The Tasting Panel magazine

May 2012

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NOSE-ABLES Smoke on the Water P urists often admonish not to add water to Laphroaig, arguably the smokiest single malt from the windswept shores of Islay. But it is quite another thing to enjoy Laphroaig on the water. On April 3, 2012, 100 Friends of Laphroaig—a dedicated consumer group approaching half a million members—gathered aboard the Queen Mary, a luxury liner launched in 1936 and now a popular hotel and tourist attraction permanently berthed in Long Beach, CA. Laphroaig Master Ambassador Simon Brooking and Laphroaig Distillery Manager John Campbell at the Veranda Grill on the Sun Deck of the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. The occasion was a shipboard tasting of Laphroaig, hosted by Distillery Manager John Campbell and Master Ambassador Simon Brooking. In addition to a buffet of Laphroaig-infused cuisine, including both salmon and haggis sliders, tastings encompassed 10 Year Old Cask Strength, Quarter Cask, and the coveted 25 Year Old, which was enjoyed on the ship's Sun Deck as a piper played. "We changed our 15 Year Old to an 18 Year Old," Campbell stated, "because 18 had become the youngest age in the bottling. So aside from the label, it's the same whisky. Besides, people like to measure whiskies head to head, and not many other distilleries had a 15 Year Old, but a lot of them had an 18 Year Old. So now we're quite comfortable with people measuring Laphroaig 18 against anything else." Campbell is definitely making the right decisions, because both the Laphroaig 10 and 18 Year Old won Double Gold medals at this year's San Francisco International Spirits Competition. ─Richard Carleton Hacker The Tequila Category Evolves with Milagro UNICO Ever since the Aztecs began fermenting agave more than 500 years ago, tequila has been evolving. Today some have soared into the rarified atmosphere of the ultra-premium. Now, at the forefront of a trend-within-a-trend, Milagro co-founders Daniel Schneeweiss and Moisés Guindi have created UNICO, a 100 percent agave blanco-reposado-añejo tequila (which nonetheless must be labeled "joven" to comply with Mexican regulations) that redefines the category. UNICO begins with Milagro's finest blancos, made with twice as many agaves as normally used, which undergo a micro-distillation process that utilizes both column and pot-stills. This super-concentrated blanco is combined with some of Milago's oldest reposados and añejos and then barrel-aged for 30 days, after which it undergoes a filtering and oxygenation process that strips the color and enhances the flavors further. The result is a translucent tequila packed with complexities of green olives and crisp lettuce in its bouquet. Clean agave and fresh-earth flavors greet the first sip, closely fol- lowed by delicate citrus, cedar and buttery oak. Not surprisingly, Milagro UNICO (which translates as "unique miracle") won a Double Gold at this year's San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Only 1,200 hand blown and numbered bottles, priced at $300 each, are being produced this year. ─R. C. H. 44 / the tasting panel / may 2012 As the bagpipes played, more than 100 Friends of Laphroaig sipped and savored this Islay distillery's finest aboard the Queen Mary. Milagro UNICO is best served in Riedel tequila stem- ware, at room temperature or slightly chilled. PHOTO: RICHARD CARLETON HACKER PHOTO: RICHARD CARLETON HACKER

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