This is the appetizer for the Whiskey Pairing Dinner. Brussels Sprouts are one of our favorite falltime veggies, especially when they’re made crispy. There are so many unique toppings for sprouts (sprouts!) that they’ll never get boring. Pairing. I hinted to @whiskey_CA_mmelier that the sprouts I wanted to make were spicy sprouts and he was not pleased. Alcohol and pepper hit the same flavor receptors on the palette and it is therefore very difficult to make a pairing. We settled on an only slightly spicy, mildly sweet sprout and decided to go rogue and open our pairing with a scotch! A mild one. The initial idea was Bruichladdich, a young but incredibly refined Islay  scotch – that’s why the signature blue bottle is visible in some of the photos. After much discussion, however, we turned to the sweeter, fuller Scapa Skiren from Orkney Island. It brought out the sweetness of the sprouts really well with banana/melon on the nose and walnut on the backside (as @whiskey_CA_mmelier’s wife pointed out, who was better than all three of us at tasting).