On our recent visit to Edinburgh, we did as every good tourist should and paid a visit to the Scotch Whisky Experience, which is at the top of the big hill, next to the big castle, opposite the big hall of mirrors.

There are lots of reasons to go there – not least of which is the opportunity to go on a ride – a proper ’sit in a barrel and hold on’ ride that takes you through the whole experience of whisky being made – but the twist is, that you are one of the ingredients, though we will keep an air of suspense and mystique about which particular whisky ingredient you play the role of (we can’t remember).

There’s also an introduction to the flavours and aromas of whisky, as well as a tasting, a gift shop and a lovely café/bar – but for us the highlight was the largest collection of Scotch single malts and blends on the planet. As Clutch put it, it was like his Fortress of Solitude: a perfect retreat from the world, surrounded by amazing, rare, special and – importantly – floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall whiskies.

What was surprising was how well it had been done. It wasn’t tacky and showy – and nor was it a fusty museum piece. The individual whiskies – and there were almost 3,500 bottles in the collection – were beautifully displayed, each discernible and examinable – and the totality of that collection (officially, the Diageo ‘Claive Vidiz Collection’) was quite overwhelming.

We had to sit down and have a dram to recover from all the awesome.

Make sure you go there if you’re in town.

You’ll notice that this blog post is neither right up to date, nor chronologically sequential with the other recent posts. Or you won’t. At any rate, this pertains to a visit we made to a distillery while we were on our way to St Andrews a couple of weeks back.

Daftmill is the newest distillery in Scotland – as yet, not releasing any stock onto the market – and, officially, not open to the public. But first we managed to convince our designated driver, Craig to take a detour – and then distillery manager Francis to let us in for a look around.

Enjoy.

The Friday night tasting for the Dubber and Clutch St Andrews Golf Open Whisky Fiasco 2010 was a selection of rare and boutique bottlings from Whyte and Mackay – including three new expressions from Isle of Jura and the award-winning 30 year-old blend.

Dalmore 18
Gorgeous. Dubber was tempted to just stay on this one all night. Rich, rewarding and a sherried treat.

Nose: Sherry, fruit, rich cake, spice, a touch of menthol.
Palate: Chocolate and coffee, with licorice and aniseed.
Finish: Smooth and round.

The Dalmore Mackenzie
It turns out that we got our hands on the last two bottles of this limited edition range. What a treat.

Nose: Winter fruits, cake mix, ginger.
Palate: Fresh baked apple tart, pecans, dark chocolate, ginger crunch.
Finish: Maple syrup, leather.

Jura Xu
The first and the youngest of the three new Jura premium expressions – and by far the most peaty Isle of Jura we’ve every tried.

Nose: Smoked bacon, roast pinenuts.
Palate: Peat, ash, a little sweetness and vanilla.
Finish: Long and sharp.

Jura Jo
A 15 year-old finished in a bourbon cask.

Nose: Light sweetness, summer fruits and caramel.
Palate: Some citrus and apple, pear drops and sugarcane. Water opens it up considerably.
Finish: Warm and fruity.

Jura Ji
The oldest member of the family and a sherry cask finish. As with the other new Jura premium bottlings, this is a cask strength.

Nose: Christmas cake, nuts and a strong aroma of the sherry.
Palate: Marzipan, shortbread, raisins and more sherry.
Finish: Long – full of stewed fruit and cinnamon.

Whyte and Mackay 30 year-old blend
The king of blends. Award-winning for good reason and – while it’s outside the scope of most tasting notes, we feel we need to say something about the beautiful packaging. This is a treasure to own.

Nose: Rich and complex.
Palate: Beautifully smooth. Full of rich flavours including toffee, banana, sherry, cigar smoke and cream.
Finish: Lingering, sweet and with a hint of toffee.

