WhiskyFest New York 2010

Last Tuesday, November 9th, I was lucky enough to be able to partake in WhiskyFest New York, held at the Marriott Marquis Times Square hotel. I'm indebted to the folks from InterBev for getting me a ticket to the sold-out event.

Kevin with the InterBev angels, Brian Johnson and Sam Santos.

Besides being able to try pretty much every whisky under the sun, I think the main attraction for me was to meet a lot of the people I had previously only read about (or from): Evan Cattanach, the master distiller emeritus of seven Scotch whisky distilleries in the Diageo portfolio; John Hansell, the publisher and editor of Malt Advocate magazine and writer of whatdoesjohnknow.com; Lew Bryson, whisky writer and fellow Blogspot blogger; and Ethan Kelley, former beverage director at New York City's Brandy Library. I also got to catch up with other prominent industry folks I'd met before, like Richard Paterson, Simon Brooking, and Liza Weisstuch.

Kevin with three whisky magnates: Ethan Kelley (L), John Hansell, and a bottle of Old Pulteney 30.

The extra-fun part of it all was that I had to take the 10pm Chinatown bus back to Boston to make a meeting the next morning at 9:30. I made it, though I believe a few brain cells didn't. But it's all for a great cause!