Mc Beth on Whisky

Rambling

2012-01-25T02:36:00.000-08:00

I was just beginning to think I may well have taken a wrong turn when another breathtakingly beautiful corner exposed the large gates. From what I thought was going to be a small quaint boutique hotel opened an enormous well kept property. With its white walls and beautifully manicured lawns and gardens I was quite impressed. I walked down to the old cellar with its traditional double volume space. A long table was set up for us and the simplicity of the place really had me intrigued.

A whisky dinner with cigars can go horribly wrong; luckily this was an easy crowd, a well managed kitchen and not surprisingly great whisky. I later discovered it was very much a farewell dinner for the GM and seemingly 4 of the senior staff. Le Franschhoek 5 Star hotel is truly a magnificent venue. I did not think I would be doing work there again due to the exodus of all the staff and I never really thought of it again till this weekend. My son was to play in a seven aside Rugby Tournament so rather than get up begrudgingly at 5 am Saturday morning we decided to drive through Friday afternoon and overnight. Where to stay?? After purveying a multitude of options The Villas struck a chord. I ignored the insistent "where is this place?" from both wife and children, remembering how a year earlier I too felt it seemed a long way out. Once we had driven through gates, though they were silenced.

I think my journeys around the world have taught me one thing about myself, and that is I am never content with something until I can share it with others. This is why I soldier on my journey of Discovery and of course sharing a dram or two

Take 20837 /1a

2012-01-25T02:17:00.000-08:00

Well it appears a belated happy New Year to one and all is in order.It seems I am always trying to use a blog to make communicating easier for those of you that follow me yet somehow I cannot seem to keep them going. So for the nth time lets see what we can do. Tommorow 26 Jan I gather with fellow cigar club members at Caveau for a casual Cuban affair. Coming up in a few weeks time I will be presenting some incredible malt whiskies not readily available in South Africa. I will try my best to get my website http://www.whiskyshop.co.za/ updated. I have been offrered quite a bit of help from fellow whisky lovers. I will try my hardest to ensure that we repeat the Wine and Whisky fest we held at Montecasino last year( in fact there is a Rumour that we will do it twice) so watch this space. Hope we will meet this year and share a wee dram or two.

2008-11-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

Its hard to believe that it is exactly a year ago that I last wrote on whiskylive 2007 and today is the eve of Whiskylive 2008.
Please support my stands the Single & Single as well as Nikka.
My workshop 100 years of Umami is on the Friday Night and features some great Japanese Malts.
Please drop in and share a wee dram or two with us.
Slainthe Mhath

Whisky Live Cape Town

2007-11-04T23:51:00.000-08:00

Well incredibly this years festival is over for Cape Town anyway we have Johannesburg starting on Wednesday. Thankfully Jack Daniels left their Harley at home so I still have a voice.
Thank you to all of you that came to say hello and all of the new folk I met it was great to meet you.

They were here once more in bright blazing technicolour, the Brands we all know Johhnie Walker, J&B, Bells, Jack Daniels, Glenfiddich with lounges, extended areas and all the marketing Rand thrown to create that space in our minds as first associated with whisky.
This year there had an underlying intelligence from the smaller stands, the back to basics area succeeded in achieving exactly that showing that knowledge allows for more discerning tastes and less gimmicks.

Ryan O'Conner was a great MC the music was vibrant and fitting all in all it was Wow. The calibre of people attending was so special, I must say though I still dread the Friday night, it seems as though this year was no different.
The lady who sold the extra coupons was rushed off her feet by 7.30 she had sold more tickets than she had sold the entire Wednesday and Thursday combined. It amazes me how many people bought extra coupons before they even started tasting so it would appear they were there for a reason, and polite conversation was not high up on their lists.

The crazy rush and vibe though allows the night to zip past and before you know it the vultures arrive waving their glasses as they slurr as honestly as they can," ag jist ooonnnnne mooore pleeeshhh." Now I would love to say that its my high standard when it comes to promoting responsible drinking that allows me to instantly reject and possibility of giving them even a sniff of what's before me. The truth is how on earth could I live with myself knowing that I poured a 32 Year old Glen Scotia for someone who had lost all sense of feeling a least 30 minutes ago.

