Matt's Blog

1 February 2007

The Haggis Report

The 26th January saw a momentous occasion take place – the first ever Vinology Burns’ Night Bash; and what a fantastic evening it was.  I’d arrived earlier during the day to commence setting up the room.  Mark joined me a little later on, which was the first time he had stepped into the mammoth room that we were using.  His facial expression indicated that he hadn’t visualised the size of the room that he would be required to broadcast his voice across to reach and entertain this large and significant number of people.

The evening kicked off at 7:30pm with a few drinks at the bar of the Arden Thistle Hotel, Waterside, Stratford-Upon-Avon, subsequent to a quick run over to Leamington Spa to collect our loyal following of hardcore Whisky fans that have faithfully supported us and our countless Whisky events performed around Leamington Spa for the last 8 years.  The bar at the Arden was a reasonable size and upon my recommendation the number of staff behind it had been doubled, which was a very good idea, since the full force of 80+ thirsty punters on a deadline (30 minutes until we start…) can be a very powerful force indeed.  After a quick checklist and a little chitchat we were ready to start the evening’s proceedings.  A nudge and a wink to the pipers and the unmistakable sound of the bagpipes filled the room and I’m sure, the majority of the hotel.  I’m yet to enquire as to any complaints from other residents.  One by one people were shown to their seats and after 10 minutes or so, everyone was seated and we were ready to go.

The door was closed behind us and the overwhelmed bar staff could take a few minutes to recover.  The time had come for Mark to make his stand and commence discussion about the evening’s general running and then the first 2 of the nights 6 Whiskies.  For later on in the evening we had arranged a little free prize draw, consisting of a little blackmail whereby people could fill in their details to join our Whisky and/or wine club and one randomly drawn slip bestowed a bottle of Speyburn 10 year old upon the recipient.  We had also arranged a raffle as we always did at large Whisky events.  For this we offered winners a number of prizes including a case of ale, a bottle of malt, a pair of nosing glasses and 2 free tickets to our impending cask strength Whisky night on Thursday 22nd February.  Proceeds from this raffle were to be donated to the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.

Mark's opening gambit was to point out the amusing fact that 80+ people had gathered in a room to celebrate the life of the Bard of Scotland... in the hometown of the Bard of England.

The sponsors of our evening were Inverhouse Distillers.  With five highly regarded malt Scotch Whisky distilleries (Pulteney, Balblair, Knockdhu, Speyburn and Balmenach, all located in Scotland’s Highlands), Inver House Distillers are a significant producer of quality malt Scotch whisky within the Industry.

The starter dram of the evening was Speyburn 10 Year Old, a light and gentle Speysider.  Mark proceeded to educate and inform the eager crowd on the history of the great Speyburn distillery.  This great introductory dram was met with overwhelming approval; a light and simple, yet excellent quality dram.

Whisky number two was AnCnoc 12 year old from the Knockdhu distillery.  Mark explained how the distillery brand under the name AnCnoc in an attempt to avoid confusion with the more famous Knockando distillery and that they now cheesily use the tag line ‘Don’t AnCnoc it till you try it’.  This great malt is a far more serious dram – still a light and smooth dram, this Highland malt exudes creamy vanilla flavours with a mellow and slightly sweet finish.

Perfectly timed we now took a break during which some people rushed to the loo and others to the bar for either a smoke or a beer to wash down the Whisky.  A little coordination instruction to the guys at the Thistle and we were ready for the address.  Up struck the bagpipes and in came the pipers, gallantly leading the Haggis (attentively carried by the Thistle’s Head Chef Richard Gardner) to our guest speaker for the address.

And what an address it was.  Neither words nor pictures can do justice to the next 10 minutes of the evening.  The speaker was Stuart Lawson, a loyal Whisky Club member who had attended the last 7 Burns’ Nights we had hosted and watched his predecessor get it wrong every time.  This, however, was pure theatrics.  The address ran as quoted on the right-hand side of this page (the committing to memory and correct pronunciation is truly an astonishing feat) and the energy allocated to this amazing presentation was bewildering; Stuart Lawson: you are a true legend and you may consider yourself booked each year from now on.

A quick round of beers whilst the haggis was converted into dinner… After 7 years of hosting a Burns’ Night event, it was a true delight to finally sit down to lump-free tatties.  The last 7 years saw us conducting this event from the Angel Hotel and although the presentation and quality at the Arden was vastly superior, the generosity on the quantities provided had room for improvement, especially considering the large quantity of alcohol being consumed and we have already expressed these thoughts to the Arden so no fear: future events will be equipped with more food.

I hurriedly conducted the raffle with the assistance of my wife Dawn whilst the bar was yet again facilitated.

Stuart stood again to recite a little more Burns’ with the assistance of his wife Rachel who humorously converted each line into English.

Mark introduced a guest of ours who had joined us for the evening:  Derek Hawyes of Bard’s Brewery and thanked him for contributing to our evening by doing a deal with us whereby we could offer an additional gift of a bottle of his great beer:  Macbeth:  The Scottish Ale - an apt beer to distribute on this momentous occasion.

Mark now rose again to continue the evening’s sampling and talked us through the very impressive range of single malts from the Great Pulteney Distillery – the mainland’s most Northerly distillery, based as they are up in the isolated fishing town of Wick.  We started with the 12 year old, a Whisky which enticed us with an intense and complex nose: Dry with a hint of sea air.  The palate was dry, medium bodied and smooth with a clean, dry finish.  Overall faintly salty with a slight sherry note.  The 17 year old followed, a different beast altogether; this was sweet and fruity on the nose with a hint of woodiness; full-bodied with vanilla and floral overtones and a long-lasting finish.  Now was the turn of the 21 year old – On the nose, this magnificent dram was full-bodied with traces of fruits (apples and pears); slightly fragrant with spicy overtones.  The palate was sweet to start with a light fruitiness; hints of honey and vanilla followed by a dry finish.

Assisted by Dawn I dispensed the final enticement of the evening – sticking with the Old Pulteney – we moved on to their Whisky Liqueur.   We gave people a moment to enjoy this gorgeous liqueur, with it’s beguiling whisky aroma, note of toffee and peel/fruit (prunes) with a hint of sherry in the background.  On the palate, this liqueur was pleasantly sweet with a rich, fruity aftertaste and a warm lingering finish.

I now joined Mark amidst the crowds to perform the prize draw and hand out to the winning club member a bottle of Speyburn 10 Year Old Single Malt. 

The raffle followed and one by one the prizes were won.  One of the more amusing and somewhat ironic moments of the evening occurred at this point when Derek revealed he had the winning ticket for a case of his own beer.  Graciously declining the prize (I think he’s probably got enough of it already), we offered him an alternative of an additional bottle of Speyburn 10 Year Old Single Malt.  The star prize of £50 in tickets for our Cask Strength tasting went to Mr. Evans, one of our newer conversions to the world of fine single malt Whisky.

We drew the evening to a close, providing Mark with a well deserved round of applause before returning our Leamington Spa component and enjoying a final quaff in the bar.

Mark and I would like official thanks to go to Inverhouse Distillers for sponsoring the event, to Stuart and Rachel Lawson for the most astonishing address to the Haggis ever witnessed, to Derek Hawyes for aiding us with the provision of real ale, to every single person who attended this memorable occasion and to our respective wives, Damina and Dawn, for all the support they provided to help us host one of the most successful Whisky nights in memory.

Slainte,