What a great idea. Well done Bascule! You’ve been quite active these last weeks. It is great to live in CPT and attend these events. We do hope the JHB whisky lovers have some places as innovative as our headquarters! The Bascule team asked us to inform those interested of what will be happening in [...]
We had no Chevy to drive to the levee, as Don Maclean sang about in his classic Miss American Pie, but we did get to drink whiskey at the Cape Grace’s Bascule Bar – and felt vaguely like Good Ole Boys by doing so! Veteran of the whisky scene Dave Hughes led the tasting. It [...]
Jim Beam White Label ABV 43% Light, delicate nose with hints of rose petal, sweetcorn and gentle vanilla backing. Subtle hints of orange, almond and coconut. After the delicacy of the nose the big flow of flavour comes as quite a surprise. Vanilla and toffee suggest sweetness but it’s actually very dry. There’s a sweet/ [...]
Just in time for Christmas comes Johnnie Walker’s ‘Big Daddy’ – Double Black and its very sexy spout. More than holding their own in the panel tasting this month were Glenmorangie’s Nectar d’Or, GlenLivet 12 year old, Oban 14 year old and Chivas Regal’s 12 year old. Once more, trained distiller Dave Hughes led the [...]
As always happens at Whisky magazine’s tastings, there was a lot of discussion about the bottles lined up in front of the team. Much of the interest focused on the organic whisky from Benromach along with the Three Ships 10 year old. All the assembled pairs of eyes tended to skate over the other offerings [...]
An eclectic selection with the world’s best-selling single malt up against South Africa’s first 10 year old single malt, two distinctly different Speyside 10 year olds, an organic whisky and a blend. Guiding the tasting was the experienced sniffer and sipper, Dave Hughes. Benromach 10 year old Rich malty nose with underlying leather aromatics. [...]
Nostalgia tinged this tasting led by Dave Hughes, who trained as a distiller and has only happy memories of the time spent learning the trade in Scotland. A member of the Worshipful Society of Distillers, an august body formed in 1638 to protect the distillation of spirits in London – Hughes also boasts the title [...]
Dave Hughes will be over in Blighty lending his spirit expertise to the judging panels at the International Wine & Spirits Competition’s for about the 30th time in July. As a trained distiller, he brings an extremely educated and knowledgeable nose and palate to the assessment of spirits. Whisky magazine is fortunate to have this [...]
There’s a weird and spooky connection between South Africa and Speyside distillery Glenrothes. It takes the ethereal form of the ghost of Byeway Makalaga, an orphaned boy found hiding in some bushes dur- ing the Anglo-Boer war by Colonel Grant of Rothes. He took Makalaga with him when he returned home from the war. Makalaga [...]
Being able to taste with a walking encyclopaedia has its merits and Dave Hughes took the team through the basics of tasting Do’s and Don’ts. Step one – is a Don’t… don’t vigorously swirl the whisky in the glass as you would wine. Leave it idle since the aromatics are important – and delicate – [...]
