WHAT IS THE BEST SCOTCH IN THE WORLD?

Everyone has been to at least one Burns (for the Scottish poet, Robert Burns) Night, always on January 25 since 1797, where haggis (that brown stuff largely concocted of sheep's heart, liver and lung, encased in that animal's stomach, and simmered for three hours) is consumed and Auld Lang Syne (yes, composed by that same Burns) is sung.  You need to be drunk on scotch to really enjoy all of this.

Thus and so, on Burns Night in 2010, Leith, Scotland was the venue where five "scotches" were served.  Part of the inspiration for this event was a kind of mischief making, for a new "English" (meaning not from Scotland), St George's, had recently been released, and was, actually quite good.  The connivers thought they could beat some standard local varieties.  The tally, and points earned:

  #5  Bruichladdich X4+3     4.5

  #4  St. George's                 15.5

  #3  King Robert                20.0

  #2  Langs                          22.0

  #1  Kavalan                       27.5

You can get the worst, one of the three Scottish entries, the #5, for around $60.  But where is Kavalan, the fifth entry, the best of these scotches, made?  TAIWAN!!!  The TIMES noted:

  Asians are not only some of the world's most sophisticated consumers of Scotch, but have begun   

  distilling malts that compete with the best Scottish distilleries.

A bottle for of Kavalan costs $117.






Similarly, just this year, in a blind taste test of British spirits experts, an American single-malt FROM WACO, TEXAS,  Balcones, prevailed over nine others for best new whiskey of the year, beating out Balvenie and Macallan.

Some other new USA "scotches" appearing this year include those from New York and California.  Incidentally, the St. George family of Alameda, California, has for 30 years now been producing spirits (including an excellent Hangar 1 vodka), and one is called St. George, a single-malt.  But get this.  Their scotch is distilled from beer.  It costs around $75/bottle, except their 30th Anniversary version sells for $350.

But all the above were not huge surprises, for in 2008, Yoichi 20 years old was voted by Whiskey Magazine as the best whiskey in the world.  Yoichi is not from Scotland, but from JAPAN, and not made by Suntory but by Nikka.    Some will remember Bill Murray hawking Suntory Hibiki 17 year old in Lost in Translation.

Here is my Yoichi collection:

The 20 year old costs somewhere north of $250.  There is also a noteworthy 25 year old.

Clearly, on the golf course today I will be designing my dinner for tonight, a few things I can purchase on the way home.   For sure, haggis will not be under consideration. According to Chow Hound, some foods include tater tots, peanut butter on toast, Italian seafood, toffee, creme brulee, cheddar cheese, smoked trout...  Not too helpful, except maybe that smoked trout, as Scotland is the world capital of fish for breakfast:  smoked haddock, smoked salmon and Scottish kippers.  Kippers are herring smoked over oak chips.  Hmmm, who sells this in Honolulu?  On the other hand, Yoichi is from Japan, so maybe a fancy Japanese meal?

But returning to the story of Yoichi, I may have understated the value, as, to quote from that article:

  The $300 per bottle whiskey was chosen from a blind tasting of more than 200 spirits.

And there is a story, for almost a century ago (1918), Masataka Taketsuru studied distilling in Scotland.  He returned to Japan five years later and joined what is now Suntory.  In 1934 Taketsuru helped launch Nikka.  The company has two distilleries, in Yoichi, Hokkaido and Sendai, where the 2011 tsunami  hit.  It also owns the Ben Nevis operation in Scotland.  While you can purchase Black Nikka for less than $10, their Nikka Single Cask goes for more than $20,000.

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