The clock is ticking with just 6 weeks to go before our 4th Annual Whisky & Fine Spirits Expo on Friday October 12th and the Vine & Table team has been working hard to make this year’s event better than ever.

It is all coming together now with a great line-up of guests attending this year’s event. Over the coming weeks I will let you know who and what companies will be joining us and give you more details on the event and how to enjoy it. I would also encourage you to sign up for tickets early to avoid disappointment. Of course by doing so you will also be eligible to partake in our Single Biggest Sale of the Year! Now who doesn’t want to miss that? So let’s get down to it. Scroll down to meet this year’s special guests!

The lovely Louisa Young, Senior Brand Manager for Isle of Arran Distillers will be making the trip across the pond to join us on October 12th. I met Louisa along with distillery manager, James MacTaggart on my most recent visit to Scotland a few months ago. Arran is a really dynamic distillery, producing some amazing whiskies which are gaining recognition the world over for their excellent quality. The quality of their spirit is so good that I selected and purchased a cask of single malt Scotch to bring home for Vine & Table’s customers this year. This 11 year single cask, cask strength whisky matured in an ex bourbon barrel, will be available exclusively to attendees to sample for the very first time, at the Isle of Arran table. Louisa will also be pouring a wide range of Arran single malts including the wine cask finish series and the lightly peated Machrie Moor. This table is a must stop for any whisky enthusiast. In addition, Louisa will take the stage to lead one of the master classes on the night.

Friday service begins at 5:00pm on October 12th when Ed Hamilton aka ‘The Minister of Rum’ begins his sermon on the benefits of drinking quality rums. Ed is one of the world’s most foremost authorities when it comes to rum knowledge. The man eats drinks and breathes rum and also runs the ministryofrum.com website which is the site where rum lovers around the world congregate and share their knowledge of rums and other sugar cane based spirits. Ed also imports some fantastic fresh sugar cane Rhums from Martinique which he will showcase at the event. And of course Ed’s famous ‘Tea Punches’ will be served for those who may need some shall we say light refreshment? Be sure to check his table out.

The Expo would not be the Expo without our good friend Corey Johnston of Indy Cigar & Bourbon Bar. Corey has participated in the event from the very beginning, bringing his love and passion for cigars and fine spirits to a wider audience. Montage sit’s overlooking a gorgeous lake, and it is on this patio that Corey sets up shop, where you can chat, relax and enjoy your beverage with a great cigar. Now who doesn’t want to sit on the patio, overlooking the lake and watch the sun set with a Davidoff in one hand and a bourbon in the other?

A new generation of Pogues will be joining us for this year’s Expo. Peter Pogue in the white shirt (and no stranger to Vine & Table) will be accompanied by John A. Pogue on the left who is now the distiller at the new ‘Old Pogue Distillery’ in Maysville, Kentucky. If the New and the Old are getting you a little confused then you will really need to talk to these two guys who will set you straight. Whatever about it, just know that the whiskies that will be poured on the night are dynamite! I recently had the opportunity of tasting the new make rye spirit that flowed from the new still and it is magical. I can honestly say that it is one of the best new make spirit’s that I have ever tasted. And by the time you taste it, it will have had over 6 months in oak! As for their Old Pogue ‘Master Select’ small batch bourbon, all I can say is that it has been amongst our Top 3 selling bourbons for five years in a row now. So somebody knows something!

Watch out next week for more details and should you have any questions please email me at [email protected]
Sláinte,
Denis