Islay Boat Tasting: Member Review

Sunday 18 July 2010

Thanks to Richard Percy for his review of our Islay Boat Tasting held recently in London....

Sun sky and Islay

Ratty was understating it when he extols to mole: "there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing..." he missed out of course; boats and London, June evening sun and sky, old and new friends, and .... 5 whiskies - not only 5 of our very own society whisky but 5 of the seven, nay eight, Islay whiskies - OK I'll have to say it "I thought I had died and gone to heaven!"

My current employment gives me a ringside seat of the river, Thames of course, and a 5 minute senior citizen bus pass ride to the Society's London member's room. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked when I eventually caught wind of THE event. "We did!"

"Don't you read your society literature?" Hmm. note to self: must try harder to keep up, I might have missed this one, but I didn't, and I am very sorry for those of you who did!

What a great excuse to gather a few old friends, and a whisky ambivalent wife, to my newly "re-fell in love with again" London. I never fell out of love with the Thames, just the madness of the traffic and the rush hour hysteria and miserable faces. I'm over that now, having discovered Thames Clippers, The Southbank promenade, the Putney to Blackfriars river busses and the Society.

Enough of all that, what about the event? Well when the mutually exclusive information from the pier man "you can go straight to the boat" and the boat man "you can't come on until seven" expired, we filed aboard and my mob made for the upper deck.

Les matelots aboard the French anti-submarine frigate Latouche-Treville (D646 Toby reliably informs me) perhaps proud of the fact that France is THE top consumer of whisky in the world (must check that statistic , did you know that 50% of statistics are made up, including this one), and looking forward to their own run-ashore in the fleshpots of the capital.

The event was by far the most easy to circulate soire I have ever been to! The combination of the tasting glass in hand, the evening sun, the panorama sliding by just made conversation flow and tasting comments be compared.

The trip started going upriver which gave us the opportunity to salute our "friends" in parliament, nobody took up my suggestion of a special sort of salute for fear of arrest, shame, unique opportunity but.. enough said.

I am not going to do a blow by blow of the whole 5 tasting, to tell the truth I don't remember everything - age not whisky I claim, but I must mention the Bar-B-Q and the impromptu "Islay quiz" for the "stub ends", our table won, of course, but magnanimously shared with some also rans which gave us an excuse to table visit - excellent.

I am certainly looking forward to the "two" loops of the "London Eye" PLUS the "over 30s" malts being selected for my next society "adventure" - BE THERE!


For HERE for a full listing of SMWS tastings and events

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