No No its not going to happen I will not allow the Friday binging to spoil what is an otherwise very good production and certainly a world leader in its field , Whisky Live is here to stay and Cape Town and Johannesburg will continue to be the biggest and brightest.

The State of Idependents

2007-11-01T02:33:00.000-07:00

Whisky Live Cape Town 2007 kicked off last night and whilst I would love to comment on the festival as a whole, I cannot, as I found myself bogged down on my stand.

What I did get to see is surely one of the very best shows the world has to offer.

I am very fortunate to be manning the Independent Bottlers Challenge stand this year, and those of you lucky enough to have sought me out last night I am sure will agree. The collection of malts is absolutely superb.

One has to wonder how much longer the independents are going to be able to get hold of such gems as they have over the last decade or so. As demand increases distilleries are less likely to let go of their casks opting rather to release proprietary labels only.

Having said that the malts on offer are as always of the highest quality with most of the older whiskies attracting the most attention. It is probably the hardest thing to convince someone that age does not mean better especially when whiskies like The Balblair 40 from whisky exchange and Duncan Taylor's 39 years Old Bunnahabhain not to mention Dun Bheagans 31 years Old Glen Scotia offer such a good argument to the contrary.

Of the independents on show though its rather interesting that more and more now own distilleries too. Ian Macleod owns Glengoyne, Signatory owns Edradour, Cadenheads owns Springbank or is it Springbank owns Cadenheads, Gordan MacPhail owns Benromach, I guess its a trend and there are many more examples.

What is evident though is that the independents are still offering some of the very best casks of whisky available and I for one would be very sad to see them fade away. My favourite drams thus far have got to be the Highland Park 18 and Port Ellen 24 from Dewar Rattray , The Tamdhu 13 and Rosebank 15 from DunBheagan. Old Malt Casks Port Ellen 25 and Ardbeg 15 I have to get through at least another 50 drams over the next 2 days and will report on the actual results from whisky magazine too and then decide for once and all which are my favourites of the lot.

Get yourself to the stand and try some for yourself, it is truly an experience not to be missed.
See you then Slainthe Mhath.

Update whats been up.

2007-08-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

The 7th was real fun try presenting whisky to 250 people, their is only so much time you can manage to keep them listening, I have told most people I prefer to limit a tutored tasting to 50 people and rather go Whisky dinner for such large groups, that way you only need their attention for 20 minutes.
Ahhh well I still need to decide if I am too boring or if the crowds are just rude.
The 8th saw a nice group of people with a lot of new faces and boy were they lucky we featured some fantastic whisky they all seemed very keen and open minded.
I managed to go a whole week from the 13th to the 20th without presenting an event I finally caught up on some paperwork.
The 20th kicked off with me presenting the Van Gogh Vodka range to what turned out to be a very surprised and delighted crowd. My club met on the 22nd for part 2 and were rather pleased with being able to sample 2 whiskies that are not available in SA, it must be said they had a negative prejudice towards J&B Nox which I am afraid I could not change until they discovered Knockandoo that is.
A few were very pleased that I finally included a blended whisky(JW Blue Label) no I will not be featuring blends in the future. The reason I did it was The Royal Lochnagar did not arrive on time as such I selected what I thought was the next best thing.
The 23rd had me presenting to Beluga's Staff a full range of whisky including bourbon.

As of Monday the 27th I have been in Jozi I kicked off at Melrose Arch Wine sense with a Whisky and Sushi evening which must have been one of the toughest crowds I have ever presented to. Tuesday we gathered at the Wanderers Club with a great bunch of enthusiastic people thanks to Jeff Spiller. It turned out to be a brilliant tasting and was really well received.

Tonight I present at the Wanderers to The Rotary Club so I am sure it will be a lot of fun.
Tomorrow I am off to Pretoria to present to a Wine Club I will do my best not to have a go at their sour grapes I am sure we will have a blast though.

Then Friday Its back to the Mother City to celebrate my younger sons second birthday.

That's what I've been up to.Please do not be scared post a comment if you like but do consider yourself updated.
Slainthe Mhath

Coming Up Next week

2007-08-03T02:33:00.000-07:00

For those of you that do read this Blog......

