One Whisky, Two Whisky, Three Whisky, Floor!

Well thankfully that's not what happened when I attended a scotch whisky tasting put on by our friends at Eno Fine Wines that Steve Wynn had alerted us to when Dave and I were in there a few weeks ago.  Before I get started on my experience at this tasting, let's use this opportunity to make note of a few differences between our dear friend Dave and me.  Steve informed us of the tasting, I thought it sounded fantastic as did Dave, we agree to go.  Tricia purchases her ticket online a few days later as it's a limited attendee event and informs Dave of the purchase.  Dave never replies until the day BEFORE the event to say he'd like to go and also bring his date for the evening.  Dave tries to purchase tickets, they are sold out.

Lesson here?  Dave procrastinates, Tricia does not.

Now, this tasting was not for the faint of heart.  The distillery that Eno was hosting is Bruichladdich (yup, good luck as I was informed by the representative from the company, David Ferguson, how to pronounce it but his damn Scottish accent was so strong it didn't do me any good) out of Scotland and they came with the big guns.  The big guns in this case was seven scotch whiskys and a gin for good measure.  This distillery was founded in the late 1800s by three brothers and has been producing fine whisky (and a gin!) ever since.  Holy moly.  This was by far one of the best tasting events I've ever attended, not just because of the quality liquors being tasted but the view from the Garden Terrace of the Peerless Building in downtown Providence coupled with the great snacks Eno provided and the intimacy of the event (there were only about 25 people, per the capacity of the space) all equaled nothing less than a great night.

We started with their Botanist Gin, served both neat or with a little quality tonic if you preferred.  For those of you unsure about gin, I personally prefer it to vodka because of the flavors you get from it, and I'm not just referring to the juniper berry.  This particular gin incorporates 22 botanicals native to Scotland amongst a few others and it reflects in the taste.  It's simply a joy to consume (yes, joy...I just had to restrain myself from too much joy, this was a marathon, not a sprint).

After the gin came the whisky...and the whisky...and the whisky.  About half were classic, half peated.

INSERT QUICK WHISKY LESSON:  A whisky is peated when the barley is roasted over a fire built with incorporating peat moss, giving it a smoky, peat flavor.  Whisky can have a high PPM (parts per million) of peat or a lower one, affecting of course the notes of that flavor you get when you drink it.  I personally prefer a peated whisky as it takes the 'fire' out of it for me and I'm left with the delicious smoky, caramel hints I've come to love about this liquor.

As the list is extensive to run through each one, I'll let you know that you can find these in the Providence area at Eno Fine Wines or contact them through their website, bruichladdich.com, to find more locations or order online.  We tried their Rocks, The Laddie Ten, Organic, Fino Cask, An Toras Mor, PC8 and Black Art II which ranged in price from $50 up to $200, respectively.  Suffice to say if you're a whisky drinker you will not be disappointed.  My personal favorite was the Black Art (naturally, it was the most expensive served that evening).

Thank you again to Steve for the invite!

Cheers,
Trish