TWE Whisky show Oct 2011

Now that is the right question! Whatever you are tasting be sure to come and see us at the Connosr stand and do a video review in our WhiskyPod.

Didnt realise you'd be there again this year

Maybe I'll be able to get another shot of Balvenie Tun 1401 (managed to blag an extra premium shot last year for giving it a review in the pod)

I'll be there once again on Saturday, and am really looking forward to it. The list of dream drams that have been posted on the website look fantastic, and it's tough to decide on what to try! Will be bringing my Uncle as well, he likes his whisky but this'll be the first time he'll have tried any of the top quality stuff! Don't worry, i'll drag him into the Whiskypod at one point!

There are so many things to try, although i do have my eye on purchasing one of the TWE bottlings, the Longmorn 18yr. Although knowing me i'll probably fall in love with a different dram on the day!

I'm going both days, and can not wait. CAN. NOT. WAIT!

No idea about Dream Drams yet. What'll probably happen is the same as last year - I'll be so busy socialising that I'll forget to have my Dream Dram.

I'm afraid I'm cannot make it... Thus your help would be much appreciated if you can help out. One of the Dream Drams is the Auchentoshan 1957. A dram costs 3 tokens, i.e. £30. Anyone who can get them to fill a sample bottle for me will be well rewarded :) Contact me via info@whivie.be if you would like to make arrangements. I'm sure you understand I simply have to try that whisky. Help me, Connosr Community, you're my only hope! :)

The Society will have a unique lounge with over 20 different single cask bottles for sampling, including an extremly rare 39YO we bottled exclusively for the show and some of our winners from this year's Independent Bottlers Challenge - hope to see you all there!

Sadly due to unforeseen circumstances we are unable to attend The Whisky Show this weekend. It's going to be a great event so, if you're attending, we hope you all have a brilliant time.

@Jean-Lucy sorry to here that was looking forward to reviewing some great drams in the pod

Great show and some wonderful drams to try. Not sure how many I got through but what I did try was mostly excellent. However I do have to whinge about the late opening (20 minutes plus queue meant I didn't get in until 40 minutes after scheduled start) and the even worse early closing. The ticket - the £95 ticket - (£10 of which already wasted on queuing at the start) was meant to go on until 21:30. Well samples stopped being poured at 21:00 and at 21:10 I wasn't even allowed to stand in one half of the hall with my already poured dram talking to one of the exhibitors. The lady I spoke to on the door just absorbed my comments with a blank faced stare and I felt so fobbed off. How was Saturday. Was it any better?

Cant complain. Saturday was a good day' opened on time and was there well after the finish. Top drinks for me were the Tomatin 1982' Midleton 1973, Midleton Barry Crockett, Green spot and the Karuizawa 1981. The best stand in my eyes goes to Colin Dunn on the Diageo stand, there was never a time without a crowd drawn by his banter (the exceptional choice of whisky on and under his stand also helped) especially the Glen Spey, Inchgower,Brora and 30yr Talker. Can't wait till next year it can only get better.

After being cheated of the opportunity to try White Bowmore (grumble, grumble, etc.), I decided to spend my tokens on something I figured I'd never otherwise have reason or opportunity to try - The John Walker.

A colleague described it as "The most luxuriant carpet you'll ever lay on". Lovely gentle & complex, but didn't blow me away or consider it to be somewhere to park £2300. But glad I had a chance to try it :)

her is an album of the selection that I tried this year on.fb.me/qnmM0f

It was certainly a great event once again and with a range of drams on show that was at least of equal quality to last year and perhaps even better. As always with such events it was as much about meeting up with great friends old and new as it was about the whisky but my pics of the show were: Lochside 1964 Single Blend for TWE, White Bowmore, 50yo Glenury Royal OB, 39yo Glen Moray SMWS, 1993 Bowmore TWE, 1967 Glenglassaugh OB....etc etc etc :-).

What was the Brora TWE like? A farmy kind of Brora (like most of the official bottlings) or a more mineral / austere one (like most of the independents)?

@WhiskyNotes It was more towards the farmy end, if I remember correctly - I only tried a little bit, but that was because I was slightly overcome by the Clynelish 1972. As I was working on the Show Bottlings stand I did feel that I should try everything :)

@riChchestMat The last pour times will be much more prominent next year - stopping 30 minutes before close is pretty much standard, but we didn't make it clear enough. We stopped the over-zealous room clearing as soon as we realised what was happening and it should be fine in the future, but sorry you had your conversation nipped early.

If anyone has any comments please ping them to comments@whisky-show.com - we want to know what you thought so that we can make next year's show even better.

@WhiskyNotes Yes as Billy has mentioned it did have a leaning towered the farmy side, though personally I found it more on the "baby sick" notes mixed with the more waxy/mineral/yeasty suggestions you associate with late 70,s/early 80's Brora. For my tastes it certainly wasn't a stand out example, particularly when sitting alongside such a great run of bottlings from TWE such as the 64 Lochside, 93 Bowmore, 82/72 Clynelish, certainly tough company.