Yes Craig, good work,<div><br></div><div>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? </div>
<div><br></div><div>Davin </div><div><br></div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2008/11/7 Wanders, Hans <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:hans.wanders@atosorigin.com">hans.wanders@atosorigin.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Craig,<br>
Congratulations !. 4 out of 8 is a quit high score. Give me a<br>
laphroaig and a dalwhine and i tell you wich is wich, but the malts you<br>
figured out, man, a hell of a job. Congratulations, again and again<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Hans wanders<br>
</font><div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: <a href="mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net">mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net</a><br>
</div><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">[mailto:<a href="mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net">mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net</a>] On Behalf Of cdaniels<br>
Sent: maandag 3 november 2008 0:07<br>
To: 'MaltManiacs operated former 'MALT-L' Whisky List'<br>
Subject: RE: [MM-MALTS-L] Australian Malt Whisky Competition<br>
<br>
Hi Lex<br>
<br>
The way it basically works is that one a competitor has registered and<br>
paid the entry fee, the competition organizers release a list of 30<br>
common commercially available OBs about 4 months before the Competition.<br>
<br>
Ideally, in preparation for the competition I'd try and taste and<br>
re-taste all the whiskies on the list. However buying 30 bottles of<br>
malt is beyond my pocket so I made sure that I bought and wrote notes<br>
for the 'new'<br>
whiskies on the list, basically those I didn't have any notes for. I<br>
memorize these notes as you're not allowed to take anything into the<br>
competition with you other than what's in your head.<br>
<br>
I ended up buying 12 and trusting 'palate memory' for the rest.<br>
<br>
On the day they pick 10 names out of the 30 and then 8 of those end up<br>
in numbered glasses on a tasting mat.<br>
<br>
Having an extra two names makes things quite a bit more difficult as<br>
some of the whiskies are very close in profile.<br>
<br>
The reason for putting quite a lot of practice in beforehand is to try<br>
and get what I call 'malt markers' for as many of the malts as possible.<br>
To me, some whiskies have particular characteristics that help me<br>
identify them and on the other hand some are either very bland or can be<br>
chameleons that tend to take on different characteristics in different<br>
company.<br>
<br>
During the first round, there was only one that was a giveaway to an<br>
experienced taster and that was the Bushmills 10. The grassy characters<br>
made it stand out amongst a bunch of malt scotches. The other one I was<br>
pretty sure about was Glen Rothes Select Reserve - I get tinned peach<br>
and pear syrup and found it on the day. I was also pretty confident<br>
about Johnnie Walker Green as there weren't any Islays on the table and<br>
JWG has a hint of mustard cress and sterile bandages that suggests a<br>
little bit of Islay in the vatting and my little bit of luck was working<br>
out that Whisky Number 6 was Balvenie 12 and not Strathisla 12, which<br>
are pretty close if you put them side by side. It's much harder to work<br>
out which is which when one of them isn't there as you're only<br>
referencing palate memory. I thought I'd found Glenlivet 12 but it was<br>
actually Tamdhu NAS. Poured from the bottle and nosed straight away, I<br>
wouldn't get them wrong, but if you let them sit for about 20-30 minutes<br>
they do become similar as the slightly funky earthy note in Tamdhu burns<br>
off and it gets much cleaner.<br>
<br>
Two of us got 4 right. In the taste-off I got Bushmills 10 and<br>
Glenmorangie<br>
10 right and once again misidentified Tamdhu NAS as Glenlivet 12.<br>
<br>
I've attached a link to the issue of Feints & Foreshots which has a<br>
review of the Competition and an interview between myself and the Editor<br>
of F&F.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.mwsoa.org.au/web_images/FEINTS_AND_FORESHOTS%2024%20Sept.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.mwsoa.org.au/web_images/FEINTS_AND_FORESHOTS%2024%20Sept.pdf</a><br>
<br>
<br>
If the link doesn't work google <a href="http://www.mwsoa.org.au" target="_blank">www.mwsoa.org.au</a> and search for Feints<br>
and<br>
Foreshots # 1 post Sept 2008 aka Edition #25.<br>
<br>
Craig Daniels<br>
Chairman<br>
Malt Whisky Society of Australia<br>
Organisers of Australia's Fourth Malt Whisky Convention Hobart 28-30<br>
August<br>
2009<br>
<br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: <a href="mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net">mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net</a><br>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net">mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net</a>]<br>
On Behalf Of Kraaijeveld A.R.<br>
Sent: Sunday, 2 November 2008 8:08 PM<br>
To: MaltManiacs operated former 'MALT-L' Whisky List<br>
Subject: RE: [MM-MALTS-L] Australian Malt Whisky Competition<br>
<br>
Congratulations, Craig! And yes, please fill us in on how it all went.<br>
<br>
<br>
slainte, Lex<br>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>
<br>
Fly, you greatest fool<br>
Why can't you say what they want you to<br>
Why can't you do what they taught you<br>
And show what they wanted of you<br>
<br>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>
<br>
Rivers of milk are running dry<br>
Can't you hear the dolphins crying?<br>
<br>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>
<br>
Dr Alex R Kraaijeveld<br>
Lecturer in Ecology & Evolution<br>
School of Biological Sciences<br>
University of Southampton<br>
Building 62, Room 6031, Boldrewood Campus Southampton SO16 7PX<br>
Tel: +44(0)23 80593436<br>
Fax: +44(0)23 80594459<br>
Email: <a href="mailto:arkraa@soton.ac.uk">arkraa@soton.ac.uk</a><br>
Website: <a href="http://www.sbs.soton.ac.uk/staff/ark/ark.php" target="_blank">www.sbs.soton.ac.uk/staff/ark/ark.php</a><br>
School Website: <a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/biosci" target="_blank">www.southampton.ac.uk/biosci</a><br>
<br>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>
<br>
... men ought to be fully assured of the truth of the effect before they<br>
venture to explicate the cause.<br>
(Webster, 1677. The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft)<br>
<br>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>
________________________________________<br>
From: <a href="mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net">mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net</a> [<a href="mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net">mm-malts-l-bounces@grsnet.net</a>] On<br>
Behalf Of Davin de Kergommeaux [<a href="mailto:maltmaniacsdavin@gmail.com">maltmaniacsdavin@gmail.com</a>]<br>
Sent: 01 November 2008 22:06<br>
To: <a href="mailto:mm-malts-l@grsnet.net">mm-malts-l@grsnet.net</a><br>
Subject: [MM-MALTS-L] Australian Malt Whisky Competition<br>
<br>
Does everyone know that among us we have the winner of the above-noted<br>
competition? Malts-L's own Craig Daniels won the competition earlier<br>
this year, his second win as far as I know. This is a competition where<br>
malts are tasted blind and the winner is the person who guesses<br>
correctly the largest number of originating distilleries. It sounds<br>
pretty intense - they have half an hour to sort them out and this year<br>
had to do a run-off to break a tie. Craig, if you're out there - care<br>
to fill us in on the details?<br>
Davin<br>
<br>
p.s. - I'm deliberately asking this on Malts-L given the encouraging<br>
rumbles a few weeks ago.<br>
<br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
<br>
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