Tuesday 7 August Corporate tasting with international speaker, this should be interesting will be nice to get feedback from delegates to see how I compare.
Wed 8 August Club tasting at the FBG in Greenamrket square I reveal some new whiskies including a Brora 23 Years old which makes my top 8 of all time it is the first time in about 3 years that there has been a new entry, peat and sherry wowowowowow fan...tastic.
Thursday 9 August was supposed to be a tasting with Don Paul at Marimba where we would be creating our own blends but as fashion week is on at the same time it looks as though we will have to postpone the event again.

So there is much to do about whisky, hope to see you out and about till then Keep dramming.

August Still Cold and Wet

2007-08-03T02:19:00.000-07:00

Well August has officially arrived, I ended July with a tasting at The FBG in Greenmarket square which was well received and good to see so many new faces.
Today is cold and wet again so methinks a dram be a good idea.

There is some terrific news, coming soon, I will be completely overhauling my club and how it is structured as well as a strategic partnership which you wine lovers will certainly enjoy,,, more on this a bit later look out for my Newsletter.

This was not a quiet week by any ones standards, Tuesday was my Club tasting, Wednesday was a Cigar tasting at a woman's Success club which was rather interesting.Last night was some quality family time to celebrate the wife's birthday.

As yet I have not received a single comment so I am assuming that no one is reading this blog which makes me wonder if I can better spend this time elsewhere.

Have a good weekend
Keep Dramming

Coming up Next Week

2007-07-27T02:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 31 July
This month I only had time to fit in one Club tasting event in Cape Town and it happens to be a re look at 6 malts we have tasted previously a kind of favourite or mentionable list join me at the Famous Butchers Grill at greenmarket square Members R50 Non Members R100.
Wednesday 1 August is my Darling wife's Birthday so best I behave and not work although I may have to present Cigars to 100 Executive woman at one of those network dinners.
Thursday the 2nd Don Paul gathers with The Striding Men a Pigalle ( was I invited.... yes oops did I book.....ah well will have to phone Don with a long sob story.
Hope you all have a great weekend and have enough of your favourite Dram to keep you dry.
Slainthe Mhath

Another week is over.

2007-07-27T01:24:00.000-07:00

Wow talk about time flying the week has come and gone. The rain I am afraid is staying , not that I mind the rain its just that of late the persistent hard downpour is scaring my dogs.
Nothing like being woken by a 50kg Labrador trying to get into your bed at 3 in the morning.
Ahh well at least we can have a wee dram to keep the chill away.

Tuesday I ventured up the west coast to visit with Darelle Scheepers a new friend to Mc Beth on Whisky, she had gathered 20 or so keen souls to taste whisky, network and basically have a good time. On arriving I was greeted by 2 blokes in tuxedos, I was a little concerned by this as I generally do things quite low scale and informal.

I was soon put to ease as Darelle arrived and explained they were only the butlers ( her colleagues I believe) and that it was not a black tie event.
Shoo it has been a while since I had been up the coast and much has changed as far as development is concerned. What has remained though is the warm hospitality and the friendly people.
I waffled on a bit about the history of whisky trying to remove the myths and preconceived ideas. I did a straight comparison between 3 Irish malts and 3 Scotch malts.

1 Murray Mc David Ben Nevis 1999
A dry hay like nose I said library book on the night as they looked like a learned bunch, and were, young and fiery with promise its youth still struggling to find balance on the palate good barley and complex oak.
2 Greenspot
Now for those that are in the know they were very fortunate to sample such a fine pure pot still whiskey as it is not available in SA. It had a lovely clean light and fruity nose , mouthwatering with a touch of eucalyptus and tons of honey to a subtle soft lingering finish.
3 Tyrconnel Single malt.
A rich vanilla nose with baker mix of almonds and castor sugar. So chewy and moreish on the palate with a late spicy buzz on the palate and an eternal finish.
4 The Speyside 12 Years Old
Rich caramel, sherry and loads of Orange and good spice of cloves and nutmeg on the nose with a sweet subtle yet still immature palate for its age a rugged and rich compote of dark plums.
5 Bushmills 10 Years Old
Hints of vanilla with sherry indecision on the nose. the palate is soft sweet barley sugar and fuller spice finish ,the complexity though is lost maybe because of the third distillate.
6 Smokehead
Rich fresh lemon zest with dark plum and tar smoke and more smoke and brimstone.
A sweet luscious malt that still fighting the smoke and peat with as subtle sea breeze.

