Single Malt Scotch Whiskey Tasting & Seminar in Sacramento

Next weekend, on Saturday, April 10th, Cafe Americain and JVS Imports will be hosting a single malt scotch whiskey tasting and seminar. Tickets for the event can be purchased for $55/ticket through their Paypal link or by calling (916) 498-9098. The cost includes a variety of tastings from the independent bottler, Signatory, as well as tasty appetizers from their restaurant (price does not include tax or gratuity). The Signatory Brand Ambassador, Ed Kohl, will present offerings from different regions of Scotland including: Isle of Skye, Edradour, Auchentoshan Un-Chillfiltered, Highland Park Un-Chillfiltered, Macallan Un-Chillfiltered, Mortlach 86 proof, Laphroaig Un-Chillfiltered and Ben Nevis Cask Strength.

The event will be held at 5pm at the following address:

Cafe Americain
1023 Front Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

WhiskyIntelligence.com has an article entitled, "Signatory, Isle of Skye Tasting with Ed Kohl In California - Scotch Whisky News," which lists all of his upcoming presentations (in case the Sacramento date doesn't work for you). It also gives a general whiskey biography/history for Ed Kohl himself.

I called the restaurant this afternoon, and Natalya informed me that the tasting is limited to 60 people, and they currently have eight spots remaining (make that seven - I just purchased another ticket)! Get your tickets while you can, and I look forward to seeing you there!

San Francisco World Spirits Competition

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition, which was held last month (March 13-14th), recently posted their preliminary results for the double-gold, gold, silver, and bronze medals in every category. This year's competition marked the 10th anniversary of America's longest-running spirits competition - apparently 10 years is a long time for us. Thirty spirits experts tasted 1,024 spirits at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, also making this year's competition the largest international spirits competition to date. Fifty eight countries from six continents were represented (guess Antarctica hasn't come up with a way to distill a good "spirit" to keep them warm yet).

Although the "best of show" results for each category haven't been posted yet on the official competition page, you can see the current contenders on the
results page; any spirit that won a double gold medal is currently in the final round of "Sweepstakes." Whiskeys and whiskey varieties are found on pages 21-31 of the results pdf. Not surprisingly, some of the double gold winners in various whiskey categories include: Elijah Craig Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Kentucky, USA ($40), Seagrams VO Canadian Whiskey, Canada ($23), Bushmills 1608 Irish Whiskey, Ireland ($100), the Grand Bark Equinoxe Blended Scotch, Scotland ($55), Ardbeg Single Malt Scotch, Corryvreckan, Islay, Scotland ($85), and many, many others.


I was not able to make it to the San Francisco area this year for the competition, but I am planning ahead for the 2011 competition. You can view pictures of the competition/judging at Martha Bruce's Photography website. Stayed tuned to the competition website to view the final "best of" results within the next week!