On the bright side of our St Andrews whisky tasting debacle, we did get to sample some very fine drams. Here’s what we made of the Douglas Laing & Co Ltd selection on Thursday night:

Auchentoshan 10 year-old (Provenance bottling)
A good way to start the evening, and a great way to open up the palate. This is a light Lowland malt from the only distillery to practice true triple distillation.

Nose: Sweet, citrus, light esters, honey.
Palate: Fresh, smooth, slightly drying, sherbert, more honey.
Finish: Floral, sharp citrus, lemon rind.

Royal Brackla 12 year-old (Provenance bottling)
A real hit. We liked this a lot. Surprisingly peaty, as the only other Brackla we’d ever had reminded us more of light toffee and white wine.

Nose: Dry and astringent – some sweetness with a little fresh soap.
Palate: Surprisingly leafy, peppery with a touch of cocoa and malt coming through.
Finish: Longer than we would have expected with oak and a medium amount of smoke.

Strathmill 16 year-old (Old Malt Cask)
A bit of a rarity. Normally a very “green” malt, so we were interested to see what a 16 year-old from Strathmill would present.

Nose: Apples, light spice, estery grass, woody notes.
Palate: Sweet, grassy again, a hint of balsamic, oak, vanilla and spice.
Finish: Soft, yet drying

Caol Ila 15 year-old (Old Malt Cask)
This was a sure-fire winner with us, as we’re a fan of the Islay malts in general. This was one of 258 bottles.

Nose: Smoke, floral, lemons.
Palate: Shortbread, buttered toast, a little woodsmoke.
Finish: Medium to long, chorizo and paprika.

Laphroaig 8 year-old
Young for a Laphroaig and we were expecting quite a rough and brash malt. We were not disappointed.

Nose: Pepper, smoke, smoked fish, salt.
Palate: Brine, more smoke.
Finish: Huge burst of peat.

Big Peat
Does what it says on the tin. We’ve had this before and were glad to encounter it again. A blend featuring malts from Port Ellen, Ardbeg, Caol Ila and Bowmore.

Nose: Big and peaty.
Palate: Seashore, smoke.
Finish: Huge. This one goes down kicking.

It was the 150th anniversary of the Golf Open at St Andrews. We came, we saw, and we were utterly conquered.

We may well go down in history as the hosts of the best, most well-organised, well-promoted, best-stocked and WORST-attended whisky tastings of all time.

And we have some very fine and expensive whisky left over to give to you, if you can explain to us what went wrong. We may know our drams (at least, to a respectable standard) and we may be a well-oiled machine when it comes to making sure that the venue, the food, the glassware and the accessories are all in place – but it turns out that events promotion may not be our strong suit, and we want your help.

The planning

All the ingredients were right: a major golfing event in a Scottish town, tens of thousands of wealthy tourists from around the world, business executives darting about in helicopters, a magnificent selection of malts, and a town hall free for booking. We’d done hours of research and preparation, created beautiful presentations, printed tasting note sheets, bought dozens of Glencairn whisky tasting glasses, secured amazing local cheeses and oatcakes, as well as shortbread and bottled water – and had everything in place.

The radio said 300,000 visitors to St Andrews for the golf open this weekend. We figured we should be able to convince a few dozen to pop along to a tasting of twelve of the finest whiskies about over two consecutive nights.

The logistics and marketing were planned down to fractions of a unit. No fewer than 3000 glossy flyers were individually handed to people that looked like they might be up for an evening of the kind of Scottish culture that exceeds 40% alcohol by volume.

The publicity machine

What really fooled us was the enthusiasm. We chatted with literally hundreds of people all day, every day for the past three days – in and around the town, at the golf, in pubs and bars – and in torrential rain, howling wind and, occasionally, in the sunshine.

We shook hands, exchanged names, discussed how great the whiskies were and explained exactly where to go. People took flyers. Some asked for extras.

We talked about it at length online. Our 1,000+ followers on Twhisky had repeated invitations and reminders. Richard Paterson, Whyte & Mackay’s master blender and celebrity whisky personality put the call out to his 7,000 followers. Golf blogger Andy Brown circulated the message to his substantial mailing list.

