SCWC 2ND ANNIVERSARY
THE OLD FITZGERALD TASTING
date: Sunday, January 25, 2015 @ 7pm
As we embark on our 3rd year of being the most kick ass whisky education club ever, we are taking it back to our roots. We are having another Stitzel-Weller tasting! This one however is different in a special way. Instead of drinking the bourbon brand of Pappy Van Winkle, we will actually drink bourbon from when Pappy Van Winkle was alive and in charge of Stitzel Weller! Our first Pappy era bottle will be a Very Old Fitzgerald 8yr distilled in the Spring of 1952 and bottled in the Fall of 1960 followed by a Very Old Fitzgerald 12yr distilled in the Fall of 1963 (the year before Pappy retired) and bottled in the Spring of 1975. We will also have a few other discontinued Old Fitzgeralds from the Heaven Hill distillery and we will also revisit the side-by-side comparison of the Old Fitz bottled in bond from Heaven Hill vs the Stitzel-Weller edition that we did in our first meeting.
THE LINEUP:
1. Old Fitzgerald 1849 90 proof
2. Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12yr 90 proof
3. Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond DSP KY 1
4. Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond DSP KY 16
5. Very Old Fitzgerald 8yr Bottled in Bond 1952-1960
6. Very Very Old Fitzgerald 12yr Bottled in Bond 1963-1975
CORSAIR DISTILLERY with JASON INGRAM
Sunday, Feb 22 @ 7:30pm + Tuesday, Feb 24, 2015 @ 7pm
We have 2 tastings coming up in February! Both will feature Jason Ingram from Corsair Distillery to talk about progressive distillation and the future of craft whiskies. If you are not familiar with Corsair. They have won multiple awards (including 2013 Craft Whisky of the year) for their unique whiskies and are one of the most progressive distilleries in the current craft era. The whiskies we will try include 3 single hopped whiskies, an oat whiskey, a buckwheat whiskey, Triple Smoke Single malt, and the first batch that was ever made of their Rasputin whiskey. If you are at all interested in how different grains affect the flavor of whisky, or if you love beer, this is not to be missed. More information about the distillery can be found here: corsairdistillery.com/home
Sunday, Feb 22nd Whisky List:
1. Corsair Quinoa Whiskey 92 proof
2. Corsair Buckyeah Whiskey 92 proof
3. Corsair Oatrage Whiskey 100 proof
4. Corsair Ryemageddon Whiskey 92 proof
5. Corsair Triple Smoke Whiskey 80 proof
6. Corsair Galaxy Single Hopped Whiskey 92 proof
7. Corsair Mosaic Single Hopped Whiskey 92 proof
8. Corsair Citra IPA Single Hopped Whiskey 92 proof
9. Corsair Experimental Rasputin Hopped Whiskey 86 proof batch #1
Tuesday, Feb 24th Whisky List:
1. Corsair Quinoa Whiskey 92 proof
2. Corsair Buckyeah Whiskey 92 proof
3. Corsair Oatrage Whiskey 100 proof
4. Corsair Ryemageddon Whiskey 92 proof
5. Corsair Triple Smoke Whiskey 80 proof
TRUST MEETING
March 15th 2015 7pm
location: private residence in North Hollywood
Our next meeting is going to be a departure from the norm. We are going to have a trust meeting. We will not be disclosing the whiskies before the meeting, only at the event. We will just tell you that if you love whiskey, you might want to be there. Everyone’s tasting will be a little bit different and Chris will be going from person to person teaching about each whiskey. Do you trust the club?
KILCHOMAN & ARRAN
Thursday April 2nd 2015 @ the Daily Pint in Santa Monica
SCWC will be having not ONE but TWO representatives from TWO different distilleries in Scotland hanging out with us on Thursday April 2, 2015. We will be welcoming James Wills from Kilchoman Distillery and Louisa Young from Arran Distillery for a get together at the Daily Pint. This is not a formal tasting, but a casual event where the goal is maximize the one-on-one time that our members get to spend with both James and Louisa. Included in the event will be a flight of 4 whiskies as well as 2 different scotch cocktails. A Kil-Roy (barrel aged Rob Roy made with Kilchoman) and an Arran Punch. Let's loosen the collars, hang out as a club and welcome these two into sunny California.
