Month: December 2013

Whisky and Stilton cheese pairing is something that I see coming past my social media feed regularly, and I decided to try it. So this past weekend, John bought a wedge of Blue Stilton cheese, his favourite cheese, from Checkers, who have a wide variety of unique cheeses.

I paired it with a Laphroaig 10 year old Cask Strength and tweeted about it. I received such a positive response to the tweet that I decided to write a post about this fantastic whisky and cheese pairing. Traditionally people eat Stilton at Christmas, pared with pears and a glass of port.

I found some research recommendations that peaty whisky works very well paired with either Roquefort cheese or Blue Stilton. Stilton cheese is an English cheese produced in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and made according to a code that goes back to 1730.

The renowned Blue cheese is known for its pungent smell and taste. Both Blue and White Stilton cheeses are granted protected status, meaning that only cheeses produced in these three counties can carry the name Stilton.

As a result, the town bearing its name can not make Stilton! It takes 78 litres of milk to make 8 kg of Stilton cheese, and the blue veins running through the cheese are its most distinctive feature.

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Laphroaig Whisky and Cheese Pairing

The Laphroaig 10 year old single malt whisky is a pretty unique whisky in my collection. The ABV is an impressive 55.7%. A big whisky in the best Laphroaig tradition. Bold peat flavour, followed by smoke, iodine and seaweed. The Laphroaig single malt Scotch matched the Blue Stilton brilliantly.

In terms of the whisky and Stilton cheese pairing, the strong taste of the Stilton complements the smoke and peat of the Laphroaig. In addition, it brings out the creamy, buttery flavour of the cheese in a remarkable way.

I give this Laphroaig 10 yo whisky and Stilton cheese pairing a RATING: DIVINE. I was interested to understand why this whisky and cheese pairing works so well. Research indicates that when the main volatile molecules of the two foods are the same, they should work well together.

There is also an element of balance between the astringency of the two foods that make them fit. It is probably why these two work so well together. A perfect pairing. The best I have ever tried.

I have done a side by side comparison between the Laphroaig 10 year old and the Quarter cask whisky to see how they differ.

Other delicious whisky cheese pairings to try:

Yamazaki 12 year old Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 12/15/2013

In Single Malt whisky

This week I tasted one of the international whiskies in my collection – The Yamazaki 12 year old single malt whisky. The Yamazaki is distilled by Suntory, whose founder Shinjiro Torii built Japan’s first malt whisky distillery in the Vale of Yamazaki.

Located on the outskirts of the ancient capital of Kyoto, the pure waters and climate proved ideal for the maturation of whisky. Japanese whisky has an exciting journey dating back to the 1860s. The Japanese consumed all the whisky distilled domestically until the 2000s.

The Yamazaki 12 year old became the first Japanese whisky to be exported and to win awards. With its reputation preceding it, we were looking forward to finally tasting it. The whisky is presented in a box that evokes echoes of ancient paper with its faded yellow colour. Proudly displayed on the box is the note that the whisky won a double gold medal in 2009.

The Yamazaki 12 year old single malt whisky is matured in three kinds of wood – toasted American oak, Japanese Mizunara oak and ex-sherry casks. The Mizunara oak is native to Japan. It is both scarcer and harder to work with than American or European oak.

It reputedly imparts a seductive aroma of incense sticks, flowers and spice that is quite unmistakable.

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Yamazaki 12 year old Whisky Review

COUNTRY: Japan

ABV: 43%

COLOUR: Deep golden caramel. There are clear hints of sherry coming through in the colour, but it is not as intense as some of the other ex-sherry cask whiskies that we have.

NOSE: The nose is complex with caramel, fruit and florals the first impression. The dram reminds me of subtle perfume!

PALATE: There is lots of honey, spice and oak. More subtle is the barley and malt, which floats around in the background. The spice is quite pronounced with hints of pepper.

FINISH: The finish is luxurious, velvety and smooth.

