Ah, if only I could be seated at a table like this every week:
The Whisky Shop in San Francisco is a fabulous establishment, with hundreds of bottles of Scotch (and Whiskey) for sale. They team up with the City Club of San Francisco every now and then for amazing evenings of education & drinking. I've attended twice before, and the drinks were paired with appetizers. This time we were in a smaller room and had a full on meal paired with our malts.
You might notice the empty martini glass... that was a yummy blood & sand created with Isle of Skye 8 year. We then dived into a delicious (if bony) char-grilled Monterey sardine with polenta croutons while tasting Chieftain's Allt'A'Bhainne 16 year old (Speyside), Chieftain's Braevall 1996 14 year (Speyside), and Chieftain's Rosebank 1990 20 year cask strength 108 proof (Lowland). Hard for a little girl like me to keep up!
But this was not a leisurely afternoon at a bar with my Scotch partner, so I had to move on to the next course. Coffee-cabernet braised Long Valley Ranch short ribs with cippolini, parsnip-potato puree, and Broccoli di Ciccio. Oh this was heavenly, but I couldn't finish it! We were tasked with trying Chieftain's Longmorn 1994 17 year (Speyside), Chieftain's Auchroisk 1995 16 year (Speyside) and Isle of Skye 12 year (Island/Speyside).
As one might guess, I was having a hard time keeping up, so I don't have many tasting notes for you. I managed to write "yum" after Allt-A-Bhainne, "peach, yes!" after Braeval, "whoa" after Rosebank, "oh! nice!" after Longmorn and "smiles" after Auchroisk.
We weren't done yet. Time for some Washington apple crisp with Tahitian vanilla gelato (see why I couldn't finish my short ribs? a girl has to prioritize...) paired with Smokehead (Islay) and Chieftain's Caol Ila 14 year Jamaican Rum Finish cask strength 110 proof (Islay). WOW, they were amazing!
If only I could have slowed down the pace a bit so I could have had time to eat & drink everything... Oh well, here's to the next tasting night!
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