A few things I learned at the Macallan Scotch tasting

(Remember how I said that my next post would be from Japan? Well I lied. Blame the phenomena of jet lag. For the anxious, I have some photos here and will start posting full entries by next week.)

Last month, I attended a tasting for The Macallan Scotch. As Pam said:

Going to learn about “The Macallan.” If it as a “the” it has to be amazing, right?

This guy sure thinks so:

He’s Marc Laverdiere, Scotch Whisky Ambassador for The Macallan. He told us all about the art of Scotch making.

Because so many other people — like Casie

— have already done such a good job of blogging his lesson, I’ll just share a few slightly-less-important things I learned:

Satan himself is involved in the distilling process.

I kid you not:

Scotch lends itself well to unusual pairings

Or at least Sass thought so.

Iceball making devices have been invented already

It’s a really mind-blowing process. You simply set a block of ice in this copper thingamajig:

And through the magic of science and specific heat you get something like this a few seconds later:

Again, because of physics, it takes longer for the ice to melt, keeping your drink cooler and less water-logged:

Talking about Scotch can often be misconstrued

Karly noted a few:

“the wood has nothing more to give”- “At first the wood is generous, over 20 years the spirit could overcome the wood”

http://twitter.com/_topshelf/status/5214980707

“you have yet to put your lips on the liquid, and it does not matter”

http://twitter.com/_topshelf/status/5214581032

Over time, the liquid will penetrate the wood”

http://twitter.com/_topshelf/status/5214317934

“part your lips when you smell, and then - have fun”

http://twitter.com/_topshelf/status/5214109734

Scotch plays well with light

And if this blog post spurred you into making a trip or three to the LCBO, the nice folks at Matchstick want you to tell them a thing or two.