Searching for benefactors interested in Coffee, Whisky, cheese & wine tasting
I am a lover of many of the finer things in life, I love strong and rich flavours and enjoy being able to savour and indulged my senses.
I throughly enjoy offering whisky dates in Sydney (and other cities that I travel to), I enjoy researching bars with unique whisky offerings, with a beautiful ambience, where I can take a client on a unique flavour journey. Due to currently living under stay-at-home orders I cannot offer this in person service, but I do want to continue offering indulgence of flavours to clients.
Therefore I am beginning to offer a zoom and flavour subscription service.
In terms of my favourite flavour profiles, I have a mixed pallet: young, full bodied whisky (Laphroaig 10 year old cask strength being one of my favourites, along with most of the Octomore range); aged cheddars and truffled cheeses; Australian and New Zealand pinot noirs (particularly if they are organic and preservative free), rose (especially if this is of the less sweet/more lemony variety) and champagne; single origin coffee (my favourite roasters are coffee alchemy and wide open space); lapsang souschong, gunpowder green and Russian caravan tea. I throughly enjoy exploring new sensations and new flavours and believe that being able to do so with clients old and new, over video is a wonderful way to connect and share.
Listed below are the subscription services which I believe would be the most exciting to explore, many of these services deliver all over Australia, therefore it is not necessary to be in Sydney, where I live, to be able to enjoy these with me.
Whisky
Whisky is my dream dram, I adore whisky, have written many blogs about my love of it and try new bars and whiskies whenever I am able to travel. Below are the whisky subscriptions I would adore to try with you, then once a month, when our subscription arrives, we can both our ourselves a dram and explore together, filling in our tasting notes.
https://whiskyloot.com/pages/gift-subscription - whisky loot has a wide selection of whisky entry levels and options, from their rare Scotch selection to their explorer or advanced whisky subscriptions, these subscriptions are delivered monthly, so we could enjoy a monthly zoom catch up and compare our whisky tasting notes. Each subscription is accompanied with a whisky tasting book which teaches the dram drinker about whisky, from the nose to the taste to the finish to help whisky drinkers refine their pallet. At time of writing I have been gifted a explorer subscription, however I would love to try an advanced subscription, which has a different selection of whiskies. There are also individual tasting flights from different regions, highlighting the different flavours or tones of whisky.
https://thewhiskyclub.com.au/gifting - Australia’s largest whisky subscription service, allowing huge buying power and a vast array of Scotch whisky (my favourite). You receive one bottle of whisky per month, which you pick from their selection, meaning that we could both buy the same bottle and try it and compare notes. Unlike Whisky Loot you get a full bottle of whisky, as opposed to 60mlx3 each month, subsequently the cost is higher.
Wine
Whisky is delicious but wine is my go to drink when I am at home. I was brought up exclusively drinking pinot noir but since moving to Australia I have been branching out into enjoying more varieties of wine, from champagne and prosecco to orange wines and Malbec’s, as yet I have failed to fall in love with white wine, maybe you can convince me? Wine subscriptions usually either either allow you to choose the wine or they choose from their selection. It’s a great way to explore wine and each other.
https://www.goodpairdays.com -this website is excellent for those who want to learn about wine without the jargon. There is a tasting quiz where they get to understand your taste through a series of questions and then suggest wines that you might like. There is no excessive jargon and the website, quiz and options are really fun. Their wine and packaging looks excellent.
https://www.handpickedwines.com.au/trunkclub- Handpicked wines are always excellent quality. I have enjoyed every wine of these that I have tasted, including white wine, which I usually avoid. Handpicked wine offers a variety of options from everyday drinking wine, to bold wines, to high end wines, allowing us to explore the variety which we would most enjoy.
https://pnvmerchants.com/pages/good-fridays- organic natural wine shop, 6 bottles of wine are delivered once a month, ranging from reds to orange and white wines. There shop in Newtown is a treasure trove of delight and their bottles are sent on the first Friday of every month, meaning we can enjoy a post work drink together to bring in the weekend. I am more of a pinot noir drinker but I enjoy sampling new flavours and always like to have my flavour boundaries pushed and expanded
Cheese
Cheese is one of the greatest joys in my life. The plethora of flavours which this food type contains is vast and captures the divergence of tastes, high notes and processes. Growing up in the UK I had a vast array of cheeses to try and my flavour profile has become more suited to the stronger cheeses as I have aged. Since I have lived in Australia, the options of available cheeses has grown immensely, as has the availability of different home grown cheeses, which I would love to learn more about and explore more of.
https://www.mouldcheesefestival.com/product/monthly-cheese-subscription/- the creators of the mould festival, a cheese festival in Sydney which I have yet to attend, which selects artisan Australian cheesemakers to introduce you to either via their festival (which includes many fantastic sounding workshops), or delivers monthly cheese packages to your door. Each month you can opt out of certain cheeses or explore their offerings. I am more of a mature, hard cheese fan but I can always be convinced to try some new sensations.
https://www.cheesecelebration.com.au/pages/cheese-club-subscription - 4 different types of cheese delivered monthly, in generous proportions, arriving on the first Thursday of each month. Variety is the spice of life and I believe a cheese box with lots of different flavours would satisfy all my cheese cravings throughout the days. This would be wonderful to discuss over a video call.
https://epicurestore.com.au/pages/cheese-subscriptions- three cheeses are chosen and sent monthly to be deliciously enjoyed and consumed. The options for choosing a subscription are mild and mellow or strong and tangy. I love both types but would probably prefer strong and tangy. To be wonderfully enjoyed with a glass of red, if you like me are partial to a glass of wine with cheese.
Coffee
I am a lover of coffee, one of the things I most enjoy about travelling is trying independent roasters at their store or cafe. I have enjoyed Good Brother Coffee in Newcastle, Wide Open Road in Melbourne, Coffee Alchemy in Sydney to name a few. I drink my coffee with soy milk and love a smooth, velvety flat white.
https://shop.singleo.com.au/collections/subscriptions?variant=25504016583- Single O are one of my favourites, they create single origin coffee only and this subscription introduces you to the variety of single origin coffees that they offer. As a milk in my coffee drinker, I would prefer the Bladerunner option but I am keen on trying a variety of their coffees. Let’s explore during the day, or over the weekend, over a freshly made at home coffee, compare notes and get to know one another.
https://camposcoffee.com/product-category/coffee/coffee-type/subscriptions/- Campos is one of the best known coffee companies in Sydney, starting from a small store in Newtown. Campos is the best known coffee subscription in Australia. What is the most appealing about Campos is that they have a variety of different coffee subscriptions which we could try. My vouch would be for the coffee of the month, so we could travel round the world with coffee, however they have more options depending if you would like to try single origin coffees only etc.
Fancy food
One additional option. I love supporting small businesses and restaurants and bars, like so many businesses, have been hit really hard during this lockdown period. There are a selection of amazing restaurants offering picnic packages or finish at home food. Here is my favourite option, but do let me know if there are options that this foodie should add to her list.
Providoor- https://www.providoor.com.au
Order us both food and we can eat together over zoom, some of my top Sydney restaurants are on this list from Nomad, Lankan Filling Station, Sake and Bentley and for those who like a fine whisky delivered to your door, my favourite Sydney whisky bar, Baxters Inn, has multiple selections from Australian Single Malt Whiskies to Hebredies and beyond.
