VIDEO TASTINGS

I’d love to do this, though I’m sure my wife would poke fun at me for it. She thinks my whisky hobby is “well beyond dorky”. Oh well.

I'm in! Why didn't we think of this before? Is FaceTime possible between more than two people?

@talexander, we've been waiting for @Nozinan to cross over from the dark side (BlackBerry) to the ranks of The Enlightened (iPhone). We may have created a monster...

Unless there is an app available, I believe we are limited to one-on-one video tastings with FaceTime. Skype or something similar could facilitate a group....mic up boys and girls!

@paddockjudge @Nozinan Well Skype should make that pretty simple. Let's think about that next time!

@OdysseusUnbound - Yeah my 'passion' is often gently jided!

I'd definitely be up for a trans Atlantic tasting but am about as tech savvy as my cat. I'm not sure I've ever even used Skype, although the concept is clear

@paddockjudge I have had an iPad since 2011. We didn't have to wait until my precious Blackberry died. I'm just lazy.

As I have said in the past (though I don't claim to be the first to think of it):

Nothing has more more momentum than inertia

ZOOM is an option for multi-person video tastings. I've been on a couple of zoom conference and it's free as long as the conference is 40 minutes or less. Theoretically one could do a second meeting right after the first. And 40 minutes is just about right for 1 dram.

Tonight @paddockjudge and I did a Facetime tasting of 3 samples that were generously provided to each of us by @fiddich1980.

We nosed and tasted samples A B and C. Rumour has it that @paddockjudge correctly identified 2 of the 3, and they will be revealed once I am ready to do my reviews.

We ended the tasting with some Canadian content, Lot 40 CS 12 YO first edition

Thanks again @fiddich1980!

So tonight's zoom session convinced me that it's a good platform for connosr members.

While we're all friends here (for the most part), I can understand that some people would like to keep their contact information private, and Skype and FaceTime (now allows group chats) don't really allow that.

But with zoom everyone who wants to join simply installs the app or the software the first time, and you don't need to set up an account if you're using the link that the host creates. I think you can choose your own name. I switched my name to Nozinan quite easily.

There were only 2 of us on tonight and one of us had some technical difficulties but I think that was hardware related.

So what do people think of this as a viable activity? I suspect the short notice probably was a factor in the low turnout...

Is this something we should try to arrange? Maybe monthly, with different hosts and perhaps different times to coincide with ideal drinking times on different continents?

I switched my name to Barb, but @Nozinan saw right through that and directly onto the ten bottles of Wiser's Legacy perched on the shelf above me.

I remain interested, but coordinating anything is difficult with 3 young(ish) children. I only missed you by 1.5 hours or so tonight....

In celebration of @Nozinan's 50th birthday (yesterday), we had a video tasting this evening. Both of us had 50 YO brandy. Mine was Armagnac Clos Martin 50 YO Vieille Reserve (a gift from @Nozinan, Drinks By The Dram). I primed my glass and my palate with 33 YO Armagnac Delord (I think that's hilarious). The Birthday Boy had Cognac Montifaud L50, a marriage of Cognac from the 1960s with none younger than 50 years.

This was kind of cool because neither of us has an abundance of long-aged whisky; however, we were able to obtain some 50 year old juice, it just happened to be French Brandy. Both of mine were extremely enjoyable, the nose on both Armagnac were truly stunning. @Nozinan expressed great pleasure with his Cognac.

A fun tasting! Great spirits! Great company!

@paddockjudge saying thank you for such a treat seems so insignificant.

I have much less experience with grape spirits than you, but I have to say that I found this to be magnificent.

I very much look forward to sharing this with you tomorrow...

@Nozinan - Happy Birthday

Last month we had a video tasting that included people from two countries. Tonight we crossed the ocean and had a tasting hosted on Zoom by @Cricklewood. He had prepared 3 mystery samples and somehow those samples managed to find themselves to our homes. We tried them before and then met for a couple of hours on a COVID Sunday afternoon (night for @RyanC).

The three whiskies turned out to be:

1. Kilkerran 15 YO single cask 53.5%, matured in 2 successive bourbon casks

2. Naked Grouse blended malt 43%

3. Scarabus (undisclosed Islay malt) NAS 46%.

While good on first tasting, the whiskies tasted much better while zooming with friends, old and new. Yes, I did mix all three together and the result was a sum of its parts...

