Deconstruction of the Glenfiddich 15 year old Solera Vat

A pretty bottle of Glenfiddich 15 Solera Vat

Glenfiddich and I, we go way back.

Glenfiddich 12 was the first single malt whisky I've ever tasted and it totally turned my world upside down. Back then, the only way I knew how to drink whiskey was to drown it with Coke... you know, to chase away the "cockroach" taste (okay, to qualify this statement - I didn't enjoy drinking 10 years ago. Back then, my business was with Coke [the carbonated drink] and the dance floor #truestory)

It wasn't until I had a taste of that liquid heaven in my mouth. OH MY GOD! I never knew liquor could taste so good. It would change my mind towards whisky forever. It was so smooth, so sweet. So mind boggling. I mean, how could something as strong as 40% ABV taste so good? You see, Glenfiddich 12 was in the rage at some point back then. It was practically the single malt that started it all (in Malaysia, at least).  Glenfiddich 12 gave me a one way roller coaster ticket into this whole new fantastical world of whisky. So I packed my bags, hopped on, and never turned back.

Fast forward to now - when I received an invite to attend a Deconstruction Tasting Event of the Glenfiddich 15 years old - how could I say no? Glenfiddich was my first love I never got over. I've tried so many others but I would never forget my first love...... Then suddenly, after not being in touch for too long, this first love decides to call me up one day out of the blue, asking me for a meet up. Needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity faster than you could blink.

Oh boy. It was a treat.

Back and Bad

Ok so 2013 wasn't so great for this blog. But 2014 will be better. I've promised myself to update this blog at least once a week, and bring back the IBA project to the best of my abilities. 

Spending nearly one year working in the liquor industry made me realise a couple of things

1) I still get excited over new drinks , new bars, new ideas, new tastes.....

2) I still enjoy my drinks - but I'm done drinking just to get high or drunk. I drink to enjoy the flavour..... Getting high is just the side effects. :)

That job also made me slightly sick of drinking those local watered-down beer on tap, those common (probably fake) whiskies and horribly made overpriced cocktails. So. With whatever opportunity given to me, I intend to highlight awesome stuff - cocktails, bars, bartenders, exciting brands, share with you some DIYs... Especially DIYs. Why? Because when you realise how easy to make simple cocktails, and how CHEAP it is to make it tastier and stronger for a fraction of the price you pay for at so-called "happening" bars, you would never want to go to those places again. 

But there are SOME bars that I believe, are still worth visiting, where the bartenders actually care about their craft and the quality of the exciting drinks they make, were the ambience is cosy and just right for chit chat with a friend or two. Those I would love to go again and again, if my bank account allows me. Damn this place for making drinking so expensive.

So Hello 2014. :)

Short note.

Cocktail recipes need to be tweaked to make room for our local overly sour limes. Make room in the recipe for some sugar syrup to balance the sourness.

Another way to counter the sourness without altering the 'original recipe' is to make the syrup 2:1 water.

But for tequila recipes which originally doesn't call for sugar (as per iba) - highly recommended to put some syrup, if you don't want to see crumpled faces.

Iba postponed until further notice. :p