Stopping by Silver’s Motel

I visited two fun places with contradictory names over the long weekend: The Farm, which is a beach, not a farm; and Silver’s Motel, which is a bar, not a motel …

I gave you the lowdown on The Farm yesterday and today’s blog post is about Silver’s Motel—a cool joint on Enmore Road where I celebrated Ardbeg Day on Saturday.

Ardbeg is a peated whisky from the Scottish island of Islay and is not to everyone’s taste. I’m quite fond of it.

I enjoy its smoky flavour much more than whisky that isn’t peated. However, finding a plus one to attend peated whisky events with me can be challenging, as most of my female friends are not fans of whisky in any form.

When I received an invitation to Ardbeg Day at Silver’s Motel, I remembered my friend Ania telling me she liked whisky, so I sent her a message to double check.

She replied with one word: “totally”. And we were on!

The event had an intriguing “Peat-zzeria” theme and started at the very Alana-friendly time of 3pm. We caught a train to Newtown and walked up Enmore Road, which is such a happening part of town.

Silver’s Motel is the latest venue from the team behind an ultra-cool Surry Hills bar called PS40. The decor is inspired by 80s motel bars and it’s very atmospheric.

As we walked in, two old blokes were singing Italian classics with an accordian accompaniment, which set the scene for Ardbeg’s new release, Dolce.

We grabbed a cocktail and settled into a booth to check out the crowd and the entertainment.

Dolce brings together rare malt matured in Marsala dolce casks, the sweetest style of Sicily’s fortified wine, with classic bourbon-cask-matured whisky. The result is a dram with notes of apricot, marmalade and dark chocolate, together with salty, smoky flavours and roasted nutty tones.

I can confirm it tastes as good as it sounds … if you’re a peated whisky fan.

Dolce also tastes surprisingly delicious in cocktails. We loved the Dolce Spritz, with Amaretto Italiano, apple, ginger and fizz. Nom, nom.

Of course, I had to try the other two cocktails on offer: the Tutti Swizzle with Ardbeg 10 Year Old, mandarin, elderflower and citrus; and the Islay Milano with Ardbeg 10 Year Old, coconut, Campari, cacao vermouth and coffee (poured over a giant cube of ice drizzled with chocolate). The Spritz was still the winner, but the Milano was a close second.

The cocktails were accompanied by yummy Sicilian finger food and freshly made pizzas. What’s not to like!

Oh, and what are the odds, but both my kids called during the two hours I was at the party. I’m lucky to get a call every blue moon from either of them, but it was too noisy to chat.

The Head of Distilling & Whisky Creation at Ardbeg and Glenmorangie Dr Bill Lumsden leading a side-by-side tasting of Ardbeg 10 Year Old and the Dolce. He’s quite the character and introduced himself to us while we were standing near the entrance, saying goodbye to my former The Whisky List friend David.

Dr Bill said he hoped we weren’t leaving yet, bless him, and we chatted for a few minutes before he tried to excuse himself to work the room.

I told him he wasn’t allowed to go until he told me about Harrison Ford, who is the brand ambassador for Glenmorangie. Dr Bill assured me Harrison is a top bloke.

The mini-movies Harrison makes for Glenmorangie are awesome.

Here’s one of them: