This article is 14 months old and some information provided may be time sensitive.
Please check all details of events, tours, opening times and other information before travelling or making arrangements.
The weeks have been just packed with liquid treasures and some great memories since I last sat down to write my column.
A string of airport lounges, hotel rooms and copy filed from foreign climes has all filled the last few months.
Kentucky, Tennessee, Washington, New York, Glasgow, Campbeltown, Speyside and of course the welcoming streets of Norwich have all received this editor with open arms and a warming glass of the local golden stuff.
There have been several distilleries, several sampling events and even a tasting session with the illustrious Dave Broom, which featured the new Ardmore and Laphroaig 25 Years Old.
Travelling so much, of course you miss the soothing rest of home, gives you the chance to make some new and interesting friends, and inevitably in this line of work, try something new and exciting.
I am extremely grateful to the staff at the Distilled Spirits Council of the US and my fellow band of high spirited travellers who sped around Kentucky and Tennessee in a remarkable tour bus with black tinted windows – normally the preserve of bands on the road.
Inside this four wheeled palace the dark theme continued with the upholstery and walls, apart from a ceiling that would not have been amiss in a trendy nightclub as it was covered in twinkling lights.
Packed into this behemoth of a tour bus, and to the strains of recently acquired country music (thank you Allen) and various bourbons, friendships were built between people previously strangers. And by night in the various hotels and bars on the route the world was set to rights.
Discussions ranged from politics to religion, and the state of the drinks industry to the sharing of notes from the last tasting session.
We all also tumbled in to Washington together, but sadly without the DISCUS inferno bus. I don’t want to dwell on this trip too much as it is going to form the basis of a forthcoming article.
My romantic notions about New York were reasonably well met during my brief sojourn in this sprawling metropolis.
Due to the constraints of the last magazine’s deadlines I had to confine myself to a small segment of the Midtown district – I believe part of the former stomping ground of that great journalist Alistair Cooke and the setting for many of his eloquent and much loved Letters from America.
It was a strange feeling not to see the sky properly for a while in this vertical city, with the megaliths of concrete and glass hemming you in on the streets. That said I had a lovely walking tour with Allen Katz, of Southern Wine and Spirits, round parts of Manhattan, sampling some great food and drink at a couple of the best bars in town.
Life at street level in this city is pretty fun.
One thing this travel business does for you is really brings home how much passion and knowledge there is out there for our chosen tipple, in its various guises.
So I urge you, pack your travel bag, charge your hip flask and hit the road some time.
Make a pilgrimage somewhere, you never know you might enjoy it and above all find out more about your chosen tipple.
Cheers for now, and if you find any great whisky bars, hotels and restaurants, drop me a line.
