Whisky Weekend Salzburg 2015

This time I'm going to write about a Whisky venue I just recently visited. Some might think "Wait, didn't he write just about the Whisky Show 2015 in London? Will he write about it again, hoping nobody would notice?" No, I'm not going to write about the Whisky Show in London, I'll write about the Whisky Weekend in Salzburg, Austria which was just a week after the Whisky Show in London.

After having done my first tasting for the Whisky Consultants the Friday evening before - which I really enjoyed although there is room to improve my presenting skills - my first instinct on Saturday morning - despite I haven't drank a sip of Whisky that evening - was "Okay, that's it! I'm not going!" - just like the Grinch when invited to the Christmas party down in the village (One of my absolute favourite scenes of this movie). But then I thought, watching movies in the bed is fine, but I can watch movies on the train to Salzburg (approximately two and a half hours) too. So I packed my stuff (camera, tasting book, iPad, etc.) and hurried to the train station.

Having scouted the program of the event I knew that there would be a Master class from Talisker at 4 p.m. so I called ahead and reserved a spot. Nearly three hours later - to be exact around 3 p.m. - I got to the venue in the so called "Mönchsberg" - literally translated to "Mountain of the monks" - got my badge and was informed that my Master class was delayed because of the Master class before. So instead of one hour at the venue I'll just have two before my Master class would start - which was fine. But then the nice lady asked, if I'm interested in the last spot for the other Master class which is about to start (which had a very unspecific topic on the homepage as I checked beforehand). So I asked for the topic, she replied "Bruichladdich" and I just handed her the fee (which was incredibly low) without any words. A Talisker AND a Bruichladdich Master class in a day? I was glad and happy - as was the Grinch? - that I went to Salzburg.

When I hurried down to the room which was more a cave being that the venue was inside the mountain I was greeted by Jason S. Turner himself - Falstaff International Wine Marketing Manager - how delighted I was! We started off with "The Classic Laddie" followed by the "Islay Barley". These two were followed by another "Islay Barley" namely the "Port Charlotte Islay Barley" and the "Black Art 4.1" While the first three Whiskies were n.a.s. Whiskies, the latter one got distilled 1990(!) and was bottled 2013. So we're talking about an 23 year old Whisky. Interesting fact: I liked all four of them, the last one was maybe a little bit better but not that better. As I always say: "Age doesn't matter (that much)"! I'm happy to taste lots of different Whiskies in various prize categories and ages but nearly 300€ for that Whisky is - IMHO - too much.

But wait there were three other Whiskies to taste. But which Whisky could possible top the Black Art series? If you don't prefer peated Whiskies the answer is possibly "none". But if you do the answer is very easy. Of course the mighty peat bomb "Octomore"! Jason brought the versions 06.1 (167ppm), 07.1 (208ppm) and of course 06.3 (258ppm). What a finish! These three aren't cheap either but they are in a prize range I can relate to.

Of course all of the seven Whiskies were n.c.f. (non chill filtered) and n.c.a. (no colour added). Well not "Of course" because many whisky distilleries add colour (that is E150 - caramel colour, produced by using glucose syrup, sulphuric acid and ammonia) to their finished products so that every batch looks just like the batch before. Nearly every distillery filters their Whisky but it is a difference between "normal filtration" and "chill filtration". But I digress, this is stuff for another post!

The reason I mentioned this is because the second Master class from Talisker presented five of their Whiskies, the "Talisker Skye", "Talisker 10y", "Talisker 57° North", "Talisker Port Ruighe" and the "Talisker Storm". All of them have one thing in common, they were all coloured with E150. The colouring doesn't add any taste, but I like to see the natural colour of the Whisky. One of them was finished in a sherry cask (57° North) another one in a port wine cask (Port Ruighe). The latter one was a bit darker but as you recall all of their Whiskies are coloured... Never the less I enjoyed all of the five Whiskies.

After the second master class I just wondered around the little nice venue as I've done between the two Master classes. I had a very good "Highland Game Stew" - the only difference to the traditional "Irish Game Stew" was - and I quote here: "My man is from Scotland that's why it is a Highland Game Stew"! After a quick chat with Jutta and Thomas from the SMWS Austria (tasted the 4.183 at their booth) I got the chance to taste the World Best Single Malt 2015 at the booth of the Whisky Consultants - the "Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique Single Cask Strength". Unfortunately Michael just opened the last bottle of this Whisky so I couldn't buy it. On the other hand if he hadn't opened it I couldn't have tasted it and therefore I wouldn't have wanted to buy it...  

Slàinte,
Lukas