Our May tasting was a little unique and a lot of fun. This was a blind tasting. Each expression was transferred to another bottle with only a number marking that expression. Each taster was then given a ounce pour and a guessing sheet. With each sip the taster had to guess the Type of whisky (Irish, Scotch, Bourbon, Etc), the ABV (within five points), the Price (within $10) and finally, they tried to guess the exact expression.
At the end of the tasting each correct guess gave the taster one point. If they guessed the exact expression, they would receive three points. That means there was a total of 30 points possible. The person with the highest number of points won a bottle of Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel Proof Bourbon.
At the end, before we revealed each expression, we had the tasters vote on their favorite. We have put them in the order of the groups least favorite to the groups favorite. Here are the results:
#5 (Least Favorite): Nikki Miyasikyo Single Malt Japanese Whisky, 45% ABV, $90.00
#4: Balvenie 15 Yr Single Barrel Sherry Cask Scotch, 47.8% ABV, $135.00
#3: Arran Sherry Cask Single Malt Scotch, 55.8 % ABV, $70.00
#2: Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon, 50.5% ABV, $22.00
#1 (Overall Favorite): Makers Mark 101 Bourbon, 50.5% ABV, $34.00
When we counted the points, the winner had nine points (Congrats to Dave W. Member #56). One other taster had eight points. Everyone else, about 35 others, all scored below eight. It was a ton of fun!
Additionally, this tasting has revealed something interesting. The River City Whisky Society was started with mostly Scotch drinkers, hence the missing E in our name. This tasting appears to indicate that we are now leaning more towards being Bourbon drinkers. Either way, we are still whisky lovers, with or without the E.
Doug