On Christmas Day, we went over to our family friends’ house for dinner and Joan introduced my sister and I to single malt Scotch Whisky. I’m into bourbon, as everyone knows by the name of my website, but for some reason I have never tried a good Scotch until now. It seems exotic and like you have to have many leather-bound books and an apartment that smells of rich mahogany to order a good Scotch, and I’m easily intimidated I guess.
But Joan had two bottles sitting in her friendly kitchen: a Macallan, which was smooth and lovely, and a Laphroaig, which smelled like a peat bog but tasted heavenly. (Actually, I only know that it smelled like a peat bog because Joan said it did, but what I do know is that it smells something awful – or, to put it in a more refined vernacular for lovers of Scotch, a very very very acquired taste.) After tasting and comparing small glasses of both, we thought it would be a good idea to taste some more for an even better comparison, and after continuing the testing with our third glass we were both passionately converted to Scotch drinkers and were only stopped by the call to dinner and a nice glass of red wine. It was a lovely Christmas.
Now I have to learn something about Scotch so I can buy and order it intelligently, and maybe even pair it with the right appetizers for a dinner party. Any hints?
Came here for the bourbon but I’m glad I found the Scotch.
I’ve always stuck to bourbon too, but my brother-in-law shared a dram of his 16-year-old Lagavulin, and I flipped for it. The funny thing is, it took a couple of hours after my first drink to even consider having another drop of it, because I didn’t care for it at first.
It has a decidedly brininess taste I initially balked at, and the peat was overwhelming. My BIL insisted I taste it, and I was finished after a couple of sips.
And after dinner, my mind wandered back to the unlikely pairing of smoky peat and saline — the results of distillation on the seashore — and I asked for another sample. The second time around, all the odd tastes just seemed right.
I think it is, like most acquired tastes, even better the more you taste. I’ll have to try a Lagavulin! I love that there’s so much to learn. Thanks for commenting!
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Marcel’s way