You’ve got to hand it to the Scots: they’re an innovative bunch. Global pandemic? Social distancing? Sure, but there’s got to be a way to bring people together to celebrate St. Andrew's Day — honouring the patron saint of Scotland. For years, the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO) has chosen St. Andrew’s Day to host its annual tutored whisky tasting as a way to launch the winter’s OttScot Festival. This year the show would go on — but this year we gathered on Zoom.

As in past years, the tutored whisky tasting is organized and hosted by whisky aficionado and former SSO Vice-Chair Emmett Hossack.

In past years, the whisky tasters gathered at a local restaurant, Milestones.

Those years, the whisky was poured and laid out on placemats that itemized the single malt to be sampled, and the tasting of each sample was accompanied by carefully paired food.

This year, a small army of volunteers assembled the whisky tasting packages and delivered them to the homes of the participants so we could all partake in the bubble-safety of our own homes.

The package contained food items provided the generous sponsors of the 2020 St. Andrew's Day VIRTUAL Tutored Whisky Tasting: 

The Whisky Explorer, aka Mike Brisebois, who was our guide and tutor;

Beth Havers of Whisky Beth, who provided delicious whisky cookies — Beth, who is an influencer in all things whisky, also joined us as a participant;

The Scottish and Irish Store which, under the leadership of Mike Cox, has been a long-time supporter of the SSO, and provided Tobermory whisky fudge; and

Nairn's Canada, which provided packages of their famous Scottish oat crackers and chocolate oat cookies.

Samples from six whiskies were carefully poured into labelled mini-bottles. The particular volunteer responsible for this painstaking operation confessed that the aroma of the whiskies was itself a reward for his careful work. He didn’t say whether the work became less careful the more he inhaled. But everyone was happy with the dram he poured.

Our guide for the whisky tasting was Mike Brisebois, the Brand Ambassador for Distell Group, the South African company that has a long history in wines and brandies and is now earning a global reputation for Scotch whiskies. Mike led us through the expressions from three of the company’s distilleries in: Bunnahabhain on the remote northern tip of Islay; Deanston in southwest Perthshire; and Tobermory on the Hebridean island of Mull.

Mike started off with the whisky that proved to be the most popular of the evening, with its rich flavours of old leather, smoke and nuts:: a Bunnahabhain 25-year-old at 46.3% abv. It retails in the order of $500-$600 per bottle, and Mike followed it up with a more moderately priced single malt that has become his “go to” whisky, a 12-year-old Bunnahabhain, also at 46.3% abv.

The Deanstown expressions proved popular with my 23-year-old son Jacob, especially the vanilla tones of the Virgin Oak sample, 46% abv. At about $50 per bottle, this scotch is more in his price range. Jacob also enjoyed Deanstown’s hip and insouciant promotional videos. “Modern marketing for an ancient product,” he quipped. The Virgin Oak was followed by a Cream Sherry expression at 54% abv — an alcohol content that led to a discussion about the merits of adding a drop of water the awaken the flavours of sing malts.

The 19-year-old Tobermory, Marsala cask, 55.7% abv, was voted the second favourite expression of the evening. Tobermory’s 12-year-old 46.3% rounded out the selection of six intriguing whiskies.

Some 54 whisky lovers had registered for the tutored whisky tasting. The event had sold out within three days.

Emmett plans on hosting another whisky tasting in the coming months. Also under discussion is the possibility of a tutored gin tasting. All in all, it was a great way to launch the SSO’s OttScot Festival. We proved that our events could be successfully delivered online. In the coming months, SSO will also present its annual Hogman-eh! party on New Year’s Eve, the Seventh Annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate, and a public-health-protocol version of our highly popular Robbie Burns Gala on January 23. Watch the Scottish Society of Ottawa website for details on these and other events during the OttScot Festival.