It must be said that this was not a peatfreak crowd although there certainly were 2 definite converts and one lady who assured me that she was not a whisky drinker and had tried thousands before, she conceded that maybe she had overlooked whisky for too long and was ready to investigate once more. Two others still cannot believe that anyone could possibly like peat.
A great evenings work , I headed home through a rather misty highway all along thinking that next I should probably stay over night.

Whisky dinner Winesense Kalk Bay 19 July 2007

2007-07-24T02:23:00.000-07:00

A fine intimate group of people gathered on Thursday 19 July at winesense Kalk bay.Wine people I think, who seemed to have a liking for whisky.
I gave them a brief summary of the History of Whisky and a basic definition of whisky.What discerns a malt from a blend from a grain etc.
I had selected 6 Malt whiskies four of which were to be matched with food.
The Whiskies were
Edradour 10, Macallan 12, Murray Mc David Mortlach 1993, Dalmore Cigar malt, Smokehead and Bowmore 1989 Limited Edition.
The Edradour makes its welcome return to SA shelves and as such was included for an official toast to the chef.
Starter. Oysters naked, doused with a dribbling of Smokehead. We started our journey on the rugged coast of Islay where oysters a plentiful and peat reek a standard. Not everyone present enjoyed oysters yet once doused with Smokehead all agreed an improvement was noticed.
The lemon zest and tang of plum and brimstone from the Smokehead sweetened the oyster and clearly amplified the finish which was pure sea smacked ocean breeze. For reference one needed only walk 50m to the shoreline to be totally convinced.
Second Course. Springbok Carpaccio served with rocket leaves and Enokitake mushrooms and a beet jus. Served with this was the very special Bowmore. The subtle peat and rich sherry influence opened the fresh fruity mushrooms which with the big gamy influence of the springbok turned velvety soft and the hint of smoke seemed to come from the meat as opposed to he whisky the result was a near perfect infusion of flavour.
Third Course. Lamb shank in brown gravy served on mash potato with fresh veg.
Now I am not big on Port finished whisky and what Murray Mc David were thinking, as for me to see Mortlach in a Bourbon finish as opposed to sherry would be more special than a Port when they used this finish only they will know.
The lamb was perfectly prepared and kept very simple and honest as was the mash, boy what a pleasure the malt was, it lifted everything cutting through the fat and amplifying the rich texture of the meat the malt itself turned nutty and reminded me of a great borderies Cognac. proof again that cooking should always be kept simple.
Last Course. Chocolate fondant. What can I say the Macallan 12 is so elegant and wonderfully spicy that it stands up to the rich cocoa and rather than turn sweet, it cleanses the palate with a more decisive explosion of flavour. Absolute Bliss.
The Dalmore Cigar malt was offered as an after dinner malt which hit the spot well a beautiful honeycomb wax nose with a rich complex palate made for good after dinner smoking (without the nicotine risk).
A quick pole seemd to have Bowmore the favoured whisky with Macallan in second and the balance probably tied for third place.
All in all I believe the evening to have been a success and certainly all present seemed to have enjoyed the experience.
Once more thanks to Winesense Kalk bay for a great evening.
Contact them on

winesense in Kalk Bay - 021 7881869
The Quays, Majestic Precinct, Main Road,Kalk Bay, 7990
Hours of enjoyment:

Mon-Sat
11h00-22h00
Sun
11h00-20h00

Coming up this week

2007-07-24T02:15:00.000-07:00

Tuesday the 24th July I travel up North if only a hour to the coastal town of Langebaan to visit with Darelle Scheepers and conduct my fun tasting of Myths and legends, a look at both Scotch and Irish whiskies.
Wednesday 25th July I conduct a club dinner at Five Flies restaurant. A superb four course dinner served up with 4 excellent single malts.
Thursday 26th July I hit the northern suburbs of Cape Town for a corporate tasting.
Hope to see you at the dinner and meet some new potential members at the corporate events.
Keep dramming!

