Upcoming Venues

2025 Schedule & Hosts

15 January 2025Michael S
19 February 2025Chuck
19 March 2025Fred
09 April 2025 (Moved back 1 week for Passover)Abe
21 May 2025Dennis
18 June 2025Mark
16 July 2025Michael L
20 August 2025Adrian
17 September 2025Mitch
15 October 2025Jack
19 November 2025Jordan
December 2025TBD

2024 Schedule & Hosts

17 January 2024Mitch
21 February 2024Michael S
20 March 2024Fred
17 April 2024Abe
15 May 2024Mark
19 June 2024Dennis
17 July 2024Michael L
21 August 2024Adrian
18 September 2024Athol
16 October 2024Jack
15 November 2024Jordan
December 2024 CC Lounge Outing

 

Following is the 2023 Venue Schedule
18 January 2023 Jack
15 February 2023 Athol
15 March 2023 Fred
19 April 2023 Mike S
17 May 2023 Dennis
21 June 2023 Mark F
19 July 2023 Paul
16 August 2021 Adrian
20 September 2023 Peter S
18 October 2023 Athol
15 November 2023 Jordan’s Office
18 December 2023 (special event) Abe’s Party Room
   
Please see the review of the NSH evening at the end of this page  
   
Following is the 2022 Venue Schedule
19-Jan-2022 Cancelled
16-Feb-2022 Michael S
16-Mar-2022 Mark S at Office
27-Apr-2022 (moved up 1 week) Athol
18-May-2022 Jack
15-Jun-2022 Paul
20-Jul-2022 Peter S
17-Aug-2022 Mark F
21-Sep-2022 Dennis
19-Oct-2022 Zaev
16-Nov-2022 Jordan
07-Dec-2022 Neat Scotch House on Site at Athol. See review at the bottom of this page.
Following is the 2021 Venue Schedule
Cancelled – Covid-19  
Cancelled – Covid-19  
Cancelled – Covid-19  
Cancelled – Covid-19  
Cancelled – Covid-19  
Cancelled – Covid-19  
21-Jul-2021 – Post Covid Restart Athol – Malts & Burgers
18-Aug-2021 Michael S
22-Sep-2021 (moved up 1 week) Zaev
20-Oct-2021 Dennis
17-Nov-2021 Peter S
xx-Dec-2021 Outing to be determined
   
Mark F has the year off! He hosted twice in 2019
   
Neat Scotch House (NSH) & TWATs Event Review
Held on Wednesday, 7th December 2022
 
Seven of our members gathered to try the offering of Scotch and Scotch Cocktails as a diversion from our regular monthly meetings. This was a “last minute” arranged get-together at the request of the members.
Athol had been doing some research on a potential outing and uncovered this small business that specialises in providing an “on-site” Scotch experience in the city.
After speaking with Bryan Brown, the owner of the business and getting an understanding of their offering we put this option to the members and they agreed to go ahead with this experience.
Their original presentation was to provide the Scotch Tasting and Cocktails paired with a charcuterie, cheese and fruit. We asked NSH to minimize the pork component of the charcuterie to satisfy those of us who prefer not to eat pork and they changed this to pairings with fruit and cheese and removed the meat entirely.

We started off with their Neat Godfather Ginger Cocktail, consisting of blended Scotch, Amaretto and Ginger Ale, with Maraschino Cherries. Very pleasant and sweet start.
The Single Malt Scotch Tasting were as follows:
Lagavulen 16 Year Old
Dalmore Cigar Malt
Glenlivet 18 Year Old
Balvenie 14 Year Old Caribbean Cask
It ended with their Neat Sour Ginger Cocktail consisting of Blended Scotch, NSH Sour Mix and Ginger Ale.
Everyone in attendance said they were very happy with the experience and enjoyed the evening.
Mike:
The program was very carefully prepared and nicely presented. The pairings were appropriate and enhanced the tasting experience. I would heartily recommend Brian to anyone looking for a pleasant and entertaining evening.

Peter:
One of the ongoing discussions we have as a group is about what we really are. The consensus appears to be that we are a group of reasonably compatible guys who get together to gab about politics, the weather, our hobbies, travel and a variety of things. We use scotch as a kind of glue to keep that together. Nothing wrong with any of that…but it’s worth considering one’s roots from time to time. Ours are actually about sitting down and tasting scotch, discussing scotch, and infrequently trying to either celebrate a holiday or event with wives. No comment…let that just hang out there.
 
The experience with Neat Scotch House reminded me that our food choices could improve. First, the concept of pairing foods to Scotches has never been done by us in the way New Scotch House did. When one discusses a scotch like the Dalmore and highlights the buttery, toffee-like finish, what an amazing experience to be served Scottish shortbread that actually mirrors those tastes. Same with mango and pear coupled with Balvenie Caribbean Cask. I, for one, truly enjoyed the experience. I have done professional scotch tastings before and found them generally interesting but presented dully by some distillery rep co plate with Scottish brogue. I found that Bryan was a pin easygoing guy, knowledgeable, ready to inform and dialogue, and appeared to have fun doing it
There was a time when we did the tastings with a bit of a lecture based on study by the host, distribution of a one or two paragraph support doc on the scotches presented, and minimalist food like crackers and (perhaps) a little cheese. I think we might want to consider a rethink based on last evening’s event. We do not need pros to come in regularly but perhaps once in winter and once in summer. We might want to discuss the idea of asking each guy to add a tiny amount of effort…research the scotch, pair it with so,e smallish amount of accompanying food. While the cocktails were great, not sure regular meetings need them but I highly favour the approach for ‘special’ meetings. As for meat playing a part, it did not in deference to those who maintain dietary restrictions…but nobody of that description attended in the end. I have served a range of meats at one of the meetings at my home. Not a slice remained…and that’s good. Those who don’t engage simply don’t…no big deal.

Dennis:
The choice of scotches and the order of tasting really helped to emphasize the differences in each as regards nose, taste and finish. The evening was made very enjoyable by the different food pairings for each one, that were carefully selected to bring out and complement the taste of each scotch

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