In times of crisis, the only constant is uncertainty. But society members have another constant – the arrival of new, richly varied bottlings.
Unfortunately, we also had to cancel the May tastings; all members who had reservations have already been informed personally. We will stick to the June dates and hope that by then we can achieve a new kind of normality.
When we had to cancel the April tastings, I quickly prepared a tasting set. It was intended as a test and I am glad that it was received so well. I would also like to apologise to all those who were unable to order it – as soon as we had sent out the announcement, the internet, phones and all mobile communications failed for 36 hours in our region. One can hardly imagine how eerie everything suddenly seemed – everything turned into a blindfold act, and I could not react as flexibly as I had imagined.
I have used the time since Easter to organise things better so that I can react more flexibly to your requests. To pass the time until our tastings, you can order another tasting set with five new whiskies.
As a further innovation, I have prepared with the help of Adrian Lüthy a small presentation for each of the whiskies (in German, French and English). If you are interested, we will give you some background information about the whisky, the distillery and the region where the whisky comes from. I’m eager to hear your thoughts on this.
We start our little expedition with 26.136: Candy floss and carousels; a classic from a 2nd-fill ex-Bourbon barrel. Then it gets a little spicier with the 37.131: Tarantella tongue dancing; a whisky that received its final touch in a 1st-fill Barrique. In the middle section you can enjoy two whiskies, both aged in 1st-fill ex-Sauternes Barriques (*). First the 58.36: Roll with the punches, then the 7.236: A sticky tumble in apple crumble – is the sequence right? We can discuss this now – the first of the two is a Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits, while the second is a Juicy, Oak & Vanilla – I was unsure of the sequence, but I personally prefer to sequence them by age. Finally, there is another classical peaty specimen with the 53.324: Lighthouse to smokehouse.
I heard that with the last tasting set, small groups formed over digital platforms to discover and discuss the whiskies together. I was delighted to hear that, because that’s exactly the spirit of the Society!
I wish you all lots of fun with this set too and am already looking forward to your extensive feedback. Let us enjoy the coming weeks and hope that the gradual easing of restrictions will go as planned.
Stay healthy and SLÀINTHE MHATH!
Patric Lutz
SMWS Switzerland llc