New Year's Eve 2025

New Year's Eve 2025
Wed 12/31/2025, 06:05p-01:00a



I usually don't do much on New Year's Eve, generally preferring to stay in, but this year, some of us did venture out to a friend's house for a rousing night of dinner and drinks.


The evening started with a blind tasting of Hibiki Japanese blended whiskies (the bottles were only assigned to each Glencairn post-tasting). Going left to right, we had:

• Hibiki Japanese Harmony – The distillery's no age statement whisky showed a somewhat volatile nose of green apple and subdued tropical fruit. On the palate, I got plenty of tart orchard fruit and touches of honey and citrus, all undergirded by woodsy, umami sensations.
• Hibiki 17 Year Old – Less overtly fruity than the Harmony at first blush, this smelled more medicinal, herbaceous, and savory, with notes of brown sugar and dark berry appearing with more time in the glass. Taking a sip, I found the whisky noticeably more viscous, with increased depth and concentration, which was especially apparent in how it expressed its oaky, raisin-y, and floral flavors. Do note that this expression has been discontinued by Suntory.
• Hibiki 21 Year Old – Aromas here recalled freshly-baked apple pie, with a marked brown sugar and caramel character. Silky smooth in the mouth, with more of those apple notes supported by herb, saline, incense-y spice, and dark fruit. My favorite of the foursome.
• Hibiki 100th Anniversary Blend – Last up was a Japanese market-only release made from a base of 17-year distillate combined with 30-year Yamazaki mizunara malts and Chita grain whiskies. The bouquet on this one was headlined by tart citrusy nuances, with undercurrents of oak and honey, the latter appearing more and more as the whisky breathed. In terms of taste, I got a healthy dosing of that trademark mizunara spice, commixed with more citrus, honey, and orchard fruit. This one showed the most improvement over the course of the tasting.

Dinner commenced with a tartare of supple, subtly saline Hokkaido scallops, set in a savory, piquant dressing, with chunks of avocado offering a bright, creamy contrast.


I brought a couple beers with me, and first was the 2015 Tired Hands Guillemot GuillyVanilly, a rather uncommon brew (216 bottles made) that I acquired not long after its March '15 release and had been cellaring ever since. This was an oak-aged dark saison, conditioned on Mexican dark chocolate and Madagascar vanilla beans. The nose demonstrated farmhouse funk, black fruit, and plenty of tartness. Palate-wise, I got wisps of fragrant vanilla at the fore, leading to multifaceted notes of sourness, earth, barnyard, cacao, and dark berries. I'm glad I finally got to open this.




Next came xiánsūjī, or Taiwanese fried chicken, made using thighs marinated in a soy-based "secret sauce," then dredged in pre-seasoned sweet potato starch. The bird was then double-deep-fried and tossed with chili flour before eating. This compared very favorably to any other sort of popcorn chicken I've had.


A barrel-aged blonde barley wine hopped with El Dorado, the 2015 Firestone Walker Helldorado was another bottle that I'd been cellaring ever since I'd acquired the beer over a decade ago. Aromas recalled lush stone fruit intertwined with sweet malt. On the tongue, I found things soft and sweet, with more of those stone fruits and roasty malts supported by tinges of honey and caramel, along with just a touch of hoppiness. Surprisingly vivacious I must say.



Two types of potatoes were smashed, bathed in a mixture of duck fat, butter, olive oil, and garlic, and oven-roasted for 45 minutes. Here, the key was the juxtaposition of the taters' crispy exteriors and creamy insides, and I appreciated the additional shavings of salty Parmesan as well, though the cheese wasn't strictly necessary.


Our first wine was the 2016 Sine Qua Non Rätsel 16, a Syrah-based blend from California's Central Coast. The bouquet brought dark, jammy berries intermingled with tobacco, meat, and cedar-y spice. In the mouth, I found fine tannins right up front, which quickly transitioned to sweet, almost candied fruit, melded with an elegant earth-smoke-mineral character that was quite contemplative. A worthy match for the beef below.






Tonight's pièce de résistance was an SRF Gold American Wagyu tomahawk steak from Snake River Farms, cooked sous vide then finished in cast iron. I sampled both the ribeye cap and the eye of the ribeye, and there was a marked difference between the two. The latter was more of your "classic" rib eye experience, while the cap showed off more depth and tenderness. Both cuts stood alone on their own merits, though I didn't mind a drizzle of that zippy chimichurri, especially with the eye.


With dinner proper done with, we moved on to some spirits for digestif duty:

• High West The Prisoner's Share – This was an amalgam of ryes and bourbons finished in French oak barrels that previously held The Prisoner (a red blend). The whiskey had a nose of ripe stone fruit tinged with red wine character and a smidge of spiciness and wood. On the palate, I tasted a plethora of sweet spices, dark fruit, minty herbs, and oak. Overall, I'd say that the wine was pretty well incorporated--always discernable, but not too in-your-face.
• Compass Box Brûlée Royale – Next up was a blended malt Scotch whisky that apparently made use of both ex-bourbon and new American oak barrels. This smelled of pome fruit, vanilla, and caramel, but all rendered is a fairly restrained manner. Taste-wise, I detected massive amounts of semi-caramelized apple, with supporting elements of stone fruit, baking spice, and honey. The people behind this reportedly took inspiration from the flavors of crème brûlée, and I can see where they're coming from.

Dessert comprised a tasting of four different imperial stouts, all brewed in the same manner with chocolate, Geisha coffee, hazelnuts, and vanilla added, but aged 24 months in different bourbon barrels. Left to right:

• 2025 Horus Woodford Reserve Dosed – Not surprisingly, all four beers were fairly similar, displaying boatloads of sweet hazelnut all over the place, with plenty of dark fruit and malt to boot, along with more restrained nuances of cacao, coffee, and vanilla. I will say that the Woodford presented itself in a somewhat funkier, more mineral-driven fashion.
• 2025 Horus Heaven Hill Dosed – This was likely the sugariest of the foursome, and thus the most properly "dessert-y."
• 2025 Horus Jim Beam Dosed – The Beam seemed to highlight more of the stout's dark fruit character, while its palate veered a touch spicier as well.
• 2025 Horus Knob Creek Dosed – Again, the beer's fruitiness seemed more overtly conveyed here.

Last to imbibe was the 2006 Dom Pérignon Champagne P2 Plénitude 2 Brut, which was intended for our New Year's toast (thus kicking off my plan to drink mostly '06 wines in '26 to celebrate this blog's twentieth anniversary). Released in 2024, the P2 is essentially a late-disgorged version of the regular Dom, aged sur lie for 17 years before undergoing dégorgement in 2023. On the nose, the Champagne conveyed massive amounts of brioche, fused with apple preserves and citrus, with a smidgen of earth. On the palate, I found bountiful toasty, bready flavors alongside orchard fruits, with undertones of barnyard and mineral, all punctuated by pops of nutty-bitterness and plenty of acidity. In the interest of experimentation, in addition to the traditional flute pictured above, I tried the DP from a standard wine glass and a coupe as well. The former tended to bring out the Champagne's minerality, while the latter seemingly de-emphasized the apple-y aromas present.