Anual New Years Dinner

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

As some of you know, I prepare a sit down, five course dinner for three couples each New years day.I prepare the entire dinner from scratch, completely by myself ( and write the recipes) Today's dinner was great.
The menu was:
Champagne toast
Four wines
Appetizer course-
Canapés - Caviar, Salmon, Crab/artichoke, Vegetable
Salad - Mixed greens with herbs. Assorted vegetables, balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Soup - Lobster Bisque with Cognac and garnished with caviar
Entrée- Encrusted Rack of Lamb with cranberry/cherry sauce,individual sweet potato casseroles, white and green asparagus bundles with Hollandaise
Desert - Chocolate mousse with shaved chocolate.
After dinner drinks -
Cognac, wine, 100 year old scotch.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Two more photos:
The flowers are my Jaguar Orchid that started blooming in the greenhouse today. The greenhouse is attached to the side of the house where the dining room is, and the DR looks out into it.

 

[Lorien]

it would be worth the trip across the continent for a dinner like that:thumbup:
Great start to a new year, (or great end to the old one I suppose).

 

[Keith_H]

Wow! Fancy!
I had chili then gorged myself with poppycock and cheese.
Some of us are going to have to rent you out for parties!

 

[Will Leavitt]

I don't see blackeyed peas or anything with ham on that menu. I always knew Virginia wasn't really the South

Lessee, we had ham, black eyed peas with ham hocks, turnip and collard greens together with ham hocks and squash. Oh yeah, Japanese cold noodle soup. I am a Japanese redneck after all... or a yellowneck depending on your point of view.

If it helps I had sashimi last night

Would love to have a dram or two of that scotch... y'all smoke any cigars? I had a Perdomo Special Reserve in maduro.

 

[Bruce Bump]

Stacy you wear many hats. Who came to dinner the Queen of England....again?

 

[Barkes Knife Shop]

That looks very well-prepared and fit for a King, I know the 100 year old scotchs went over well as well. The presentation of food is breathtaking. It looks like you did it again this year as well. Thanks for showing your hard work in preparing all the dishes that you had. ----A+ all the way.

Terry

 

[NickWheeler]

Damn Stacy, that's fancy! Sounds like quite an event! :thumbup:

I had 10 egg whites with 1/2 cup oatmeal in it, and a protein drink, and 3 chicken breasts with a yam and 2 cups of salad, and a protein drink, and 12 oz. of lean ground beef with 2 cups of vegetables.

It's probably a good thing I don't know how to cook all that fancy stuff, it's hard enough to afford all the crap I eat now!

 

[Lorien]

gotta keep those muscles ripped Nick!:thumbup:

 

[Justin.Mercier]

I'd be scared to drink that scotch ! I'm just getting into scotches myself (going to a fancy 4 course + single malt scotch tasting dinner in a few weeks, been sampling others for a month now trying to get a taste for it) Just that bottle alone is awesome ! Do you know what year / age the scotch was before it was bottled ? I see it was vatted (blended single malts) in 1908 but dont see a casking year / range, is there one on the bottle?

One thing which i have read though, with old and rare scotches is to re-bottle it in a smaller bottle when you get more than 1/3 through the bottle unless you plan on finishing the other 2/3rds within the year, so the air in the bottle doesnt dilute / change the taste.

 

[John R. Fraps]

Stacy,
You must love doing a meal like that, and/or hosting a very special group of friends.
As was the case last year when you posted, I am "jealous" of your gourmet planning and executing talent!
What a great way to start off the new year!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Justin,
The scotch was vatted in 1908 and presumably bottled in 1918, since the bottle was inventoried under the war tax act in 1918. So....it is a one hundred year old bottle of ten year old scotch.The top was sealed very tightly with a lead cap. The cork (under the lead seal) was just sitting in the top barely touching anything . I lifted it out cleanly with a knife tip.It looked like it had been burned up, it was so black. While not nearly the same as being in the cask, I think it did improve somewhat with the aging.


