My good buddy Johnnie Walker, and his brothers Blackie and Red... And GOLD!

Thanks to a friend, I had the pleasure of attending a Johnnie Walker Black Label tasting event in down town DC last night. Quite nice.

Now, while I find Johnnie Walker Red Label repulsive, I quite like the Black Label. My previous assessment of it was a nice smooth 12 year old blend with a little muscle. Kind of smoky, but with real character. I liked it alot. After the tasting, my appreciation of it has expanded.

First of all, there was a nice cocktail half hour, with free drinks. I opted for two glasses of Black Label neat.

But the tasting was quite interesting. We were presented with a sample of Black Label followed by samples of three component Single Malts. I correctly guessed one of the single malts as Talisker (one of my favorites) and as a result our party was invited to a special tasting afterwards. Talisker is a wonderfully smokey and peaty full bodied malt from the Isle of Skye. The second malt was enticing, but none of us could guess it. Very soft and fruity to the nose, and wonderfully smooth to drink. Turned out to be Cragganmore. The last one I guessed correctly as a lowland malt, but not being familiar with the style, I had no clue what it was. It was Glenkinchie. Very light and herbal, with fruity tones. We finished up with another sampling of Black Label. The complexity was evident at this point. Highly enjoyable.

The special tasting that followed was a royal pleasure. 18 of us, out of a total of about 200, were presented with a tray with an ice cold bottle of Johnnie Walker Gold Label. (I hope the link works, I've had some trouble with it.) To quote from the above link

The perfect way to enjoy Johnnie Walker Gold Label is to drink it frozen. This indulgent ritual creates a moment of pure hedonistic pleasure.

Freezing Gold Label for at least 24 hours enhances the soft notes of the whisky and gives a texture of ultimate smoothness. When the frozen whisky warms in the mouth it releases its flavours with great intensity. This process turns an already smooth whisky into one that is surpassingly smooth, as the sweet honey and cream notes are released.

Freezing it is certainly not the only way to serve Gold Label ™, but it is an intriguing and entertaining way to draw out the delicate flavour of the whisky. Try serving the frozen whisky in a frozen glass accompanied with fine chocolate deserts to enhance the experience.

We were served it frozen with chocolates. Due to allergies, I had to pass on the chocolates, but frozen Gold Label in a martini glass is a wonderful experience. I'm convinced some of the women in group had "Special Moments" with the chocolate and the whisky. Hedonistic Pleasure? Yeah, pretty much. That describes it.

So I attended this with two friends. Max Leader was invided, but couldn't attend due to family responsibilities. The three of us who attended are all fathers, all of little girls who are best friends. So we're sitting around drinking, talking about our girls when two very attractive young women ask to join us on the pretext of needing table space. They join in the conversation asking about our girls, making small talk, etc.

So what is it that makes attractive young women flirt with married men? Mention that you have a daughter, and BANG they kick it up a notch. Eh? Where were they when I was a frustrated single guy? Huh? Turns out one of the women was an intern in the Bush White House. I will say I note a marked difference between GOP interns and DEM interns.

Your ever faithful Minister of Liquor and Spirits