It’s all well and good to say that people who weren’t able to get to the March session of Whisky Squad missed out on a top night, but now thanks to the latest post on Billy’s Booze Blog you can see in detail exactly how much fun we had.

The brilliant iPhone-tography of Chris Matchett gives some idea of the imposing yet exciting spectacle that greeted the eyes of attendees as they entered the enveloping darkness of the tasting room…

Another landmark Whisky Squad session down!  And many more to come.

We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our Spiritual guide for the evening, Mr Chris Maybin of the Compass Box Whisky Company, and look forward to seeing him again soon.

Be sure to watch this space for news of the goings-on for April – Whisky Squad’s First Birthday!

Update: How exciting! Whisky Squad first-timer Charly has also put together a blogpost about the tasting. So, y’know, read it!

On the offchance you’re keen to read about what went down at the February session of Whisky Squad (“The Bottle of Britain”), a couple of more-than-adequate accounts have now been published on the Interpipes.

As the title suggests, the format of the evening was to explore the flavour & style options available from around the United Kingdom nowadays, and sample whisky from all around the place – not just sticking to Scotland like we normally do.

Firstly, as beginner’s luck dictates, relative newcomer and prominent beer enthusiast “Alan” provided a drink-by-drink chronicle of the evening’s progress over at his generally ale-centric website, East London Drinker.

In addition the barbigerous bibant baptised as Billy (blameable for Billy’s Booze Blog – hmm, best bring about an abrogation to the alliteration or else it’ll turn into that joke about the time the big brown bear bowled into the Boston bourbon bar…) has scratched out a perfunctory series of symbols and diagrams to sum up how he felt it went.

Quite good fun, by all accounts.

Keep your peepers peeled for news of Whisky Squad #12 – to open for booking any day now – on the 3rd of March 2011, with special guests – the chaps from Compass Box!

In what seemed like the blink of an eye – but was in fact 5 days – the infamous whisky scribe known as “Billy” was able to detail *exactly* what happened at the tenth Whisky Squad gathering on, January 6th 2011.  We were extremely fortunate to visit the historical premises of England’s oldest wine merchants – Berry Brothers and Rudd – to taste a selection of whiskies from the region of Scotland called Speyside.

Speyside is a region made up of quite a number of distilleries – I’ve been quoted numbers from 39 to 50 – and it’s a bit of an uphill push to suggest you could summarise the region in 4 bottles.  But, that never stopped us trying…  so, to find out what went on, clickez-vous:

Billy’s Booze Blog: Whisky Squad #10 – Wee Speyside Beauties

Billy got some lovely photos, and you can also look at Jason’s Flickr set.

Clearly FURIOUS at having been beaten to the punch for the last session, this month’s heroic writeup has been tackled over at Billy’s Booze Blog, giving a sterling account of the incredible selection of whiskies that Darren assembled for our winterval joy.

Of course, in his mention of the inaugural Whisky Squad Christmas Quiz he failed to point out that it was Table 1 (aka “The Penetrating Ninjas!”) who took second place, by the narrowest of margins – a mere 7 points shy of the winning table, and I’ll hasten to add, without a single whisky industry professional on our team!  Admittedly, we had no idea what the most Northernmost, Southernmost, Easternmost or Westernmost distilleries in Scotland were, but then for a minute there it seemed that perhaps neither had Andy when writing the questions…  We didn’t have to get the duelling pistols out, however, and all was well.

Oh, and it’d be foolish not to mention how we managed to lower the air pressure in the back room at The Gunmakers by about 4 or 5 bar by way of simultaneous sharp inhalation, when Darren – amid telling about the wondrous Berry’s Own Selection Ledaig 4yo – briefly became a Gravity Management Consultant, hurling that rarest of bottles straight at the ground and then executing a majestic catch mere nanoseconds later.

If that doesn’t deserve a photograph on the Whisky Squad website, I don’t know what does.

Ladies and gentlemen, the prodigious talent that IS... Darren Rook

In a rare display of pulling-one’s-finger-out, Jason’s managed to knock out a blogpost surrounding the goings on at Whisky Squad 8a.  Rather than previous storytelling masterpieces, he’s opted for the technique of burping out the tasting notes and arranging them fitfully and childishly about a series of photos.  Feast your reading glands…

The Movember effort soldiers on solidly (as a team we’ve raised nearly £1000 now!), and Billy has immortalised our tasting session of Movember bottlings past and present in his Whisky Squad #8 blog post.

This year’s limited edition bottlings – Mo’land and Smo’key – are still available from Master of Malt, and make ideal gifts for any whisky or moustache enthusiast.  And each bottle sold benefits Movember’s fundraising partner, The Prostate Cancer Charity.

For further information on the Whisky4Movember idea, visit the website.  And don’t forget to donate to our Movember team!

For Whisky Squad #7 we welcomed Rob, from top wine’n'spirits merchant Berry Bros and Rudd, who led a tasting to match all tastings. Check out my write-up on Good Drinks Etc here.

WS#8 will take place upstairs at The Gunmakers on Thursday November 4, when we’ll be sampling some of the special whiskies bottled in aid of Whisky 4 Movember. Stayed tuned for details.

Andy.

PS: Billy managed to coalesce the vapours of recollection into a blog post about Whisky Squad #7 over on Billy’s Booze Blog as well, in case you’d like a read!