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Kitchen Chat and more…
Kitchen Chat and more…
Rosebank generated a lot of buzzes recently with the news of its revival as well as the upcoming release of its new bottling. Since we have yet to hear news of the new release, we are satisfying our craving for its beautiful liquid from the old stocks! What we have here is a sample of a Rosebank 20 Years Old distilled in the 1970s by the Zenith Italia S.A.S Import. We bought this sample at TMA Vol. 1 and have only recently tried this.
Let’s look at the review now.
Colour: Gold
ABV: 57%
Nose: Sharp cinnamon and nutmeg spices lead the way before green apples and pears surface. After two minutes of airing, it turns grassy (like a sweet meadow) and melon sweetness appears! Wow! (18/20)
Palate: Cinnamon spice leads the way again but nutmeg is nowhere to be found. It has an oily mouthfeel and light green fruits appear on the palate. The melon sweetness that we got in the nose appears for a brief while and disappears too quickly. There is also a slight alcohol burn down the throat that lasted almost a minute. After airing for a while, the oak influence comes in and the side of the tongue gets some bitterness. The sweetness returns after that to create a sweet taste in the middle of the tongue, but the fruitiness does not reappear. It is a little disappointing as the palate does not deliver what the nose promises. (15/20)
Finish: The finish is relatively long with the sweetness lingering briefly. Oak influence rushes in to overwhelm the sweetness soon after, making the long finish astringent and slightly bitter. (16/20)
Body: It is a relatively balanced dram but not impressive to wow. A one-dimensional dram with a disappointing palate and a beautiful nose. (31/40)
Total Score: 80/100
Geek Flora: “Well, I am greatly disappointed with the palate and finish. The nose promises such wonderful things but the palate and finish fall flat on it. It would be an impressive dram if the palate and finish follow through.”
Geek Choc: “Sigh, I had high hopes for this dram because the nose was pure bliss but I was disappointed with the palate. I wondered if we had aired it too long after purchasing the dram. We wouldn’t know it unless we tried this again from a full bottle, I suppose.”
We shared the upcoming TMA Vol. 2 with everyone previously and now let us tell you more about The Malt Affair (TMA) and the guys behind the screen. TMA is an online marketplace which allows you to both buy and sell whiskies. It is also hoped to foster a community where whisky lovers can get to know one another and share a dram privately should they wish to do so. The guys behind TMA has one vision – to provide a platform where anyone can share fine whiskies with strangers, acquaintances, and friends alike. Such a community and marketplace is essential for Singapore’s growing whisky drinkers, and WhiskyGeeks decided to talk to the “headmaster” of TMA – Lucas.
TMA is the first online whisky marketplace in Singapore, and it is natural that we are curious about how it all started. Geek Flora visited Lucas’ boutique at Downtown Gallery, and lo and behold, it is NOT a whisky shop, but a men’s shoe boutique! Geek Flora was puzzled and thought that perhaps, she had gone to the wrong place! Haha…it was only when she saw Lucas inside the shop that she convinced herself that she did not knock on the wrong door!
Flora soon found out that the shoe business is the primary business for Lucas and Jacky. “Jacky and I have been childhood friends since the age of five. Being neighbours we attended the same school and practically grew up together,” said Lucas. Both of them started the shoe business five years ago, and the company grew with each passing year. Jacky is an avid whisky drinker and suggested that they serve whisky to their clients in the boutique. It has been five years since Lucas started his whisky journey alongside Jacky, and they have never looked back.
Their journey took them to many places and as their interest grew and palates matured, so did their whisky collection. In mid-2017, they identified various gaps in the local whisky scene – there was a genuine lack of an outlet for private collectors to resell their whiskies in Asia and Singapore in particular. Simultaneously, the lack of a strong community in today’s fragmented whisky market all further affirmed their belief that they must do something.
Jacky’s current neighbour, Kris, is also a whisky fanatic. Through their regular whisky sessions together at the shoe boutique, they met like-minded individuals who shared their passion and love for whisky. It was then the idea of The Malt Affair materialised. As the trio explored the plan, the possibility of doing the business began to take shape. A fourth partner, Colin, was co-opted as a technology officer, joined in the party and one thing led to another. In August 2017, The Malt Affair was born.
Right after launching TMA, the self-professed maltheads decided to introduce themselves to the whisky community through an event that they firmly believed in. That was the birth of TMA Vol. 1 – a wholly-independent whisky event featuring a carefully curated selection of whiskies. They held the event in November 2017. As new players in the market, TMA received much support from the local community, including online sellers and private collectors, who graciously offered their bottles of rare and modern whiskies to be exhibited and sold at TMA Vol. 1. The event was a success! Both seasoned whisky drinkers and beginners enjoyed their time spent at the event, and the positive vibes from everyone encourage the team at TMA.
With the success of TMA Vol. 1, the team behind it began to craft the next event. The guys wanted TMA events to be a companion to whisky drinkers so that the journey is less daunting. Therefore, they decided that a half-yearly event is excellent as a yearly event may be too far apart for people to remember and use as a reference point in their journey. With that thought, the trio began planning for TMA Vol. 2. This event will happen in May 2018 – if you need more information, read our article on this upcoming event! We promise that you will not be disappointed.
