Whisky Mac

Posted on 2007/07/26 00:11:18 (July 2007).

[Wednesday 25th July]
There's a bit of a play on words in the title here (a Whisky Mac is a drink Vera likes on occasion, to "buck her up", which is equal parts whisky and ginger wine) given that tonight I went out to drink whisky with a guy called Mac (well Makoto-san to be more precise).

Mac-san is a colleague of Chie's who is apparently quite keen on whisky, and was very keen to visit the whisky society. So tonight him and his wife Manami-san came along with Chie and I for a bit of a pilgrimage to London's sacred chapel devoted to single cask malts.

We started off with a quick dinner at the Pizza Express near Farringdon, and once we'd eaten we headed straight for the club.

We sampled a wide range of malts between the four of us, taking in such diverse distilleries as Littlemill, Glenlivet, Bruichladdich, Loch Lomond and of course some of my "usuals" such as Laphroaig, Caol Ila, Highland Park and Clynelish. The barman was on absolute top form tonight - I gave him all sorts of complicated requests as I tried to work out the tastes of my guests (e.g. I want something between the Bruichladdich and the Caol Ila in terms of peatiness, but a tad sweeter, and with a hint of something fruity in the nose). He really knew his onions, and came up with some great suggestions.

I was particularly pleased to see the Laphroaig described with the signature note of "barbecued apples" something I'm more familiar with in its Japanese form - yakiringo - which cropped up a few times in some particularly excellent malts at Quercus bar back in Tokyo. Tonight's "barbecued apples" offering was also something of a hit with our guests tonight (well, Mac-san liked it, his wife was less keen).

It's always fun to have an opportunity like this to introduce people who like whisky to the society - a great way to spend an evening!

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