TAX STAMP: Scotch vs Bourbon
Our two tastings were an extension of our exploration of tax stamps. The first tasting was tax stamp scotch followed by tax stamp bourbons. What did Glenlivet taste like 30+ years ago? We found out! How different was Walker's Deluxe between the time it was distilled in Peoria vs Bardstown? We found out!
Sunday, May 3rd and Sunday, May 31st, 2015
Tax Stamp Scotch:
Sunday, May 3rd @ 7:00pm:
1. Cutty Sark (1970's)
2. Cluny 12yr (1970's)
3. Ambassador (pre 1964)
4. Ambassador (1970's)
5. Big "T" (early 1980’s Tomatin)
6. Haig and Haig Pinch (pre-1964)
7. Glenlivet 12yr (early 1980's)
Tax Stamp Bourbon:
Sunday, May 31st @7:00pm
1. Ancient Ancient Age 10yr
2. IW Harper
3. Beams Black Label
4. Walker's Deluxe 8yr (Peoria)
5. Walkers Deluxe (Bardstown)
6. Old Kentucky Tavern 8yr
Gruppo Campari Whisky Tasting
May 13th, 2015
7pm - 9:30pm
location: The Daily Pint (2310 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405)
On Wednesday May 13th, we will have special guest Robin Coupar, Global Brand Ambassador for Gruppo Campari presenting Glen Grant, Wild Turkey, and Forty Creek Canadian Whisky. Robin, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, has over 20 years experience in the industry and has in the past worked with a ton of brands including Ardbeg, Glenmorangie, Bowmore, Glenrothes, Auchentoshan, Johnnie Walker, and Classic Malts.
This will be a casual get together where you can have come one-on-one time with Robin and learn about the differences between Scotch, Bourbon, Rye and Canadian Whiskies. We will also have a special cocktail for everyone as well to enjoy.
Reservations are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.
Gruppo Campari Whisky Tasting:
1. Glen Grant 10yr Singe Malt Scotch
2. Russell's Reserve 10yr Kentucky Straight Bourbon
3. Russell's Reserve 6yr Straight Rye
4. Forty Creek Canadian Whisky
5. Special Cocktail TBD
ARDBEG DAY 2015
Saturday, May 30th, 2015
location: Three Clubs (1123 Vine St, Los Angeles, California 90038)
We were honored to put together the official Ardbeg Day event to represent Southern California here in Hollywood. We tried the new Ardbeg Perpetuum along with the core range of Ardbeg!
Featuring:
• Ardbeg Perpetuum, 47.4% ABV
• Ten Years Old, 46% ABV
• Corryvreckan, 57.1% ABV
• Uigeadail, 54.2% ABV
Our official event hashtag: #ArdbegDayLA
Saturday, June 20th, 2015
REACQUAINTANCE TASTING
We revisited an old friend, Winston Churchill Edwards from Balcones. SCWC experienced their fine stable of American craft spirits and saw firsthand why this Texas distillery garners so many awards and accolades.
whiskey list:
1. Balcones "1" Texas Single Malt
2. Rumble
3. Baby Blue
4. True Blue Cask Strength
5. Brimstone
LAPHROAIG WITH BRAND AMBASSADOR SIMON BROOKING
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015
SCWC had a very special night with Laphroaig brand ambassador Simon Brooking.
