Robert Burns Day

Going to a local pub with a friend for a dinner & whisky tasting...smoked salmon and haggis on the menu and Hazelburn 8, a Teaninich (12 yo, iirc), and a Wemyss Caol Ila (16 yo, I think) in the glass. Really excited about trying three new whiskies...I will make notes and report back!!

The pub night worked out well. The whisky line up:

• Teaninich 12 @ 40% abv, bottled by Lombard. An ok, but not great whisky. Nose of earthiness mixed with sherry style notes...some over-ripe apple maybe. Caramel/toffee was apparent as a base to the aroma profile. Hard to find specific notes/aromas. The palate had a biting/slightly spirity quality, with a very dry finish. Does anybody know this bottling...the label oddly stated "aged in oakwood casks"...isn't all Scotch aged in oak casks?!?! I do wonder though, if a mixture of sherry and boubon casks that was used for the bottling.

• Hazelburn 8 yo OB @ 46%...the winner of the evening for both of us. Very smooth delivery that still presented very bold notes. The nose is awesome with very sweet notes of cotton candy, bubblegum, apricot, candied citrus and tons of caramel! Overall, very enjoyable to the point that I was inspired to add it to my wishlist, and write my first review in almost 20 months (hopefully posted by the end of the day). My friend will be picking up a bottle in the near future.

• Wemyss "Cream of Islay", a single cask Caol Ila 15 yo (1996 - 2011, 390 bottles), bottled @ 46% for the LCBO (liquor monopoly in Ontario, Canada). True to its name, peat is sweetened by one of the creamier aromas/mouthfeels that I have come across in a whisky. Smoke eventually emerges. This one, as suggested by the labelling, does indeed open up with water added. Smoke evolves to heavier campfire aromas, and a distinct salted fish (kippers) note comes through with the occasional mineral note. It evolves slowly, and is a very nice peater, but you are left feeling that it could have evolved a little more.

@Pudge72 Awesome way to celebrate and review whisky at the same time. Great info as always, I've been tracking down Hazelburn and hope to get this one someday. :)

@PMessinger...thanks for the kind words. It was nice that the pub (Coates of Arms, Talbot St @ Albert, London, ON) provided an info sheet where you could add tasting notes as you drank and had the meal (awesome spiced haggis, btw!!)

The Hazelburn was a very pleasant surprise as the three other reviews on Connosr did not really match to my experience. A possible explaination, our bottles (there were two, to supply everybody that attended) were freshly opened, whereas the other bottles reviewed may have been open longer (completely a guess on my part, but my theory would be possible open bottle degradation). An alternate, and probably more plausible, theory is that Hazelburn has improved the 8 yo in their most recent bottling runs. Both are just guesses though.

I prefer the Wemyss Caol Ila to the current Caol Ila DE, as I prefer sweet peat to vegetal peat. The Wemyss bottle evolved (albeit rather slowly, and not quite as fully as I would have liked) into something like a peat cream dessert. Odd-sounding, but rather good. The $123 price tag does give pause however...may not get a bottle, but hoping the pub still has a partial bottle for another dram in the near future.

Burns Day is next Monday... Obviously COVID and associated stay-at-home orders are likely to put a halt to any Burns Day dinners and gatherings, but is there a specific whisky (or whiskies) people are planning to bring out for the evening?

I haven't decided yet, but my options are Scapa Skiren, Aberlour 12 year-old, Bruichladdich Organic (Multi-Vintage), or the Shackleton Blend Malt.

@YakLord I’m still trying to convince my wife to do a “Scotland & Rabbie Burns” theme night on Saturday. With this new lockdown in Ontario, we’ve been doing theme nights most weekends to help our kids (especially our youngest, who is quite social) cope with boredom. My wife claims that theme would be naught more than an excuse for me to “sample” a ton of whisky, and I can’t say she’s wrong.

@OdysseusUnbound See, when we've had people over for Burns Night, they've been fairly quiet: some traditional food, a bit of whisky, and some poetry (doesn't have to be Burns, other Scottish poets are OK, too), so it doesn't have to be all about the whisky. I think a Scottish and Burns Themed weekend would be fun, as there's lots of stuff you could do food-wise...

@YakLord - I have a haggis in the fridge awaiting the day ... which I'll have with a dram (or two!). I find lighter, sweeter whiskies work best, so probably some Deanston 12 with maybe a 'farclas 25 for desert.

I like the traditional neeps and tats but adore haggis on a potato cake topped with a fried egg. Heart-attack fodder but sooo good!

I'm still not sold 100% on pairing whisky with food but it definitely goes with some things better than others. Ardbeg 10 on oysters being a personal fave.

@RianC My issue is that I'd be the only one eating the food, as my wife has some dietary restrictions and my daughter isn't sold on the idea of haggis, and given current lock-down restrictions, we're not having anyone over, so it doesn't make sense for me to prepare a whole meal for myself (and then have to cook something else for the rest of the family).

As for whisky with food, it depends on the whisky and the food...whisky in food as part of the food prep is another story...

@YakLord I did a Burns night for friends a couple of years ago. I made a haggis myself but without most of the offal - I just used meat and some heart (still muscle as opposed to kidney, liver, lungs etc.) with the usual grain and spices. Sorry purists. I wrapped parcels in pastry like little beef Wellingtons and they went down very well. Something else I absolutely love is sliced rounds of black pudding fried till crispy. Have some fun and it doesn't have to be completely authentic.

@YakLord - ha! No one else in my house will eat haggis ... so more for me

@Hewie - call me a purist but that sounds offal! Don't worry, I've got me coat on and am leaving the building

@RianC I may hit up the Scottish & Irish Store and see what they have in stock in terms of UK imports, but I may just end up picking up some shortbread at the local grocery store...

I'll put on the kilt and have a few wee drams. Maybe recite a few of Burns works. Hard to do anything with all the germs around. I have an extra kilt if anyone wants to join

I will probably have a few drams and takeout. My kitchen is all torn up right now so no cooking for a couple of weeks. (It's getting a much needed refresh) Until this project came up, I was going to go all the way with haggis, neeps and tatties. Maybe next year. Hopefully by then I can have people over too!

@casualtorture yeah I'll wear my kilt for the day too

@Hewie I don’t own a kilt, and I don’t think I’d fit into one of my wife’s skirts....given that she weighs about 105lbs and I’m currently teetering around 235lbs. Yikes.

Happy Burns Day. It's an all Aberlour-on-Spey night here... Slainte!

Will fry a couple of these up shortly (with tatties on the side and some Benriach cask strength batch 1 & batch 2 to compare....Mmmm.

We had our own version of a Burns night. There was nae Haggis, but I made sausages and roasted tatties, which is the closest I could get. My wife made some Scottish shortbread, we listened to bagpipe music, and I made my kids listen to me recite some Rabbie Burns poems (Address to a Haggis, To A Mouse, John Barleycorn). As to drink, I opened a classic: Laphroaig 10 (43% abv) and I have to say.....this one never disappoints. It’s like going home for me. A warm, peaty, smoky hug.

So to be honest I forgot. I don't celebrate RB day generally, although my first memory of trying Scotch was during a RB day programme at my Literary and Debating Society, a few years before I became interested in Scotch.

Tonight I was preparing the last samples for a virtual tasting I'm hoping to set up soon. When I got to Milk and Honey's Distillery cask bottling (I poured it myself) I decided to add 10 cc for myself. It's matured in an ex-Islay Scotch cask. This is powerful stuff, and only the third time I tried it. First time was at the distillery (before agreeing to bottle and buy it), and the second was when my Nephew was visiting (from a distance) in October. You can really taste the peat. Quite impressive.