Whiskey is Liquid Sunshine

We had somehow managed to accomplish four decades of living without ever having experienced whisky, and we were ok with it. We were perfectly happy with beer, wine and the occasional martini. That was until one evening when we attended a dinner party hosted by a lovely lady who just happened to hale from Scotland. After our meal, she told us that she was going to share a very special bottle of Scotch. We politely accepted and that’s how it all began. Since then we’ve discovered the complex, peaty world of Islay Scotch whisky and now we are hooked. Well, not hooked. We can stop anytime. Really.

Anyhooo… when Jeff caught wind of a whiskey pairing dinner being held nearby, we jumped at it. Jeff’s brother Ken (of our “trip to the aquarium” fame) also came down for the event. He at one time proclaimed that he would NEVER pay that much for one bottle of booze, so of course we had to have him try a dram of fine scotch. Now he’s one of us. Bwahahaha!!!!

Here is the advertisement for the Event:

 

The location of the event was at the MIT Endicott House in Dedham Massachussetts. This is a grand, French style mansion built in 1934.

 

 I thought the place looked suspiciously like Wayne Manor.

We only saw a small portion of the house. The entry hall was filled with paintings, tapestries and flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

The first portion of the evening was a reception. The room that this was held in was awesome. It looked like the kind of place where you might run into Earnest Hemingway- all leathery and filled with dead animal heads, guns and whiskey.

 

 

 

There was a small bar set up where you could start with a cocktail,  beer or wine while enjoying some hors d’oeurves.

They also passed around some crab cakes that were absolutely delectable. I couldn’t get a picture because I would have had to put down either my wine or the crab cake to take one.

Now that everyone had had a bit to eat, the whisky came out. Each tasting was about one ounce, which was a prudent amount.

 

I had to sneak a shot of this guy’s jacket. You don’t see a crest on a sport coat everyday! I did some CSI work to find out that it represents the  Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

 

 

 

We were each given a sheet of paper with lists of about a billion flavor descriptors that we challenged to identify.

 

 

Now it was time to move on the dinner. This was in a separate dining room. The paneling and details along the way were impressive.

 

We were set up in an intimate dining room. The tables were dressed beautifully.

 

Once we were seated we were given the choice of a lager or Guinness with the meal. Yes please.  The first course was stuffed peppers, not usually a favorite of mine, but these were terrific. The peppers were cooked just right and the rice stuffing was tasty.

 

Second course was a salad that prominently featured bacon.

 

 

The main meal was a choice of Lamb Osso Bucco paired with Macallan 12 year Highland Scotch or Filet Mignon paired with Auchentoshan 12 year from the Lowlands. I’m not a big fan of lamb, but this was fabulous- and unfortunately Jeff’s. I got a a few good bites before he snatched his plate back. I could have finished this, no problem.

 

My filet was also scrumptious. You can see that it was cooked perfectly since I took a couple of bites before remembered to take a photo. On a completely different note, is it just me or do you also find the flowery pattern on the plates a turn off?

 

It was time for this lady to visit the powder room. It wasn’t a long walk, but If I needed to I could have rested here.

 

 

The dessert course also included more whiskey, of course. This time it was Jameson served with a decadant chocolate bread pudding.

 

We had an extraordinary evening. We didn’t actually taste any new whiskies, but the selections they had were a very good sampling of Irish and Scottish varieties. The lecture portion was a bit disappointing. The host just played a series of videos, which would have been ok, but he also butchered the pronunciation of one of the most well known Islay scotches, Lagavulin – lost a bit of credibility there. However, the food, the atmosphere and the company far outshined any flaws I have mentioned. I will be on the look out for any other events happening at the Endicott House in the future.

 

*Editor’s Note: You may have noticed that I spelled our featured libation  both “whiskey” and “whisky”. This is not my typical sloppy grammer. The E differentiates Irish from Scottish whiskies.