Whisky Live London 2015 review

You know how occasionally things just work out incredibly fortuitously? Whisky Live London was one of those occasions for me. 

I had to be in London for 4 days for work. Having not been for a few years, I decided I'd take the Friday as leave rather than head home a day early - figuring it shouldn't be too hard to find something to do in London for a day. I got in early the weekend before too, had a great time bar-hopping with this bloke, and at one point dropped by the SMWS bar in Greville St, London, where I got talking to Martyn, The Whisky Cyclist. Upon hearing I was only in town for the week, Martyn asked was I going to Whisky Live on Friday?

"Umm...well I bloody well am now!" was about all I could manage.

I genuinely had no idea it was on (which was surprising, considering how many UK bloggers I follow on Twitter), but it looked like I'd sorted out my Friday! Even better - just before plonking down £50 on a ticket, I noticed Whisky Live were offering media passes for an early media/blogger session. So with one of those sorted, all I had to do was wait for Friday to roll around.

I was excited to visit Whisky Live London because I'd heard good things (and generally, from what I could tell, major whisky shows held in the UK have been pretty high quality). I was also keen to see how it compared with Whisky Live Sydney, which I don't consider a bad show at all, but in my opinion is more of a beginner show, as opposed to say The Whisky Show or Oak Barrel's Whisky Fair, who cater more towards the enthusiast.

Fast forward to Friday, and I turn up to the impressive grounds of The Honourable Artillery Company for my first taste of a UK whisky show...

Arriving into the relatively empty hall, I quickly spotted a few familiar faces from the whisky blogging world - the likes of Dave and Kat from Whisky Discovery, Greg from GreatDrams and later the famous Joel Harrison (formerly Cask Strength, now Worlds Best Spirits). One thing that struck me first was that whilst a number of the big whisky companies were present, they weren't necessarily presenting the whiskies you might think. William Grant & Sons for example, had no Balvenie, Glenfiddich or Kininvie in sight. They did however have an impressive lineup of seven different Girvans. Diageo too were present, but with Mortlach (and yes, the new NAS Talisker Skye).

Then there was Wemyss Malts, Maverick Drinks (who are as entertaining in person as they are online), and Whisky Magazine presenting the full set of World Whiskies Awards winners (the competition having been held in London the night before).

The Rare Old Bar allowed attendees to sample some pretty rare drams (such as a Glenfarclas 1961 Family Cask, Glengoyne 35yo or even the Appleton Estate 50yo rum) for a fee, but there were plenty of impressive drams on offer at the exhibitor booths too, including a few gems I managed to sample on the night:

• Girvan 25 and 30
• Teeling 21
• Wemyss "Velvet Fig" (winner of the previous night's "Best Scotch Blended Malt")
• Balcones Brimstone
• Kavalan Vinho Barrique (winner of the previous night's "World's Best Single Malt Whisky")
• The Lost Distilleries Blend
• Master of Malt 40yo Liquer
• ...amongst many others (notes up soon)

As mentioned, the World Whiskies Awards were held the night before (also in London), and I imagine there would have been a few sore heads during the show. Nevertheless, a few legends made an appearance - including these two fresh from their recent wins:

Unlike previous shows where we'd run into Bill Lark, Bill was there as a punter (from what we could tell), enjoying the show and as always, happy to chat to fellow whisky lovers. A legend (or should we say the legend?) of the modern-day Australian whisky scene.

Maverick Drinks (known and loved for their fantastic range of Drinks by the Dram) had an interesting stand, with a number of expressions from That Boutique-y Whisky Company and Balcones (not a bad drop amongst them) and a live Tweet board, where you could tweet them, see your tweet in real-time, and score a dram for your troubles (a Batch 4 Arran from That Boutique-y Whisky Company, thank you very much).

After about 2 hours the public started to shuffle in and the hall started to fill up, so I headed off to one of the masterclasses - an introduction to Dewar's (Bacardi's) "The Last Great Malts", with an enticing lineups of whiskies that, until recently, were not often seen for sale:

• Aberfeldy 21
• Craigellachie 13
• Craigellachie 23
• Aultmore 25
• Royal Brackla Single Cask 21yo (my pick of the line-up)

It might have been an "introductory" masterclass, but these certainly weren't "introductory" whiskies, with at least two of them retailing for £300+. A great experience though, with a very entertaining host in Stephen Marshall (ex-SWMS and current brand ambassador the Last Great Malts).

After a few more drams shared with a few more bloggers, it was time to call it a night. Was it a good show? Without a doubt! With a line-up of some very interesting / not often seen whiskies, some great characters, an enjoyable masterclass schedule and the ability to taste the complete lineup of the World Whiskies Awards winners just a day after the awards, it was about the best possible way to spend a Friday evening.

Cheers,
Martin.

