Cigar Appreciation
Society
Edinburghs Cigar and Whisky Club - 2nd meeting (February
2005)
On Thursday 24th of February the Cigar Appreciation Society held
what was only their second meeting at the Canons Gait in Edinburghs Royal Mile.
This is a group of individuals from a diverse spectrum of society who have
decided to meet on a monthly basis to indulge and enthuse about their shared
passion cigars and lifes other main sensory pleasure; malt whisky. The first of
such meetings had taken place the previous month in the altogether more austere
surroundings at the Leith H.Q. of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society where the group
were introduced to Dominican cigars accompanied by an 18-year-old
Glenlivet.
Tonight the venue was more homely but none the less gentile as
we gathered for an evening hosted by Regis Lemaitre, a hugely affable and
knowledgeable man on the subject of Scottish malt whisky. Regis spends most of
his time entertaining and informing guests at the Gleneagles hotel on the
nuances and subtleties of Scotlands national drink. He was here to help guide
us, as we tasted three malts from around the different whisky producing regions
and had in his bag a Littlemill from Gordon & MacPhail from 1985, a
15-year-old Mortlach from Speyside, and a 12-year-old Caol Ila from the Isle of
Islay.
Before we entrusted our taste buds to Regis, he asked us to
approach a map of Scotland that was on the wall and proceeded to enlighten us on
both the historical movement and importance of malt whisky and also about the
regions and their significance in the structure and taste of malt whisky. I must
confess that I am no malt whisky virgin and I have attended as many tastings on
the subject as I have helped to arrange and this is the part of the show that
usually leaves me cold. I often find my mind wandering and myself wondering when
we get to the good stuff (i.e. the tasting) as the bland and matter of fact way
that most people sum up the story of this most worthy of drinks is often
something that they feel obliged to discuss and have therefore only swotted up
the night before, inevitably plucking a few choice quotes from whatever book is
at hand and almost always delivering their mumblings without feeling. This was
not the case here.
Regis talked with accuracy and a passion that only one
who truly knows and understands their subject can and although he mentioned
important historical dates he did not dwell on this or make us feel as if there
would be an exam at the end of the lecture. As I looked around at the other
people in the room I could see that not only was Regis talking, but also the
others were listening and understanding. With all the important bare essentials
covered we moved back to our seats where the three drams sat. Again at this
point Regis did something that surprised me when I compared his style to others.
He did not launch a speech describing flavours that he had tasted in these drams
but instead asked us to merely pass the glass briefly under our noses and say
hello. A great way to introduce yourself to a potential new friend I thought. We
were then encouraged to inhale deeper and go beyond first contact and at this
point Regis started to talk of how the olfactory and taste senses worked
together and how you were likely to notice the subtlety of flavours on the
palate through the various regions on the tongue itself, again in plain simple
language that everyone could follow. With all the basics of eyeing and nosing
your dram covered we moved to the tasting.
Many an argument has been
had in many a bar because of water, and more to the point, whether to add or not
to add when drinking single malt whisky. There is always many sides to a story
and this one follows thus; one man says that you should drink your whisky neat
meaning at the given strength the distillery had chosen to bottle it at thereby
seeing through the eyes of the man who made the whisky (although in Scotland
there is an amount of machismo that says whisky is a mans drink and you should
drink it like a man!). Another man will say that distillers can be mean folk who
bottle whiskies at 40% alcohol by volume not because they are best this way but
because that is as weak as the government will allow, and that if they could
bottle it at a lower strength they would. The man sitting next to him will be
quick to tell you that true connoisseurs of malt whisky prefer full cask
strength drams to which they can add however much water the so choose and
therefore dictate the flavour that they desire through dilution. Well Regis
knows how to put them all in their place.
He asked everyone to taste the
whiskies as they were poured, at the strength the bottler had decided. He then
added the smallest amount possible of water to the glasses using a dropper and
asked everyone to taste again. Everyone remarked on how different their drinks
now tasted and how some overlooked subtleties had appeared in some, how flavours
that had been present had disappeared, and how much everyone disagreed about
which way was better for them personally. And that was the very point. He had
shown that nobody was right or wrong when talking about water in whisky or how
much water was best in whisky or a particular whisky. It is a purely personal
subject. How much salt do you like on your chips? How much milk makes a coffee
white? We all have our own opinions and no ones is that relevant to the next
persons as we all like different flavours, but now everyone knew how to
influence these flavours and may be likely to experiment with water in their
whisky in the future. I always find this a tricky subject to approach in a
tasting but feel that here it was handled with a subtlety that showed the
tasters all the options without laying down set guide lines or rules which could
never be true for every whisky.
