3/17/12
This was a fun night. Our bench for the dining room table seemed to work. Also working was Drew's charm and animal magnetism, literally. We tasted some interesting Irish whiskies and belittled Sterling simply for being Irish. He's a good sport and had a good time.
Here's what was tasted:
Tullamore Dew  Pot Still Blend William Grant and Sons
    Very light smell - pine wood
    Trails lightly
    Nothing much in the way of taste. I didn't add any water.
Tyrconnell  Pot Still Single Malt    Triple Distilled from Malted Barley 40% ABV
Cooley Distillery
    Smelled slightly flowery
    First taste is very slightly rubbery
    Slight vanilla/oak
    Trails alcohol
    I did not add any water.
Green Spot  9 yr 40% ABV Single Pot Still whisky - malted and unmalted barley
Irish Distillers in Middleton Distillery, Cork, Ireland
Blend with 25% aged in  sherry casks. 
    Smells vanilla cream sweet
    Very little alcohol burn/taste
    With water- very rubbery/bitter
    Trails rubber
Finnegan 8 yr old Blend Made for Total Wine by Cooley Distillery     40% ABV
    Smells very slightly caramel
    Very rubbery like the Glenfarclas 10yr I had in Scotland
    With water - VERY RUBBERY!!
    Bad flavor. How can I say that differently? Not to my liking.
Powers Gold Label       Blend of Pot Still and Grain whisky     40% ABV
    Smells slightly floral
    Bitter taste at first
    Trails sweet
    Easy to drink
Redbreast 12 yr   Single Pot Still (malted and unmalted barley)  40% ABV
    Smells oaky/sweet
    Tastes peppery/very slightly rubbery
    Trails slightly wood
Bushmills 16 yr     Aged in American Bourbon, Oloroso and then married in Port casks 
    Can smell the sherry
    Tasted slightly oak/sweet
    No trailing taste
Connemara Peated Single Malt  Cooley Distilery  Older Bottling-Possibly 70s or 80s
40% ABV 
    Smells slightly of cork/slightly salami
    Tastes subtly peat with salami
    With water slightly sweet at first
    Definitely has a whisky with peat flavor
Connemara Peated Single Malt  Cooley Distillery  More Recent Bottling
    Smells slightly band aid/rubbery
    Peat flavor at first
    Tuned to taste the peat and then the whisky. Are they concentrating on the peat 
    smokiness for the marketing side? Different palette for distillery powers that be?
    Both were excellent, whatever the case!!
    Thanks to Myra for allowing such a comparison to be made!!

2/24/12
In true President of a Whisky Club fashion, our fearless leader, Todd, cracked open a bottle of some stuff we had not tried to get us going before the evening's tasting at the Hill Top Restaurant. Like a true Club taster I left  my tasting note book at home and was forced to write my notes on hotel stationary. Yes the stupid little square pads of paper. They do fit in a sporran rather nicely though. Here's what I wrote:

Glenmorangie Artein Private Edition      15 yr    46% ABV
Aged in Tuscany wine casks
    Smells sweet like a pastry
    Very Dry!
    Can taste the wine.
    Trails off like red table wine. 
    Didn't taste as good as it smelled (Aly and Donna might say I likes this - less.)

Aly and I brought a Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 yr     40% ABV
    Stronger alcohol smell, slightly woody
    No strong flavor
    Trails alcohol and stays in your mouth. 
    I thought the rum would have made it sweeter. Rather bland.

Scottish Highland Games Whisky Tasting at the Hill Top Restaurant
It was hosted by some Scottish guy whose name I have forgotten. He talked way too much about nothing and much too little about the whisky. It felt like a two hour sitcom on the radio. The framed artwork that Aly won has already fallen off the wall and scared the crap out of us one night. I was ready to kill a burglar but it was broken picture frame glass and not the window. That was a tangent much like the host of the tasting.
Anyway, we tasted a flight of Glefiddichs. It is apparently William Grant and Sons' 125th Anniversary.  

Glenfiddich 12 yr
    Slightly floral with a staleness and a pear smell. I actually sensed the pear before it  
    was mentioned. 
    Taste- Very light!! Wood/oak taste.
    Trails faintly sweet. 
    Much weaker with water. 
Glenfiddich 15 yr Solera Vat
    Strong alcohol with very little flavor
    Water added- No flavor!
    Finished off for a few months in a barrel not previously used. (Is my note right?)
    [ask for Bryan in the distillery - stick head in vat] this was written on my note not 
    by me     (Was I drunk at this point?)
Glenfiddich 18 yr
    Faintly floral/sweet
    Sweet at first with strong alcohol
    Added water - lighter wood
    Bitter wood with sweetness
    Trails almost rubber  {hint for Aly and Donna: Not fond of rubber in my whysky}
Glenfiddich 15 yr old Limited Release 51% ABV
 Not being sold in US anymore
 90% of time in American Oak/10% of time in Sherry casks
    Strong alcohol taste/peppery
    Creamy wood with water
    Trails wet
There may have been a fifth whisky that I have lost my notes for or I have forgotten and there were only four. I must have been drinking..........