Mid-City: Fish & Chips at Village Idiot and Blind Whisky Tasting with Southern California Whiskey Club and Scotch Malt Whisky Society
blind tasting of SMWS with SCWC
The Village Idiot is the original gastropub in Los Angeles. I’m glad to see it has survived through the years and recently I went in to check out a blind tasting of Scotch Malt Whisky Society presented by the Southern California Whiskey Club this past December.
bonus!
We tasted 8 bottles blind. SMWS also bottles rum, gin, brandy and more so it was really fun deciding if we were really drinking whisky.
Bonus, we got to try a couple bottles before the tasting began.
Rusty Claymore Washed Up On The Beach 4.246
A Broadside Cannon Barrage 27.112
what are your guesses?
We went at our own pace writing down our guesses. Some club members got really specific (brand names) but I stuck with general categories.
all the glencairns
For this tasting, we were asked to bring our own Glencairn glasses. Generally club members bring their own set of 6 to tastings. This is great for tasting whiskys side by side. For this tasting, we were asked to bring 8. Luckily I do have exactly 8 genuine Glencairn glasses.
fish and chips
Most of the club ordered fish and chips including myself. The fries were great. I also enjoyed the fish though I viewed the two cube-shaped pieces a bit oddly at first. Turns out the batter is fantastic and the fish was tender and flakey.
I mixed the ketchup and tartare sauce together for a take on Thousand Island. I don’t eat ketchup but I do when I mix sauces. I prefer a liberal dose of malt vinegar for the fries!
salad – because I can and should
So how did I do with the blind tasting? I got 5 out of 8 right. Which I suppose is more than half… one was truly a stumper. Several of us thought it was Armagnac but it turned out to be Scotch!
Most of what we tasted was Scotch whisky. I would love to taste the rum, gin and other whiskys SMWS has bottled.
Southern California Whiskey Club
Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS)
Scotch Malt Whisky Society USA (SMWSA)
7383 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046 — (323) 655-3331
© 2019 The Minty