Scotch and Oysters? You bet!!!

Had occasion to sample something I was just a teensy bit dubious about---but ended up loving it: Bowmore 18 year old single malt from Islay and Hood Canal Hama Hama oysters. Might surprise you, but it can be a perfect pairing---especially if you do it "oyster luge" style.

Here's the...uh, meat...of the article:

Since what we had available was a small, sweet but meaty, and tangy/briny Hama Hama oyster, Johnnie selected the Bowmore 18 year old. The trick of it, says Johnnie, is to choose a malt that is well-aged, sufficiently delicate, mellow and mature from long aging, yet still has a soft honeyed fruit and touch of the sea to it.

He deftly poured a tot of the Bowmore 18 and placed a single oyster next to the glass, instructing me to taste a tiny sip of the oyster brine, a sip of the Bowmore, then slide the oyster into my mouth, tip the rest of the Bowmore into the oyster shell with the remaining liquor and drain the shell. I complied.

It was…remarkably tasty! So tasty, in fact, that I began looking for another oyster to try it again. The Bowmore 18 accentuated the richness of the oyster, and the oyster merged beautifully with the fruity, peaty, and slightly spicy whiskey. This single malt oyster luge was fun ceremony with rewarding results.

This could become a tradition.

And here's the link if you're interested in the full article.
http://www.examiner.com/article/perfect-pairing-bowmore-18-single-malt-and-the-oyster-luge#sthash.dvBmV8ha.dpuf

Question: what is oyster luge?

Hoke,
While single malt will go well with pretty much anything, I imagine it was the salinity of the Islay that married so well with the oysters!

Shaji: Yes, that was very much a part of it...although Bowmore is somewhat less in the briny than some others. Most importantly, it is also slightly more harmonious with the peat smoke so as not to overbear.

Try an Ardbeg or Octomore and you'd wipe out the entire experience of the oyster!

Joe T.: a type of drinking, rather than a cocktail, that's been popular of late is the "bone luge", wherein you eat the marrow from a marrow bone, then take a shot of good whiskey (or whisky) through the bone...dubbed a "bone luge".

With the "oyster luge", the final step is putting your dram of whisky into the now vacant oyster shell and "lugeing" it from the shell, mingled with the briny oyster liquor.

Joe T.: a type of drinking, rather than a cocktail, that's been popular of late is the "bone luge", wherein you eat the marrow from a marrow bone, then take a shot of good whiskey (or whisky) through the bone...dubbed a "bone luge".

With the "oyster luge", the final step is putting your dram of whisky into the now vacant oyster shell and "lugeing" it from the shell, mingled with the briny oyster liquor.

The "luge" is new to me as well. I'm not sure the idea of the bone luge sounds as appealing as the oyster one, but I'd certainly be willing to try it in the name of research.

Whiskey sounds a little too fancy for me, but I'm totally going to try this with a Bloody Caesar mix!