It's Burns Night, so let's drink whisky
Photo via onceuponawhisky
Burns Night is an annual celebration of the life of Roberts Burns, the infamous Scottish poet. It's traditionally held on - or as close to - the 25th January; exactly a month after Christmas and in the depths of Winter. These were the only reasons we needed to justify drinking five different types of whisky on a Monday evening, and so we decided to hold a team virtual whisky tasting.
We kicked proceedings off with the convincingly-named Riseard Gòrdan giving us a rousing blast of the bagpipes, and recital of Address to the Haggis. It got the blood pumping, and we geared up ready to whisky.
Enter, Camilo Gómez. The founder of Once Upon a Whiskey and our virtual-tasting host for the evening. If he didn't know it, it wasn't worth knowing. We'd all been sent our whiskies before the event; five Glasgow Distillery Single Malt Scotch whiskies. All different colours, regions, and flavour indicators.
It was part tasting, part storytelling, and part history lesson, all stitched together by Camilo and his vast knowledge of everything whisky. We learned about regions, casks, how to do the swirly glass thing properly to impress your friends, Robert Burns himself, and different ways of describing its flavour, smell, and taste. The perfect way to celebrate Burns Night together, safely.
Photo via onceuponawhisky
Our team is made up of a mix of devoted connoisseurs and life-long fans, all the way to people like me, who have never tried it before.
My thoughts? Well, I honoured my Scottish ancestors well and truly and committed to trying all of them. I proudly text my Scottish-born dad to let him know. After the initial hit of whisky faded, I started to really enjoy the flavours. A lot more than I was expecting, actually. Perhaps 2021 will be my year of the whisky.
So, what did the rest of the team think?
"I’m a relative newbie to whiskey, having early bad experiences with cheap blended whisky and swamped my American bourbons with fizzy pop so I was really intrigued to know more about whiskey types and what made a peaty whiskey versus a smooth one. Camilo was clearly passionate about whisky and very patient with us, I learned a lot and am now a surprising convert to peaty whisky, in particular the Glasgow 1770 Peated. Rich & Smoky variety. I also discovered a new word in ‘Fenty’ which I will be trying to use every day from now. A great Burns night enjoyed by many a new convert." Tony Coppin, Creative Director
"It was such a lovely change to Groundhog Day! A punchy start to the week and highly educational. I’m not a whisky drinker normally, but fascinating to have an encyclopaedic whisky guru from Colombia telling us all about it. I couldn’t decide my favourite between a couple, and they changed taste when they had a little water in them too…." Kate Fahie, Senior Strategist
"The beauty of Camilo was his pitch, there was something for everyone: from the expert to the novice. I thought his whisky choices where great again something for everyone. I thought it was informative, fun, and brought a different tack to tasking." Natalie Munro, Client Director, an actual Scot.'
"Great experience! Fun and super interesting both in terms of actual general knowledge about the whisky culture and the history and also from a tasting point of view, thanks to a few key essential tips on how to enjoy it in the best way. Totally in love with the Peated Rich and Smokey which has a fantastic and unexpected balance between smokey and sweet notes, those last ones definitely coming from the use of the sherry barrels, an incredible compromise to win the favours of customers with usually different whiskey preferences. Maria-Giovanna d'Orsi, Client Manager
Thanks, Camilo! We'll drink to that.
Written by Lottie Maddison
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