A Night In Honor Of Loch Fyne Whiskies

Saturday (24 April) the Old SNOTS gathered for another installment of single malt whisky tasting. 

But this was no ordinary evening.   The single malt whiskies being tasted were from distilleries the Old SNOTS had not sampled from before, partly due to the fact that they are a little more difficult to find in this part of the country.  Not impossible, mind you.  Just difficult.  Especially if your range is rather narrow.  

This night, though, we had the pleasure of sampling hard-to-find whiskies chosen for us by the good folks at Loch Fyne Whiskies of Inveraray, Scotland.  I’d visited the shop in March and took a list of the Old SNOTS still-untried distilleries.  Mr. Burns looked at the list and after carefully considering it, started pulling down bottles from the shelves and lining them up in front of me.  Craigellachie, Glen Grant, Ardmore, Hazelburn, Pittyvaich, Mortlach.  He then explained that these would make a good tasting as all were similar in taste but with subtle and interesting characters.  All were Highland whiskies, with one exception, the Hazelburn, a Campbeltown whisky, yet all had differences enough to make for an interesting comparison tasting.  

His analysis was on the mark.  There was unanimous agreement among the Old SNOTS that the sampling from the Loch Fyne selected whiskies was among the more interesting lineups we’d sampled.  In fact, when the evening was over it was proposed that, at some point during the year, the Old SNOTS should place another order with Loch Fyne for whiskies from untried  distilleries. 

I note that in the most recent issue of Whisky Magazine, the Icons of Whisky were announced and the categories of Whisky Retailer of the Year (Single Outlet) and Whisky Online Retailer of the Year, Loch Fyne Whiskies was only mentioned as making the shortlist in the latter category.  This is, in my mind, a travesty.  No one came and asked me.  Obviously, I’m biased, but that, in the end, is what it’s all about, isn’t it?