ROAD TRIP!!!! French Whisky samples anyone?

In the fall of 2013 my friend Franck Debernardi (http://lacavedecobalt.blogspot.ca/) decided to celebrate his blog's 3rd anniversary by hosting a twitter tasting #FrenchWhiskyTT. A little while later, I received the 5 samples he had provided to the participants. (Too cool & lucky me)

Then I went away to Scotland and a few other lovely places, came home, went back to work and the next thing I knew it was the 1st of August??? I happened to be cleaning my whisky room a bit and organizing stuff when I saw the 5 lovely samples still sitting there. I carefully opened #1 and took a sniff. I was also in the middle of packing for a week away for work when it struck me, I was going to be gone for 5 nights. Hmmmm, 5 nights, 5 samples...  5 quick and easy blogs!!?  DONE!!! Packed a whisky glass and my Cave de Cobalt samples and I was a happy camper. It's Monday night and I popped open the first sample. It was a hot and muggy night, not the best of environments for a whisky but I pushed forward on my quest. 

Sample #1 - On the nose: Red rich ripe cherries!  Once it's sat for a little while, a really strong smell of demerara sugar and/or a spicy sweet rum.  Quite an aromatic little sample!  On the palate: Again very sweet, tropical in nature (coconut cream, vanilla, powdered sugar with hints of ripe banana.  The finish was a bit of a surprise because it was a bit on the bitter side and very short.  

I decided not to add any water as I was enjoying the sample just as it was.  A thunder/lightning shower started and I opened the window. Heavy air, hot, muggy with a strong warm breeze.  I was transported to the first night I was in Paris in June.  I arrived around 9:00pm, went straight to the hotel, dropped off my stuff and headed directly to the tour Eiffel. I walked around for a little while, bought a crepe and took some photos.  A huge thunder storm was approaching and I captured this:

It was glorious! I quickly walked back to the Metro and jumped on. Five stops later, I was at my stop and it was pissing down sideways! Stuck in the subway for about 20 minutes and finally it let up or at least I thought it had. I took off running just as it started to come down again.  I ran all the way back to the hotel laughing and was soaked.  It was almost 3:00am, I was in Paris and I was loving every second! 

And just like that, my happy memory and sample #1 was gone. How appropriate to enjoy this one during the height of a hot and sticky night filled with thunder and warm wet breezes.  TOO COOL... as always.

The reveal:  Sample #1 was a French Single Malt - G. Rozelieures, Rare Collection from the Grallet Dupuis Distillerie, 40%, NAS. 

Not bad at all for a sipping whisky on a hot summer night!   Can't wait to see what sample 2 brings on Tuesday...

Cheers folks

Lassie