Whiskey tasting

[redsonja76]

What are the whiskey's usually offered in this tasting?

 

[Yokelridesagain]

Haven't done this tasting in a couple of years, but it wasn't anything special if you're a whiskey drinker. As I recall, the usual lineup was:

1) Irish (Jameson's)
2) Canadian (Crown, or Canadian Club)
3) Bourbon (varied)
4) Blended Scotch (Johnnie Walker Red?)
5) Low rent single malt (Glenfiddich)

Not a bad value and I don't mind sipping blended whiskies for low prices, but it would be cool if they had a bourbon or single malt tasting.

 

[pepe3penelope]

DH did this last month on Wonder.




As you can see, they only had four. He wanted me to tell you that the green bottle on the left was the last tasting. It was the most expensive one, but he said it was "disgusting." It had a smokey taste.

 

[Sir William]

Haven't done this tasting in a couple of years, but it wasn't anything special if you're a whiskey drinker. As I recall, the usual lineup was:

1) Irish (Jameson's)
2) Canadian (Crown, or Canadian Club)
3) Bourbon (varied)
4) Blended Scotch (Johnnie Walker Red?)
5) Low rent single malt (Glenfiddich)

Not a bad value and I don't mind sipping blended whiskies for low prices, but it would be cool if they had a bourbon or single malt tasting.

Pretty much my experience the one time I tried it. Wasn't overly impressed with the selection which is why I haven't tried again, though I'm considering it for our next cruise.

DH did this last month on Wonder.




As you can see, they only had four. He wanted me to tell you that the green bottle on the left was the last tasting. It was the most expensive one, but he said it was "disgusting." It had a smokey taste.

An interesting selection; two single malt Scotches, a single malt Irish, and a blended Irish. Connemara does have a strong peaty and smokey taste, not unlike many Scottish single malts. It is not something I would introduce to someone new to single malts.

However, if I'd had these on my tasting instead of the more generic selection above, I'd had done a few more whiskey tastings on my Disney cruises. But since I'm sailing on the Wonder in January, I may give the whiskey tasting another chance, even though none of these would be a new experience for me.

 

[Danni75]

I did a whisky tasting in Kapan and OMW it was amazing.
If you like Scottish whisky it is outstanding.
The man behind Suntory is actually married to the heiress of a famous Scottish distillery and it shows. Good times!

 

[dmunsil]

On the Wonder in Alaska (July 2014), they did a second whiskey tasting, because the first one was so popular. For the second, they got out some nicer bottles, including the most expensive on the ship (Glenmorangie Signet). The bartender had arranged them roughly in order from youngest/rawest to oldest/smoothest.

From memory, it was:

Jim Beam (some specialty bottling, maybe the Signature Craft?)
Knob Creek
Woodford Reserve
Macallan Fine Oak (I think it was the 12 or the 15, but can't be sure; could have been the 10)
Glenmorangie Signet (A $270 bottle at Total Wine; on the ship it was $32 per shot)

They were all interesting pours, and the Glenmorangie Signet was pretty great. I got the impression, though, that they don't do this premium whiskey tasting very often.

 

[Sir William]

I wonder if there is some way to find out in advance what the tastings might consist of. For my first whiskey tasting, the selection was identical to what Yokelridesagain posted. I mostly prefer single malts, so the tasting posted by pepe3penelope would be much more to my preference. Guest Services clearly wouldn't know, so I wonder if there might be a head bartender who could tell me.

 

[sfeisen]

I completely regret not taking pictures or writing down the names the the chocolate/liquor pairings. We loved this and would do it again in a heartbeat! Does anyone have the names of the liquor, wine, champagne, and scotch?

 

[kiford]

I think it changes based on the person doing it and their stock at least that's been our experience with other tastings we've done more than once. I know that ours had Crown Royal and Jameson's. I hated the Crown Royal and am now a dedicated Jameson's drinker (OK I drank all of the Crown Royal but how would I know that I didn't like it if I didn't finish it). I don't recall the others. I had a cocktail and glass of wine with dinner then 5 glasses of whiskey right after. I made it back to my cabin and remembered two of them so I figured that's about as good as it gets.

 

[Sir William]

I think it changes based on the person doing it and their stock at least that's been our experience with other tastings we've done more than once. I know that ours had Crown Royal and Jameson's. I hated the Crown Royal and am now a dedicated Jameson's drinker (OK I drank all of the Crown Royal but how would I know that I didn't like it if I didn't finish it). I don't recall the others. I had a cocktail and glass of wine with dinner then 5 glasses of whiskey right after. I made it back to my cabin and remembered two of them so I figured that's about as good as it gets.

At my first and only whiskey tasting on DCL, 3 of us showed up at the Cove Cafe for our 10pm tasting as instructed on our tickets. No one there knew anything about a tasting being scheduled and had to scramble to get someone to host it. The other two gentlemen grew tired of waiting so left but I stuck around and we finally started close to 11.30pm. The host laid out 4 settings: one for each attendee, even though I was the only still there, and one for himself. After the tastings he poured me a full and very generous measure of the one I liked best and began to clear up the untouched glasses. I asked if I could also have the two untouched glasses of the whiskey I'd selected as they were just going down the drain anyways and he combined those two into one glass and topped it off with a bit more from the bottle. I estimated that between the tastings and the two additional glasses, I probably had the equililent to about 5 glasses. Other than the fact that the tasting ended up being very late, my host not being that well informed (he preferred vodka), and the selections being pretty basic, the evening ended pretty well.