When it comes to pairing food with drinks, most people would immediately think of wine. But as I’ve highlighted before, pairing food with other beverages such as spirits or cocktails can also be a rewarding experience.
One recent whisky event saw Scotch producers The Glendronach relaunching its core range in Malaysia with a pairing menu at Indian fine dining restaurant Nadodi.
Now, Glendronach is one of the few single malt Scotch whiskies events that I will seldom say no to, especially when it comes to sherry-aged whiskies. The distillery has long maintained a fine reputation for only maturing their spirit in fully ex-sherry Spanish oak casks (mainly Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso), which is pretty unique in its own right.
The brand’s core range has now been “refreshed” with new bottles and labels for the 12 Year Old, 15 Year Old, and 18 Year Old (one big change - they only bear the age statements now, and are longer called the “Original”, “Revival” and “Allardice”).
The new look bottles have been available since July, and later this year, will be joined by a number of releases, including the Master’s Anthology of three expressions, and additions to the ultra-premium core range with a 21, 30, and 40-Year-Old release.
In conjunction with the relaunch, Nadodi has prepared a special seven course menu that is curated to pair with the whiskies. During the media event, we were able to try three of those dishes.
Now, it can be challenging to pair strong spices with whisky at times, but thankfully, Glendro-nach’s fully-sherried whiskies have a rich sweet sherry influence that helps it to stand out well even amongst other stronger flavours.
Case in point, the pairing of the 12 Year Old with the starter dish “Shell-Shocked!”, made with marinated scallops, pickled shishito pepper, white corn, and sothi, a mild yellow coconut curry. The sweet dark fruits notes of the whisky actually complemented the spices of the sothi and peppers, while also enhancing the sweetness of the white corn and maritime notes of the scallops.
The main course, “Grass Fed” (grilled beef loin, truffle mappas, celeriac and tempered tapioca) was another winner, paired with the Glendronach 15YO, which has a richer, oilier viscosity, and a sweet brown sugar note that that went really well with the savouriness of the beef and truffles.
Finally, the highlight was the dessert “Spiced Cocoa”, made with spiced chocolate, berries, cashew; paired with arguably my favourite whisky from Glendronach, its 18 Year Old.
I liked how the dessert doesn’t overpower the lovely rich fruitiness of the 100% Oloroso sherry-aged whisky, instead, treating it almost like an extra sauce, with its fruit cake and nutty notes standing out even more amidst the spice chocolate of the dessert.
Nadodi’s specially curated seven-course whisky pairing menu with The Glendronach is available from now until Nov 30.
