As a chef I've had the opportunity to be part of some great and not so great wine lists. The not so great ones were usually because of owners micromanaging based on personal tastes. The great ones (including a multiple wine spectator award winner) were because we had a knowledgeable French & American trained sommelier general manager and highly knowledgeable servers working exclusively with me and other chefs/cooks. Boy that was a fun time... everyone just meshed and was very motivated. A democratic approach that payed off in the end.
When it comes to whisky in the restaurant the choices have always been "safe" in my book, especially now that I've educated myself here and elsewhere. You usually have a couple mid to higher range blends (JW Black, Blue) and other types may be Green label and a Bowmore 12yo with a couple 10yo sprinkled in here or there. Of course, there's always a couple American labels but nothing too fancy. In fact, of all the upper-scale establishments I cannot think of any that serve any of the current 30 bottles I have in my personal inventory (excluding JD, WT, etc). Usually what happens is nobody at a particular restaurant is well-versed in whisky and goes based off what the purveyor wants to sell or push.
Since really immersing myself in whiskies these past couple years it has been a primary focus on a whisky list for a restaurant. At the moment my current gig is outside the restaurant but when I inevitably get back into the trenches I want use some of these recommendations to mold my list into a particular format.
There should be two criteria here:
1) You're an upper-scale fine dining establishment that is known to have a good selection of whiskies. Nothing too pretentious as this is a business and you do need to move bar inventory. You need to cater to the man on business with deep pockets, the occasional peat heads all the way down to the wary novice. (maximum 15 whiskies on this list)
2) Whiskies of the world is the niche and clearly written in the business plan. Your name of the joint is "Peaty's" and you showcase the entire gamut of whiskies. Think classy whisky bar in Washington D.C. with leather sofas, fine cigars, paired Hors d'oeuvre. (minimum 30 whiskies on the list)
What say you?
. Finally a big "the supplier is picking up the tab" malt to stretch the expense claims a little!
