This year A Whisky Affair was held at a swanky Hotel called Aloft just off Southside Boulevard. The space was not so cramped as previous years, especially 2012. Once again there were no tables of any kind to sample food and drink. We were reduced to plates on laps and sitting on planters and landscaping walls. Water was not available for tasting either. The atrium was a nice area to be in except for the cigar smoke that made me light headed at one point. As always, it was great to see Dick and Marti from Palm Ridge Reserve. I would like to thank them again for selling us another used barrel. 
     Between tasting some BBQ and chicken and cheese I did taste a few whiskies. It was dark out in the atrium and I didn't get a single picture. 

*George Dickel Barrel Select 43% ABV
     -smelled light wood
     -tasted slight oak with peppery alcohol
     -trailed light wood with peppery alcohol
That is why people drink this in shots and mix stuff with it. 

*George Dickel Rye 45% ABV  (95% Rye/5% Barley)
     -smelled of rye/slightly moldy bread
     -tasted sweet perfume at first
     -went to a floral, almost lavender flavor
     -trailed pepper/alcohol
Very surprising taste. I expected a rye bitterness. Maybe the barley offsets that in this whisky. 

*The Itishman Single Malt  40% ABV
     -tasted sherry in the aftertaste
     -tasted like a light Speyside
     -very light, unremarkable

*New England Corn Whisky 43% ABV   (aged in cherry and white oak)
     -smelled sweet wood, citrusy
     -tasted creamy wood with a sweetness
     -trailed oak - new oak tartness
The cherry wood may have sweetened the whisky and countered the white oak. I was expecting sour oak flavor. 

     Todd and I tasted a few drams one evening. Thank you Todd!! Here is what it tasted like to me.

*Kilchoman Spring 2011 Release 46%ABV
     -smelled slightly peaty, earthy with leather
     -smokiness like BBQ smoke
     -with water -  diluted the smell
     -sweetness floated to the top
     -tasted heavier peat-goes to sour
     -trailed bitter oak

*Laphroaig Cairdeas Port Wood Edition 51.3% ABV
     -smelled peat with heather, sour floral
     -began sweet cough syrup
     -tasted strong peat with a strange lull
     -floated to the top of mouth with a tinge of sour floral
     -with water - can smell port
     -tasted heavily peat and smoke
This whisky would be very low on the Aly and Donna 
Scale. 

     Our October meeting was at Todd's and Donna's house. It felt good to be back where it all started after a busy summer. The itinerary for the evening was frisbee golf and Bruichladdich Links.  Mostly we just talked and told stories. I sipped on some rum. When the golf part started, I was happy with not throwing a frisbee over the fence. Aiming and scoring were not high on my list of objectives.  
     As part of official club business, I was installed as club Sergeant-At-Arms. Thank you everyone. I will carry out my duties to the best of my abilities, whatever those might be. 
     Todd had a few bottles that we were planning on pouring into the living cask. He began pouring them into one bottle. I tried some of that after it was "blended."
*No name IMWC Blend
     -smelled sweet vanilla with a tinge of sour like beach towel 
     -tasted strong alcohol/sour wood
     -citrus from Palm Ridge Reserve came through in the middle
     -trailed wood acidic
     -with water smelled sour almost moldy
     -tasted sour wood/oak tannins

This is the list of whiskies that we combined and poured into the living cask. 

*Glenmorangie 12yr Burgundy Wood  1/5 of a bottle
*Macallan 12yr   1/4 of a bottle
*Glenmorangie 18yr  1 inch
*Glenlivet 12yr 1/5 of a bottle
*Palm Ridge Reserve 1 inch