Lucas, Jacky, Kris and Colin have a similar mission as WhiskyGeeks, and that is to create a community of whisky lovers, particularly in Singapore. Singapore may be a small country, but many of us are whisky drinkers. Lucas shared that they found many whisky lovers through running their boutique in the shoe industry, and realised that these whisky drinkers and collectors do not know one another. It is a pity that so many of us drink and love whisky, but there isn’t a community among us. Taking a reference point from Europe, Lucas shared that he hopes that slowly but surely, Singapore and the rest of Asia can build a whisky community that is as closed-knitted as the one we find in Europe today.
While we may not have many whisky experts in Singapore, we have many in the industry who know much about whisky. In Lucas’ viewpoint, this group of knowledgeable people is the key to building a closely knitted whisky community. As long as these people are approachable and willing to share, a community can be formed. The fragmentation of whisky lovers is not due to just one factor, but a combination of many Khoon Hui, the bar owner of Quaich Bar Singapore, as well as Brendan, the co-founder of The Single Cask, both expressed thoughts akin to Lucas’ belief of a fragmented whisky community too.
TMA is, therefore, looking to build a community that can share ideas, thoughts and drams with one another, both on a big scale and a smaller, private scale among friends. It will, hopefully, decrease the fragmentation and bring whisky lovers together as one.
We spoke extensively about the future and what TMA can achieve as a community. As TMA Vol. 2 is coming up, our conversation steered into the future events of TMA. Lucas shared that they started TMA Vol. 1 with the intention of hosting 100 attendees, and 120 people turned up. Lucas had to reject some others as the venue was unable to take them all. With their experience with Vol. 1, the team sourced for a bigger place to accommodate a larger crowd. They hope that it will give more people a chance to attend the event and find a wide range of lovely drams to drink at the event and also to bring home for later enjoyment.
Flora asked if Lucas hopes to one day, run a more significant event like the whisky fair she attended in Kaohsiung last year, and Lucas replied that yes, of course. If TMA grows steadily, they will eventually do that. “However, I want to ensure that we never lose sight of the spirit and purpose of the event – which is to be THE forum in Singapore for learning and sharing great whisky, not for profit. To this extent, we have taken firm measures to ensure that the pricing of the whisky exhibited by collectors at Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 is fair and not opportunistic. Should TMA grow bigger, I will endeavour to ensure this remains the case.”
We are sure that it will happen! Lucas, Jacky and Kris have their hearts in the right place.
Now that you know more about The Malt Affair and the team behind it, feel free to check out their website and the facebook page of their upcoming TMA Vol. 2! We hope that our article about the event and this interview have gotten you excited and raring to attend. Geek Flora and Geek Choc are heading to TMA Vol. 2, so if you spot us at the event, do come on over to say hi!
Have you heard that The Malt Affair’s TMA Vol. 2 is coming up in early May? If you have not, please listen up! The upcoming event is a bi-annual whisky event where whisky lovers gather in one place to enjoy whiskies by the dram. This exciting experience is a follow-up to last year’s successful TMA Vol. 1, where offers of rare and old whiskies sent whisky lovers into a frenzy. Not to be pushed around, impressive modern bottles also strutted their stuff in TMA Vol. 1.
WhiskyGeeks attended TMA Vol. 1 held last year during November, and they impressed us with more than a couple of great whiskies. Some of the selections that we love were the Laphroaig 10-year-old Bonfanti Import (short label), the Rosebank 20-year-old Zenith Import, the Port Ellen 1982 Malts of Scotland, and the Miyagikyo 18-year-old Whisky Live Tokyo 2010.
So, when we know that TMA Vol 2 is coming up, we are ready for yet another challenge of old and rare whiskies! To prove that we are going to this event, here’s a picture of the tickets that we bought!
The news is out that there is a rare Springbank 12-year-old (Black Label) bottled by Cadenhead and a Macallan 1958 (gasps!) Campbell Hope & Kings 1970s White Metal Cap representing Campbeltown and Speyside respectively. There are also a couple of excellent Laphroiags and a Caol Ila 18-year-old by Sestante Import representing Islay. To top things off, there are a few bottles of old Karuizawas and the Hanyu Card Series waiting for you too!
For the less initiated whisky fans, do not be intimated! If you are not ready to drink these old whiskies yet (trust me, they are like self-poisons), you can find more accessible drams such as the Balvenie Single Barrel 15-year-old and a Bruichladdich ‘The Laddie Ten’ Second Edition. If you are feeling just a little adventurous, why not try an affordable closed distillery whisky – Littlemill? On offer at TMA Vol. 2 are three expressions for your picking. Personally, I love the expression bottled by The Perfect Dram!
You can find the list of drams here.
If you have yet to buy tickets for the event, head over to Peatix and grab yours now. Early bird tickets are now sold out, so grab the standard tickets at $30 each before they are gone too! Each ticket gives you entry to TMA Vol. 2 and also includes a Glencairn tasting glass, a 2cl (20ml) glass sample container and a $10 Downtown Gallery voucher! Do note that you can bring additional sample bottles if you are looking to buy some whiskies home instead of drinking them all at the event.
We hope to see you there at The Malt Affair’s TMA Vol. 2! If you happen to see us Geeks at the event, pop over to say hi!
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