[MM-MALTS-L] Australian Malt Whisky Competition

Fri Nov 7 13:55:53 CET 2008

Yes Craig, good work,
Now that there are so many 'finished' malts on the market, have the key
markers for individual distilleries been blurred or do you guys just stay
away from finished whiskies?

Davin

2008/11/7 Wanders, Hans <hans.wanders at atosorigin.com>

> Craig,
>        Congratulations !. 4 out of 8 is a quit high score. Give me a
> laphroaig and a dalwhine and i tell you wich is wich, but the malts you
> figured out, man, a hell of a job. Congratulations, again and again
>
> Hans wanders
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mm-malts-l-bounces at grsnet.net
> [mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces at grsnet.net] On Behalf Of cdaniels
> Sent: maandag 3 november 2008 0:07
> To: 'MaltManiacs operated former 'MALT-L' Whisky List'
> Subject: RE: [MM-MALTS-L] Australian Malt Whisky Competition
>
> Hi Lex
>
> The way it basically works is that one a competitor has registered and
> paid the entry fee, the competition organizers release a list of 30
> common commercially available OBs about 4 months before the Competition.
>
> Ideally, in preparation for the competition I'd try and taste and
> re-taste all the whiskies on the list.  However buying 30 bottles of
> malt is beyond my pocket so I made sure that I bought and wrote notes
> for the 'new'
> whiskies on the list, basically those I didn't have any notes for.  I
> memorize these notes as you're not allowed to take anything into the
> competition with you other than what's in your head.
>
> I ended up buying 12 and trusting 'palate memory' for the rest.
>
> On the day they pick 10 names out of the 30 and then 8 of those end up
> in numbered glasses on a tasting mat.
>
> Having an extra two names makes things quite a bit more difficult as
> some of the whiskies are very close in profile.
>
> The reason for putting quite a lot of practice in beforehand is to try
> and get what I call 'malt markers' for as many of the malts as possible.
> To me, some whiskies have particular characteristics that help me
> identify them and on the other hand some are either very bland or can be
> chameleons that tend to take on different characteristics in different
> company.
>
> During the first round, there was only one that was a giveaway to an
> experienced taster and that was the Bushmills 10. The grassy characters
> made it stand out amongst a bunch of malt scotches.  The other one I was
> pretty sure about was Glen Rothes Select Reserve - I get tinned peach
> and pear syrup and found it on the day.  I was also pretty confident
> about Johnnie Walker Green as there weren't any Islays on the table and
> JWG has a hint of mustard cress and sterile bandages that suggests a
> little bit of Islay in the vatting and my little bit of luck was working
> out that Whisky Number 6 was Balvenie 12 and not Strathisla 12, which
> are pretty close if you put them side by side. It's much harder to work
> out which is which when one of them isn't there as you're only
> referencing palate memory. I thought I'd found Glenlivet 12 but it was
> actually Tamdhu NAS. Poured from the bottle and nosed straight away, I
> wouldn't get them wrong, but if you let them sit for about 20-30 minutes
> they do become similar as the slightly funky earthy note in Tamdhu burns
> off and it gets much cleaner.
>
> Two of us got 4 right. In the taste-off I got Bushmills 10 and
> Glenmorangie
> 10 right and once again misidentified Tamdhu NAS as Glenlivet 12.
>
> I've attached a link to the issue of Feints & Foreshots which has a
> review of the Competition and an interview between myself and the Editor
> of F&F.
>
> http://www.mwsoa.org.au/web_images/FEINTS_AND_FORESHOTS%2024%20Sept.pdf
>
>
> If the link doesn't work google www.mwsoa.org.au and search for Feints
> and
> Foreshots # 1 post Sept 2008 aka Edition #25.
>
> Craig Daniels
> Chairman
> Malt Whisky Society of Australia
> Organisers of Australia's Fourth Malt Whisky Convention Hobart 28-30
> August
> 2009
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mm-malts-l-bounces at grsnet.net
> [mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces at grsnet.net]
> On Behalf Of Kraaijeveld A.R.
> Sent: Sunday, 2 November 2008 8:08 PM
> To: MaltManiacs operated former 'MALT-L' Whisky List
> Subject: RE: [MM-MALTS-L] Australian Malt Whisky Competition
>
> Congratulations, Craig! And yes, please fill us in on how it all went.
>
>
> slainte, Lex
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Fly, you greatest fool
> Why can't you say what they want you to
> Why can't you do what they taught you
> And show what they wanted of you
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Rivers of milk are running dry
> Can't you hear the dolphins crying?
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Dr Alex R Kraaijeveld
> Lecturer in Ecology & Evolution
> School of Biological Sciences
> University of Southampton
> Building 62, Room 6031, Boldrewood Campus Southampton SO16 7PX
> Tel: +44(0)23 80593436
> Fax: +44(0)23 80594459
> Email: arkraa at soton.ac.uk
> Website: www.sbs.soton.ac.uk/staff/ark/ark.php
> School Website: www.southampton.ac.uk/biosci
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ... men ought to be fully assured of the truth of the effect before they
> venture to explicate the cause.
> (Webster, 1677. The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft)
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ________________________________________
> From: mm-malts-l-bounces at grsnet.net [mm-malts-l-bounces at grsnet.net] On
> Behalf Of Davin de Kergommeaux [maltmaniacsdavin at gmail.com]
> Sent: 01 November 2008 22:06
> To: mm-malts-l at grsnet.net
> Subject: [MM-MALTS-L] Australian Malt Whisky Competition
>
> Does everyone know that among us we have the winner of the above-noted
> competition?  Malts-L's own Craig Daniels won the competition earlier
> this year, his second win as far as I know.  This is a competition where
> malts are tasted blind and the winner is the person who guesses
> correctly the largest number of originating distilleries.  It sounds
> pretty intense - they have half an hour to sort them out and this year
> had to do a run-off to break a tie.  Craig, if you're out there - care
> to fill us in on the details?
> Davin
>
> p.s. - I'm deliberately asking this on Malts-L given the encouraging
> rumbles a few weeks ago.
>
>
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>
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