The whisky year that was, part 3: some thoughts about the whisky community

It's preaching to the choir here, but the whisky community is on another level. Never ever in my entire life have I come across a more inclusive, welcoming, generous, well-informed  and good natured bunch of people. People who are so kind and generous, who are so invested into the whole thing that they’re willing to travel half the earth to meet up with likeminded folk. And when they’re not in a position where they can make the journey themselves, they will happily send samples and even full bottles back and forth. Anything, basically, to pay it forward. I know I’m at risk of beating a dead horse on this one, but I don’t care. Not today, and not for this blog piece. And it never hurts to emphasize the beauty of something, surely?! It’s time to pay my dues and respect to you all. Pardon me for not mentioning some of you people by name, as I inevitably will overlook someone who should also be named. But I hope you know who you are.

I wonder sometimes, when looking at the thing we’ve got going here, about what’s  ‘cause’ and what’s ‘consequence’. Are we, whisky lovers and enthusiasts,  by nature so generous and big hearted, in such a way that we almost naturally ended up together?  Or is it something intrinsically rooted into the very fibre of this community that sorts of drives us to show the best versions of ourselves? Likely it’s more to do with the latter, but some part of me hopes it’s a bit of the former too.  In many ways, being a part of this whole thing feels like a gift that keeps on giving, as the more invested I become, the more I seem to get out of it. What started with a few samples being exchanged, has led to lengthy and deep conversations with people I now genuinely consider friends, and fortunately a good dose of humour and banter too. And the weirdest/most peculiar/most beautiful (circle all that apply here) part about it: most of them I have yet to shake hands with. And a lot, if not most of my engagement with the community, comes down to chance. Both when it comes to my involvement in the barfly community as with the Certified Originals. (The CO’s have quite a bit of overlap with the barfly community and buzzes around a discord channel, and it was initiated by the now alas closed down ‘New Dram Drinker’ YouTube channel from Anthony and Nicky. The fact that, almost two years after they had to stop creating new content, the Certified Originals are still very active, speaks volumes!)

Last weekend I was at Spirits in the Sky, one of Belgium’s bigger whisky and spirits festivals. Just like possibly every other whiskyfestival these days, it was packed. Packed with brands, and packed with visitors. Being there confirmed my opinion  that a buzzing, active and engaged whiskycommunity and a booming industry go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other, probably,  and again I can’t but feel that the same food for thought regarding ‘cause or consequence’ applies here. Are we experiencing a booming community because of an all-time high in the industry? Or are all those new up and coming distilleries the result of people getting seriously enthused about all things whisky? After all, we’re the ones buying the stuff, we’re the ones raving about them, encouraging (contaminating?) others to try them too. Likely it’s sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy  where one affects the other in the best possible way and vice versa, leading to some sort of symbiosis where community and industry are acting like communicating vessels. Whatever way you tend to look at it, it’s clear that it’s not a case of a community on the one hand and the industry on the other, living in parallel universes, but rather it’s a case of blurred lines, as people working in whisky obviously very often are enthusiasts as well (nothing new there, I’ll hasten to add) but are now perhaps in a position where it has become possible to deliver their whisky in its purest, unadulterated form, as that’s what (an important part of)  the market expects of them. And with 21st century technology available, it has led to an all new way of promoting and branding their products too. Because these days it has become so easy to engage and communicate directly with your customer base, and this fortunately has also caused a shift in ‘branding’, as it’s now about genuine, factual information and transparency, rather than romanticized gibberish and meaningless marketing flannel. This, I feel, is definitely another feather in the cap of the whisky community.

In any case: whisky festivals.  Running into some familiar faces and engaging in small talk has never been much of a problem on events like these, but this year I was deliberately meeting up with a few others – Sabrina, Tom and Nic, for a fun afternoon filled with laughter and chatter and some outstanding whiskies. The common denominator here: we’re all barflies. (And just on the off chance that this word means nothing to you: barflies are the people getting together on Youtube during the Aqvavitae vPub on Thursday evenings). So let’s pause here for a second and assess things. There’s this guy, in Glasgow, let’s call him Roy, who loves whisky. He loves it so much, some 6 years ago he decided he should start a YouTube channel dedicated to whisky. This led to him going live every other Thursday at first, and then it became a weekly thing. People took notice. A lot of people in fact. His motto is ‘it’s not whisky until it’s shared’, and he lives by it. People picked up on that one too. And now, 6 years down the road, people who otherwise would  likely never have met, are shaking hands and sharing drams. In Glasgow,  in Brussels, and pretty much everywhere else in the world.

It’s fair to assume that Roy picked up on a few things as well. Because while I was having a great time hanging out with some of my Belgian barflies, Roy, with the help of some friends, had prepared a whole weekend for barflies built around the Glasgow whisky festival. Literally from all over the world, people got together to share drinks, engage in conversation, join each other for dinner, and then do it all over the next day. And I’m not talking about 10 or 20 people, but about a weekend for well over a 100. To go from doing prerecorded whisky content to hosting +2 hour long weekly livestreams is formidable enough in its own right. But if along the way you manage to establish a weekly audience of several hundred people tuning in live (and a multitude of that watching it on replay), then you are on to something. You take it further even: obviously you cherish the community you have now become a central part of, but you also look at what could be improved. You encourage and stimulate people getting together in real life, facilitating the start of new whisky clubs even (the one that springs to mind being the NWA- Nottingham Whisky Association, but likely there are others as well). You take the pandemic and put it to good use by giving the community extra live broadcasts, often inviting in guests from the industry who would on any other occasion be quite difficult to reach out to. Roy was there again, recognising the need and room  for a community driven whisky award and so he build the OSWA’s with Ralfy. He felt there might be something to be said for a website that provides news, content and reviews on a near daily basis and behold: a few nights at the pub with Scott Munro and  the idea for Dramface was born. When he finds other content providers that are bringing something new, unique and quality, he will invite them on to a vPub, give them a shout out or endorse them in other ways. If I know Roy half as well as I think and hope I do, he would be very reluctant to sing his own praise (and should he read this, I know he probably won’t like this one bit), and obviously he doesn’t do it all by himself but with the help of a few trusted friends, but let's just go out and say it: Aqvavitae and everything it stands for, has grown to become a pillar of the whisky community. And the positivity and generosity he brings and the energy he throws at it, is something we pick up on and give back as well. As I said earlier: the more invested we become, the more we seem to get out of it. I feel as if this really applies to people like Roy,  and many others, by taking the  forum they created for themselves to the next level.