I look forward to future zoom tastings. Passover is coming, but I will be "back in action" in abiut a week and a half, so let's set something up!

@Nozinan I thought @cricklewood said the Kilkerran was 57.5% abv. I’ll have to update my notes...

I’m incredibly happy that I got to participate and put some faces to some names...oh and the whiskies were pretty great too. It will be interesting to see how the six (seven?) of us rate and review the whiskies.

@Nozinan We had a fantastic time, thanks to everyone! Can't wait to do it again.

@Nozinan - It was great to meet you all and was a most welcome change of pace in these times! Big thanks, again, to @cricklewood for arranging this and sending the samples.

My favourite was the Kilkerran but I was surprised by it I must admit. Quite a dry, tart, austere and spicy one that grew on me. And for a budget friendly, casual sipper the Grouse (@43%) was very decent.

Oh and @Nozinan, Boris seems OK, it was just for a few precautionary tests - I'm sure we'll all sleep better now

@RianC But they wouldn't let Boris leave... and now he's in intensive care....

@talexander - Blimey ... Joking aside, hope he gets back on his feet soon.

@RianC He's now in stable condition.

@talexander - Good. Back to piss taking

Thanks everyone for putting up with this exercise, I am glad you enjoyed it, it's a good bit of fun. Let's repeat the zoom hangout soon, I found my mood was rather elevated by the whole thing, or maybe that was the whisky or the talk of Boris in the 'ospital.

@cricklewood - Me too! Seeing some new faces, much as I love my family of course, was most welcome.

Next time, I might even be visible for the whole duration and dispense with the 'Gerry Adams/Sinn Fein c1979' look for introductions

@RianC Well if we’re all tasting some Irish Whiskey, the Sinn Fein look might be appropriate.

Another video tasting for the books. Graciously hosted by @cricklewood, and joined by me, @paddockjudge, @RianC, @cricklewood.

While we each drew from our own collections, there was some overlap in terms of distilleries and even some expressions.

In total we were on about 3 hours until my laptop battery warned me of impending doom. I don't know quite what happened after. Poor @RianC had to duck out a little earlier given that we started 5h later for him.

In order, these are the whiskies and 1 rum that I tasted from (10 cc pours each):

1. Wiser's 23YO CS

2. Redbreast 12 YO CS 2015

3. 1 and 2 poured together in equal ratio - quite delicious!

4. Talisker 8 YO (part of a sample courtesy @fiddich1980)

5. Shelter Point ~9 YO CS Rye (Alberta Distillers)

6. Lemon Hart 151 - Pretty sure this is still the bottle @Victor gifted me many years ago

Especially since I had come off one of the busiest and complicated days (and nights) on call in my career, it was nice to sit back, chill, sip and talk with friends.

I appreciate you all. Thanks!

@Nozinan - Really cool to join you all again and to meet @paddockjudge for the first time! Thanks again, @cricklewood, for arranging this. Even across the internet, sharing a dram in good company really does make it taste better!

What were your final thoughts on the Tali 8 out of interest?

@RianC I wasn't really trying to assess the Talisker 8, but my overall impression was that it was a bit fruitier than the 57 N. I quite enjoyed it.

@RianC my response is coming in late but took a step away from Connosr this week.

The Talisker 8 is very bold, much different than I thought it would be (not in a bad way). Very salty and meaty, yet still has some of the Talisker touches that peppery and phenolic side. I had another dram on Tuesday and I think this is one that is going to need some time for me to dissect.

So to celebrate the birthday of @cricklewood, @paddockjudge, @fiddich1980 and I had a zoom tasting - unfortunately the birthday boy had a better offer and could not join us.

A few small pours were enjoyed. I can't remember all of them and will leave those details to the others, but I managed to sip some AP CS, Amrut Bourbon single cask, and Amrut port-pipe matured peated malt. I didn't get to the Octomore 7.3 I had hoped to toast him with so I'll wait until he's around to do that.

We all finished off with some cask strength Chateau de Bordeneuve Armagnac 2008.

A pleasant evening, good spirits and good whisky...