An interesting observation: I was tickled to hear the volume of the group go really loud, at the start of the evening. Usually, things get a bit more raucous around the second or third dram (as you would imagine), but tonight it got loud faster than I’m used to.
I was happy to hear the noise levels go up so fast, and also happy to realize that I had a certain expectation of cadence, for these events. I’m starting to feel like a regular.
Normally, the tastings involve new releases… and everyone samples them together, trying to guess details like the age, distillery, flavor profile, casks, and ABV for each dram.
Tonight, we were part of a tasting panel that would give us the opportunity to rate and select the whiskies that we felt the Society should release next.
Fun bit of trivia: Mark is from Indianapolis, and his wife lived near where I grew up. He went to North Central High School, and was just ahead of me (he was a Senior in 1988, and I probably just showed up as a Freshman that year). He recognized Greenbriar, near 86th and Ditch, and there was a sparkle of recognition when I mentioned my parents’ old restaurant (the Golden Dragon). Small, small world.
As you can imagine, ours was quite the popular area after the tasting. It was lovely to see Lauren and Max again, and we met a ton of new Society members.
Of particular note: as we were sitting down, one of the veterans (Michael)… shouted out that he wanted to sit next to Liz, because “she gets everything right.” He was referring to one of the prior events (the March outturn), where Liz was really spot-on with a lot of her predictions (the tasting involves trying to guess the age, distillery, casks used, and ABV for each dram).
Fun evening – we got to sit next to Michael, one of the regulars. And if memory serves, Michael (along with the event host Elhan) was among the first founders of the Chicago chapter of Drammers.
It was really fun for me to sit back, and to listen to Liz and Michael go back and forth. I tend to be intimidated in these settings, as my palate and experience seem limited compared to others – and I’m always awed to watch Liz, who is very much in her element.
The tasting was a lot of fun, and I daresay the mini tastes we had afterwards were just as enjoyable. I continue to be awed at the generosity of the folks at these gatherings (Lauren, Steve, and Max in particular).
I’m glad Katie and Tim got to experience a society tasting. And doubly glad they got to see a bit of what happens, at the afterparty of sorts. Lots of really fun conversations, knowledgeable people, and an overall good time.
Society bottle 125.7.
For those not familiar with the coding system, the first number represents the distillery the whisky is from, and the second number represents that number of single casks that they’ve bottled from that distillery.
Recently, we’ve had the good fortune to taste several very incredible bottles that folks brought to share. And prior to tonight, Liz and I were debating on bringing something of our own to share.
After having sampled so many generous drams from others, we were wanting to offer something to the “group” at large. We ended up bringing one of the bottles we got from our visit to
Bunnahabhain, when we travelled to Islay back in 2021.
Tonight we attended another Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SWMS) outturn at the Franklin Room – a fun event that takes place on one of the days the restaurant is closed, and we get the run of the place.
I was listening to Liz opine about her thoughts on various drams. Everyone had their opinions, but as part of her guesses Liz would mention things like Sauternes casks.
As I watched and listened, it dawned on me that Liz really likes whisky and I just like to drink. I think my palette is getting better, but she’s really done a lot more research, paid a lot more attention to things. Watching her go back and forth with Michael and Max, she’s on a whole other level than where I am.
On the left: Tabanco Time, a SMWSA blend (something I wasn’t aware they did).
On the right: what Elhan referred to as his “Infinity Bottle.” It’s pretty much a continuously changing bottle, made up of the leftovers from prior SMWSA tasting events.
On arriving, we were greeted with a complimentary “welcome” dram. Which was a new thing. We’re here to taste the new bottles being released in March, but this one was just to start the night off I guess.
We both recognized one another, but struggled to remember each other’s name. And Dave said something that I thought was pretty stellar: “Memory is state dependent.” He said once we got drunk, we’d remember each other’s names.
Tonight, Liz and I ventured out again to a SMWSA event at the Franklin Room. There were a lot of bottles available (due to it being the release right before the holidays)… which meant there were a lot of things to sample.