Tasting Club

Hi Dan. Whereabouts in the country are you? We have recently closed our whisky club here in Surrey, but some of the boys don`t want to let it go, so might be interested in doing something else, I still have some ideas........... Nigel.

I host a group of gentlemen on a weekly basis. Everyone throws in $10, and I use the $50 - $150 I gather to pick up something interesting for the following week. It's become a very enjoyable way to spend a Thursday evening. Everyone brings their own cigars and we will often have guys show up with something interesting to share such as the Glenlivet 16 Nadurra Non-chill Filtered Cask Strength that showed up this week.

We've run the gamut from single malt evenings to Irish whisky to classic cocktails, gins, and an evening devoted to English, Irish, and Scottish beers. I learned quickly that I needed to only spend what I took in the previous week or I was shelling out a few hundred dollars a month to fund the adventure.

@nikkaman, if i were in your shoes I think that I would encourage my students to 'byo' and do a little "show and tell" with both their bottles and yours. Casual recreational encounters are fun for the students in that situation, as I am sure that you know. There is a lot of whisky, liquor, and bar vocabulary for them to learn. Let the love of learning flourish! A good practicum always cements the lesson....

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'm actually based in Japan, unfortunately quite a distance from Surrey. I like the idea of throwing money into a pot for the next get together. Maybe this is something I could consider once we've established more of a following. 'BYO' might work well too. It would be interesting to see what people turn up with. 'Learning' English with whisky sounds perfect. I'll give it a try!

@nikkaman, I taught some English in Seoul awhile back. Keeping interest is easiest if you can make the classes like a good light fun first date. Nothing works better than fun!

@Victor Can't disagree with that!

Hi Dan,

@jeremyeccles has more or less described exactly what we do at Whisky Squad, as well (www.whiskysquad.com) - we work with 15 people per session at £15 per head. Typically we end up with 4-5 bottles of whisky, which we taste around varying themes. We're lucky in that we've negotiated use of a room at a friendly pub to hold the sessions in, but I suppose anywhere would do.

We ran a BYO session once, but it gets tricky then because people are bringing £40-£80 bottles of whisky, which we can't necessarily reimburse them for, and also the night gets a bit sticky if you wind up with more than 6 or 7 whiskies to try.

If you'd like to know more or discuss ideas, please feel free to get in touch! jason@whiskysquad.com

Jason =)

@jasonbstanding Sorry for not commenting sooner. I like your ideas but suspect it may be a while before we get to that level of commitment. Most of the people who have expressed an interest are either complete novices or just looking for something to do in their free time. I think I might start with a general introduction to whisky and get a few brands that are likely to draw them in. Was thinking, something smokey, something sweet, fruity, spicey etc.

@nikkaman Righto. It might be worth adding that it's not always the same 15 people - due to friends telling other friends about it & plus other people we meet, we've got a mailing list of about 100 now that we send out to, and our sessions fill up pretty quickly.

The one thing I'd suggest is to start with interesting whisky, not just stuff that people could easily find in a pub or supermarket. So long as you're educating them well, we find people appreciate the challenge, as well as the opportunity to try things that they might not ordinarily think of buying.