It may not be ‘because of’, but it certainly is ‘thanks to’ people like Roy, Anthony & Nicky, Jim Ingram, Vin, Jeff, and so many others that we have been able to build this community, connecting and engaging  with people from all over the world. Meeting up with fellow enthusiasts, sharing and gifting whisky, even ending up with some dashing looking apparel (my beloved Lord Asshat cap, a treasured gift from Tim Hoekstra) have become an important part of my pastime, and the catalyst of the whole thing has indeed often been Roy!  The fact that we are able to (virtually) meet up, leaving at the door our egos, ideologies and preconceptions and essentially try and be a better version of ourselves, if only for a few hours, is something to cherish and safeguard. And of course it's a form of escapism, but I wouldn't want to trade it for the world. Because whatever we do, we must never, ever, take it for granted. It’s too precious a thing we’ve got going here.

So if there’s any whisky that would fit the bill of this (overly long) declaration of love to the whisky community, it has to be whisky that was bottled for the community.

Ardnamurchan  golden and blue barflies, 7 year old, 2023 release

AD/04:16 CK. 413 golden barfly

AD/04:16 CK.411 blue barfly

Unpeated refill  hogshead (ex- Adelphi), 55% ABV,  casknumber 413 and 411, 319 and 324 bottles, bottled for Aqvavitae, £89 a bottle and sold out

You could argue that the only thing we haven’t seen from Aqvavitae, is Roy starting a distillery of his own. But with last year’s Loch Lomond bottling and this year’s double Ardnamurchan bottlings, he’s done the next best thing for sure.

When these became available to patreons, I was keen to get my hands on at least one of them. £89 a bottle (through Royal Mile Whiskies) seemed a fair price. However, post Brexit that unfortunately crept up in price, as with shipping, custom and import taxes it quickly hovered towards £130-£140 for a bottle. I bailed out, eventually, as a ‘buy two, pay three’ situation was a bit harsh on my whisky budget.

Cue the wonderful community because Q.E.D. indeed! When prepping our meet up at the Brussels Spirits in the Sky festival, it was Nic (whisky 101) who offered me ‘a sample’ of both bottles. So imagine my shock when a good week later two 20 cl bottles (accompanied by a few other lovely little treats) were delivered at my front door. Nic’s explanation says it all, really, and I quote: “The barfly ardnas need a lot of time, water, sampling. So there is no way you can get to know them with a 50ml sample. Hopefully you have enough to get to know them well.” Once again, I was left stumped and humbled by so much generosity.

Ardnamurchan Golden Barfly

Nose

Fruity with white fruit and stone fruit, hints of farm notes. Subdued sweetness from vanilla and grain, going into biscuits. Some water alters things in no small matter. Immediately more citrus notes march to the front with pronounced  floral/grassy/herbaceous note in the mix.

Palate

Grassy-vegetal, slightly aromatic. A hint of black pepper. Dry, grainy, medium mouthfeel with a twist of dry oak in the background. With some water the farm- and herbaceous notes come out, pushing the pepper back a bit, while accentuating a grainy sweetness.

Finish

Oaky -dry, fairly long but after the water slightly sweeter  and more grainy.

87/100

Ardnamurchan Blue Barfly

Nose

Rich, certainly in a head 2 head with the sister cask. All refill casks, as stated, but probably something a cask that in a previous life contained if not sherry itself, then surely a sherry cask matured whisky. As a result the nose here is more reminiscent of gently stewed and dried fruits. Underneath it has that similar herbal – farmy vibe going on, as well as hints of treacle and marmalade. With water the fruit becomes ‘fresher’ and ‘livelier’, and I’m also picking up some nuttiness.

Palate

Again, a rich arrival. Stewed red fruit going syrupy even. Nutty, with notes of almond and hazelnut, sitting on a slightly fizzy , oily, medium mouthfeel. The impact of the added water is almost dramatic. Everything is still there: the fruit, the nuts, those floral-grassy notes, … but it all becomes so vibrant and illuminated. Quite spectacular!

Finish

Long, fruity – syrupy and a gentle echo of nuts.

86/100

Final thoughts

These most certainly deliver! it’s a treat to nose and sip these and the development in both whiskies is very interesting. Despite the relative youthfulness shining through, there’s depth and complexity to be found. The blue barfly might be a bit ‘easier’ on the palate overall, due to the fact that the golden barfly reveals more of that  dirty side you can find in Ardnamurchan, but then the impact of a bit of water, particularly on the blue barfly, is very impressive. At the moment, if I was pressured to pick a favourite, it might be the golden barfly, but only by a margin. These are just two very good whiskies Roy has picked out for his community. And I’m not just saying that to humour him, because if I thought they were in any way dissapointing, I wouldn’t have reviewed these in the first place.

Next week, it’ll either be my indie bottler of the year, or my value pick of the year. Thanks for tuning in, and to quote a certain someone: ‘you are all dearly loved!’