Whisky fans,
Had some friends over for a blind single malt tasting this weekend. Didn't get to do the cheap/expensive bourbon faceoff this time, but loved the blind tasting format. Here's what we had:
Amrut Fusion
Ardbeg Corryveckan
Ardbeg Uigeadail
Caol Ila 10 (Gordon MacPhail bottling)
Clynelish 14
Jura Superstition
Laphroaig Petrus Cask
Yamizake 18
The Laphroaig Petrus cask showed up late after we had set everything up, so we just tried that first. Was delicious, similar to a Margaux finish Laphroaig I have. I really love the combination of Laphroaig flavor with a sweeter finish.
Then we proceeded to the blind tasting part. We wrote down our impressions and then at the end tried to match up to the bottles. The best performance was me and one other person with only 3 of 7 correct.
#1: I thought this was very light and harsh. Not much flavor and too much bite. Just about everyone's least favorite. I guessed the youngest thing there, the Caol Ila 10. Instead it was the very delicious sounding Amrut Fusion. Indian single malt fail.
#2: This was creamy, peaty, caramely and just plain delicious. Just about everyone's favorite, I got this one right - Ardbeg Corryveckan.
#3: This was very light and tasted OK, very easy to drink but nothing special. Nobody loved this, nobody hated it. I guessed Clynelish, but it was Isle of Jura Superstition.
#4: This was another light one, but with a nice touch of peatiness and better balanced than #3. Most people liked this quite a bit. I guessed Amrut due to the peat + light flavor profile. It was the Caol Ila 10.
#5: This was very very smoky, but smooth and easy to drink. Most people's second favorite, I correctly identified this as the Ardbeg Uigeadail.
#6: This was sweet and full of flavor, very smooth and very good. I liked it a lot. A couple people found it too sweet. This was obviously the odd man out in this batch, the Yamizake 18.
#7: This one was very fruity and very smooth. Nice flavor, very good balance. I picked Isle of Jura, but this was the Clynelish 14.
So, overall, the 2 Ardbegs were the concensus winners in this lineup. The Clynelish, Yamazake, and Caol Ila were middle of the pack. And the Jura and Amrut were the least popular. Even those were pretty tasty, though (to be expected w/ the guideline here being bring a $50+ bottle).
Doing this blind was a spur of the moment decision, as we've never done these blind before. It really added a lot to the tasting and I am sure my opinions would have been influenced had I known what I was drinking beforehand.
The only thing we'll change is that we'll limit blind tastings to a single style/region and have a mix of price/age/etc.