Whisky L! Shanghai 2016 review

I've said it before, but living in Hong Kong certainly has some advantages whisky-wise. One is obviously the local scene, which has grown immensely in the past two years and now boasts some great events, bars and publications, but the other is the proximity to several other (whisky-loving and/or producing) countries. 

Weekend trip to Japan for TIBS or  Whisky Live Tokyo? Sure why not. A visit to Kavalan in Taiwan? Sounds like a plan. Amrut Distillery Tour in India? Be silly not to, etc...

So when I heard Whisky L! Shanghai was happening last month, a quick check of flight schedules told me I could leave HKG in the morning, spend most of the day at the show, and return in the evening. Simple and easy (notoriously delayed Shanghai flights not withstanding)....and so a few weeks later, I was off to check out my first Mainland China whisky festival.

Run over three days, I visited on the middle day (an incredibly hot Saturday), the first open to the public. My first thought after arriving at the show was "this is a BIG whisky festival!" Set throughout several function spaces at Le Royal Meridien Shanghai, there were a lot of exhibitors.

My second thought was "this is not your usual whisky fair." No, there were no tables here, but rather huge stands with some serious production effort. Just look at Moët Hennessy's Glenmorangie stand, complete with life-size giraffe model...

As you might imagine, there was a decent-sized language barrier at some booths (entirely to be expected considering I don't speak Mandarin!) but no such barriers at Michter's, where I spotted good mates of TimeforWhisky Matt and John (from the distillery) and Eddie (of general HK Whisky fame).

Having tried the 25yo Bourbon a few months earlier with Matt and Eddie, it was great to be able to try the 25yo Rye and 20yo Bourbon - both incredibly rare in Asia (and anywhere, really). Not a bad way to kick start the show at all. Both were lovely whiskies, and without any of the harsh over-oaked tannins you might expect on such old American whiskies. I even noticed hints of Banoffee Pie on the palate of the 20yo Bourbon, and some unusual (but enjoyable) marshmallow sweetness on the 25yo Rye!

Diageo had an (expectedly) large stand, with standard several bottles from the Classic Malts range on tasting. There was also a Special Releases tasting (with Charlie Maclean!) but I arrived just too late to grab any masterclass tickets unfortunately.

Dalmore was up next, showcasing the 12, 18, and the "more is better" King Alexander III.

Pours throughout the show were generous, and whilst I BYO'd my own Glencairn for the photos, the tasting glasses provided were very cool pieces of kit. I can't find them online, but think of them as a Glencairn without the base. I'll be using it again.

The local Glenfarclas distributor had an incredible line-up of Family Casks dating back to 1954, and whilst they obviously weren't on tasting, there was an enjoyable 1998 Family Cask which showcased a lighter, less sherried Glenfarclas style.

Dewars (Bacardi) had a large stand, showcasing standard bottlings from "The Last Great Malts" range, including Aultmore, Craigellachie, The Deveron and Royal Brackla, not to mention an in-house leather worker who was...working with leather, I guess.

Never one to give up the opportunity to drink GlenDronach, I dropped by their stand for a dram of 21yo Parliament, and a chat with their always-affable brand ambassador Stewart Buchanan. A sizeable BenRiach and Glenglassaugh range was also on tasting (though sadly the 15yo 'dronach Revival was only for display).

Right next door was the Gordon & Macphail / Benromach stand, where I had the chance to revisit the Benromach range (after a 3 year break) over a long chat with G&M's Richard Urquhart. I'm not quite sure why I left it 3 years between drinks - every single dram was beautiful (more so than I remember) and I'd now rate their 10 and 15yo up there with some of the best 10-15yo Speysiders around. I was fortunate to have another opportunity to revisit the range, and the incredible 1974 41yo a few days later in Hong Kong too, which only increased my appreciation of the range.

With my flight time approaching, it was time for a quick dram and chat with Ian Chang of Kavalan, who was also kind enough to try my 2L ex-port mini barrel HK aged Archie Rose, while I enjoyed his port-matured whisky (his was better, obvs). Ian correctly identified the "whisky" as "young with an ABV in the high 60s", but was surprised when I told him it was only 4 months old (he'd picked 2 years, albeit from a larger cask).

On my way out the door, the Jameson / Midleton stand caught my eye, and I have to say, I'm glad it did. I was lucky enough to try a dram of the Dair Ghaelac, finished in virgin Irish Oak, and it was absolutely the highlight dram of the show. With some earthy smoke, cinnamon, red berries and some vanilla, it was a truly fantastic whisky.

..and with that, it was time to head back to the airport and fly home to Hong Kong, having a spent a whopping 9 hours in China. Would I return next year? Absolutely - the show was a seriously well-produced event, with a great range of exhibitors each showing a great range of drams. If I spoke Mandarin, I'm sure I'd enjoy it even more.

TimeforWhisky.com attended as a media guest of Whisky L! Shanghai (thanks Stephen).

Cheers,

Martin.

The Whisky Fair Sydney 2013 review (#101drams)

In Sydney each year we have three main whisky shows - The Whisky Show (July), Whisky Live (August), and The Whisky Fair (September). In 2012 Steph and I attended the first two, but for some reason missed out on The Whisky Fair (perhaps we thought two was enough? Crazy talk...) This year we righted that wrong.

