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!

Talk about "old and rare"

Explorers found Scotch whisky trapped in the ice in Antarctica and finally managed to get it out...just to prepare to put it back again.

From what I know, the main person who will "analyze" the whisky is Whyte and Mackay Master Blender Richard Paterson, the same guy I mentioned a few blog posts ago. To be honest, I'm not sure why they really want to recreate this whisky. It was made at a time when the maturation's effects on whisky was not as well understood as it is today, and thus the whisky was probably not nearly as well-rounded and tasty as many on the market now. It's most likely for the hype, and to give Mr. Paterson something new to do.