The first rule of Whisk(e)y Club is ... oh dear, no need for any Tyler Durden here.
It is no secret that I am a big fan of whiskey, both foreign and domestic. From its history to its production to its celebration in cocktails, festivals or in a simple glass in the home, whiskey to me is a magical entity. Equal parts science and art, whiskey builds upon humanity's three great achievements in the culinary arts - fermentation of milk (cheese), fermentation of fruit (wine), and fermentation of grain (beer).
If you distill cheese, hmmm, I am not sure what you will get, but whatever trickles out of that still is probably not alcoholic, so why bother.
If you distill wine in the Cognac region of France, you get Cognac. If you distill wine in the Armagnac region of France, you get Armagnac. If you distill wine anywhere else in the world, then you get brandy.
If you distill beer, you get whiskey. There are a number of whiskey varieties, primarily delineated by the region in the world in which they are produced and the grain from which the beer was made. Each whiskey has its own quirks and qualities and in truth, no two whiskies are alike. The variety, while no where near the scale of wine, is fascinating, exciting, and enjoyable.
Now to me whiskey is about exploration, enjoyment, and sharing. I am fascinated not only by the variety of whiskey out there but also by the variety of impressions a group of people can have while enjoying a specific whiskey. Because of this, I decided to whip up a little social experiment. I recruited a small group of friends that are also interested in whiskey and offered to administer our very own Whiskey of the Month club.
The gist - I will pick a specific bottle of whiskey each month and make 4oz samples of that item. Each person in the club will receive a sample but will know nothing of what's in the bottle - no ABV, no region, certainly no producer. My only promise is that what is in the bottle they receive is an unadulterated whiskey that is readily available and under $75/bottle - no limited releases and no 20-year old single malts.
What I ask for in return is for each person to share with me their thoughts, impressions, likes, dislikes and guess as to what is in that sample bottle. Four ounces should provide two healthy pours or three to four conservative pours, the thought being each person will have more than one tasting from which to jot down their impressions.
Once everyone has submitted their impressions, I will create a blog entry - on a new blog site! - revealing the selected whiskey, any official tasting notes from the producer, any cool anecdotes/history about the product/distillery, an assortment of 'professional' reviews for said whiskey and then all our impressions (anonymously).
So how will all this shake out? Will it devolve into friendships being sacrificed on the altar of bitter disagreement over a particular whiskey? Or will it serve to solidify and strengthen our resolve as we expand the experiment to include tequilas, rums, and gins? Only time will tell but luckily you will get to watch it all unfold at https://aqua-lunas.blogspot.com
