Happy World Whisky Day! This day falls on the third Saturday in May, which for 2020 is May 16th.
To celebrate, I had a virtual whisky tasting with Aberlour Single Malt Scotch. Scotland native and Chicago brand ambassador, Callum O’Donnell gave us an intro to the world of scotch and a guided tasting of three Aberlour expressions.
We tried Aberlour 12 Year Old. This one was strong but it did have a warm and lingering finish.
Next was the Aberlour 16 Year Old, which was described at the whisky for people who like White Claw. I loved this one. It had a floral scent but also a spicy nuttiness. I loved this on its own but also used this to make a cocktail at the end of the tasting.
Lastly, we tried one of the newest whisky’s, the Aberlour A’bunadh Alba. Everyone really enjoyed this one. It’s a Scotch whisky aged exclusively in American Oak Bourbon casks. The scent was delicious with notes of honey and vanilla and then apple and pear.
Quarantine Whisky Sour Cocktail Recipe:
After the tasting, we all made cocktails in our kitchens. Since it’s quarantine, not everyone had all of the ingredients, so we experimented with what we had. I used maple syrup as my simple syrup. I also only had limes instead of lemon. I surprisingly did have some bitters that I was saving for an Old Fashioned, but worked great with this.
2 oz Aberlour 12 Year Old
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
1 egg white
Dash of bitters (as garnish)
1. Put all ingredients except bitters in a shaker without ice and dry shake for 10 seconds.
2. Add ice to the shaker and shake again for 10 seconds.
3. Strain into a rocks glass with or without ice. (I didn’t add the ice)
4. Add 3-4 Angostura bitters to the foam on top of the sour.
5. Cheers!
Amanda Elliott is a writer and speaker and a relationship builder. She believes that meeting people in person is important. After attending numerous fashion, startup, and creative events, she founded Windy City Cosmo is 2015 to help people make connections in the city as they build their businesses, start and end relationships and see and be seen. Over the past three years, the entrepreneurs she’s interviewed have become the most successful in Chicago and Windy City Cosmo won an award in 2017 for her work for female entrepreneurs.