Whereas Whisky Live is mainly about readily-available whiskies, aimed not necessarily at the whisky enthusiast, and The Whisky Show is a mix of enthusiast drams and readily available whiskies, The Whisky Fair is very much aimed at real whisky enthusiasts, with plenty of drams you won't see anywhere else. While the show does include plenty of well-known distilleries, the drams they offer are typically from the upper end of the portfolio - e.g. William Grant & Sons were offering The Balvenie 17yo Double Wood, Glenfarclas were tasting the 40yo, Pernod Ricard had a wide selection from their portfolio, including Longmorn and the excellent The Glenlivet Nadurra, and Think Spirits were offering The Dalmore King Alexander III.

But while those are all excellent whiskies, it was the rarer, more "boutique" drams I was really excited to try - and the The Oak Barrel didn't disappoint, with their cavernous CBD store occupied by the likes of the Balcones (will the popularity of this Texan distillery ever stop growing?), FEW Spirits, masters of experiment Koval, Belgrove (making its aged Rye debut), and Australian independent bottler Heartwood, with their incredible 72.5% "The Convict Redemption". Not to mention an Overeem bottled especially for the fair, thrown in for good measure.


With so many drams on offer it was hard to know where to start, so first order of business was to get around and say hi (over a dram or two) to all the friends Time for Whisky has made over the past year.

Whilst there genuinely wasn't a bad dram in sight, it's pretty hard to list every one we tried, so in no particular order, these were the more unique, interesting, quirky, or downright fantastic drams we enjoyed:

• Belgrove - I'd read a bit about Belgrove and was genuinely keen to try it. Peter Bignell (distiller and owner) talked us through his Tasmanian Rye - made via a real self-contained production process, with the ryecorn home-grown on his farm, the pot still built from scratch, heating from home-made biodiesel and cooling from his own dam! Both unaged and (minimum) 2 year barrel aged varieties were on tasting, and both were very impressive. One to watch.
• Balcones - I'd tried the Baby Blue Corn Whisky earlier and was keen to try the rest of the range. Luckily H&R Craft Beverages were at the show, with not only the Texas Single Malt (a #101drams whisky) and Baby Blue, but also the True Blue 100 proof and Brimstone. A quick taste of each confirmed what I'd suspected - that the Baby Blue wasn't just a fluke - all Balcones' whiskies are fantastic.
• Heartwood, along with Belgrove, was the other Tassie entrant I was particularly keen to visit. (To my knowledge) the only Australian independent bottler of Australian whisky, Heartwood bottle a range of Aussie whiskies, at cask strength, and sell them in 500mL format with names such as "Vat out of Hell", "Release the Beast" and "Velvet Hammer". But it was their 72.5% "The Convict Redemption" that stole the show. Tim (owner and Lark Distillery board member) was passing around drams to comments such as "wow", "full bodied" and "flavoursome" - presumably mostly from people who didn't realise they'd just tried a 72.5% ABV whisky. That's how smooth this whisky really is. Steph tried it, and (no stranger to cask strength whiskies, having recently gotten into SMWS bottlings) guessed it to be around 55-60%. A stunner.
• Limeburners Single Malt West Australian-whisky (another #101drams whisky)
• Overeem - a Tassie favourite of mine, with 200mL bottlings of their Oak Barrel exclusive cask for only $44. We're big fans of the Port cask Overeem (and also the Sherry), and can't wait for their next release.
• Brown Forman were again on hand, this time with the most impressive stand they've had in a long time. Sure Woodford Reserve and Jack (Unaged Rye) were there, but so were some of the rarer Woodford Master's Collection (including the Four Wood). As if the stand wasn't packed enough, brand ambassador Stuart had also managed to whip up a batch of barrel aged Old Fashioneds!

  

...hold up - 6 distilleries/whiskies mentioned, and not one of them Scottish? Such is the quality of world whisky I guess! But on the topic of Scotland, half-way through the show a bagpipe procession formed, and James Buntin of William Grant & Sons (a.k.a The Whisky Ambassador) prepared the highlight of the show - fresh haggis, served with neeps and tatties, and a Glenfiddich 14yo Rich Oak.

After a quick haggis break, it was onto all things Scottish:

• While I'd tried The Balvenie 17yo Double Wood before, I'd never tried it injected into a chocolate truffle. An amazing match.
• Innis & Gunn beer. Beer? Well all whisky is basically beer at some stage in its life, right? This Edinburgh-based brewery had a few varieties on tasting, but it was their 6.6% ABV "Original" that really impressed me. Aged for 77 days in American Oak, it was honied, smooth and perfectly balanced. Couldn't leave without buying a few bottles!
• Dalmore King Alexander III - a brilliant (#101drams) dram, complete with impressive artwork (below). Who knew the Think Spirits guys had so much talent?
• Macallan - the full 1824 Series was on tasting, ahead of its November release in Australia. The Sienna was Steph and my pick of the bunch.
• Scotch Malt Whisky Society - it wouldn't be an enthusiasts' whisky show without SMWS! Andrew (NSW Ambassador, Director and Australian Cellarmaster) and Murray (Australian tasting panel member and super friendly bloke) were busily handing out drams and converting people to the joys of single cask, cask strength whisky. On taste were a number of gems, including the incredibly light but flavoursome 21.27 (39yo Glenglassaugh), a sublime lightly-peated Ardmore (which was recommended to me by one of the other stalls) and a Craigellachie which I sadly missed (of particular note as they don't even bottle this as an OB Single Malt!).

 

It was hard to believe 4 hours had passed so quickly, but sadly it had, and on that note we said our farewells and walked out into the unusually hot Sydney September. If we can only attend one whisky show next year, this will be it without a doubt. Congrats to Dave and the guys from The Oak Barrel for putting on such a fantastic show.

Cheers,
Martin.

Time for Whisky attended as guests of The Oak Barrel.