thoughts about whisky live 2006 london ......

by **adogranonthepitch** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:00 pm

not bad at all...

like the new venue......

some distillerys missing......

missing the sparkle of past years .....

wheres the goodie bag ......

please no jazz band next year or any loud barrell making on glenfidich stand.....

nice cow burgers on the cow burger stand.....

more seating in the cafe.......

not bad at al, but could be better .... how, I dont know .......

by **Paul A Jellis** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:54 pm

I had a great day, but need a bit more time to work out why. Things are a bit fuzzy this morning!!

Cheers

Paul

by **bamber** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 10:56 am

What a bargain and what a great day.

Signatory, Highland Park, DL and Ben Nevis were the highlights of the Scottish stuff for me and both the Bourbon stands - HH and PVW were great.

Ben Nevis 40yo and some of those Signatory bottlings were just amazing.

by **Matt2** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:47 am

Glad you enjoyed it, we've had some good and some bad feedback and are very interested in hearing what you all thought about it.

Sorry to everyone I failed to recognise yet again, it was good to see you all. And NO there aren't anymore Talisker masterclass tickets :wink:

Could you give us comments on :

The venue / halls
Exhibitors
Food and drink
Masterclasses
Overall thoughts and suggestions.

Thanks

Matt

by **lexkraai** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:57 am

Matt, I really enjoyed myself (couldn't go both days this time, so only Saturday). Was it just my perception or where there fewer stands than previous years? Notable absentees were Bruichladdich, Macallan, Ardbeg (yes, I know the Moet stand had a few Ardbegs, but I missed chatting to the Ardbeg people themselves, such as Jackie), several indies.

Venue was good, very airy, but I wouldn't miss the jazz band if it wouldn't be there again next year ....

Masterclasses: went to one (Yamazaki), which was a real eye opener (as I hoped it would be)

Cheers, Lex

by **Grant** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 1:32 pm

The venue / halls
As good as previous years venue. A little more space

Exhibitors
not as many as previous years - no Laphroig? how odd?

Food and drink
Always eat round the corner because of inflated prices normally,so didn't even look this year.. GREAT that there was sooo much water about!

Overall thoughts and suggestions.
Definitely need more minatures and a goodie bag... If you feel you've walked away with some freebies it just makes the whole thing more enjoyable (especially after the introduction last year of 15 tickets! without a reduction in overall cost!)

Seems we have been penalised for it becoming a more popular event
just my thoughts!

Still a great day! be interesting to see what next years ends up being like.
ONE LAST THING !! packup was 4:50 !! I was still raring to go and could not get a drink ANYWHERE! that left a nasty taste! :evil:

(and no I don't mean the Bowmore Dawn!) :lol:

by **Matt2** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:10 pm

A short review and lots of pictures are now available at http://www.whiskylive.com/england/london-2006/

by **Paul A Jellis** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:29 pm

A great day out.

Liked the new hall, much more space, more seats and more water.

I would have liked to have seen a few more exhibitors, but I'm not sure what you can do about that.

I don't know about the food because I love the chippy just round the corner, a chance for a walk and some fresh air. The food I saw there looked very good.

Some of the drinks I tried (and can remember) are Bunnahabhain 12 and 18, Clynelish, Jura Superstition, Signatory Benriach, Compass Box Spice Tree, Highland Park 18, Glenrothes, Dewers 12, Aberfeldy 12 and many others, but the list may bore you.

But the real highlight of the day is the chat, a chance to meet some of the owners, master blenders, distillery men and people who love whisky as much as me. Also a great place to meet other forum members (I hope Bamber got home OK).

Already looking forward to next year.

Cheers

Paul

by **ikendal** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 10:04 am

Friday night tickets - fantastic idea. could not make saturday (new child and all that)

9.00 finish exhibitors were told to stop at 8.40pm! perhaps 9.00pm finish should be advertised with a 20 min 'drinking up time' or 8.40pm with 20min 'drinking up time'.

finally tried HP 18 very impressed.
I agree with Grant - It seemed there were not as many exhibitors this year.
Missed Bruichladdich very much. Where were you all!

lack of Goodie bag - not a problem, becuase what are the so called goodies really? last year it was a miniture and a beer, these items could be given out by the stalls themselves to generate interest.

