Whisky Miniatures
For this challenge, I assembled a small collection of miniatures I’d been keeping for, well, no reason at all really. They were a mixed bag ranging from a German freebie to a rare and pricey 36yo Convalmore.
Tasting in miniature
This was tasting, but in miniature – both in terms of the whisky and our perceptions of it. Could we boil down each whisky to one theme? To hammer home the message, we’d have to choose a miniature character – in this case, from the UK kids classic ‘The Poddington Peas’ – to best represent each whisky.
Is the set of Poddington Pea names is sufficiently expressive to evaluate the main qualities of a set of whisky miniatures?
The Whisky
The whiskies were (from left to right):
- Glenmorangie Burgundy Finish, 43%. Picked up from the distillery shop.
- Bruichladdich 9yo Whisky & Dreams, 50%. A freebie thrown in to an order from the German whisky shop Whisky & Dreams.
- Convalmore 1997 36yo, 53%. A rare sample bought from the WhiskyBase shop.
- Springbank ‘Distillery Visitors’ 2014. The freebie at the end of the Sprinbank distillery tour.
Results
Miniature #1: Glenmorangie burgundy finish
Phil
Ali
Phil: Because of the wood influence, I’ve gone for Chop-Pea.
Ali: It is pretty woody. As it’s perfect for a hip flask, I’ve chosen Hip-Pea.
Ali: It is pretty woody. As it’s perfect for a hip flask, I’ve chosen Hip-Pea.
Miniature #2: Convalmore 1977 58.0%
Phil
Ali
Phil: Really complex! Clean metallic flavours and amazing tingly depth. And sweet limes… boom!
Ali: Yeah this is really nice.
Phil: I’ve picked Penela-Pea as she’s a mother and this is old and she has a (metallic) pushchair an the spritely-ness of a child in there too.
Ali: I’ve gone for Pop-Pea. Because he’s the old man of the peas, but he’s got the youthful vigour of Pop from the Rice Krispies… er… are they a gang? The Rice Krispies mascots.
Phil: We’ve both gone for a ‘young and old’ theme there.
Ali: Yeah this is really nice.
Phil: I’ve picked Penela-Pea as she’s a mother and this is old and she has a (metallic) pushchair an the spritely-ness of a child in there too.
Ali: I’ve gone for Pop-Pea. Because he’s the old man of the peas, but he’s got the youthful vigour of Pop from the Rice Krispies… er… are they a gang? The Rice Krispies mascots.
Phil: We’ve both gone for a ‘young and old’ theme there.
Miniature #3: Springbank Distillery Visitors 2014
Phil
Ali
Ali: It fizzes from the front of your tongue to the back, like it’s being zipped up. So, Zip-Pea.
Phil: Hints of the sea with a nice cask influence. It’s woody and ‘masculine’. Captain Hop-Pea.
Phil: Hints of the sea with a nice cask influence. It’s woody and ‘masculine’. Captain Hop-Pea.
Miniature #4: Bruichladdich 9yo Whisky & Dreams 50%
Phil
Ali
Ali: It’s got some black bits in it.
Phil: It tastes like the pomades in a barbers – sweet and perfumed.
Ali: Not the Auchentoshan barber, I hope.
Phil: No, the garden’s resident barber, Snip-Pea.
Ali: I think it smells quite bready, and the black bits could be poppy seeds. So it’s got to be Dough-Pea.
Phil: It tastes like the pomades in a barbers – sweet and perfumed.
Ali: Not the Auchentoshan barber, I hope.
Phil: No, the garden’s resident barber, Snip-Pea.
Ali: I think it smells quite bready, and the black bits could be poppy seeds. So it’s got to be Dough-Pea.