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Whisky Live 2015 in Canberra: writer Martine Nouet shares food matching tips

Natasha Rudra

French whisky judge and expert Martine Nouet.
French whisky judge and expert Martine Nouet.Jamila Toderas

As the cult TV series Mad Men drew to a close this week, fans obsessed over every ounce of symbolism they could find, every musical cue, every 60s or 70s culture reference, every outfit. But one image remains steadfast - the opening credit silhouette of a businessman relaxing with a glass of whisky in his outstretched hand, the liquid making a splash of bright gold amid the black and white.

The Mad Men effect - they drank the stuff like water in nearly every episode - probably reinforced an obsession that had already gripped many Australians in the past five years. Whisky isn't a new trend anymore, and being obsessive over whisky is more mainstream than nerdy. And so it is that when the Whisky Live tasting show rolls into Canberra at the end of the month, it'll be one of the biggest of its kind in the country - Doug van Tienen reckons the capital's enthusiasm for whisky is extremely strong.

Whisky writer Martine Nouet says the drink has so much more to offer than even wine and because it has a bigger range of flavours it was ideal to pair with food. (She also had an ulterior motive - she started as a food writer and "I didn't want to give up this passion for food".) It's a logical idea but didn't prove easy to bring to fruition. "When I started some 20-odd years ago, nobody was doing [food pairings] and it was a big struggle because the brands didn't want to have whisky served at the table," she says. "They said whisky is for drinking after a meal, it doesn't go with food, food will ruin the whisky. I'm stubborn so it took a big, big dose of conviction to convince them it was good. And now when you look especially in Europe they all do it."

Dark chocolate and whisky are a great food match.
Dark chocolate and whisky are a great food match.Ph: Marco de Lellis
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And there's a lot to try. At a recent dinner at Konoba restaurant in the Hotel Realm, Nouet teamed with chef Fabian Wagnon to create a menu that brought out the flavours in an intriguing set of whiskies, from a Laphroaig Quarter Cask to the Glenrothes Alba and a 15-year-old Glenfiddich Solera. She matched a pan fried scallop with sweet corn puree and a sliver of bacon with some sweet Glenrothes Alba - the whisky was stored in the freezer for a few hours before serving, rendering it thicker on the palate with a richly layered flavour. There was a big layer of vanilla and custard, Nouet explained, and then sweet fruit at the end and a hint of coconut at the back of the throat. It all complemented the juicy ocean sweetness of the scallop and corn, and made a pleasing contrast with the crisp saltiness of the bacon. To go with a buttery, golden Makers Mark 46 bourbon, she picked a rich, dark chocolate dessert with banana ice cream to draw out the exotic fruit flavours in the whisky and a salted caramel sauce to cut through the sweetness of the bourbon.

So how to replicate this at home? Start with something obvious, Nouet suggests. "Sweets are the easy thing because when you taste the whisky you will always find some patisserie flavour, you can have custard or fruit, cooked fruit," she says. The thing is to look for what she calls a bridge - an ingredient in the food that you can match or link to a flavour or a note in the whisky. Don't go for the obvious - if you've got a mango parfait for dessert, don't rush out trying to find a whisky that breathes out tropical fruit. "It doesn't have to be the main thing, even better if it's just a little [ingredient], it can be a spice," Nouet says. "If you think, 'Hmmm, there's a bit of cinnamon here,' so let's put a bit of cinnamon in the dish and see how it goes."

The important thing is to always start with the whisky. "It's how people themselves enjoy the whisky, they don't have to analyse the whisky, they say, 'Oh, this whisky is a bit sweet, it will go with that.' Or this whisky is a little bitter because it has oak, so I'll go for meat, something strong. Experiment in the kitchen, try different things and be a bit daring. Break the rules, this is the best thing."

And the important thing at a tasting is to follow your own palate. "I hear people say, 'Always start with a mild, gentle whisky and then go to a strongest taste,'" Nouet says. Throw that suggestion out the window. "Grab a bottle and what do you think - does it feed your tastebuds or not? If it doesn't, then forget about it." And then listen to the stories of the whiskies. The Glenrothes, with its 300-year family tradition, made the Alba single malt as a kosher whisky for New York's Orthodox Jewish community, matured in refilled American oak barrels. "In the glass of whisky there's not only a drink, there's culture, there's history, there's stories, there's people," Nouet says.

Her whisky tour of Australia included a stint in Tasmania where boutique distilleries are making a pure, southern expression of the drink. "I visited eight distilleries and I met the makers and these people are so passionate and they go their way, they follow their desire and they produce very, very interesting whiskies," she says. "They have this big sense of belonging to a land, to a history, to a culture and this is what is important to me. If it was only a drink I wouldn't be interested."

Whisky Live is on from May 30-31 at the University of Canberra Refectory. $99. See whiskylive.com.au.

Default avatarNatasha Rudra is an online editor at The Australian Financial Review based in London. She was the life and entertainment editor at The Canberra Times.

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