Whisky Tasting @socialoffline

Late in December, I got an invite for a whisky tasting session conducted by Black Dog Whisky at the Social bar in Church Street (stands in place of the old The Night Watchman pub).

My first instinct was to refuse. Whisky? That’s such a man’s drink, what would I do there? But when I showed the invite to K, he got really enthusiastic and so we decided to go together.

At the last-minute, Snubnose decided to tag along.

I was in two minds – what to do, ditch the event at the last-minute (because Snubnose wasn’t taking no for an answer), or attend with Snubnose in tow (for an event that was obviously adults only)?

Finally, we just decided to let her go with us. Not a bad decision, because Snubnose behaved extremely well. I did feel terribly like a bad parent letting her into a bar in the middle of the day, but apart from some curious glances people didn’t really bother us too much. It helped also that it was a private event held in an enclosed room, and not actually in an open bar.

Also, the event wasn’t only peopled by macho men glugging whisky. There were tons of girls around, and I realized this was an event actually targeted at people like me – who are a little wary of whiskey and not too fond of whiskey on ice, but who might like it in other forms, for instance whiskey cocktails.

The bartender was extremely knowledgeable and gave us a short brief on scotch whisky, how it’s made, its history, and so on before he got to work mixing up tons of cocktails for us to try.

He used two flavors of Black Dog whiskey for his mixers – a standard one, and a blended one.

Here are some of the different cocktails we got to try.

We also got an opportunity to try our hands at mixing drinks, and I had a blast making a coffee based whisky cocktail that tasted very similar to one of my favorite drinks – Bailey’s Irish Cream.

In fact, all the cocktails were excellent, and I am hard-pressed to pick out a favorite.

And then there was all the food!

And this is where Snubnose got into the action. She had been quiet (and a little bored) all this while but once the food was served, I watched in bemusement as Snubnose went hard-core into action eating sausages, chicken, and even a game attempt at the beef steak. I am a vegetarian and it always amuses me to see how Snubnose is the exact opposite of me eating anything and everything. In a way, it’s a relief to see that she has no eating hangups (at least not yet) able to try new things (so unlike me and Piglet who are extremely picky eaters).

I could just eat bits from here and there as the food was mostly non-vegetarian (good practice for me for our family trip to Malaysia and Singapore where I just sat around watching Snubnose and K eat).

Tucking into her roast chicken
Tucking into her roast chicken

I can’t tell you much about the food. The vegetarian stuff though limited was good, but Snubnose really enjoyed her meat dishes, and is now a big fan of sausages as well 🙂 .

We were running a little late for our next appointment and so we regretfully turned down the dessert offer, and left carrying some wonderful liquor chocolates from Black Dog.

Overall, we had a fabulous time. The people from Black Dog and Social were extremely hospitable and patient with all of us, and we left the place pleasantly giddy after consuming the unlimited number of cocktails presented upon us.

Good thing I had pre-planned for an auto ride back. I was in absolutely no driving condition after this session 😀 .