On April 15th Mark and I went to Whiskyfest. The event was held at the Hyatt-Regency in Chicago and went from 5:30 to 9:30. And with over 250 different expression available how could you go wrong. The answer: You can’t.
We had a great time, met some nice people and drank some fine whisky. We met Tom Bulleit, founder of Bulleit Whiskey. He was super nice and spend a few minutes talking with us about the history of his company. If you have not had the opportunity to try either his bourbon or his new rye whiskey, make the time.
We also met Malt Advocate’s John Hansell (sorry for the grainy photo). This was basically his event. And although he was very busy he took the time to say hello and pose for a photo….with a beer in his hand….at whiskyfest.
We met a number of others in the crowd to include Phil of Phil’s Liquor (Salina, Kansas) and Torrence from Miami. It was a great crowd.
Did I mention that we tasted a few different whiskies? About 50 throughout the event. Some good, some okay, some fantastic. One of our surprise favorites was Whistlepig, a 100% rye whiskey from Vermont.
The day following the event we went to Binny’s Liquors, the place to buy whisky in the mid-west. Their selection of scotch alone numbers over 300. While there we met a couple other folks we had seen at Whiskyfest. We talked whisky and compared notes.
This trip was a blast. And it reinforce one thing I have always known, whisky drinkers are a great bunch.
Doug