Tag: SMWS

The pioneers of Australia’s whisky appreciation community

Interested in Australian whisky history?  Who were the pioneers of the Australian whisky appreciation scene?  Read on…

“The whisky appreciation scene and the whisky enthusiasts’ community is booming.”

Captain Obvious

For anyone who’s climbed aboard the hurtling whisky juggernaut in the last five years or so, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was always this way.  Here, in Australia, we have brand ambassadors flying around the country and presenting whiskies to established fan bases and new audiences.  We have multiple whisky bars operating in the capital cities and out in the suburbs.  We have countless whisky clubs that meet regularly.  We have online whisky clubs and groups that exist in various Facebook spheres.  We have a selection of 40 to 50 different whiskies to choose from in the supermarket chain retailers.  We have online whisky stores that ship the latest and greatest releases to your doorstep.  We have whisky expos in each of the capital cities.  We have distilleries opening up or establishing all across the country.   Australian whisky history has not seen anything like it. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  We ain’t never had it this good before.

But it wasn’t always this way.   Hard as it might seem to believe, there was a time when life for the Australian whisky enthusiast was the polar opposite.   Imagine being a whisky fan in the mid-1970’s when less than a handful of single malt brands were available.  Imagine going into a bottle shop in the late 1990’s and having a selection of no more than six different bottlings to select from.  Imagine no whisky bars.   Imagine no online whisky resources or communications.  In fact, imagine no internet!

It was in those seemingly primitive times that the first pioneers and members of the whisky enthusiasts’ community of Australia set out trying to (a) source malt whisky, (b) share their enthusiasm with other people, and (c) gather together a community of like-minded souls around them.

Continue reading “The pioneers of Australia’s whisky appreciation community”

The Australian Malt Whisky Tasting Championship, 2016

{This is an older post from the 2016 Championship.  See our newer post following the 2022 event}

The Australian Malt Whisky Tasting Championship is a bit like the internet.  It’s something you might think is a relatively “new” thing, when the reality is that it’s been around for decades longer than you gave it credit for.

In actual fact, the Australian Malt Whisky Tasting Championship has been around since 1989!  As the name suggests, it is a tasting competition, and had its origins in Adelaide, South Australia.  The competition’s principal format and structure has remained largely unchanged over the years: Competitors are presented with eight whiskies pre-poured before them, and supplied with a list of nine possible whiskies – in other words, the eight whiskies that are on the table, plus one red herring.   Competitors are then given 30 minutes to identify which whisky is which and to write their answers on the answer sheet.  Of course, having a list with all of the possible contenders in front of you makes the exercise seem a little easier, but the challenge is also in establishing which whisky of the nine on the list is not on the table!

Continue reading “The Australian Malt Whisky Tasting Championship, 2016”

Paul John – Indian whisky gets serious

Paul John whisky ?  Well, I’ll come out and say it up front:  I’d not previously been a fan of Indian whisky, having tried numerous expressions of Amrut over the years.  Early experiences (2009) were very forgettable; several return visits between 2011 and 2013 left me wanting, and even when I tried some of the more recent releases of Amrut at The Whisky Show earlier this year, I struggled to get enthused.  But you cannot dismiss an entire country’s single malt production on the basis of one distillery.

So when the good folks at Paul John got in touch with me from India after their recent Australian visit and offered to send me their core range for critical analysis and review, I was happy to have my Indian whisky experiences challenged and changed.  And if you want to read the Executive Summary, here it is:  This is good whisky!

Continue reading “Paul John – Indian whisky gets serious”

The art of matching food to whisky

When The Scotch Malt Whisky Society launched and commenced operations in Australia back in 2002, one of the earliest and most staple activities was a healthy program of whisky dinners.   The tradition of whisky and food matching has never died and, here in Sydney at least, the Society continues to hold at least two significant whisky dinners each year for its members. When it comes to matters culinary, if you’re going to promote something as being uniquely special, delivering excellence, and showcasing “the best”, then you need to work with the best. For this reason, wherever possible, the Society chooses to team up with Franz Scheurer – the maestro of matching food to whisky.

Continue reading “The art of matching food to whisky”

What whisky bloggers are doing wrong…

(or why Whisky Bloggers are annoying a lot of people right now)

So who was the first whisky blogger?  Was it before or after WordPress made this caper so easy?  Well, it was before.  A long time before.  Back in 1887, in fact.  For that is when an ambitious chap by the name of Alfred Barnard first approached a distillery and cheekily asked for a free sample so he could write about it.  One hundred and thirty years later, and it turns out several thousand wannabes are following suit.

