Single Malt Scotch Tasting with ARCS Members

The production of Scotch Whisky.

Last week I attended a Scotch tasting and dinner for women only at Jacque & Rick Doane's beautiful Yarrow Point home that had been purchased at the Seattle Chapter of the ARCS Foundation Auction earlier this year.  It turned out to be the auction item which raised the most money because not only was there room for around 30 women to attend the tasting, there was also room for several husbands of ARCS members to step up and bid on being honorary bartenders.

Dean Thomas Baillie

A real Scotsman, University of Washington Dean of Pharmacy, Thomas Baillie, dressed in his kilt and full regalia led the scotch tasting.  We tasted single malt Scotch whisky (we learned no "e" in the word "whisky" produced in Scotland) from three primary areas of Scotland; the Highlands, the Lowlands and the Isle of Islay.

We tasted The Glenlivet from the Highlands, Auchentoshan from the Lowlands and Bowmore from the Isle of Islay.  My least favorite was the Auchentoshan which I thought had a bitter flavor and I couldn't decide which I liked better between very smooth The Glenlivet and the heavier smoky and peat flavored Bowmore. We were served the whisky neat, but I found that I liked it much better with a splash of water and for me the flavor opened up more.

It was particularly fun for me to hear him telling about his childhood on the Isle of Islay when his father worked at the Bowmore distillery.  Many years ago in my previous life when I was still in the restaurant business, my then husband and I were

Dean Baillie with map of Scotland

wined and dined and stayed at the Bowmore Distillery.  Bowmore has a very distinctive flavor of smoky peat.  I can still remember running the bath water in our room and because it was water fed by springs which ran through the peat, the color of the water was exactly the same color as the Bowmore whisky!

The honorary bartender group was ably led by host Rick Doane and included Chap Alvord, Matt Rudolf, and Stan Barer. Some of the attending single malt Scotch aficionados included Lynn Thomsen, Susan Potts, Vicki Glant, Lee Brown, Alta Barer, Sandy Carlson, Lynn Mowe, Susan Adkins, Iris Wagner, Amy Rudolf, Kathy McQuaid, Zan Brookshire, Janet McNae, Jean Viereck and Margaret Breen.