Scotch Club? Scotch Club! What goes with Scotch?

January 19, 2016 8:23 PM

My office has a Scotch Club, where a group of people have monthly Scotch tastings. High-end single malts. These people are serious tasters. Tomorrow is my first meeting. I wanna bring a snack that I can buy at any well-appointed supermarket and don't have to cook or do much preparing. Besides cigars, fireplaces and Nick Offerman, what goes with Scotch?
posted by Cool Papa Bell to Food & Drink (24 answers total)

Cheese.
posted by flex at 8:28 PM on January 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Really good quality dark chocolate, maybe?
posted by Jubey at 8:28 PM on January 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Fancy pretzels, fancy popcorn, fancy crackers or other carbs and nice mixed nuts.

Maybe a platter of Italian cookies from the local bakery, or some nice shortbread cookies.
posted by slateyness at 8:41 PM on January 19, 2016

Seconding chocolate...
posted by frumiousb at 8:42 PM on January 19, 2016

Chocolate is a great idea, but the type of chocolate that will pair best really depends on the flavor profile of the Scotch. Here's an infogram on flavor profiles. Here's a good article on what to look for in terms of pairing.

What brand are you bringing? It will help people give you more specific suggestions.
posted by ananci at 8:58 PM on January 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Blue cheese; dried cherries; charcuterie plate.
posted by mbrubeck at 9:04 PM on January 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Nthing blue cheese.
posted by jbenben at 9:20 PM on January 19, 2016

Oatcakes to put the blue cheese on.
posted by rtha at 9:27 PM on January 19, 2016

At a nice restaurant here they pair scotch with a piece of shortbread as a dessert. It works very well.
posted by maupuia at 10:09 PM on January 19, 2016

I ate a single malt with a baked peach that together blew my mind -- or maybe it was a poached pear -- at any rate the caramelized fruit flavor made the whiskey taste amazing. Is there a fancy imported foods section in the grocery that might carry fruit compote or something along those lines? I wonder if a fruit pie would do the trick too.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:03 AM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Or an amazing rare steak. Edited to add that it's a snack, so maybe a wafer thin cracker with a slice of rare roast beef and a dab of blue cheese on top. If you feel like being fancy.
posted by Jubey at 12:46 AM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Me and a few of my friends have been running a whisky society with weekly tastings at my work for the last 9 years (just celebrated our 1,000th bottle last week, in fact!) There is a broad consensus among the 20 or so regulars that flavorful food just gets in the way as whiskies, and single malts in particular, provide such unique and intense experiences by themselves. Sometimes food shows up from somewhere like an unrelated work event but people tend to instinctively avoid it unless it's bread. We simply provide pretzels for the most part for people to snack on when they're taking a break between drams. Those don't leave much residual taste that messes with your palate.

This is NOT to say that combining food and whisky is a bad thing as such. It's not. But if the event is primarily about tasting high-end whiskies then adding flavorful food will likely diminish that aspect at least somewhat.

But, yes, some of what's been mentioned so far I agree with: dark chocolate, peaches... All works great with whisky. But it will also make you not taste the whisky fully. So, I guess, it depends on what the priorities are.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:50 AM on January 20, 2016 [6 favorites]

Oh, yes, as Jubey points out: steak is great with whisky. Also pork with a sherried whisky.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:52 AM on January 20, 2016

A good fresh chocolate chip cookie and Lagavulin are one of my favorite things. Something about the chocolate with the starchy cookie compliment the peaty scotch notes.
posted by artdrectr at 1:10 AM on January 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

maybe a wafer thin cracker with a slice of rare roast beef

Was about to say this but with shaved lardo, if you can track some down.
posted by en forme de poire at 1:53 AM on January 20, 2016

Scottish smoked salmon.
posted by koolkat at 5:12 AM on January 20, 2016

Nthing blue cheese is particularly excellent as a food pairing with a lot of Islay whiskies - but as Hairy Lobster notes, if the point is tasting/comparing/contrasting rather than pairing per se, I'd go with good quality dark chocolate. It's actually a nice interlude between different scotches. A 70 percent cocoa chocolate, in my experience, would be the least obtrusive choice. At the end of the day, all these suggestions are delicious, but it depends what you're going for.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:14 AM on January 20, 2016

If it's expected that you bring something, then I guess what others are saying about bleu cheeses; moderately-sharp but high quality cheddar; if chocolate, dark and very high cacao, nothing too sweet (it might just be me, but I've found the aftertaste of sweets and baked goods has ruined the flavor of some otherwise good drams).

When I was in Scotland the tasting at Oban included a chunk of candied ginger (in addition to a good cheddar cheese), and that was both different and nice.

All that said, I have to say I almost always find good scotches sufficient in and of themselves and rarely snack or pair food with them, myself.
posted by aught at 7:29 AM on January 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

Good crackers, maybe some water crackers or oat cakes, which are quite bland, and something salty and savory like wheat thins, which are actually a bit sweet for this. A selection of tasty cheese, maybe a soft cheese and a harder cheese, and maybe some sliced salami. Some dark chocolate would be pleasant. Serious tasters will not compromise their taste buds with food, but I like a nibble with my tipple.
posted by theora55 at 10:34 AM on January 20, 2016

Some fresh warm baguettes and butter to clear people's palates between tastes.
posted by monotreme at 10:55 AM on January 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

My coworker recently brought a dark chocolate and bacon bar to our Friday fine scotch club. It was a big hit.
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 12:10 PM on January 20, 2016

Given that the 25th of January is Robert Burns birthday, and that a Burns supper, on or near that date, pairs whisky and haggis I suspect the “best"* answer would be haggis if it is available in a supermarket near you.

It would certainly be appropriate and traditional, and also a talking point.

*For some values of best: YMMV, void where prohibited, etc.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 1:11 PM on January 20, 2016

Bring a bag of ice and a bottle of coke. Watch their reactions, it'll be worth it.

Note, if you try to use the coke as a mixer, they might kill you.
posted by eriko at 11:15 PM on January 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Note, if you try to use the coke as a mixer, they might kill you.

And not a court in the land would convict them.
posted by aught at 11:46 AM on January 21, 2016 [2 favorites]