Peat and tar in the mouth with sea salt, black pepper and candied pears to remember it by.
A big thanks goes to Ewald from Bruichladdich for our finale: Octomore 08.1. Animal like in it's intensity and definitely one for people looking for a light whisky. As all with all the other Octomores the 08.1 is incredibly peaty and very complex. Tobias from Barleymania described it as: "A wealth of malty, grainy and meaty flavours as well as hints of light fruits and chewy fudge." We paired it with some really well made Beef Jerky from Grizzly Snacks.
A great evening and if you are thinking of joining us in February for the next Tasting I may have an event that tops this one! http://thewhiskyjack.com/future-tastings/
Some friends: www.barleymania.com www.blacklinecoffee.de www.borco.com www.bruichladdich.com www.grizzlysnacks.de
Kittel's Fine British Goods whisky tasting - Lowlands vs Highlands
We had a great evening here and it's always a pleasure to work with the Kittel's team.
On the evening we focused on Highlands and Lowlands Whiskies and there were some great drams on offer. I liked the Auchentoshan as usual it's a great lowlands solid. I also used my own lowlands blend as of late I've been blending even more of my whiskies and am really enjoying it. We're offering our first Blending Seminar in march and I can't wait. The Highlands that stole my heart was the Deanston 15 year old organic. What a whisky, the definition of a slow burner. It's starts off a little shy but with every sip you take it unfolds into a very complex yet easy to drink scotch. Beautiful. We also had the Teaninich 10 which we really enjoyed and then the Gerston from The Lost Distillery as a smoky finish. I loved it but it really split the crowd. The power of Whisky!
I've just come back from Ireland and we had amazing weather... for a change. We also got to visit a very special distillery: Waterford Distillery. This is high-tech, state of the art stuff with two beautiful stills from Islay at the heart of it. Very impressive. Haven't heard of it yet? I bet you've heard of Mark Reynier the former head of Bruichladdich though. You mightn't know them as they haven't released any whiskey to date but flippin hell have they been busy and trust me you will know them very soon. First off, the guys we met there were brilliant, so a big cheers to Eamonn and Padraig for taking such care and time out of their day for us. I don't really know how to start explaining what this distillery is up to because they are doing so much and are more or less resetting the Irish Whisky industry or maybe even bringing it back to its roots. We've all heard of the Irish Whiskey Renaissance but I think this might be the start of the Irish Whiskey Revolution (I know, it's a pity they're not from Cork, but nobody's perfect). Another thing you might not know are the names of Irish barley farmers but you will in a few years, believe me. While we were there we got to try 3 kinds of new make from three different farms and I can safely say it's the first time I've seen an example of terroir or micro climate in Irish whiskey. One of them was being distilled while we were there. All three tasted completely different. Completely different. They ranged from super farmyard tasting to almost being a whisky as we know it but without any maturation. There has been talk going around recently about introducing a new kind of un-aged whiskey category for Ireland, one where there is no minimum time in the barrel. When I first heard it I was sceptical. Then I tried the new make in Waterford: It's already good, very good in fact - imagine what a little time in a decent barrel would do? I tried something there that even 12 months in a good barrel would transform into something fabulous! Imagine if it were possible to already buy this, rather than waiting the arbitrary 3 years? Well that's just my 2 cents and I'm definitely not saying that Waterford are the ones trying to introduce this system, I'm just super excited to try the final product. If even 1 % of the attention to detail I saw makes it to the first bottling we're all in for a good show. One thing I can tell you is this: These guys know what they're doing, so form an orderly line and get ready for something special.
Gearóid
PS I'll be one of the first in that line by the way.
PPS: It's founded on the site of a historic brewery so we got to see that too! My dad came along too, I'm sure you can guess from the photos who he is.
We have some great stuff planned for you in 2017, and I'll be uploading the dates, times, locations and themes very soon! But first this:
Lots of bad stuff about 2016 in the media but really if we take the time to look around us locally, spend time with our friends and family, maybe even enjoy the odd whisky I think you might see a different version of 2016. Think global act local, support your local dealer and spend time with the one you love! The whisky jack had a great year with all of you and I want to say thank you to all my guests, customers, partners and family without you there's no whisky jack! Can't wait for 2017, Gearóid.
Recently we made dinner for The Balvenie and 100 invited guests and it was an absolutely great evening! I'll write up more about it in a few days time! heres a video of last year til then! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNSmQw-aao
This is the recipe from the food pairing & whisky tasting. It’s originally a Jamie Oliver recipe that I’ve adapted. On the evening we had large jars but if you can you should use smaller ones because once a jar's been opened it will only last for a week in the fridge. It makes about 2 litres
pickling liquid:
1 litre cider or white wine vinegar
1 litre water
2 tablespoons sea salt
pickling marinade:
500 ml extra virgin olive oil 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 fresh chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 kg mixed mushrooms (cleaned) like chestnut, chanterelle shitake, enokitake - anything you like really just don’t use regular white mushrooms
a few sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary and sage
Make sure you sterilize your jars before you start. Bring all the pickling liquid ingredients to the boil in a large pan. Slice your vegetables any way you like, I normally use a mandolin on a thick setting. Like maybe 5mm to 10mm. You need to do this so as the flavours and pickling liquid will penetrate enough. Smaller pieces, like baby mushrooms or really small onions, can be left whole.
Put the pickling marinade ingredients into a large bowl with the herbs and mix.
Put the sliced vegetables in the boiling pickling liquid and leave for around 3 minute. Push them down to ensure they are all immersed. Lift the pieces out with a slotted spoon and place them into your bowl of pickling marinade and toss them together.
After 3minutes, put the hot vegetables and pickling marinade into your sterilized jars. Make sure you fill them to the top. Cover everything completely with the marinade and put the lids on tightly.
Put the jars to one side until they're cool. Clean the outside of jars, attach sticky labels and write the date and the contents on them. Store the jars somewhere cool and dark - it's best to leave them for about two weeks before opening so the veg really gets to marinate well, but three days later is also fine. The longer you wait the better everything tastes.
If you want to make pickled onions & fennel then use the following instead of mushrooms:
500 g fennel bulbs and their tops
500 g of small mixed onions & shallots and 4 bay leaves
This was one of our favourite tastings so far. Before anything else BIG thanks to everyone who helped: Vicky, Claudius & JIl from Black Delight, Camile, Marvin, and Philipp Harker from the Whiskey Union. Thanks also to Douglas Laing & Bremer Spirituosencontor for helping us with this one.
We had 4 amazing blended whiskies, and a four course dinner including oysters, warm salad, smoked & baked cod followed by an amazing cheesecake!
Fun was had and if you weren't there then hopefully we'll see you next time.
http://www.whiskeyunion.net/home.html
https://www.douglaslaing.com, http://www.bremerspirituosencontor.de/
http://www.camillesachse.de/
We recently had a great tasting at Salon Wechsel Dich in Hamburg. Here are a few pictures for those who couldn't join us. It also goes without saying, thanks to those who were there to enjoy a few great whiskies with me! See you on January 14th in Black Delight in Hamburg!
We had a great tasting recently, so a big thank you to everyone who came and also to everyone who helped out. It was really interesting to see what kind of a difference the extra finishing process makes to the whisky. The photos were taken by our friend Camille and I hope you enjoy them. Here's her website by the way: www.camillesachse.de
