Tasting-out Glenmorangie

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Scotland’s best-selling single malt had a tasting session recently, which i totally enjoyed. Mainly coz i’ve never sat in one spot and tried the range that the award-winning Glenmorangie offers. Now i’ve got new good buddies.

Set

It went down at The Hill, and pre-dinner drinks were Glenmorangie of course, which i had on the rocks. The fine whiskies were accompanied with pretty fine food as well.

I find Glenmorangie to be pretty experimental with their aging techniques, giving their whiskies different and more subtle flavours compared with other singles. In the ’60s they began using ex-bourbon casks when others were using sherry casks, and in 1996, they introduced their wood-finished range, utilizing port wood casks and wine barriques as final aging vessels. These styles are now used by many distilleries.

The first of three whiskies on the list was the Glenmorangie Original, the backbone of the range, aged 10 in American white oak bourbon casks. I liked this. It gives a floral-spice nose, while in the mouth, it has a short spiciness, a lil sweet, with a mild finish. There’s no tongue-bite, and has a hint of smokiness. Very good balance, to me at least.

A sit-down session

The Glenmorangie Nectar D’Or exhibits whiffs of vanilla. Taste-wise, it’s light caramel, woody, and creamier than the Original. There’s a persistency in the finish. But you wouldnt think that it weighs in at a fine 46%.

The Nectar is aged 12, with 10 years in American bourbon oak followed by time in Sauternes wine casks from France. This final aging is what gives this Scotch its distinct flavour.

Hot stuff

My first whiff of the Glenmorangie 18 Year Old somehow gave me flashbacks of the Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Damn. Must be some sort of craving that needs to be quenched. Hmmm.. (*hint hint* to Charles. Paging Charles Wright.)

It gives out sweetish and pleasant toffee notes. It tastes extremely smooth, sweet-sour and multi-layered. It finishes just as silky. It kinda reminds me of a very good aged rum, with a nutty tease.

Slowly matured for 15 years in the finest ex-bourbon oak casks, a proportion is transferred to Spanish Oloroso sherry casks for the final three years of maturation. Excellent.

I like. All three

I sure have renewed interest in Glenmorangie when it comes to drinking Scotch. Will certainly look forward to our next meeting!

 

Brain damage: 7.5/10

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Slight increase involving beer

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Prices of certain products from Guinness Anchor Bhd and Carlsberg Malaysia has gone up by a small amount, ie 3%. It’s in line with inflation, or in fact, below inflation.

This is due to the rise in prices of raw products, etc. According to GAB, costs have increased significantly for malt, aluminium, and transport, by up to double digits. However, the breweries have probably been able to absorb and hedge most of it.

GAB brands

Prices at outlets aren’t expected to increase. I think all bars will absorb this increase, due to its small amount. If a beer used to be supplied to them at five bucks, now it will cost $5.15. With the very high competition among bars now, i cant foresee any of them increasing prices.

For GAB, it’s for all their main brands (Tiger, Guinness, Heineken, Kilkenny, Strongbow, Anchor), except Paulaner. For Carlsberg, they did not repond to my questions quick enough, but i’d assume it would involve Carlsberg lager, Connors, Skol, Tuborg, Tetley’s and Blackthorn.

Carlsberg Malaysia

Any bar that increases their beer prices would piss a lot of drinkers off, that’s for sure, considering their mark-ups are already between 100% to 300%.

And if the increase is more than 3%, it might be illegal, so this would be a great time for us to try out the new Anti Profiteering Act 2010, and contact the Malaysian Competition Commission to get on the outlet’s case.

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Sunday high

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Thirsty Sunday II (I’ll call it Gettin Thirstier) was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Round 2

It was the sequel to last year’s event, organized by bakita & Beerbeer. This time, there was no beer-tastings. But there were beers at reasonable prices. I pounded shitloads of Erdinger Dunkel, one of my favourite ales, which went for ten bucks per 300ml cup.

Afternoon drunks

There was a bbq, tho food could have been better. I guess they didnt expect a bigger crowd this time.

It was basically a chilled-out Sunday, with food, friends and beers. Other drinks on tap included Franziskaner and Erdinger white.

Semi-outdoor setup. I like

The crowd had a good time, so there’re plans to do this event more often. I say go for it!

The bar upstairs

Had some Scotch thanks to Gareth. Fuckin awesome this Balvenie

I used to think i wuz tall. Not anymore!

Brain damage: 8/10

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Will new laws affect drinking industry?

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A couple of major new laws by the Ministry of Domestic Trade might have an impact on drinkers.

The Competition Act 2010, which will be enforced from January 1st next year, is meant to protect free competition and promote a level playing field for businesses, primarily to benefit consumers, and make this country more open and competitive. More details in a feature by The Star.

Provisions include those against price-fixing, tie-ins and price-discrimination. One that is of interest is entitled “Exclusive Dealing”, which prohibits unfair trading terms such as exclusivity. Will that affect the main players here such as the Malaysian beer industry?

Right now, most bars are forced to sell either GAB or Carlsberg Malaysia’s brands on tap. So if an outlet serves drafts such as Carlsberg or Hoegaarden, there cant be Guinness or Tiger draft.

Draft beers are getting more popular, but limited in variety due to allegiance to particular breweries

Which limits a consumer’s outlet choice according to which beer he prefers. And bar owners too have to agree to those terms and shut out the competitor, and in return get rewarded by the brewery in various ways.

It doesnt affect the liquor guys so much i guess. Moet Hennessy Diageo and Pernod Ricard Malaysia are the biggest, so this law might help the little guys.

The other relevant law is the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2010, which has already kicked in this month. Besides making sure all outlets display prices for all products prominently, there is a new provision, which makes it illegal to make unreasonably high profits, or profiteer.

The law also controls prices increases. Say the tax on booze or whatever product is increased by 5%. If the retailer then increases price disproportionately, he can be guilty of an offence, with massive fines up to 100k for individuals and 500k for companies. Consumers themselves are the primary enforcers of this law, and can contact the Malaysian Competition Commission to make a complaint.

This is to control the unjustified price increases by businesses in this country, which has been sending our standard of living downhill.

About time i say.

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