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This excellent whisky-tasting manor hosted by George kicked-off in the grand surroundings that are the Scotch Malt Whisky Society premises in The Vaults, Leith. In attendance to hear George’s excellent knowledge on whisky were 10 Knights (Colin, Martin, William, Dave, Neil, Derran, Derry, George, Rab and Steve) and one guest (Anne). It’s the first time most of us have seen Rab in many years and good to see him back at a Cape Manor. George had arranged a private room for us: we headed there as soon as we were in and, within minutes, everyone had three, lovely cask-strength malt whiskies in front of them. These were a nine year-old Glen Grant, a 10 year-old Glenmorangie (remember, the accent’s on the ‘o’ folks: we don’t want you losing US$200!) and a 15 year-old Bowmore. The Glenmorangie was unusual in that it spent 12 years in sherry casks: the norm we were informed by the chap serving the drinks is eight years in bourbon and four in Sherry. The Bowmore had matured in bourbon casks. George eruditely instructed us on the art of whisky tasting, from the shape of the glass, through the colour, the legs, the nose (smell), the pure taste and on to similar qualities and observations with a few drops of water added to the sup-able, fiery water of life. George’s line of work also benefitted Knights as he imparted deep knowledge of the distilling process, including the ‘angel’s’ share and the effect of the height of the still on the nature of the final product. Once we’d tasted all three whiskies (with much hilarity over lack of legs leading to ‘legless-ness’), George pulled forth his box of smells, a kit commonly used by the whisky-making masters. We enjoyed a game of ‘blind-man’s-smell’ trying to identify such delicate odours as ‘decay’ and ‘medicinal’. After tasting all three whiskies, some Knights carried on by sampling a few more while a others moved on to sampling a few good bottled ales, also available behind the bar in the member’s room.
On leaving The Vaults, a few Knights headed for the Malt and Hops but were sadly disappointed by suspicions of watered-down beer.
Despite this out-of-Cape-hands set-back, this was another great Manor. Special thanks to George for organising and conducting the evening in fine Cape fashion. You can listen to a three minute snippit of George’s talk by clicking here .