Hosting a tasting

[kayaker]

Have any of you ever hosted your own wine, beer or spirit tasting?

Being a big scotch whisky fan, 2 years ago I decided to host my own event for a few friends so that we could all enjoy a few drams and learn a bit about scotch and our tastes.

It has turned into an annual event and this year we may be stepping up the program to some higher quality malts.

I'm looking for any ideas or experiences you have had with your own tastings or ones that you have attended.

Cheers,
Ian

[mosesbotbol]

I have hosted many port wine events with up to 9 people sampling 17 vintages. The glassware is a killer because it's NxB=G; each person needs to have a glass of each drink side by side at once to do a proper tasting. Also, assuming each bottle (in your case Scotch) is going to be emptied, you'll want to decant each bottle.

Never mind arranging who is bringing what or paying to for their share. Not everyone has access to certain bottles or their country tax is so high, it's better just to pay the others for their booze.

Oh ya, the food... Making something that compliments what you are tasting...

[kayaker]

Thanks for the advice.

I had a small crew for both of my tastings, 5 people each. There was supposed to be more last year but there were a few last minute cancellations.

The first one was a blind tasting of 4 SMs that varied in age, price and region. My wife did the pouring so that even I didn't know what was what.

We compared 2 at a time to decide on favourites and then compared the two winners. We made notes and chatted about them.

The conclusions I was hoping would be made were. Age and price do not necessarily mean better scotch.

After the tasting part we then drank what we wanted along with some snacks.

For my tastings I buy all the whisky and ask guests to make a reimbursement towards the cost. I keep whats left over. I don't spend so much that it leaves me in the hole, but this way it doesn't matter how many people show up. Fewer people means more whisky for me, more people means more recovered money to buy more.[IMG]http://www.***********.com/vb/images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/IMG]

Each time I did have leftovers in each bottle, so I found it a great way to start building a little collection.

[scottw]

Nice,

I have gone to tastings with over 100 whisky;s and obviously, you get a bottle of water to give a drop or two to the dram to open it up. After that, just a splash of water in the glass, swirl to clean and off to the next bottle. The glasswear would be a nightmare but for 4-5 bottles, hake sure you have a bottle of spring water (not chilled, no chilled water in whisky). and some crackers and things.

[ucla695]

I've been to some very informal wine tastings at friend's and family's houses. At some, the host provided the wine and everyone chipped in to help offset the cost. At others, guests were asked to bring several bottles of whatever wine they wanted. It worked out well. As other have said, the nightmare can be the glassware. Palate cleansers are a must and so is having something to wash out the glass if you don't have enough glasses.

[mosesbotbol]

Yup, back to glassware. I have about 60 IDVP port glasses, which are just like the Riedel, but are the "offical" port glass in Portugal. Luckily, they can stand the dishwasher well. My friend has about 60 also, so we can host a decent size event. Make sure you go for dishwasher safe!

The Scotch tastings I have been to, a glass of each Scotch is in front of the display bottle to smell and look at. Samples are poured if you want to taste. I do not think blind is always best for tasting. Once I gave a "Scotch Maven" a sample blind, he guessed wrong. I gave him a second sample, which was really the first sample again, and he guessed something else that was wrong. We were all laughing. You should try this one on the most "expert" person at your tasting. Wait till he has had a couple belts first.

If you are asking to for money, I would ask people to send you before showing up so there is not ackward situation.

Do make sure to have plenty of bottled waters. A case of Poland Springs works well. I like to bring my own half gallon so to not have to get up often for refills.

[kayaker]

My tasting is coming up this weekend. Looks like a cozy little crew of 6.

Here's the line up

Auchroisk 1992, 14 yr, finsihed in Syrah casks, bottled by Murray McDavid
Glen Grant 25 yr, bottled by Gordon & MacPhail
Highland Park 1989, 16 yr, finished in port casks, bottled by Murray McDavid
Coal Ila 1984, 18 yr, bottled by First Cask
Bowmore 17 yr, distillery bottled
Port Ellen 1982, 24 yr, bottled by Dewar Rattray

Should be a good time. Too bad it will be raining here and we won't get a chance to light up a stick.

I'll post pics and comment of the event next week.

[kayaker]

The tasting went very well. A cozy little group of 5, with 2 newbies. One was a real newbie to Scotch.

I only took one pic, and that was just of the line up before we got started.

The Bowmore and the Highland Park were the common favourites.

We had spring water and unsalted crackers between samples to help cleanse our palates.

After the formal part of the tasting we had another sociable or two along with a few snacks (Scottish shortbread, smoked gouda, malt cheddar, capicolo, prosciutto,smoked maple mild pepperoni, smoked maple salmon pate, milk and dark chocolate).

Everyone had a great time (and we didn't scare off the newbie). We even started making plans to have another one this summer that will include cigars.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by kayaker

The tasting went very well.

The Bowmore and the Highland Park were the common favourites.

Everyone had a great time (and we didn't scare off the newbie). We even started making plans to have another one this summer that will include cigars.

Hmmm. I never took the Bowmore that serious as it sells for so cheap in my parts, but good to hear that it was favorable.

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Hmmm. I never took the Bowmore that serious as it sells for so cheap in my parts, but good to hear that it was favorable.

We had the Bowmore 12 at our first tasting. I think it was the cheapest in a $10-12 price range for what we had.
It was one of the favourites. It often gets noted for its bang for buck status.