Snagged the vermicelli with a nice, heavy cream sauce. Came with decent bread, a good spicey bean soup, and a simple salad. Points for simplicity in the vinegar-and-oil dressing as well. Yummy and half price ($6.50 down from $13?).
I still had some wiggle-room left over in the $20 so I indulged myself with Macallan 18 year-old. Hell, I've dated women younger than that. :) The scotch was magnificent, very smooth. Pulled out an Arturo Fuente Hemingway (signature) and the night was perfect.
Ahhhh......
We tasted unaged, 3yr, 6yr (all these, of course, not available on the market) 12yr and 18yr.
The 0yr confused me a bit. I kept wanting to say that it tasted like a weak mescal or tequila or grappa but that's not really right. Now that I'm home I would say that it tasted most like sake. Not really all that unpleasant, just not scotch.
The 3yr started to take on a scotch nose but still very little body and color.
The 6yr was definitely recognizable as scotch. The color, flavor, aroma, and body were coming along although it /certainly/ wasn't finished. It tasted a weak, a bit like what plastic hip-flask scotch must take like.
The 12yr was very nice, mature, medium-bodied. It's highland nature still showed but was very well-behaved. A second sniff at the 0yr at this point was literally nauseating. The 0 was chemical and untamed by comparison.
The 18yr was medium-to-full-bodied, carried a deeper color and more intense aroma. The flavors were married beautifully, and made for a long, pleasant finish in the mouth and throat. Much involuntary "oohh" and "ahhh" from the audience, then silence.
The verdict: 12 is already my usual single-malt for home. The 18 was glorious, and I'll buy a bottle ~$50 as soon as I can afford one. Still, though, I think the finish and overall flavor of Macallan 18 is superior.
Kudos to Glenlivet for having the cojones to hand out samples of its unfinished product (0, 3, 6). It was extremely enlightening.
After this, my friends and I went to the Gingerman for a round of beers. I had a cristall weizen with a Cuba Aliados Valentino and a Fuller's E.S.B. with a HdMonterrey Churchill Maduro.
The Aliados were in perfect (read: rare) form. See my tasting notes at the web site below for further rantings on this smoke. The Hoyo is usually very good to me but seemed papery and coarse after the Aliados. :( I'm thinking something from the AFuente Hemingway line would have followed better. Or maybe I should just stick to Aliados and pray they're consistent.
All in all, a very pleasant evening.
jason
:-)=~
The best part, though, was the piano player. He effortlessly wove Handel with Metallica, Mozart with "Leave it to Beaver". Bizarre and wonderful. He went on to play a set of grunge that included stuff from Nirvana, Soundgarden, and others. :) Because no commercial material is allowed in our personal homepages I will have to refrain from telling you his name is Scott Jacob Loehr and that his telephone number on his card is 214.255.7546. That's a shame.