TimeforWhisky attended Whisky Live London as a media guest of Whisky Live (as we did in Sydney in 2013).

A trio of crafty Americans (Tasted #80, #81 and #82)

Ask the average punter about "American whiskey" and typically the first names that spring to mind will be "Jack" and "Jimmy". While there's no denying that both "Jack" and "Jimmy" have some excellent whiskies in their respective ranges (the former through the likes of Single Barrel Jack Daniels & Sinatra Select, the latter through the the small batch range such as Basil Haydens & Booker's), there's also no denying that the landscape has changed somewhat, and there are some new, much smaller, but very serious players on the scene.

Balcones. FEW Spirits, Koval. Heard of them? If you haven't, you surely will soon.

America is (actually has been for a while now) experiencing something of a craft distilling revolution. Gone are the days when "American Whiskey" simply meant "Bourbon from Kentucky" (or Tennessee Whiskey from Tennessee). Nowadays excellent American Whiskey can, and does, come from all over the USA. In fact just tonight at Papa Gedes bar in Sydney I tried a "Breaking and Entering" Bourbon bottled in California (admittedly, it is a blended Bourbon made from Kentucky whiskies).

Which brings us to the three whiskies featured in this post - none of which come from Kentucky or Tennessee (the FEW and Koval being from Illinois, the Balcones hailing from Texas, y'all).

It's pretty hard to ignore the impact Balcones has had on the scene during its relatively short existence - from winning a slew of awards, to being called the "finest new whiskey in the world" by Forbes Magazine. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while might remember my highly-rated tasting of Balcones Baby Blue blue-corn whisky (which I later purchased).

While FEW and Koval (whose Four Grain and Rye we tasted a while ago) don't quite have the profile of Balcones yet, they could well in the future, and based on the quality of the spirits tasted below, I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Murray from HR Craft Beverages (who distribute Balcones, Koval and FEW in Australia) was kind enough to send me a sample from each distillery, including:

• FEW Bourbon Whiskey (47%)
• Balcones "1" Texas Single Malt Whisky (53%)
• Koval Bourbon (47%)

FEW Bourbon Whiskey (47% ABV, NAS, Evanston IL, USA)
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Colour: Dark, burnt orange.
Nose: BIG hit of pepper. Cinnamon, cloves, vanilla.
Palate: Youthful but not harsh. Pepper, spices, slightly dusty, but sweet. Mouth filling.
Finish: Short and hot, without being harsh.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100.


Balcones "1" Texas Single Malt (53% ABV, NAS, Waco TX, USA)
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Colour: Bright coppery orange.
Nose: Honey, orange peel. Intense, fantastic.
Palate: Smooth, light, none of the nose's intensity. Sweet, toffee notes with oranges and oatmeal.
Finish: Malty, medium to long finish with orange peel at the very end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100.

Koval Bourbon (47% ABV, NAS, Chicago IL, USA)
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Colour: Rich but a paler orange compared to the previous two.
Nose: Sherbert, sweet, boiled lollies, but also leather!
Palate: Young, but again, no harshness. Candied fruit, boiled lollies, redskins and icing sugar.
Finish: Short, with vanilla the dominant characteristic.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100.


So there you have it. Three American whiskies, three incredibly different whiskies, none from Kentucky or Tennessee, but each of them incredibly good.

I'll go out on a limb and say this is only the beginning of an exciting new era for American whiskey. Watch this space.

Cheers,
 - Martin.

Tasted #18: Balcones Baby Blue Corn Whisky (#101drams)

Balcones Baby Blue corn whisky - another #101drams dram to tick off the list (again from Whisky+Alement in Melbourne) and if I'm honest, one of the drams I was most excited about trying. At only $12 too? Hard to pass up.

Balcones are establishing quite a name for themselves, not just for making quality whisky (which they do, very well) but also interesting whiskies, such as this whisky made entirely from Blue Corn. They also do a 50% ABV version ("True Blue"), which I'll need to get my hands on one day.

Balcones Baby Blue Corn Whisky (46%, NAS, Texas USA)

Nose: Different! Very different. Plastic (or plasticine as was suggested by the W+A staff)? Not what you'd expect in a whisky like this...although to be honest, I didn't know what to expect! The unexpected I guess? OK that's enough. In short - lovely.

Palate: Toffee, bananas, and still a hint of plastic. But really, really smooth. There's no age statement, but I imagine whatever its age, its younger than expected. Absolutely no harshness whatsoever. Absolutely delicious (yes despite aforementioned plastic references - it works, trust me!)

Finish: Just keeps going and going and going. Same as the Nose and Palate to be honest (toffee, bananas, hint of plastic). It's not a multi-dimensional whisky, but the one dimension it does have is fantastic. The finish was still going on the walk back to the hotel. Fantastic.


Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 94/100. Now on my list of "Whiskies to buy".

Cheers,
 - Martin.