A Taiwanese whisky wiped the floor with a trio of top Scottish blends in a connoisseur’s blind taste test organized to mark Scotland’s annual Burns Night festivities, the Times reported Monday.
The Taiwan-distilled Kavalan brand, described as a “Far Eastern incomer,” came top in a test against three Scottish and one English whisky in a historic hostelry in Leith, north of Edinburgh, said the paper.
“Oh. My. God,” author and whisky connoisseur Charles MacLean told the paper when the unexpected result was confirmed.
The newspaper organized the test itself, in what it called a “piece of mischief-making” inspired by the launch of an English whisky, “St. George’s” last November.
Its hope was to catch the experts out with the tipple from Scotland’s traditional “Sassenach” English rivals — but to their surprise it was the Asian whisky which came up trumps.
“It’s tropical fruits. Tropical fruit jam,” said MacLean, chairman of the panel, after Kavalan — which is not marketed in Britain — came out top with 27.5 points out of a possible 40 maximum.
Langs, a three-year-old Scottish premium blend, scored 22 points, followed by King Robert — also from north of the border — on 20 and the English three-year-old malt on 15.5.
Last came quadruple-distilled Scottish blend Bruichladdich X4+3, on only 4.5 points, described by MacLean as “not cooking oil. Not diesel oil. Sewing machine oil.”
In a commentary the Times noted: “Asians are not only some of the world’s most sophisticated consumers of Scotch, but have begun distilling malts that compete with the best Scottish distilleries.”
Burns Night, named after 18th century poet Robert “Rabbie” Burns, competes with St. Andrew’s Day as a focus for traditionally whisky-fueled celebrations in Scotland and by Scots around the world.(AFP)
英國《泰唔士報》週一報導，蘇格蘭年度慶祝活動「伯恩斯之夜」的一場名家盲測品酒會上，台灣威士忌擊敗三支頂級蘇格蘭威士忌脫穎而出。
報導指出，在愛丁堡北部利斯一間歷史悠久的酒吧舉辦的口味測試中，被稱為「遠東新品牌」的台灣釀造威士忌「噶瑪蘭」，擊敗三支蘇格蘭威士忌和一支英格蘭威士忌。
這個出人意料的結果一出爐，作家兼威士忌品酒名家查爾斯．麥克連對記者驚呼：「噢，我的天哪。」
由泰唔士報主辦的這場名為「大鬧一場」的盲測，靈感源於去年十一月推出的英格蘭威士忌「聖喬治」。
該盲測品酒會原本是希望這些專家，能從英格蘭威士忌和其競爭對手蘇格蘭威士忌中選出最佳威士忌，但出乎眾人預料的是，竟是一支亞洲威士忌脫穎而出。
品嚐過這支未在英國販售的噶瑪蘭威士忌後，評審團首席麥克連說：「這支酒帶有熱帶水果、熱帶果醬的香味。」這支酒得到 最高分二十七點五分（滿分四十分）。
三年份的蘇格蘭特級威士忌「Langs」得到二十二分，其次是同樣來自蘇格蘭北部邊境、得分二十分的「King Robert」，以及三年份的英格蘭麥芽威士忌，得分十五分。
最後一名則是經過四次蒸餾的蘇格蘭「Bruichladdich X4+3」威士忌，得分僅四點五分，麥克連評論這支酒「既非沙拉油，也不是柴油，而是縫紉機油」。
《泰唔士報》的一篇評論指出：「亞洲人不僅是全世界最懂得品嚐蘇格蘭威士忌的消費者族群之一，也已開始釀造能匹敵蘇格蘭威士忌的麥芽威士忌了。」
以十八世紀詩人羅伯特．「拉比」．伯恩斯命名的「伯恩斯之夜」，和「聖安德魯日」同為世界各地蘇格蘭人狂飲威士忌的傳統蘇格蘭慶典。（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
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