Wine, Scotch, Beer

The next blog will be a review of a whisky tasting I was at on Wednesday, but it has prompted me to think about tastings in general.

A position also brought on by watching Oz and James Wine Adventure. It strikes me that the wine, whisky and beer tasters have quite different views. I still think that wine drinkers do tend towards the pompous and arrogant, and are often very narrow minded about other drinks. Beer tasters/drinkers seem more open. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the massive variety of beers available? Even for people who don't like beer, or profess to not liking beer, it is usually possible to find something they do like - case in point, S tried my Kriek lambic last night and liked it. Whisky tasters seem quite open to trying various types too, possibly due to the close relaitonship between beer and scotch (same ingredients, roughly)?

The 'Sideways' effect has also caused an increased pretension in general wine drinkers, for some reason people associate wine with food and feel obligated to put forth crap about their wine. Now I like wine and I like good wine, but in many cases finding a wine that works well with food is difficult. And in most cases I'd rather have a beer. The art of choosing a good beer to match food is fun, and usually worth the effort - the problem begins if you're at a restaurant as they tend to have a very limited selection of beer. That pisses me off. If they go to the effort to source a variety of wines, why not do the same for beer? I can hold forth for some time on tastes, aromas etc on beer, but also am quite happy to quaff the bugger. I'm happy to quaff wine too, but people get grumpy about that :)

Whisky tasting is an interesting case. Most people do pontificate about the nose, the palate and the finish. And different whiskys do taste significantly different (even the same distillery, see next post). But, and here's the rub, they don't go on ad feckin nauseum about it over dinner. Mainly cos you don't drink whisky for dinner - and its not a quaffing drink being at least 43% alcohol. But it is a sociable drink, our little tasting parties at Regional Wines are fun times, just like the beer tastings. But the wine tastings- pretension.

The other thing that pisses me off, price. Beer - I'm happy to pay $5-10 NZ for a bottle of beer, particularly my beloved lambics. Wine, I'm happy paying up to $30 - dependent on type. I expect to pay more for a good red due to aging, but think NZ whites are currently over priced for what they are delivering. Whisky, jeez who knows, I've paid $250+ for a couple of 24yo's, but they have an 8yo for $50 which is great and a cask strength at $100 which again was superb.
So why do people feel obligated to pay up to $100 for a bottle of wine which they'll drink in a sitting? My whisky I know I'm not going to be quaffing, it is going to last for years. Unless Neil turns up.

Me xxx