Minutes generic - Norwegian Scotch Malt Whisky Society

MINUTES from meeting #11
The 11th meeting of the Norwegian Scotch Malt Whisky Society was held at the abode of Mr. Paal Bjaarstad on Friday 27. August 1999.

Mr Bjaarstad was the host and as lawyer he appointed himself as our legal representative. He informed us of the 1988 "The Scotch Whisky Act":

1. The whisky must be made with water and malting barley which can only be supplied as whole grains by a distillery in Scotland. The production of mesh must take place at the distillery itself, and the enzymes which transform starch into sugar must exist naturally in the grain. Fermentation can only take place with the addition of yeast.
2. The distilling process shall produce a spirit or alcohol of maximum 94.8% thus ensuring the maintenance of aroma and taste in the alcohol from the original raw materials.
3. The whisky must be stored and matured in Scotland in barrels or casks containing a maximum of 700 litres, for a minimum of 3 years.
4. The whisky must have colour, aroma and taste from the added raw materials and the production method itself.
5. Nothing but caramelised sugar and water can be added.

Others rules are that only single malts can carry the distillery name on the label.

With regard to other parts of Mr Bjaarstad's speech (such as the types of whisky and tasting procedures) have been covered at earlier meetings. However, he did cover the points scale for tasting whisky which will from now on be adopted officially by the society:

Points scale

0-70:	Poor whisky with missing aroma and taste
71-75:	A simple whisky without concentration of aroma and taste
76-80:	A simple, but well made whisky, thought without depth, concentration and personality
81-85:	A well made whisky with personality and quality above average
86-90:	A good whisky with marked personality and quality
91-95:	A whisky of world class
96-100:	An outstanding whisky

Character
Members should also consider the following characteristics of the whisky:

1. Colour
2. Nose
3. Flavour
4. Finish

The whisky of the evening was the Glen Deveron (12 year old, single malt, highland). This whisky is from a relatively new distillery (founded 1962-63). It is owned by Bacardi Ltd, and is situated to the east of Banff on the east bank of the river Deveron, about half a mile from the Moray Firth.

The malt takes its name from the river Deveron rather than the distillery itself, which is known as Macduff.

We also had the pleasure in tasting 10 year old Glen Ord, and 15 year old Johnny Walker pure malt (Green label). All three whisky's were given points by the members present (listed above).

From the above one can deduce that the Glen Ord was considered the best whisky of the night by most members.

As a point of order it was noted that Mr Augestad did not have cufflinks. It was also noted that Mr Augestad was most impressed with the recent developments of the telephone answering machine. Also several logic puzzles were tabled and answers were not too impressive.

Mr Bjaarstad had an admirable CD collection but this was not too impressive for Mr Jaunsen as he did not get to hear any Pink Floyd.

The next NSMWS meeting will be held at the abode of Mr Bjarne Augestad on Friday 24 September at 7 p.m.

Please note that all members must confirm if they are attending the meeting or not - directly to the host.