Franklin Room: Scotch Malt Whisky Society Tasting

After our trip to Scotland, and our discovery of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh, Liz and I have become enamored with the Society’s cask strength bottles.

We became members shortly after our return. And have since visited the Franklin Room several times, as they’re the only place in Chicago that has Society bottles available.

For our visits, we kind of arrange our own mini-tasting. The servers have been open to giving us smaller pours, so that we can sample more bottles… and we basically do our own flights.

The Society also hosts several events, where participants can sample each month’s outturn before it becomes available for purchase. And tonight, Liz and I decided to attend the October Outturn preview event.

Our tasting. The distilleries weren’t identified, and part of the evening’s process involved simply tasting (and then trying to guess the age, barrels used, and the distillery).

Something I didn’t realize: the Franklin Room is closed on Mondays, but opened up the space for this event. So we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.

Liz, exploring.

Another category we tried to guess: which flavor profile we were tasting.

Overall, a really fun time. My palette still isn’t quite as good as Liz’s – but I’ve become more comfortable talking about what I’m experiencing/tasting. And slowly starting to enjoy that process more.

An interesting note from the event: one participant brought along an older bottle of Octomore, which they opened and then shared with everyone in attendance. Which I thought was incredibly kind and generous.

Related:
Warehouse Liquors: Glenrothes Tasting
Date Night, Franklin Room
New Society Members
Scotland, Day 16: Hiding Out in the Hotel Room, Soup at Union of Genius, Cocktails at Panda and Sons, Kaleidoscope Bar at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Dinner at the Scran and Scallie