Håvard Eide

A couple of weeks ago I sat down on a nmwl with 5 10yo whiskies in front of me to taste blind. This is always a good exercise since you don’t pre-judge based on the label of the bottle, everyone should try this from time to time just to see what happens. We got a list of 15 distilleries up front so that we had something to base our decision on. Here are my notes for the evening.

First up was Aberlour: sherry cask here? some vanilla and perfume, lots of perfume. some sulphur and the balance is not very good. Not a bottle I would buy. But: my initial thought that it had to be a Aberlour was correct
The second bottle smelled like green grass, had some pear and apple ( mainly fruity ) and a dry finish. It was a Glengoyne, and I did not guess correct.
The third bottle smelled like green apples and had a intense initial hit, then a salty taste that lingered, must be a burboun cask. This was Longrow 100 proof and I did not guess correct.
Fourth up was a odd one: smelled like a old wet fireplace, peaty and lots of wood. This was a Chieftain’s Choise Bunnahabain peated, I was correct and I bought myself a bottle of this the day after.
Finally Ardbeg was servered, this one I had correct ( Ardbeg is on my top 3 distilleries, wasn’t that hard to guess it ).

So: 3 out of 5 wasn’t that bad I think The suprise of the evening was the Bunnahabain peated that got a safe home the next day. Looking forward to opening that one!

I also got to taste a Glen Scotia 1999-2007 bottle 294/345, nose: dry hay, a liqurish hint and some spices. Mouth: bitter and dry liqurish with a hard liquor taste on it. It had a very short finish, this one should have a couple more years before shining through.
Then I tasted a Teaninich 12yo ( Exclusive malts ) that was a bit anonymous, and finally a Caol Ila Dun Behgan 12yo that was very good! I wish there was bottles of this one still available in Norway, I would get it instantly!

This week I ended up at the nmwl meeting where topic of the night was Flora and Fauna – this is the unofficial name of a series of malt whisky from Diageo/United Distillers ( originally coined by Michael Jackson after the decor on the bottles, and the term just stuck), we tasted 5 different bottles and was accompanied by a very good lecture on the different bottlings and general information regarding Flora and Fauna.
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nmwl is the Norwegian Malt Whisky Society, and once a month we meet up 30-40 people or so and taste our way through a lot of good whisky. The first meeting of 2009 took place on wednesday in the new meeting place in Oslo, and the topic of the night was “Old whisky”. Last year my attendance at the meetings was poor at best, they always seemed to be on the nights where I either had to work or something else came up. This year though I’m planning to attend more since the range of whisky you can taste is very good!
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