Black Bottle Whisky - Launch

Although I don't mind the odd glass of craft beer now and then, I never was a fan of the drink derived from hops and barley. Many find this strange for a man but I just prefer the smooth, rich, textures of a good whisky. It's not the cheapest drink to buy at a bar but it satisfy's me, I don't have a preference when it comes to whiskies, whether it be Irish or Scottish, single malt or mixed blend, it all depends on taste and tones for me. 

Last week I was invited to the launch, well re-launch of Black Bottle Whisky at the Dutch in Umhlanga. Having never tasted this whisky before, one could tell that it wasn't an ordinary whisky by choice of venue. Black Bottle has been on sale in South Africa for a little over 10 years now but it never was quite promonent, also it should come in a green bottle as apposed to the name. You see when a group of brothers who were originally tea blenders decided to make their own whisky, they wanted theirs to be unique so they imported black glass from Germany, this however stopped at the start of World War 1 and they had to use  local sourced green glass.

Now after many decades they decided to revert back to black. After meeting "Mr Black" as they called him, we learned the methods of how the whisky is distilled and left to mature in used wine casks which add extra flavour and dimentions to it. The whisky itself is quite pungent, smooth on the tongue and pallete with a rich spicey after taste that follows the warmth from the whisky. This along with the decadent finger snacks supplied by the Dutch on the evening, made for a delightful Monday night.

Mr Black with Chia Kougianos from The Socialite

I normally have my whisky neat on the rocks, with the ice mainly there to chill the whisky than to dilute it, but I learnt that the ice has an effect on the whisky and sends it into a state of "shock" but as explained by the brand ambassodor, it all depends on the preference of the drinker. Black Bottle even encourages cocktails to be made from it. I tried a few on the evening and got to say, I really did enjoy them, even though I don't like cocktails very much. 

Myself and Chia, captured on Polaroid

It was a great evening of whisk, food and entertainment, but I got to learn and appreaciate whisky a whole lot more. The average selling price of Black bottle should be in the R200 range which slots right in with the popular ones that people tend to buy, next time you're out at the bottle store, be sure to try it out and remember, its back in Black!