RATING: EXCELLENT

I missed a longer, more sophisticated finish, but the Yamasaki 12 year old is a superb whisky. It may be that at a future re-tasting, I upgrade it to a divine rating; it’s that interesting.

This lovely single malt reminds one of a Speyside whisky with lots of fruit and honey. Jeannette dug around to see which food would pair well with it. It should come as little surprise that it seems to pair well with sushi – also one of our favourite foods.

The Yamasaki flavour notes match ginger and soy sauce well, and thus it should work well with Makizushi or rolled sushi. Salmon rainbow rolls, vegetable maki rolls or futomaki all spring to mind. Whatever sushi you pair this with, I think it will be awesome, and we look forward to doing just that.

Other interesting whiskies from Japan that I have tasted include the Nikka from the Barrel, Nikka Coffey Grain as well as the Nikka Miyagikyo.

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Glenfiddich Madeira Cask Finish 19 year old Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 12/07/2013

In Single Malt whisky

In between working and raising a daughter meant that I had not had enough time to blog about my passion. Fortunately, the year is winding down, and I can once again turn to matters whisky! I have collected quite a bit of material and have lots to post in the coming weeks.

But for today I decided to taste a whisky that is presented in arguably one of the most beautiful boxes around. So today, I explore the Glenfiddich Madeira Cask 19 year old Age of Discovery single malt Scotch whisky.

It’s quite a mouthful of a name, but as it’s a Glenfiddich, I am looking forward to tasting. The Glenfiddich distillery is one of my favourite distilleries and produces a broad range of expressions. Located in Dufftown in the Speyside region of Scotland, the distillery was founded in 1886.

During whisky’s dark days of the 1960s and 1970s, when so many distilleries fell silent or were sold off, Glenfiddich survived. They did this by introducing advertising, innovations such as packaging in tubes and entering the duty-free market. As a result, Glenfiddich remains one of the few distilleries still in family hands and not owned by a large conglomerate.

The Glenfiddich Age of Discovery series comprises three different expressions, Madeira, bourbon and wine casks finishes. My collection of whiskies include finishes in Sherry and bourbon casks, so when I travelled through London and spotted this at Heathrow airport, I had to get it. Madeira is a unique Spanish wine known for its sweet characteristics.

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Glenfiddich Madeira Cask 19 year old Whisky Review

The Glenfiddich 19 yo Madeira Cask Finish Age of Discovery single malt whisky is presented in a beautiful black bottle with red embossing near bottle’s neck.

REGION: Speyside

ABV: 43%

COLOUR: Antique gold. It’s beautiful when held up to the light.

NOSE: From a nose perspective, this whisky is complex. You probably need to nose it on more than one occasion to unpack its characteristics fully. I found raisin, fruit cake, citrus and oak. Others have reported figs, gooseberry and fruit.

PALATE: The Glenfiddich 19 year old Madeira Cask produced cinnamon and pepper, more fruit and dry oak with hints of ginger. Its complexity probably requires further tasting! The 19 yo Madeira Cask Finish is a polarizing whisky, and John and I were initially split on what we thought of it.

RATING: VERY GOOD

It’s a complex whisky, so you need to give yourself time and allow it to breathe a bit. In time and on later tastings, we may well change our view! It’s nice enough for us to look around for the other two expressions in the range. A 19 yo whisky is a bit of an unusual age statement and reflects something unique.

Glenfiddich whisky & Food pairing

One of the things that I have been working on is pairing whisky with food. I have previously blogged about this subject, and I thought I would share my thoughts and invite readers to comment on what pairing of this particular whisky and food worked well for them.

I have not tried this yet, but the Glenfiddich Age of Discovery fruity character means it may go well with goats’ cheese, figs and thyme flatbread as a starter served on the patio with a barbecue. This pairing is something I plan to try as soon as I get my hands on some fresh figs. It would probably work well on a winter’s evening in company with a raspberry and fig pie.

I also paired this Glenfiddich Age of Discovery Madeira Cask Finish with some Lancashire Cheese. It makes for an acceptable pairing.

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