Meet my Women's Whisky Posse, she said...

Saint John, New Brunswick CANADA

SHE SAID:  If you’ve been reading my posts then you know that Graham and I started a whisky tasting society in our hometown of Saint John, New Brunswick Canada in 2010.  It’s not a large group, but we have expanded once already and have a waiting list for next year.  The exciting part for me, as one of the founding members was being the only woman.  By the time we reached our quota of 30 members in the first year, we had 27 men and 3 women.  In order to keep this as private as possible I will only use their initials:  EC, DE and JM (me).  By the end of our second year we doubled our numbers and we became 6 out of 35.  I was thrilled!  Now we have EC, DE, LL, LO, CN and (still me) JM.  

EC is the happiest person on earth, no matter what.  I have never seen this woman NOT SMILING and she may appear innocent but jumps into everything with both feet and life jacket on.  I adore her. She is mostly our leader when things have the potential to get us into trouble or go awry.

DE is the quiet one of the bunch usually but she is our “purist”.  I say this with complete respect.  It doesn’t matter if she just nosed a 30 year old Glenfiddich.  If she doesn’t like it, that’s it.  She DOESN’T like it and won’t drink it.  She’s very black and white and there is no guessing with her, she knows what she likes and she’s not scared to say so.  

LL is a sponge (even more so then me) and has thrown herself into the society at full throttle.  She is on the planning committee, attends all meetings, tastings, will try anything once, researches, asks a lot of questions, constantly looking to broaden her tastes, knowledge and friendships.

LO is another great new addition to our society and loves to try everything and I mean everything with no fears or intrepidation, Bring it on she says! Pickleback recipe:  1 oz Jamieson Irish Whiskey and 1 oz dill pickle juice.  Try it, it’s fantastic!

CN signed up and received the last membership available for 2012 and I couldn’t be happier.  She loves whisky and she’s a blank page which means we have a lot of fun helping her along her own whisky trail discovery.

And me JM, well I’m the ring leader it seems most of the time and these women have no fear in trusting me which only makes me feel even prouder to be a part of their stellar group. So why am I blogging about this you wonder?  Big deal, six women in a whisky tasting society? Here’s why: We are all from different walks of life, at different stages in our lives and we all have very different personalities.  We, do however, have one thing in common. Not one of us is a stick in the mud and are far from boring. We have fun! Fun like I never thought possible. Fun like only six crazy people who love whisky can.

Point in fact: At some point EC or LL said after our March tasting: “Let’s get together for supper some time, outside of Society stuff”.  We all agreed and Monday June 11^th we all rolled into LL’s place for the following: A three course meal prepared with whiskies and some serious imbibing afterwards.

She cooked (with very little experience at pairing) the following delicious meal:

First course:  Pears braised in Aberfeldy 12, served on blood pudding rounds, topped with crispy sage leaves and a dollop of cream with grain mustard on the side. 

Second course:  A delicious fresh lobster roll (Marinated in Ledaig 10), potato salad, Caesar salad, crudités and fresh bakery rolls.  

Third course:  Meringues topped with drunken mixed berries (Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or) and layered with fresh whipped cream infused with Glenmorangie Sonalta PX and drizzled with chocolate sauce!  

 Once we were stuffed we chatted for a while and cleansed our palates with chocolates of course, hehe.  Then the really fun part of the night took place.  

NEXT!!!!   Each one of us was to bring a whisky from our personal collection for everyone else to try. What we brought:  Aberlour 10, Amrut Fusion, Balvenie Doublewood 12, Glenmorangie Sonalta PX, Mackmyra 1st Edition and Oban 14

Flight one: Aberlour 10 vs Glenmorangie Sonalta PX 

Flight two: Balvenie Doublewood 12 vs Oban 14

Flight three:  Amrut Fusion vs Mackmyra 1^st Edition

I won’t go into details of how rowdy we got, but I will say that at one point my daughter and Graham arrived to pick me up and we weren’t done.  They were made to stay and Graham imbibed with us for a few minutes.  His comment:  You women have way more fun then the men! AND I AGREE!

I have discovered a sisterhood that I didn’t think existed.  I felt like a unicorn for the longest time and now I realize there are many more like me out there, looking to learn, have fun and most of all, reach out to others and simply enjoy all things whisky.  

In the name of the whisky fabric, I dub thee The Women’s Whisky Posse. 

SJWTS Women's Whisky Posse!

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering: Whiskies ranked as follows:  #1 – Mackmyra 1st Edition, #2 – Amrut Fusion, #3 – Glemorangie Sonalta PX, #4 Oban 14, #5 Balvenie Doublewood 12, #6 Aberlour 10.  

 Next Whisky Posse night – September 2012. (It's awesome to be Whisky Lassie! 

  

Skipping in lipstick and heels with a few new wonderful friends along my lovely whisky trail.

  

Johanne