It's just shy of a year since I last posted about a post dinner whisky gathering hubby has with his two drinking buddies BILs ie my brother in laws.
Last week was the first time in a long while the few of them got together, and of course there was quite a few bottles in the table. The Laddie Eight and Maclean's Nose already made their appearance in last year's gathering. The Orchard House was a new bottle hubby purchased last Christmas, I posted about it here. Hubby wanted BILs to try it, and it went down well with both of them.
However, the star of the evening were the other two bottles in the table. Both belong to one of my BIL ...H.
Every time I see the name, I see scapegoat 😆 Probably not the best name for any product, particularly when you're the largest distillery in New Zealand. I don't know why they used that name. The guys have drank new world wine from New Zealand before, but whisky was a first. I was certainly intrigued by it even though I don't drink whisky.
Scapegrace distillery is located at 45th degrees latitude, exactly halfway between the equator and the south pole. A lot of their spiel focuses on the purity of the water drawn from the local alps and how the site "experiences scorching summers and frigid winters - conditions vital for the unique aging of Single Malt Whisky." source
The whisky itself is 46% abv, manuka smoked single malt, matured in virgin french oak cask for 3 years. Despite it's young age, it's was very refined. Based on my single sip, I found it to be very full bodied and smooth, with a hint of toffee. All the guys liked it very much and agreed it was an excellent purchase.
The next one they tried was The Gauldrons, for no particular reason other than they drank the lower abv first. The Gauldron was a tad higher at 46.2%. Unfortunately this turned out to be a bad decision, the consensus was the Scapegrace was much better. Not saying the Gauldrons wasn't good, just not as good.
The Gauldrons is a blended malt, and contrary to what it said on the bottle, I tasted a slight plum note, but then, what do I know about whisky 🤷♀️. Compared to the Scapegrace, this was a bit more sharp and spicy. Two very different characters. Hubby said this felt like a guy in a business suit, and the Scapegrace someone in a tuxedo. Interpret that however you want.
A few days after this gathering, we met up again, and there were two more new bottles in the table. I'll save that for next time.
