Whisky, to us, has always been that burny drink some of our friends enjoy and giggle while we grimace. In our more naive years, we mixed supermarket whisky with Coke as we liked the flavour the whisky added without the burn.
However, it’s always been a drink that we wanted to understand more of and figure out “how can people enjoy this drink when all we get is pain?” Then Kirsten stumbled upon the Devon Dram Club! Blind tastings to focus the senses, passionate members eager to coach people and share their enjoyment of whisky, but most importantly, pretence and snobbery are actively discouraged to create a safe, enjoyable (in our case) learning environment.
On our first visit to DDC, we instantly learnt the power of water. First, to help reduce the burn; then, to start making the flavours more accessible, and even to change them from the first try. Also, learning the benefits of having your nose close to the glass, rather than in it like wine, helps save your nostrils and eyes from watering slightly. Tasting blind is also truly brilliant, taking the time to really smell what’s happening and look for those differences between the whiskys.
On our first visit, after overhearing a few suggestions about what people could smell, we looked for it and found the smoky one or two, but the rest were very much whisky to us. But after a few visits, we now find ourselves discussing the differences between earthy peat vs smoky peat, barrel types and influence over time, and we even had a whisky this month that smelt a bit like cheese…
The highlight for Liam this month was a 10-year-old Bruichladdich (bru-clad-y), the classic laddie, an unpeated Islay whisky, which we also learnt this month is an oddity, as Islay was the origin of peat burning and commonly whisky from this region will have strong peaty and smoky flavours.’ Tasting blind helped confirm for Liam that young whiskys are interesting to him, which is ideal, as they also tend to be more affordable. Whereas Kirsten is finding she enjoys a sherry-finished whisky more, with the subtle wine and winter-spice elements it brings to the whiskies we have tried.
DDC has been a regular slot on the calendar for a few months now, and as it gets closer to that first Friday of the month, we get excited to think about what James, Tim and Tina are going to teach us. Already we are starting to learn about the flavour profiles we enjoy, earthy dirty peat, wine/sherry barrel finishes and young whisky seem to be our thing, who knew… we certainly didn’t but you very quickly get to try a large number of whiskys, and with the varied selection of the DDC, understand quickly what is enjoyable for you and what is more enjoyable for others.
Originally, we went for the whisky, but we’ve stayed for the warm, friendly atmosphere and monthly check-ins with a passionate, geeky whisky club that has welcomed us with open arms to enjoy some whisky together, with a little water added, too.
Words by Liam Chad
