*I. W. Harper 15 yr 43% ABV
     -smelled very sweet cookie dough
     -tinge of oak
     -tasted bitter oak with tannins
     -with water smelled sweet grape
     -tasted peppery rye
This whiskey did  not taste like it smelled. Water did not help either. 

*Arran Amarone Cask Finish 50% ABV
     -smelled spicy cinnamon bun sweet
     -faint fruit scents like a fruit cake
     -tasted bitter oak spicy with char
     -finished like dry wine
     -with water smelled like white wine
     -tasted strong white wine with pepper
     -trailed very quickly
     -wine aftertaste
Adding water to this really brings out the Amarone. Does not taste like it smells. 

*Glenmorangie Milsean  45% ABV
     -smelled sweet wood with cookie dough
     -tasted oak wood pepper
     -with water smelled light wood
     -tasted less bitter oak
Very unremarkable for a Glenmorangie. It's missing the sweeetness we've come to expect. Aly prefers the Original over this. It is certainly the ugliest packaging I have ever seen. 

*Writer's Tears  40% ABV
     -smelled sweet grassy- like wheat
     -tasted light Irish with hard candy
     -trailes very quickly!
     -with water smelled lighter grassy
     -tasted bitter oak
Like many delicate Irish whiskies, water ruins this easily. A dropper would have been better to use. 

     The Friday following our club tasting at Kickbacks, I was again there for a wedding rehearsal dinner and decided to try something I'd never heard of from the beer menu. This one was interesting. I try to "blind" taste whiskies and beers so that I am not influenced by something I read or hear. Knowing nothing about the beverage is part of the fun. 

*Kiuchi Hitachino Nest Commemorative Ale Eisbock  9%
     -smelled sweet woody, citrus
     -tasted very citrus with orange rind and something floral like dandelion
     -finished very quickly with almost no aftertaste 

     I would definitely buy one of these again. Reading how this beer is made explained what I tasted. Eisbocks are complex beers. This is how it's made:

"Hitachino Nest Commemorative Ale is brewed in the tradition of a true eisbock where the brew is concentrated by allowing the water to freeze (but not the alcohol). After the mashing of five different malts (Pale, Munich, Crystal, Chocolate, and wheat), four differing types of hops (Styrian Goldings, Hallertauer, Tettnang, and Saaz) are added in the brew kettle for bitterness & aroma. Five different spices complete the Commemorative Ale recipe: coriander, orange peel, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla beans. After a freezing period of three days the frozen water & protein are removed. The bottle conditioning has a six month maturation time."

     Donna Hull stay away from eisbocks! There's cinnamon in there. 

     Our May meeting was a treat. We tasted two flights of beers and did it in a basement in Florida. Of course this was a purpose-built, subterranean room complete with a bar and beer aging rooms. 
     Kickbacks, in Riverside, is a sensory overload of art, installation pieces, pennies, beers, ceiling fans and steam punk decorations. The only thing the place lacks is light enough to see everything. The menu is read with cell phone light and the staff have trouble seeing the taps at the bar. The food is alright, tasting better the more beers one drinks. Luckily for us the beverages were the focus of our outing. 
     The beer menu is four pages long and does not include specials. The menu for the aged beers (5-10 years) is separate as has to be asked for at the bar. We only found out about it right before our tour of the aging rooms. Todd and I actually drank one of the beers last summer in St. Augustine, the most expensive beer I have ever drunk. 
     Here is what I tasted:

​

     

*Highland IPA 7%
     -smelled hoppy bitter
     -tasted very hoppy but not bittter
     -dry IPA
     -trailed bitter hops

*Highland Tasgall Scotch Ale/WeeHeavy  8%
     -smelled faintly of wood
     -tasted slightly whisky
     -trailed very quickly!
​Very unremarkable beer. 

*Aardwolf Pen is Mightier Scotch Ale 4.2%
     -smelled like - not much
     -no sour or sweet beer smell
     -tasted very light oak
     -trailed quickly with not much aftertaste
​

*Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Stout  9.5%
     -smelled coffee, burnt wood
     -tasted dry, burnt oak- almost sooty
     -dried my mouth out
     -trailed bitter, charred oak
This beer is not sweet at all! Espresso by itself has some sweetness. 

*Cigar City Hornswaggled Irish Red 5%
     -smelled sweet citrus orange
     -tasted citrusy with hops
     -lingering malty flavor to finish

*Cigar City Puppy's Breath Porter
     Kickback ran out of this and replaced it with :
*Dog Fish Head Choc Lobster Porter
​     There were no glasses left for me to taste.  

*Unibroue La Resolution Belgian Strong Dark Ale 10%
     -smelled sweet wine
     -tasted like a merlot
     -sweet at the end
​     -trailed quickly to oak!

*Smuttynose 2015 Scotch Ale 7.8%
     -smelled sweet like a wine
     -tasted warm and dry like a cabernet
     -bitter hops in the middle with malted barley
     -reminded me of brandy but bitter
     -trailed slowly whisky, slight oak

     Owner Steve Flores was gracious enough to give us a tour of the basement, aging rooms and all, after we sampled the beers. The room where all the kegs are hooked to the taps is like keg and beer spaghetti. There's even a shelf of pickled hops in that place! The wall of lockers will be for rent soon and IMWC will most likely have a space. Here is some of what we saw:
​

     "The Boys" hosted. We drank. We talked and remembered. We ate. We all did the things Myra liked to do. Mostly, I think, we just missed her. "Fuck it. Let's drink!"
     There was a bottle that I had not tasted. Myra supplied one more. I almost forgot.

*Tamnavulin-Glenlivet  46%ABV   Bottled by Cadenhead (Springbank)
     -smelled tar, toffee, salty
     -cinnamon bun made its way through as well
     -tasted thick oak, sherry into sweet peppery bitter
     -with water smelled like baked bread
     -tasted sherry, slight oak and cherry licorice
     -trailed sherry and oak with no bitter
​Amazing ride through this whisky! I think the paxarette is the sweetness. 

The evening's Irish selections. 

     Once again my wife, Aly, managed to cook some Irish vittles that we all devoured. A good time was had by all and nobody was injured in the process. We tried one whiskey from Jameson and sipped some of the familiar bottles from the club collection. Our Living Cask also gained a few flavors to add to the mix. 

* Jameson Caskmates  Stout Edition   40%ABV  Aged in Craft Beer Barrels
     -smelled light, sweet vanilla, slightly floral
     -tasted sweet oak with milk
     -with water smelled caramel
     -tasted oak and went right to vanilla
     -seemed to trail sweet milk
​     -reminded me of bourbon