Scotch Group

A few months ago, I assumed the role of Organizer for the Baltimore Scotch Sippers group on Meetup.  Aside from the membership fees for meetup, I thought it would be a fairly easy thing to organize and I was mostly right until this weekend.  We had an event on Thursday that went a little off the rails due to the antics of one attendee.  This person also caused a problem at our tasting in January, the same problem.

My attendee (let's call him/her "H") purchased a bottle from the bar that was holding the tasting.  It was sold at a discounted price as a special courtesy to our group.  H decided to open the bottle at the bar and offer shots to other attendees.  It was pointed out that this was not only illegal, in accordance with Baltimore City Laws, but also incredibly rude.  H did not care. 

Fast forward to Thursday, H arrives late.  In an attempt to catch up with everyone else, H reaches across the bar and pours his/her own drink.  The owner of the bar sees this and calls H out on it, reminding him/her about January in the process.  A verbal warning was issued and everyone moved on.  I started to distance myself from H as I was completely embarrassed to have him/her associated with our group.  About a half an hour later, I see the owner of the bar take a bottle away from H and return cash.

Apparently, H had purchased yet another bottle and proceeded to open it and offer shots to other patrons.  After the warning, the bar owner had no choice but to return the cost of the bottle (less the cost of the shots) and ask H to leave.  I felt that the owner was incredibly calm during the exchange and I had mad respect for him.  H, of course, feels that he/she has been targeted by the owner and has no concept of what he/she has done. 

So today, I have had to clean up some nasty messages on our meetup page and send out an e-mail to all of our members detailing what happened on Thursday and setting guidelines for future tastings.  I did not want to air all of H's personal business in front of the group, but he/she started accusing the bar and the owner of over charging and being crooked.  H told everyone to check their credit card statements and I had to address that in an equally public forum. 

The owner of that bar has been nothing but helpful to me and the group.  He has provided a free meeting space for us and sets up affordable tastings.  I know that it's a mutually beneficial relationship, but he doesn't have to do half of the things he does.  I really had to take a deep breath and wait to respond to H's messages because I consider the owner of the bar to be a friend.  I don't do well when I see that people are being unjustly treated and I do even worse when that person is a friend. 

First Scotch Tasting!

The Order of the Cask, Leaf, and Thought (a.k.a my Meetup Scotch Group) has their first official tasting last night.  Organized by founder, C.N., and J. at Bad Decisions, we were able to get a guided tasting of a flight of Balvenie.

The line-up was as follows:

The Balvenie, DoubleWood, 12 years
The Balvenie, Caribbean Cask, 14 years
The Balvenie, Single Barrel, 15 years
The Balvenie, Madeira Cask, 17 years
The Balvenie, Peated Cask, 17 years

I am still learning about the subtlety of Scotch and this was definitely a  fantastic event for furthering that education.  J., at Bad Decisions,  led us through each glass and gave a lot of detail about the tasting notes.  (i.e. the nose, the taste, and the finish)  He explained about the Balvenie process and how they create their special limited edition Scotches.

J. explicitly told us not to "fall in love" with the Caribbean Cask as it was very limited.  So, of course, this was dad's favorite of the five.  Dad said it reminded him of the cough syrup he used to get from our old town doctor, Dr. W.  It had a hint of cherry to it and I could definitely taste the Rum influence.  Stepdaddy M.'s favorite was, of course, the Peated Cask. 

Of the five tastings, my favorite was the Madeira Cask.  According to J., and the Balvenie website, this one has a "deep, luxurious aromas translate into an equally rewarding flavour. Initial sweet vanilla oak notes gradually develop into rich spices and dried fruits (apricots, figs, dates)."  I think it was the "sweet vanilla oak notes" that make this my favorite.  Of course, this was pushed to the side when the founding members were presented with a PortWood (21 years). 

Ramen

When most Americans think of Ramen this is what they typically think of:

A small brick of dried noodles that one can cook in the microwave or on the stove.  There is usually a small flavor packet included with the noodles to give the broth some substance.  But it's a high sodium, cheap meal for college students and struggling artists. (Please see the scene in Josie and the Pussycats when Mel talks about how far a pack of ramen can go.)

But recently, I've seen Brittany Murphy's film, The Ramen Girl, and learned that Ramen is an important part of the Japanese culture.  And the Ramen featured in the film looks nothing like the styrofoam noodles pictured above.  One of the movie's focuses is on the art of making the perfect bowl of Ramen and how it can make some one's day better or worse depending on the mood of the chef when the food is cooked.  We've seen similar films where one's emotions go into the food that others consume, and usually to hilarious conclusions, but this one is different.  The other is finding what makes one happy.  (Brittany Murphy is a girl who hasn't been able to define herself except in relation to other people.  She is someone's daughter, girlfriend, lover, etc.)

Today, I had my very first experience with real Ramen.  I mentioned it at the latest meetup of the Order and was treated to it the following day.  I honestly wish I had been able to eat more it was so delicious.  (Side note:  trying to eat noodles with chopsticks while hungover is not an easy task.  Never mind how I know this.)  This, my friends, is what Ramen is supposed to look like.  The noodles are still in there, I promise, but they were fresh noodles and the difference was definitely noted.

The Order of the Cask, Leaf, and Thought

A few months ago, I joined an Scotch group on Meetup.com.  I figured it would be the best way to meet new people and develop my social network.  They didn't really post any events and it didn't seem very active so I suggested going to Birds of a Feather in Baltimore.  One of the other members in that group saw my suggestion and realized that the group organizer hadn't been active in quite a while, so the Order of the Cask, Leaf, and Thought was born.

At this point, we've had about 4 meetups (though I think only 3 of them really count since we didn't drink any scotch at the Scotch & Meatballs event) and it's only me and this other guy who've consistently showed up.  We've had several people RSVP that they will be at an event, but that means nothing.  We have an event scheduled for this weekend, at Ireland's Four Fields in DC, so hopefully we get a few more people out for that - 7 have RSVP'ed.  If not, it will still be a fun time.