Scotch Whisky:
Glenfarclas 12 [Speyside]
Nose: Sherried fruit, spicy sweetness, hint of sappy oak
Palate: Full bodied, sherried fruit, with oak, hint of peat and delicious
sweet sensations
Finish: Long and flavoursome, with a lingering spiceness
Chocolate Pairing:
Chuao Spicy Maya
Pasilla Chile, Cayenne Pepper + Cinnamon
Scotch Whisky:
Clynelish 14 [Highlands]
Nose: Salty, floral, spicy and fruity, smoke, dried pineapple, sea salt,
iodine, toffee and vanilla, lemon pepper, eclair
Palate: Light pineapple, sweet dried fruit, mixed fruits, vanilla, leather
Finish: Long, salt, smoke, spicy oak
Chocolate Pairing:
TCHO Dark Chocolate “Nutty 2.0″
Roasted Nuts with hints of Dark Roasted Coffee + Toasted Biscuit
Last week, I had the pleasure of being a part of an inspiring evening, a fundraiser for the X PRIZE Foundation. Menu consisted of 4 Single Malt Scotch Whiskies paired with various chocolates. This event was especially fun to put together for two reasons. One it is a truly amazing cause. For those of you unfamiliar with the X PRIZE Foundation, in a nutshell they inspire innovation through competition. The winners of the first competition (privatizing space travel) went on to sell the license to Virgin Galactic. Current initiatives/competitions include the Google Lunar X Prize to safely land a robot on the moon and the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE in effort to innovate the way oil spills are cleaned up.
The “market research” was especially a joy. Nothing beats sitting at home and tasting various chocolate and scotch selections to come up with the perfect pairing. Hard work, eh? The chili chocolate Spicy Maya Bar by Chuao Chocolatier was a definite crowd pleaser. I chose to pair it with the Glenfarclas 12, a Speyside Scotch Whisky to carry through the lingering spiciness it its full bodied finish.
More on the pairings in another post. Cheers!