Yes, I’m aware of the irony.  But bear with me…

Continue reading “What whisky bloggers are doing wrong…”

The 1980’s heavy metal music guide to whisky

Whisky and heavy metal?  The late whisky writer, Michael Jackson, once compared a particular single malt to a car (e.g. “the Rolls-Royce of whisky”).  Others have since compared certain single malts to particular Grand Cru wines.   More recently, people have started writing tasting notes for whiskies and suggested various songs or bands to match and pair with the whisky.  So, whisky and music is now a thing, right?  Okay then, let’s take it one step further…

No one likes to admit it, but there was once a time when heavy metal music was actually commercially successful, and major record labels were falling over themselves trying to sign up hard rock acts.  The genre is lampooned today, and often labelled dismissively as hair metal or glam metal.  But, like me, you might be from that era when heavy metal artists were actually on top of all the charts and hair metal bands ruled the airwaves.  But has anyone ever compared whisky and heavy metal artists? Or matched the two together?  Perhaps now is the time.  Get out the hair gel, put on your spandex, and take yourself back to the 1980’s…  Continue reading “The 1980’s heavy metal music guide to whisky”

The Whisky Show, Sydney, 2015

Sydney is spoiled for choice with a number of whisky expo-style shows running through town each year and May 15-16 saw The Whisky Show return to the Stamford Plaza hotel at Mascot to strut its stuff.

The Whisky Show offered three sessions; one on the Friday evening, and then 12noon-4.00pm and 5.00pm-9.00pm on the Saturday.  Of course, the Saturday sessions coincided with World Whisky Day, so it was a fine opportunity to celebrate the occasion.

Continue reading “The Whisky Show, Sydney, 2015”

Port Ellen and dram envy

[Update 2024: The article below was originally written in 2015.  Of course, the *new* Port Ellen distillery opened its doors in March 2024, but this changes the narrative only a little.  Much of what follows remains valid, given it will be many years until the new spirit has matured, and there will always be lust for the “old” Port Ellen.] What makes Port Ellen whisky so special?  Why is the Port Ellen distillery so revered, considering it was decided to close it down in 1983?  Let’s look at the fully story, including why Port Ellen whisky makes plenty of people envious…

Continue reading “Port Ellen and dram envy”

The Ultimate Glenfarclas Tasting

Back in 2007, a very special whisky event was held in Sydney, Australia.  Held at Sydney’s iconic Claude’s restaurant, it was billed as “The Ultimate Ardbeg Dinner” and it featured an unbelievable line up of the rarest Ardbeg bottlings ever assembled, including the 1965.  That particular event had been preceded a year earlier by an incredible Macallan tasting (featuring the full ESC range, as well as rare bottlings from the 1980’s). And, only a short time prior to that, there was the unbelievable Springbank tasting, which featured the entire Millennium range of Springbanks.  These were the glory days of tasting and appreciating the uber rare, special, and expensive releases amongst Scotland’s elite single malt bottlings and distilleries.  In terms of the rarity of the whiskies at the Ultimate Ardbeg Dinner, many thought such an event could never be equalled.  We may finally have found a successor…

Continue reading “The Ultimate Glenfarclas Tasting”

How wood you like that?

[Update:  Aspects of the below article are considerably expanded upon and covered in more detail in our comprehensive feature piece, “The complete guide to oak and whisky maturation” which we suggest you head straight to now and read here. ]

Whisky maturation is a complex process. You’ve doubtless heard or read the oft-accepted mantra that the spirit’s contact with the wood during maturation contributes as much as 60-70% to the whisky’s final flavour.

When it comes to playing around with wood and cask experimentation, few do it better than Glenmorangie.  Often credited with the innovation of “finishing” (although Balvenie may beg to differ), Glenmorangie was certainly the first to commercially release a range of whiskies where the whisky was matured primarily in one type of cask, and then given a second period of maturation in a different cask.    The “Port Wood” expression was one of my early favourites, having spent 10 years or so in bourbon wood, before being finished for 6-12 months in port pipes.

20 years on, finishing is so common now, it’s passé.   For some companies, it also makes economic sense:  Not every distillery can afford to invest in expensive sherry casks for a 12 year maturation, but some impressive results can be had by re-racking the whisky in first-fill sherry butts for just 6-12 months.  Not surprisingly, the results merge and marry the characteristics of the contributing parent casks, and any number of permutations and possibilities can be trialled.   Tired or non-performing whiskies can also be rescued:  For some distillers, finishing the spirit in a new or exotic cask can polish or breathe life into whisky that was flat or over-cooked.  We won’t name names, but a number of resurrected distilleries have had to do this to rescue tired casks that were inherited when the distillery’s ownership changed hands.

Continue reading “How wood you like that?”