WeeDrammers Toast Hallowe’en

A full compliment of WeeDrammers gathered at Ron W. on Oct. 28 to sample #’s 198 and 199 in our quest.  This time we engaged in a evening of contrasts – from a sweet ‘dessert’ style whisky to a dram more suited to the library, complete with cigars (not that we indulged); from an established distillery (founded in 1824) to a new kid on the block (2005); from dark chocolate, ginger cookies, raspberries, soft cheeses, dried apricots and walnuts to B’BQ tenderloin, spicy sausage, and smoked cheeses. Smoked candied salmon, dark chocolate and Reeses Peanut Butter cups (in recognition of Hallowe’en) worked very well with both

So as not to overwhelm the palate too early, we enjoyed the dessert before retiring to the library.  The Fettercairn 16 is a “Highland whisky celebrated for its tropical fruit-forward profile.” Coming from one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries, it is finished in ex-bourbon casks.

Tasting Notes (courtesy of the Whisky Exchange)

• Nose – vibrant and inviting with notes of pineapple, vanilla custard and ginger root
• Palate – a rich and creamy texture with flavours of tropical fruit, soft caramel, and moist ginger cake
• Finish – Moist ginger cake and baked apple with a hiunt of vanilla

Fettercairn 16 in available in BC and is priced at $163.00 + 15% taxes.  This time it was ordered through ZYN in Calgary for total cost of $173.80.
ABV – 46.4%

Our second selection for the evening, the Kilchoman Port Cask Matured 2024, offers a significant contrast to the Fettercairn 16.  Coming from a young, family owned, distillery founded in 2005, Kilchoman is a farm distillery, uniquely completing all stages of production- from growing to bottling- on site

Bottled at 50% ABV, this dram uses refill port hogsheads that had been used before for the 2014 and 2018 Port Cask Matured editions.

Tasting notes:

• Nose – rich, fruity with hints of citrus and spices.  Some smoke and pityness is evident.
• Palate – strawberries, smoked meats, sweet tobacco, dark fruit are evident
• Finish – a long and warming finish.  Charcole smoke lingers alongside fruit sweetness and spice.  The smoke doesn’t dominate.

This is a dram where compromise works well.  A nice balance between peat and port fruit.  This is a complete dram with an interplay between fruit, spice, smoke and oak. The port compliments the smoke rather than overpowering.

The Kilchoman comes in at $141.00 plus taxes and shipping costs (purchased through ZYN Calgary) for a total of $170.00

An assortment of cheeses, meats, smoked salmon and fruit accompanied the drams.  Most importantly, soft ginger cookies and  Hershey’s Peanut Butter cups played a big role as did rich dark 70% chocolate!