Master class - two years running we have been delayed by 10 minutes. I don't want to be a stickler for punctuality but... a 6.30pm start means 6.30pm. I resent standing on a stairwell especially when some people are wobbling. (it scares me a little.)

Generousity of highland Park, Glenlivit, Suntory, and The Balvenie was wonderful.
great to chat to the guys at the Craigellachie Hotel.
food did not try as I was cramming a lot into a short space of time.

Paul A Jellis 'Where is the chippie'.

And finally - totally disagree with the negative comments about the music. It was wonderful to have something 'live' in the background or to sit and relax by. More Jazz please.

thank you to all for organising the event. In all a very enjoyable evening.

by **Paul A Jellis** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:32 pm

'Where is the chippie'.

On Horseferry Road, about a five minute walk. A good range of fish and great chips.

Cheers

Paul

by **MattB** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:42 pm

Just thought I'd give my comments on the show; as a first timer perhaps I got the wrong impression, so I'd be interested to hear from other who are "regulars".

I attended on Saturday with a party of 12, 3 or 4 of whom had previously attended. Once inside we split up into smaller groups.

>Could you give us comments on :
>The venue / halls
No problem here, fairly easy to get to from Victoria. Even though we arrived slightly late (12:15ish) the check-in procedure seemed muddled and some of us got into the hall before we realised we didn't have vouchers or a tasting glass. (Maybe we were just too eager!)

>Exhibitors
Not a bad selection, but I somehow expected a few more stands. As Grant mentions above, some bigger names I expected to see weren't there - e.g Laphroaig, Macallan. But is this such a bad thing? One of the reasons I wanted to attend was to sample some of the more unusual whiskys - I was pleased to see the Indian & Welsh contingents! (and sampled!)

Exhibitors I'd like to specially mention are Bowmore (the dark haired chap was really helpful), Moet (for the Ardbeg & Glenmorangie) and Inverhouse (Balblair). More thoughts on the Exhibitors below....

>Food and drink
Didn't sample, but plenty of water around, which was good to see.

>Masterclasses
Didn't attend, sorry.

>Overall thoughts and suggestions.
Ok, this isn't meant to be a rant, so I hope it doesn't come across that way. I think Whisky Live needs to decide what it is to be. Some of the exhibitors definitely seemed to "favour" the commercial attendees - sometimes you couldn't get to a stand for the suits. If Whisky Live is a Trade show then it needs to advertise itself as such. Maybe there needs to be a different time set aside for the Trade? I'm sure both the Trade attendees and the Exhibitors would benefit from this.

At end of the day (and I agree with Grant, close down was earlier than expected) I ended the show with plenty of vouchers left and a distinct feeling that I had somehow missed out on sampling opportunities.

I'm afraid to say that I'd have to think long & hard before attending Whisky Live 2007. Please someone tell me that I'm wrong!!

Matt

by **lexkraai** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:41 pm

On the vouchers: there was exacly one stand holder who asked for a voucher once. All the others didn't bother. This is NOT criticism, but in my opinion exactly how a voucher system should work at such events: it gives the option to refuse pouring to those who clearly have had enough, at the discretion of the standholders.

And a large part (for me the main part) of the fun at these events is sampling from the 'under the counter' bottles, of course.

Cheers, Lex

by **Aidan** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:32 pm

Welcome back to the forum, Lex...

by **lexkraai** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:11 am

Welcome back to the forum, Lex...

Thanks Aidan! Have been very busy moving house and job, but now getting a wee bit more time again for the nicer aspects of life :wink:

Cheers, Lex

by **Aidan** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:08 am

lexkraai wrote:
Welcome back to the forum, Lex...

Thanks Aidan! Have been very busy moving house and job, but now getting a wee bit more time again for the nicer aspects of life

Cheers, Lex

That's good. This place misses your wide knowledge.