Wade Bales Wine Festival

2007-07-21T03:17:00.000-07:00

For the second consecutive year Wade Bales hosted a wine festival at Pezula Golf Club. Once again a bright and enthusiastic crowd arrived to sample some of SA's finest.
De Toren brought along the fine malts of Compass Box and some ellegant bourbons from Buffulo Trace including Blantons. There were a lot of pleasant rumblings over the ever popular Peat Monster and the odd mention of Oak Cross, I never actually managed to get over to the table for the standard swap of product as I ran into a few friends I had made the previous year.

I took along six malts, Tyrconnel and Connemara from Cooleys, Smokehead, Isle of Arran, The Six Isles vatted malt and a welcome return to Edradour 10.
Topping the list as most favourite was without a doubt Tyrconnel it is a full bodied rich yet elegant malt that will certainly become a Whisky of Note in the not to distant future.
The peat freaks loved the Smokehead and the Connemara and Edradour was very well received as was the Arran. There were the elite few that earned the right to a wee dram of Brora 23 which I had brought along for me personally and boy the delight in there eyes is why dramming is a sharing caring thing.

Thanks to all the friendly folk that came around and mentioned they were happy to see me back and here's to doing some more events down South.

Whisky Questions or Comments

2007-07-20T02:26:00.000-07:00

Hi all I hope you find this a useful tool I will try to answer questions you have ,or host any comment you might have right here.
I will try to do reviews of tasting events as well as tasting notes on certain whiskies.
I do also have a real job, so it all relies on availability of my old friend Father Time.
Hope you will start posting soon.

Slainte Mhath

To Blog or not to Blog

2007-07-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

This is I guess the easiest way to communicate with the electronic masses. I have avoided blogging in the past simply because I did not want anyone to think that I in anyway consider myself a writer.
Well I will test the waters as they say and see what happens.
This will be where I comment on my whisky tasting events and the odd review on whisky too.
So if ya like ya whisky than grabba glass and lets get dramming.

I must mention the Knysna Oyster festival last week was a blast I attended the mini whisky and Jazz festival they hosted at Zest on the Saturday night. My nose was slightly out of joint as I had tried unsuccessfully to get my products on the show as well.
At least they made up by allowing me in to sample the nights drams.
Present were the usual suspects Neil Hendrikz of Famous Grouse and his RGBC crew. My old and good friend and still a firm favourite Jack Hetherington.
Jonathan Miles was the surprise not that he was there but rather that he was punting Chivas and The Glenlivet. Brandhouse had there malts on display I would mention the Dear Knowlegeable Lady on the stand , however since she was a bit cold and not exactly forthcoming with her name I cannot. Rob Sweeney and everyone else from Glenfiddich were there as well.
Now I know this may come as a surprise to those of you that read the Article in the Cape Argus because the way they wrote the article the only person present was Jason but believe it or not there were others too.

Now onto those Drams I started with a firm favourite Highland Park which hit the spot nicely, the wife followed suite surprising me (not a malt person usually). As I said I was a bit stormy so had to drink accordingly I got the wife a Glenmorangie 10 next she approved, I went straight to Ardbeg nothing copes better with a bit of volatility then the memory of this distillery setting on the rugged coast of Islay. I then gave the wife her favourite dram for the night a Glenlivet 12.
I moved over to the brandhouse table hoping to get a glimpse of the Talisker 18 , I had featured it in my last 2 tastings in Cape Town as the demand for it since being voted the best Single Malt in the world by whisky magazine has been huge.
Anyway the lovely lady told me that it was at her Bar at home so as not to be wasted on plebs like myself , I hope it really is at her Bar and that she does try it so that she may finally have a good spirit flowing through her again. I find it sad when people discover the joys of malt and want to guard it rather than share it. I managed to finally get a Talisker 10 out of her and in time too as the the evening ended shortly thereafter with a charity draw which was for a really good cause. This of course prompted the wife to dig deep, bless her sole always giving where kids are involved. So the stormy mood had been settled and cheerfully we set off to find some dinner.

HMMMM Harry B's no food left can you adam and eve it out of stock?? okay Sirocco in Thesen Island eee sorry Kitchen closed 10.15 pm???? Lush same story , Oyster catcher same again, JJ's and pretty much everyone else so Spur it was no whisky here to quieten the Storm.

Maybe next Year.