The formal part of the evening was now
over and most people had by now started to enjoy the cigars they had brought
with them when Regis pulled out just one more surprise - a 44-year-old Glen
Gairoch. Now Im not usually a fan of very old whisky as I often find them too
woody and one-dimensional. Not in this case. Never before have I sat so long
merely nosing a dram without tasting and if it hadnt been for closing time I may
never have drank it! This was one to savour, and quite how Regis knew that it
would match up perfectly with a fine Cuban cigar I dont know, but how it did. I
was enjoying a Robusto extra by Trinidad and I have never enjoyed a malt and
cigar as much before, but the next time there is a meeting of the society and
the tasting tutor is Mr.Lemaitre I think he may do his best to change my
perceptions again.
Sandy (February 2005)
Robert Graham Ltd
Est.1874
Edinburghs Newest Cigar and Whisky Club
On Thursday 20th of January 2005 Edinburgh saw the launch of another
premier calendar event. The Cigar Appreciation Society opened its doors for the
first time and with great style. The inaugural night took place in one of the
hospitality and conference suites at the Leith Vaults, part of the Scotch Malt
Whisky Society where the guest speaker was the affable John Booker from
Davidoff.
First up was an introduction to the evening by one of the
founder members, Jock Stewart. He introduced himself and his colleagues before
thanking everyone for their participation adding that he hoped this would be the
first of many a night like this. From here we were given a presentation and
slide show from Mr Booker detailing Davidoffs colourful history, showing key
events such as Mr. Zino Davidoffs decision to open a tobacco blending store in
1929 through to his meeting of minds with Dr. Ernst Schneider in the 1970s which
led to Davidoff being marketed internationally and saw it turned into one of the
worlds true luxury brand leaders. This successful partnership continued until
Zinos death on January 14th, 1994. He will be forever remembered as the man who
pioneered the Davidoff philosophy and coined the saying "Smoke less, but better
and longer - make a cult of it, even a philosophy!" which he certainly
did!
Mr Booker then ran us through the whole production cycle of a
Davidoff cigar, from seed to the box in your local cigar store which surprised
some of those new to cigar smoking in the room as they came to realise that the
whole of Davidoffs production is run from the Dominican Republic and not Cuba as
had been expected. He explained that this was a quality issue for them as
Davidoff had ceased sourcing from Cuba to this relatively unknown area of the
Caribbean in 1991 when they could no longer get the required quality from the
local farmers in Cuba. Here everything was to their specification and designed
entirely for their needs. Cigar factories need not resemble broken down shacks
or have that somewhat shabby-chique look, now the workers had a wonderful place
to go to work and this was said to add to the pride in the product. Every
Davidoff cigar goes through 49 quality control checks before being made
available to the public, ensuring the brand stays true to Zinos
philosophy.
After this fantastic talk we moved on to smoking. John ran us
through the basics of lighting and smoking, not that many of us needed help, and
strangely enough, every seemed to have a Davidoff of one sort or another. I had
a Special R, a wonderful soft and delicious Robusto with a little nuttiness to
compliment the delicate smoke. This was paired with a 16 year old Glenlivet
chosen by the Society and it was quite a good choice with its clean vanilla
character and subdued sweet fruitiness.
The Society plans to meet on a
monthly basis. Details can be found in our shops and soon on their website at
www.cigarappreciationsociety.co.uk. Their founding members, Jim Buckie, Myles
Gorton, Regis Lemaitre, and Jock Stewart tell me that this meeting will include
three whiskies, one Highland, one Speyside, one from Islay and a cigar chosen by
us to compliment dont miss it, a great night was had by all.
Best
wishes Sandy (January 2005)
Robert Graham Ltd Est
1874
10-14
West Nile Street, Glasgow ,G1 2PP Phone: +44 (0)141 248 7283
194a Rose
Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AZ - Phone: +44 (0) 131 226 1874
254 Canongate,
Edinburgh, EH8 8AA Phone: +44(0) 131 556 2791
4, Broadwell Parade, London, NW6 3BQ - Phone +44 (0) 207 624 3351
'Quality, Service and Value......
Guaranteed''
|
BUY LUXURY CHOCOLATE
