Hi, I have a few whisky tasting events booked for the remainder of the year and thought it might be interesting to do a sort of diary of the events.

Whisky tasting events are quite like exhibitions. Spirit companies bring some of their current products for the visitors to taste and discuss and in some cases review. The whisky on offer ranges from special editions, aged and rare whiskies, whiskies new to the market and whiskies that have been available for a while. These present a great opportunity to taste things before buying and to try those whiskies that are out of my price range. These are great events for meeting people who work in the industry and finding out about their jobs and their whisky. I have made a few contacts and friends at tasting events which have meant that we have been able to visit Whisky Merchants and tour Distilleries that don't have a visitor programme.

Tastings are held in a hall or large room and have side rooms for masterclasses. Materclasses usually incur an additional charge but are often worth paying a bit more for as they usually offer something special.

Key things to take to a tasting include:
Notepad & Pencil - to write down some sort of review of what we have tried.
Glass holder - this is a small cloth bag that has a loop on it that goes over your head. This means that when your glass is empty you can put it somewhere and have your hands free.
Pipette - for dripping the right amount of water into a taste. You can always add more water but once it is in you can't take it out. Tastes are usually 15ml so you don't need much.

All tasting events operate in line with the Drink Aware campaign. I can happily say that in the 10 years I have been going to tastings, probably between 40 and 50 in total, I have never seen anyone who has had to be removed because of over indulgence.

Usually our tasting year starts with the Edinburgh Whisky Fringe but this year for the first time we missed out as we couldn't get tickets. We start this year on 3rd September in Glasgow at Whisky Live Glasgow.
The event is held at a hotel in Glasgow City Centre on Saturday afternoon.
This will be our fourth Whisky Live Glasgow and is a 2 night weekend trip for me and a friend and both our wives.

We leave Leeds on Friday morning, arriving at our hotel just off the Byers Road area and have an afternoon in Glasgow. We'll probably go to a museum ? The Kelvingrove or the newly opened Riverside Museum near the SECC.

Friday night sees us out on the Byers Road including a meal at the Wee Curry Shop on Ashton Lane.
On Saturday we will be in the City Centre in the morning and then off to the event in the afternoon. After the event we'll be out for a meal again somewhere near to the Byers Road area before travelling back on Sunday morning.
I won't be putting long winded tasting notes on about the drams I taste but will try to remember some of the standout ones I manage to taste.


It should be an interesting few months of tastings and I hope to be able to share them with you. There will be more to follow after we get back from Glasgow........

Slainte
John