Dublin Tasting: Charles MacLean and the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society

Happy New Years! For any o ye traddies who rang in Hogmanay wi’ a well whisky’d round o’ Auld Lang Syne, ye’ll be fain to lear we’ve a bonnie calendar lined up full o more o the same an aw. But, as the baird laureate o the above Braid Scots leid once wrote,“the best laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft agley” so, all leids and lead-ons sincerely aside, we’re going to hit the ground running with a Robbie Burns Night scotch tasting in the company of world class critic Charles MacLean and the Scottish Malt Whisky Society, which he currently chairs. For those of you unfamiliar with our distant Scottish cousins, the SMWS was founded in the late 1970s by Phillip “Pip” Hills and a small group of like-minded spirits in an even smaller kitchen with a large bottle of Glenfarclas drawn straight from the cask. Today, their headquarters in Leith is home to a reservoir of staggering expressions from across Scotland’s malt-scape and their sleek, discreet, dark green bottles have become liquid icons of Scotland’s finest fluids. Tonight, we’ll be tasting MacLean’s hand selected range from those same members-only bottlings as he walks us through the nooks and crannies of his national nectar with a depth and insight afforded by a lifetime in the heart of world whisky criticism. The author of numerous classics such as Whiskypedia and Whisky: A Liquid History, MacLean is a living legend on the Scottish single malt stage and it is our absolute pleasure to invite him and his society to Dublin for what we’re very confident will be a night to remember and the beginning of an Auld Acquaintance n'er forgot in new years to come.

Doors open: 7:30pm (please wait in the bar before this time so we can set up the room) Tasting begins: 8:00pm sharp

Whiskeys Tasted

1 Linkwood 8 years old, 59%  39.119

2 Auchentoshan 14yr, 59.9%  5.48

3 Craggenmore 28yr, 58.1%  37.69

4 Balmenach 13yr, 62.1%  48.69

5 Bowmore 21yr, 56.6%  3.255

6 Laphroaig 16yr, 58%  29.177