The Scottish Tourism Board got involved, as did major Scottish newspapers. The tourism information centre were actively promoting us, and we even had insiders in the corporate hospitality tents encouraging their fellow VIPs to attend.

In all, we personally collected around 400 excited and genuinely keen promises to attend with gusto, as well as with friends and family members in tow. We needed just 30 to make good on those promises over two nights to break even.

The turnout

Competition winner Stuart Maclaughlin enjoys a dram

The first night, three came. Two of them had won their tickets in an online competition. The other was virtually dragged off the street – and in the end, we didn’t have the heart to charge him the entry fee. We closed the doors, had a dram or three, and a magnificent time with a terribly small but fantastic group of people – and then went home dejected.

We doubled our efforts the next day – determined to personally carry people into the building on our shoulders if necessary. Everyone was friendly and everyone was enthusiastic. We had cast iron guarantees of attendance from at least 40 people.

Not one came. Not one. WTF.

The explanation

We have theories. Something about the weather, the starting time or possibly the venue. None of these theories are very good – and certainly none explain a total washout. Poor attendance maybe, but not an absolutely zero turnout.

The price was £39 a head. Steep for your usual night out, admittedly – but given the circumstances and the clientele, it wasn’t outrageous. The feedback we had was that for six drams of bottles this great over the course of an evening, it was not an issue – but it is something we’re prepared to review.

The whisky itself was, of course, a massive drawcard. These are, it has to be said, some of the finest drams we’ve ever encountered. But even that was not enough to get people to actually walk through the doors.

Since we opened one of each bottle in preparation for our attendees each night, we’ve had our own tasting, and we’re very glad we did. Had the whole debacle not been a financial catastrophe for a couple of blokes who could ill afford it, then that alone would have been more than enough compensation for our battered egos.

We’ll post the tasting notes from each of the fine whiskies we’ve tasted (yes, just us, alone in a town hall) here on the blog over the next couple of days.

In the meantime – we want to hear what you think. What could we have done differently? Your positive advice and helpful suggestions would be most welcome. In fact, we’re so keen to get this right in future, we have a complete set of the three new Jura expressions we were tasting on the night to give away.

That’s around £180 worth of premium whisky for your best explanation or critique of the Dubber & Clutch St Andrews Golf Open Whisky Fiasco 2010.

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be doing a couple of tasting events in St Andrews during the golf open this week. Two nights of the very best of Scottish culture, taking in the history and folklore surrounding some of Scotland’s finest drams.

Thursday 15th July:
This evening presents a wide selection of stunning malts from throughout the Douglas Laing & Co. Ltd range, including Provenance and Old Malt Cask bottlings. Rare, unusual and fascinating.

- Auchentoshan 10 year-old
- Royal Brackla 12 year-old
- Strathmill 16 year-old
- Caol Ila 15 year-old
- Laphroaig 8 year-old
- Big Peat

Tickets are £39 and you can book for this tasting here.

Friday 16th July:
This evening showcases some of the most beautiful, expertly crafted whiskies available today. Some boutique and rare bottlings, unlikely to be seen again – and the king of blends to crown the night.

- The Dalmore 18 year-old
- The Dalmore Mackenzie
- Jura Xu 1999
- Jura Jo 1995
- Jura Ji 1993
- Whyte & Mackay 30 year-old blend

Again, tickets are £39 and you can book for this tasting here.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Partly to celebrate St David’s Day today – but mostly because it was long overdue, Clutch and I decided to try the samples of Penderyn that the Welsh Whisky company had kindly sent us.

Nose:
Custard, vanilla, tangerine, honey-roasted peanuts, tiny touch of smoke.

Palate:
Flumps. Seriously: Flumps. Also, condensed milk, cream toffee… Penderyn is a dessert whisky.

Finish:
Very smooth, rounded, unassuming, a little astringent.

