By all accounts, the whisky picnic was a great success, with around 90 attendees.
Not only am I going next year, I may see if I can help organize one (or a few) over here in the States.
Nick Ravenhall, organizer, tells me:
From concept to reality… the millenium’s inaugral Whisky Picnic was realised on Sunday. With over 100 guests finding their way to the bar at Bon Vivant, Edinburgh… this stunning new cocktail hangout was packed with attendees for the Whisky Picnic. Dressed head to toe in tweed to a man or woman (expcept for one very well dressed ‘Johnnie Walker’) the bar was dazzled with cheesecutters, flat caps, plus fours and tweed coats of many shapes, styles and colours. A huge array of outfits was only matched by the multitude of whisky cocktails shaken, strained and stirred by some of Scotland’s finest young bartending talent. All in all our goals of throwing a huge party that showcased whisky in all its guises but primarily as a cocktail ingredient was a huge success with guests sipping, supping and imbibibing delcious whisky concoctions until the wee hours of Monday morning. It made me really proud to see young bar guys and glas putting their heart in soul into great tasting whisky drinks and then listening to the reactions from people who generally written off whisky as part of their drinking repertoire… I hope this
event serves to drive not only whisky awareness but also engages those who attended in a very special way that they may connect whisky with good times, good people and good fun.
Here are some photos from the event:
Nick Ravenhall, Morrison Bowmore/Whisky Picnic organiser and Alex Nicol, Sheep Dip Whisky
Alex Nicol, Sheep Dip; Nick Ravenhall, Morrison Bowmore/Whisky Picnic organiser; Jane Nicol, Sheep Dip; Stuart McCluskey, Bon Vivant; Duncan McRae, Whisky Picnic organiser
Greg Thornton making the "Obey The Sheep" Cocktail
photos by Neil Hodgins www.iseepeople.co.uk
Recipes
And here are some of the Whisky Cocktails that the bartenders created for the event:
Dip Sheep by Fabio Santucci @ Dragonfly
50ml Sheep Dip Vatted Malt
25ml Marsala
2 barspoons amarena syrup
dash orange bitters
Stir and spray with orange zest garnish with an orange twist
Millini by Darren Rook @ Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Description: An olive of bushmills served on a bed of chilled white
peppered peach purée. Then accompanied with a butterscotch and almond
foam and garnished with a mint sprig
Olive:
Approx. 25ml Bushmills
sodium Alginate
Sodium citrate
Calcium Chloride
Puree: (approx. 4 servings per peach)
White or yellow peaches
approx. 1/8 tea spoon
12.5ml gomme (depends on peaches)
Foam:
300g butterscotch
10ml almond extract
25ml Amaretto
1 gelatin sheet – approx.
soda syphon etc…
Jog On by Metinee Kongsrivilai @ Dragonfly
50ml Johnnie Walker Black
20ml Home Jasmine Infused Syrup
1 – 2 mangosteen fruit muddled with two wedges of lime
Shake and double strain into a martini glass
Garnish with a jasmine flower
Auch Nuts by Ryan Chetiyawardana @ Bramble
35ml Auchentoshan 12 year
25ml Apple Juice
20ml Lemon Juice
5ml Xante
15ml Roasted Nut and Rosemary Gomme
Dash of Old Fashioned bitters
Egg White
Serve straight up
Takeshi Collins by Jeremy Blackmore @ Voodoo Rooms
30ml Yamazaki
20ml lemon juice
Barspoon homemade naski pear and sage jam
dash lemon bitters
shake strain top with lapsang souchong soda
Dandy’s Assassin by Adam Trussell @ Voodoo Rooms
37.5 ml of Bulleit Bourbon
12.5 ml of Aperol
25 ml of Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
25 ml of Chamomile and Cognac Syrup
Dash of Pistachio Steeped Angostura Bitters
Hi Kevin
It was a great event, everyone in tweed period costume a great little bar in the center of Edinburgh. Fantastic music and food, everyone really happy, enjoying great cocktails and conversation without having to pay a huge bill at the end or the beginning.
Not like any whisky event I’ve ever been to!
Lets get weaving on some more.
This seemed like a good idea that had arisen spontaneously from some whisky lovers but then looked to be rather heavily corporate sponsored (sorry Alex) and to be generating slick press releases from a PR agency.
Pictures are nice but note the blatant brand placement!
(sorry Alex x 2)
It was always our intention in involve brands in this event. We wanted to showcase different styles of whisky and so approached an Irish Whiskey (Bushmills), American (Bulleit), Japanese (Yamazaki) Blended Scotch (Johnnie Walker), Vatted Malt (Sheep Dip) and Single malt(Auchentoshan)with a view to getting them to help us produce and promote the event.
The idea was to bring the whisky companies together with the on trade in a non formal environment to break down boundaries.
We couldn’t have done the event without the support of these brands and we’re very grateful to all of them for their kind support.
Obviously in return there were visibility opportunities for them to take advantage of, and we have no issues with this what so ever! Alex is doing great work to raise the profile of what he’s doing and what we’re doing and the whole point of the whole thing was to raise the profile of whisky as whole.
I don’t see a problem with companies lending their support. Getting more mixologists working with whisky is a good thing. In this case there were several companies lending their products – so nothing under-handed here.
Be fair – I never said it was “under-handed” but I do think it was publicised initially as some kind of funky spontaneous guerilla event driven by fanatical consumers and that isn’t the impression that comes over now, with fairly heavy-handed brand messages. Not that I have any objections to people promoting their products or event organisers taking sponsorship but let’s be clear. If it’s a sponsored, brand-driven event let’s say so and good luck to all concerned.
And Alex and I are still mates (I hope) and I use his whisky in my tastings, so you could say I’m every bit as much a brand tart as the next guy – and you probably will!
Sorry Ian, never meant to suggest that you had called it “under-handed” – just that we both know some of the companies have been less forthcoming than this.
And of course Alex’s marketing budget doesn’t amount to what some of these guys spend on lunch.
Even if Alex and I weren’t friends I’d promote his stuff, because it’s damned good.
Sorry I missed this earlier I was away in Yorkshire selling whisky at a Christmas Fair.
Well boys here are the facts:
I met Nick when he came to a whisky tasting at a pub in Edinburgh “The Illicit Still”. He is one of a number of younger people I have met in the last year who are really interested in whisky and improving their knowledge and enjoyment of it.
He works for Morrison Bowmore – and as a mixologist at the weekend or when his job allows. He and his friends are great fun and really enjoy making cocktails and drinking whisky. They are not stuffy or “corporate” like we used to be.
I “paid” two cases of Sheep Dip to be part of somthing that I thought would be fun and I may get at least a cocktail and some coverage out of it. Bowmore’s PR company had no budget to promote the event. I asked a small agency to put out a press release as a favour. No money changed hands as you, more than most, know I’m skint!!
The venue was free but the guy who runs it went to school with one of my kids, so there may have been “leverage” there.
It was a great night and no one who was invited had to pay a penny, perhaps they brought a bottle – not sure.
I would like to see it repeated anywhere we can get the same level of commitment and attitude to enjoying whisky as irresponsibly as this – what joy.
My glass is half full.
Best regards,
Alex
Forgot to give an honorable mention to the photographer and the D.J. – neither of whom got paid – but worked their socks off!
It sounds good. We certainly don’t need any more “corporate” attitudes so all strength to the elbows involved!
I’m just sorry I missed it.