Whisky Live – Glasgow 2008 Reviewed by Dougie
The Whisky Boys had a great time at Whisky Live – Glasgow 2008.
Sauntering round Whisky Live on Saturday was just a matter of starting at the entrance and working your way clockwise sampling all the way. You had eight tickets to use, 1 per dram or 2 if you wanted a more aged product, therefore one had to be discerning with ones choices. To add to the mental effort with where to go, the entertainment was pulling us from one side to the other.
First the Clannandrumma with their drum beating that just sucked us in, you just couldn’t sit without keeping time with your feet and tapping on your knees with you fingers.
Then the Cooper started his work on the barrel making, such precision! If Jim had stuck in at school he could have done that.
Then there was the “Movers and Shakers” crew, inventing new ways for us to impress our friends at home with our whisky cocktail making skills. Next door to them was the Whisky Shop with its impressive array of the “Cratur”. Jim fancied a bottle of the Auchentoshan 1957 which had the same year of birth as his beloved Jacqueline which I could see in his eye he was thinking it would be a nice romantic gesture to have in his display cabinet, until he was informed of the £2,800 price tag. Ahhh well Jim’s heart was obviously no where near his wallet.
But ‘let battle commence!’ we dived into the Bowmore Morrison stand head first with our tasting glasses at the ready, the peaty Yamazaki tasted as good as an Isaly Malt Whisky, and on enquiring how they manged the peatyness, we were informed that Suntory import the malted barley from home “Scotland”. So lets face it, it should be good. Andrew Torrance was our host at the Bowmore Morrison stand and was most hospitable and generous with his knowledge and choice of Malt Whiskies including Auchintoshan Three Wood, Bowmore Legend and Bowmore 12 year which were all were sampled. Before we left the stand we exchanged cards and Andrew offered to send us some samples for the Whisky Boys to review on this site, keep reading to find out what we thought of the Whisky’s they send.
Next onto the Ardmore / Laphroaig stand where we introduced ourselves to Gordon Bruce and a few of his Distillery Colleagues. A bunch of first class guys who all have such enthusiasm for their profession, Ardmore being a recent tasting for us, has established itself “well up there” with the best of them in my opinion, and of course the Laphroig with it individuality always tickles my fancy.
Not wishing to go on and on about each and every stand we visited, I am sure Jim has covered some of them, I must compliment the outstanding hospitality shown by all the exhibitors, well…. except for that one……. and also the keenness of their sales teams. Especially Ardbeg who actually broke their chains for us.
On a final note: Tomintoul, not TominTOOL, pronounced ‘TOM IN TOWEL’ and lets face it generosity will get you everywhere and a few recommendations and reviews from the Whisky Boys.
Dougie
