The tasting night was held at the Waterside Hotel, in their fantastic Galley Room – the hotel has an open plan spacious bar, intimate dining room, function room catering for all your function requirements and a cosy lounge area complete with open fire place. It’s the perfect setting to enjoy a glass of wine selected from their extensive wine list and enjoy some live entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights.
We arrived at 7pm on the dot, and was greeted by Sean Baxter the Diageo Reserve Brand Ambassador for Victoria – we caught up with a few other whisky afficionados at the bar – Graham Philips from the Odd Whisky Company, Craig Daniels from the Malt Whisky Society of Australia and many others – it was great to see them…
While we waited for guests to arrive, we had a few drinks, were introduced to more industry, reviewers & whisky afficionados, and then we were treated to the start of an amazing array of hors d’oeuvre – all we could say was WOW! Talk about stunning food – individual bite sized hand prepared haggis, smoked salmon, potatas bravas, scallops on chorizo to name just some…
The nights host Sven Almenning & Sean eventually rounded everyone up, and got the tasting started.
We were introduced to the whiskies – a verticle tasting of The Singleton of Glen Ord – with three expressions to sample this night – a 12yo, 15yo and an 18yo.
What do we need to know about The Singleton of Glen Ord? The Glen Ord Distillery is Highland whisky distillery owned by Diageo. The distillery won awards for the best single malt at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 1994 and 1996, and at the Monde Selection in 1996 and 1997.
Its whiskies are aged and maturated in both European and American Oak and Diageo are aiming it between superpremium and mainstream whiskies and the rich, balanced flavour & palate will satisfy experienced single malt Scotch whisky tasters but it’s also designed to attract entry level whisky drinkers who are just getting started in their enjoyment of single malt whisky.
Immediately we were intrigued by the bottles – they were not the standard round bottles, but a more oval ‘flask’ shaped – very attractive and different!
The tasting glasses were brought around and we were able to sample to goods!
The whiskies:
Singleton of Glen Ord – 12 year old.
The colour was a lovely deep amber colour – the nose was apples & peaches and a bit of sherry – palate was stonefruit with a hint of toffee & ginger, a faint hint of vanilla – possibly from the bourbon barrel – a light oily smooth mouthfeel – and a medium finish. Simply delicious!
Singleton of Glen Ord – 15 year old.
The colour had darkened slightly, the nose was still fruity but with hints of leather. The palate had increased in complexity – with a more of a fig flavour coming through and some brown sugar – the finish was medium long, and dry. You could tell this was the older brother of the 12 year old 🙂
Singleton of Glen Ord – 18 year old.
The colour had darkened just a wee bit more, the nose was still fruity but with and almost kirsch-like fruity note present. The palate had increased in complexity again – the fig flavour coming through stronger, pears & apples, peaches, some dry spice – a whole fruitbasket! – the finish was medium long, and sandy dry. A very nice whisky – complimenting the previous two but with more body and complexity. Delicious!
We thought this would be the end of the tasting – but oh no! a few more surprises – Sean brought out some cocktails made using only the best ingredients (one of which was the Singleton whisky of course!) – including the spectacular Blue Blazer! I recommend watching them at work on their website http://www.eaudevie.com.au – check out their YouTube videos – amazing!
After the cocktails & presentation the evening wound down, everyone chatted and mingled for half an hour before departing.
All in all a fascinating and impressive evening and it won’t be forgotten in a long time…
The Singleton of Glen Ord has a RRP of $65 for 700ml (40% ABV) and will be released in a few weeks… keep your eyes peeled!
- Our deepest thanks to Sven & Sean for organising and putting on a fantastic night – great people, great food & cocktails and of course great whisky – what else could we have wanted?!?
- Many thanks go to Laurene & Karina from BehindBars for organising the flights, accommodation & transfers – a top job all round!
- Thank you to the chef and the staff at the Waterside Hotel for having us, and putting on amazing food!
- Thanks go to Anthony Leong from Hire & Fire Studios for the excellent photography!
- Finally – ultimate thanks to Diageo for giving us the chance to preview a lovely whisky or three!
Waterside Hotel – http://www.watersidehotel.com.au
Behind Bars Industry Services – http://www.behindbars.com.au
Hotel Lindrum – http://www.hotellindrum.com.au
Hire & Fire Studios – http://www.hireandfire.com.au/
