On Oct. 28 and 29, Grand Cru Wine and Spirits brought international tasting festival Whisky Live to Shangri-La at the Fort. We spent a total of 14 hours at the festival navigating the booths and interviewing whisky personalities from different parts of the world. Here are our festival highlights:
Trendiest accessory: Virtual reality goggles were everywhere at Whisky Live. Diageo’s Aubrey Sim led a Singleton virtual reality tasting from the stage. The Jura booth had goggles you could wear to take a 360-degree tour of the “ungettable” (as described by George Orwell) Isle of Jura. Glenfiddich also had goggles that were a portal to a virtual reality distillery tour. Blended malt Monkey Shoulder’s VR booth was a bit different—people who entered found brand ambassador Jay Gray DJing a mini rave party inside. It’ll be interesting to see where brands will take “whisky as an immersive experience” next.
Most in-demand souvenir: The lineup for The Balvenie debossed leather coasters by Singapore-based The General Company proved that whisky drinkers love their monogrammed leather goods.
Best in glass: The Dalmore booth poured out drams in its own Dalmore glasses with the iconic 12-point Royal Stag emblem. This also meant they didn’t have to worry about other kinds of whisky mixing with the tasting portions of the luxurious King Alexander III.
Best whisky-related gift idea you never knew you needed: Forget whisky stones; Tomintoul brought their own spring water from Speyside. If you care about where your whisky comes from you should care about where the water you put in it is from too, right?
Most surprisingly popular attraction: The organizers warned that they’d be testing blood alcohol levels before giving people additional tasting tokens. But most of the people who were lining up at the breathalyzer station seemed to be doing it for fun or to compare blood alcohol levels with their friends. Are we going to start seeing these machines at every bar?
Strictest masterclass: Whisky Bible author Jim Murray threatened to kick people who refused to spit their whisky out of his Blind Tasting class. If he says drinking affects your ability to assess it properly during a blind tasting, we believe him.
Smoke show: There were at least 15 bottles of peaty whisky at the festival, and all received different reactions from the crowd. Some complained that their mouth felt like an ashtray but others loved the whisky’s earthy burn. Diageo’s Johnnie Walker booth had the most smoky bottles of whisky: Lagavulin Double Matured, Lagavulin 12, Johnnie Walker Double Black, Talisker 10, Talisker 25, Caol Ila 12, Caol Ila 17 (which is actually unpeated but its finish is also smoky); the other bottles were Highland Park 12, Highland Park Dark Origins, Old Ballantruan (a surprising peaty Speyside bottle, at P1,800+ it is light on the wallet but packs some nice earthy smoke), Old Ballantruan 10, Port Charlotte, Smokehead, Ardberg, and the peatiest of them all, Octomore Edition 07.1.
Most buzzed-about whisky: Bruichladdich’s super heavily peated Octomore is something you either love or don’t understand, and most people in the crowd seemed to be loving it. It was one of the names that constantly came up when we asked people about what whiskies they remembered trying. Word of warning: Just like one of those miracle fruit berries, drinking this seemed to make the other whiskies we tried afterwards taste cloyingly sweet in comparison.
Free-flowing cocktails: For people who needed a break from drinking straight whisky, Whisky Live Manila had some of Manila’s best bartenders and international mixologists manning several stations and mixing free-flowing cocktails. Don Papa had mixologist Kath Eckstein behind the bar; the Unguva booth had ABV’s general manager Ken Bandivas; Monkey Shoulder’s Southeast Asia brand ambassador Jay Gray was at his booth handing out Monkey Shoulder cocktails; Lee Watson hosted the cocktail competition; and the bar had free-flowing cocktails made by bartender competitors from ABV, Buddha Bar, Shangri-La the Fort Raging Bull and Samba, Solaire, Lit, Mandalay, and Oakwood. On the second day Shangri-La at the Fort’s head mixologist Ulysse Jouanneaud, Raging Bull bartender Gladys Munar, and Samba’s Poch Ancheta were mixing up libations for the crowd. Even The Botanist gin was handing out gin and tonics from the Bruichladdich booth and Bevtools.com was handing out cocktails “to refresh your palate.”
Drink whisky like a sir: No one said there was a dress code for Whisky Live Manila but a lot of men came in dapper clothing (“I dressed up just for this!” one told us) to taste whisky like a fashionable gentleman. We even spotted a few kilts. And since it was the night of Halloween parties in certain parts of Manila, there were even a few people who passed by in their costumes before heading out to party.
Other spirits: Some export quality local brands were also in the mix: The Brewery craft beer, Don Papa Rum, Lakan Lambanog, Tanduay Gold and Silver Asian Rum, and Tanduay CLX Rum Chairman’s Reserve, which used Whisky Live as its launch pad—the limited edition bottle will be available in 2017.
Festival favorite: At the end of the night, The Macallan won best whisky and best booth. The 12 year Fine Oak, Double Cask, and Sherry Oak did extremely well among festivalgoers who were purchasing bottles to fill up their home bars.
Whisky Live Manila 2016 brought together a fascinating mix of whisky writers, brand ambassadors, bartenders, and enthusiasts from all over the world. We can’t wait to see what will happen in 2017.