We tasted:
1. Laphroaig Select
2. Laphroaig 10 Year
3. Laphroaig 18 Year
4. Laphroaig An Cuan Mor
5. Laphroaig 2015 Cairdeas
KILL BOTTLE NIGHT
Sunday, October 18th, 2015
This year's list includes:
1 Ambassador Deluxe Tax Stamp
2 Arran Cask Strength 12yr 2nd edition
3 Belle Meade Bourbon
4 Black Dog 12yr
5 Blackadder Smoking Islay 90 proof
6 Cabin Still
7 Chieftains Aberfeldy 1998 13yr 46%
8 Compass Box Asyla
9 Compass Box Eluthera Old Edition
10 Compass Box Peat Monster Old edition
11 Copper Fox Rye Whisky
12 Cutty Sark Tax Stamp
13 Duncan Taylor Bruichladdich 19yr 51.3%
14 Early Times
15 Early Times Faux Tax Bourbon
16 Edradour 10yr
17 Evan Williams 200th Tax Stamp
18 Exclusive Malts Dailuaine 1992 21yr
19 Exclusive Malts Auchroisk 1996 17yr 55.6%
20 Glenglassaugh Evolution
21 Haig and Haig Pinch Tax Stamp 1950s
22 Hart Bros Highland Park 11yr
23 IW Harper Tax Stamp
24 Rogue Single Malt
25 Royal and Ancient Scotch
26 Signatory Ledaig 1993 16yr
27 Sonoma Rye
28 Sonoma Wheat
29 Speyside 20yr Kirkland
30 Walkers Deluxe Faux Tax Bardstown
31 Wasmunds Rye Spirit
32 Wasmunds Single Malt
33 West of Kentucky Bourbon No. 1
34 And of course... The Old Crow Jug that just won't die.
MEZCAL TASTING WITH REY CAMPERO & REAL MINERO
Monday, November 16th, 2015
Rey Campero
1. Espadin
2. Mexicano
3. Jabali
4. Tepextate
Real Minero
1. Barril
2. Tobala
3. Blend of 4 - Glass rested since 2004!
4. Pechuga
Our first Mezcal tasting! For this special event, we had 2 guests speakers to teach us about this elegant agave distillate. William Scanlan (info below) will take us through 4 mezclas from the Rey Campero brand where we will try different types of agave ranging from 8 – 30 years old! We will also get an education from Dra. Graciela Angeles Carreño about her Family’s Real Minero brand as we try 4 of her mezcals. See what LA Magazine had to say about those HERE:
Also, because just having awesome mezcals are not enough, we met at the new Everson Royce Bar in the Arts District in Downtown LA where the food menu was created by Matt Molina formally of Osteria Mozza. [INFO]
Info about our speakers:
Dra. Graciela Angeles Carreño
Graciela holds a Phd in Urban Development but has chosen to dedicate her life to investigating and educating about the traditions, culture and history of mezcal. She had lectured all over the world; from Mexico to Istanbul and from United States to Madrid. Graciela is one of very few women in Mexico who are involved with every phase of mezcal production. All though her father, Don Lorenzo is the master distiller, Graciela is the General Director of Mezcal de Los Angeles; which produces her family’s artisanal claypot distilled “Mezcal Real Minero”. She is responsible for building the brand in to what it is today. Renowned spirits critic, Cornelio Perez, has called Real Minero one of the finest mezcales in all of Mexico.
William Scanlan
The founder of Heavy Métl Premium Imports, William Scanlan III, majored in Spanish Colonization of Mexico and minored in Latin American Studies, both of which fueled his passion for Mexico and its culture. On one art collecting trip to Mexico he ended up in Oaxaca, a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Madre, where he learned about small batch mezcal. Scanlan soon became a mezcal enthusiast and moved to Mexico, where he met with industry experts, attended mezcal-related conferences, seminars and workshops, and studied flavor nuances at tasting seminars to learn more about the production and culture and roots of mezcal. He was amazed by the quality, unique flavors, and deep traditions of mezcal—often produced by the same families since the 1800s. Having learned both Spanish and English at a young age, Scanlan was able to communicate with the local owners of well-made, respected brands in the mezcal market. Scanlan wanted to grow these brands in the United States, but felt there was no way to maintain their authenticity without allowing the families to control the quality and their destiny. As a result, he founded Heavy Métl and began importing rare, high-quality mezcals. The decades spent perfecting their craft and the care for superior ingredients can be found in every sip.