Verdict:
Quite quaffable, very enjoyable. A lovely dram that would welcome newcomers to the world of malts… and a lovely way to finish off St David’s Day.

My housemate came back from the Isle of Man, and brought back a bottle of Manx. At first glance, we thought it was new make spirit – whisky that’s not old enough to be called whisky (3 years), but then we looked into it properly and were surprised to learn that it’s not.

It’s something much stranger.

Manx is re-distilled.

They make whisky – proper whisky, aged properly – and then put it back in the stills for another go. The result is a colourless spirit that is a remarkably smooth, whisky-like drink.

There’s no colour to speak of at all. On the nose, it’s light and delicate. The palate is a little honeyed, but not sweet – and there’s a longish, warm finish.

An interesting dram to say the least, and one we were very pleasantly surprised with.

You can find Manx Spirit on the Isle of Man – or here at their website.

Hi – Compliments of the season and all that.

We’ve been having a bit of a hiatus from the online whisky tastings for a little while. I’ve been travelling rather a lot these last six months, and Clutch has been altogether too wrapped up in the whole new dadhood thing.

Plus, when we have been getting together, it’s simply been a case of a casual, unscheduled malt or two for a bit of a catch-up as and when. Tastings – even online ones – take a bit of organising. Something neither of us have had much opportunity for recently.

But even though we’re going to be in different parts of the country, we thought it would be a shame to let Hogmanay (that’s New Year to you) go past without getting online with the whiskies we picked up for Christmas, share a few stories and hear what you’ve been enjoying over this festive season.

Twhisky: 10PM GMT 1/1/2010
Of course, we realise you’re busy tonight, and will be spending much of tomorrow taking it easy – so we’ve scheduled a late one tomorrow, the first day of the new decade, for a Twhisky tasting – 10pm GMT.

We’ve chosen the later time mostly with respect for our American friends for whom it will still only be the middle of the afternoon, but it also gives those of us in the UK time zone a chance to get a good meal in, sit back and relax – and warm ourselves for a nightcap.

I’m at home in Birmingham, and Clutch is snowed in, up in the heart of Speyside – so we’ll be toasting each other’s health at a distance, and the magic of the internet will make that possible. We’d love you to join in on a seasonal dram with us.

We have a few special malts that we’re going to be tasting, but mostly we want to hear from you. How have you been spending your holiday, what did you get for Christmas – and most importantly, what’s the nose, palate and finish like on it?

To join in, follow us on Twitter here. Look forward to chatting then. In the meantime, have a happy and safe New Year’s.

Another tale of European travel.

I was in Genoa in the northern part of Italy a week or so back, and as is my way, I decided to go looking for a single malt. To my delight, it seemed that every bar in town had a genuine Scottish single malt whisky.

To my dismay, they all carried the same single malt whisky, it was cheap, abundant, a mere 5 years old – and not one I’d encountered in Britain.

I was a little surprised to find it somewhat unremarkable. I thought it’d be downright awful. Still – it was 2am, I was hanging out with musicians, I didn’t know the Italian for “no ice, please”, and they were pouring generous measures. I was delighted to find a single malt at all – not least of which one that was perfectly palatable.

And when I say generous measures, we’re talking easily 150ml. With a handful of icecubes on top of that, we were more or less filling the tumbler.

As the reviews mention – it’s fairly insubstantial. Not unpleasant by any stretch of the imagination – but a quaffable malt.

And for some reason, you can be pretty much assured that you’ll find it in any bar you walk into in Northern Italy. But personally – I recommend Mario’s Bar.

Apart from the big, prominent TV, the bar is incredibly relaxing. Mario himself is friendly and generous – and will recognise you and talk to you at length whenever you go back there.

He’ll only talk to you at lenght in Italian of course, so I’d just smile and nod whenever he did that – but it’s all enthusiasm, beaming smiles and welcoming gestures from him, so that’s good enough for me.

I’m sure that bottle in the picture was full when we arrived…