Today I did a blind tasting with members of the 6-Day distillery Workshop. I served up samples of the Whiskies pictured above taking care to have diluted each sample to 30% alcohol for proper evaluation. The Whisky on left is the very popular Alberta Premium made by Beam Suntory subsidiary Alberta Distillers. The middle product is a recent entrant onto store shelves. The 6 year old distillate is purchased from Collingwood Distillers in Ontario and given a further year of ageing in Kelowna, BC in ex-bourbon casks, ex-red wine casks and Hungarian oak casks. The product on right is a small batch whisky made by Shelter Point Distilling in Campbell River, BC on traditional pot stills. The class comments were uniform. The Shelter Point product was deemed to have the best mouth-feel and finish. The Bearface exhibited good oak character, but was lacking in body and texture. The Alberta Premium was the least appreciated of all with comments indicating a certain harshness on the palate. I later pointed out to the class that the Shelter Point product is a pot distilled whisky – hence its good mouth-feel. The other two products are column distilled which removes far too much flavor from the distillate. This tasting exercise supports what I have been long saying – if you are going to make a Whisky, then make it on a pot still using the double pot distillation technique.

In the most recent Gin Experience Class, we started our exploration with a blind tasting of four London Dry Gins. I was expecting them to be all generally the same. But, surprise, surprise! The class by a wide margin selected Beefeater as its favorite of the four in terms of aroma, texture and mouthfeel. We went on to compare Beefeater to some craft distilled “contemporary Gins” and found that Beefeater stood out in a positive way. I for one am now set to re-visit the entire subject area of British Gins. My prevailing attitude towards British Gins has been changed by this Beefeater experience. Next time you are at your favorite watering hole, ask for a sample of Beefeater and a sample of one other London Dry Gin. Eyeball the level of the liquid in the respective glasses and add half again as much water to each to effectively reduce the % alcohol to 30% in each of your samples. Assess the aroma, mouthfeel and finish of Beefeater and you will see what I am talking about.

I have now made the acquaintance of a big, complex Scotch which I have been looking to acquire for some time now. As you can tell by the level of the liquid in this photo, I have now had a couple drams. I can pick out subtle notes of ripe stone fruit. I can pick out a pleasant spiciness on the finish along with a wee touch of what reminds me of green apple (wood tannins). All in all, this is a complex dram and maybe that is why it bears the moniker “the beast of Dufftown”. I definitely recommend getting yourself a bottle (if you can find it). I got mine at the BC Gov’t Signature Liquor Store for $81.