I just went and poured some into a snifter................I would describe it as:
Character - Heavily peated (as you can tell by the color), most definitely an Islay. Color is a medium deep amber, similar to excellent Cognac ( It looks darker in the photo).
Nose - It has a surprisingly fruity nose with hints of sea salt.Strongly influenced by a sherry aroma. The nose is pretty powerful and smoky, and would put off all but serious Islay drinkers.
Legs - The legs are slow and long.
Palate - Very surprisingly smooth on the tongue. (Reminds me of 40 year Laphroaig.) Not nearly as rough as one would suspect from the nose.
Finish - Much stronger than the palate. A bit of a tingle, but not a burn.The peat resides for a good long while. The finish rests on the sides of the tongue, but does not cause the tingle or burning finish on the tip of the tongue that something like brandy does.

I would compare it to Macallan 25 in quality ( which is a surprise) , and Laphroaig 30 or 40 in depth of peat and smokiness.

It is definitely strengthened in flavor by the slow evaporation of the amount missing from the bottle (about 2-3oz.). I would guess the original batch was pretty potent, since it still has a good bit of alcohol left, but the lack of burn or residual tingling would suggest a somewhat lower alcohol content than the legs indicate.I might give a sample to a friend and have an analysis done.

Last night,I had about 3/4 ounce, and my wuss friends split a smaller glass (about 1/4 oz. each), since neither is a big scotch drinker ( and definitely not an Islay drinker). It is a slow sipping scotch, not for quick consumption. I experimented with it toward the end of the glass,and added a little water. It improved the palate and finish considerably. While I take mine neat, I would think this will do well on the rocks...allowing the water to slowly adjust the character.

All the best to you,
Stacy

 

[Justin.Mercier]

Thank you for the reply Stacy, that's a lot of info for me to digest and hopefully better fully understand and appreciate once i get a better taste for fine scotches. Right now I'm alternating between a selection of Auchentoshan tripple barrel (lowland), macallan 12 year (speyside), and tobermory 10 year (island). While technically tobermory is an islay distillery (on the island of Mull) not many people consider it an Islay scotch like bowmore or the like because they use un-peated malt (coal if i recall) I should probably ask my local liquor store owner (who's a big scotch drinker himself) for his recommendation of a good Islay scotch for me to try.

Or... do you have a recommendation Stacy? I've got some friends who are scotch drinkers, but i'm just starting myself, so I'm still getting past the point where they mostly taste alike to me to where i can tell a bit of a difference =P so I don't want to spend too much on an expensive bottle until I can appreciate it.

It'd be interesting to see if any of the records from it's inventory registration still exist somewhere. Maybe i'll try to look it up. I live less than 15 minutes from Providence where it was bottled. Would be interesting to see if the term vatted has changed over the years too. the modern understanding I have of it is a vatted scotch is one that's 'vatted' ie mixed, with single malt scotches to make a blend, sans any grain liquors (like modern 'blended scotch' which isn't just mixed single malts) I wonder if vatted meant back then that it was mixed at that time for bottling, or that's when the cask was set aside after distilling. I know i've seen a bottle that was bottled before 1918 which had a 1918 inventory label applied after the fact, so it's entierly possible your bottle of scotch is well over 100 years old, and is just 100 years old from when it was bottled, not when it was distilled. I'll poke around and do some research and let you know what I find. I love historical research =)

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Justin,
For drinkability, lower price, and Islay flavor, Laphroaig 10 year is good.Laphroaig 15 year is a good bit smoother and worth the extra money. Other good and affordable Islays are Ardbeg 10 year, and Lagauvalin 16 year.Bowmore is also a fine drinking Islay.

If I were to recommend a set of five scotches to stock a bar, I would suggest:
Islay - Laphroaig 15 year - Smokey and peaty
Cambellston - Springbank 15 year - Classic and flavorful
Highland - Macallan 18 year - IMHO, absolutely the finest drinking scotch for the $
Speyside - The Speyside 10 year - Lighter flavor
Lowland - Auchentoshan 12 year - Good smoothness

This set will cost about $500, which is not too bad for a gallon of fine single malts. They will represent a very distinguished display and taste of the differences between these types of character. The first three of the above can be consumed in their shortest aging for considerably less cost, while retaining their character (just a little less mellow).

Stacy

As to this bottle of Scotch, you are correct that it was laid in the cask earlier than 1908.What I really meant to say was that it could have been bottled no later than 1918 and no earlier than 1908. Since it was a simple ,type printed,house label,and not a press printed brand label, I would assume it was vatted for generic use from ten year old single malts. However, it could have been some wealthy persons private blend of much better single malts...who knows? The fact that it stayed untouched for 100 years does imply the someone thought it was worth keeping.

Stacy