One of the highlights of Whiskies of the World each year is its excellent Dram Club. Hosted by Event Director Douglas Smith, tickets for the Dram Club grant early access to the main event ahead of VIPs and General Admission in addition to the other VIP perks. The most exclusive benefit, however, is a private event often hosted the night before Whiskies of the World.
The Dram Club party features not only special whiskey tastings, it's often educational as well. Mr. Smith makes an effort to craft a unique experience that teaches people to appreciate whiskey even more than they already do. In years past, that's included food pairings intended to complement the flavors of each tasting, among other interesting activities.
For 2021, Dram Club attendees gathered outside the main venue on the first night of the event. We were greeted with a fun exercise to kick off the night; each person received a small strip of paper that acts as a taste test for PTC (pheylthiocarbamide), a compound that can taste bland, bitter, or worse depending on the taster's genetics. Those who find the taste of PTC particularly strong are considered "supertasters", whereas an inverse minority will not taste any bitterness whatsoever.
While my companions had an immediately intense reaction to their test strips, making them both supertasters, mine just tasted like paper, putting me in the opposite group altogether. This means they will generally find flavors more distinct and vibrant, whereas I'm far less likely to find a flavor abhorrent. It was an interesting exercise that certainly shed some light on my own tasting journey!
Following the taste test, we were treated to a blind tasting of five whiskies. Given a sheet listing the whiskies along with their tasting notes, we were poured a dram of each in succession and given the opportunity to try identifying them. Most attendees only got one or two correct at most, though a small number managed to match three of the five. As you can see from the sheet below, I only managed to match the last one correctly!
Of course, we only tasted each whiskey once, making the process much harder than your usual blind tasting where you'd be able to go back and forth between the different options, comparing them closely. Still, it was a fun exercise, and we'll share the first impression of each whiskey down below to give you some insight into the experience.
Whiskey #1
The nose yielded a sweetness not unlike red berries, with an oaky influence I initially mistook for very light peat smoke. The palate had a light mouthfeel with almost none of the sweetness I'd detected in the nose, leaning into a lightly smoky finish. At first, I thought this was the Highland Park we tasted later, but it turned out to be the Glen Grant 18 Year instead!
Whiskey #2
The second sample led with vanilla sweetness on the nose and a lot more ethanol vapors than the first one. The creamy palate delivered on that promise nicely, with notes of caramel underneath. I got spice on the finish, lending a little kick to the experience. I identified this as the Duncan Taylor offering, but it was instead The Shin 15 Year, making me 0-for-2 (though I didn't know it yet).
Whiskey #3
The initial nose on this third whiskey was creamy with a slight sickly sweetness to it. The ethanol vapors were weaker than the prior sample, and I detected a light woody scent as well. It had a very light mouthfeel, giving me some mild oakiness on the palate as well as some spice on the finish. Our host revealed this to be the Duncan Taylor Octave Drumblade 9 Year 2008, though I had thought it to be The Shin.
Whiskey #4
Our fourth sample had a very light nose, smelling of baked goods to me. With a clean, medium mouthfeel, the palate yielded a nice bite that reminded me of a bourbon without the characteristic vanilla and caramel notes. This one had a long finish with very nice spice, leading me to believe it to be the Glen Grant. We later learned it was the Highland Park Twisted Tattoo 16 Year, however.
Whiskey #5
With our fifth and final whiskey of the tasting, the nose led with notes of sea salt and butter, or perhaps salted butter, I suppose. The palate was light but had a beautiful peatiness that builds into a very nice finish. This led to my first (and only) correct guess of the tasting: this was the 10th St. Peated Wine Cask!
Overall, this year's Dram Club was another delightful and educating event. While the blind tasting itself was quite challenging, it also underscored how personal tasting can be as an experience. Tasting notes are a great exercise to become more familiar with your own palate, but don't be discouraged if your notes don't match someone else's.
Not only do we all have different experiences to draw from for identifying and describing the things we smell and taste, we also have genetic differences that quite literally change the experience from one person to the next. The important thing is to learn how to pay attention to what your own body is telling you, so you can make your own tasting experiences more precise as you explore and form personal preferences. Organize a tasting party with friends, or grab Dram Club tickets to your nearest Whiskies of the World event the next time it comes around!