Whisky Live Dublin 2011 Sat 14th May

[kurtbenoit]

35 euro FOR TWO TICKETS!!!
son of a b%*$!

[JohnM]

It's a wonder Bushmills aren't doing any masterclasses.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

It was €35 each for two...

[John]

It's a wonder Bushmills aren't doing any masterclasses.

From what I gather John, it was difficult to persuade them to turn up at all. It was mentioned that these types of events "aren't their thing"!! Also, to be honest, compared to what most of the other Irish stands produced at their stands, I thought that the Bushmills stand was a bit disappointing.
J.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

As a general concensus ... what did people think of Whisky Live.

Did you fine the exhibitors approachable.

Were you happy with the variety available.

What did you pay for your ticket and do you think it offered value for money.

Did you enjoy it.

Do you want to see it back here again next year.

From my point of View I really enjoyed but spent way too much time talking and ended up only tasting around 15 whiskies.

[rathbeggan]

Adrian,

To get the ball rolling...

(1) I enjoyed it - not as big as the Glasgow event I attended in 2004 but still good. A bit more advertising in Dublin would not have gone amiss.
(2) Exhibitors were very approachable I thought. Mind you, about a quarter of the floor seemed to be connected to the CWS ...
(3) Irish industry well represented, would have been nice to see more foreign visitors but of course it has to be worth their while - a few more Scottish independent bottlers would have been great, or even Diageo showing off some smaller distilleries.
(4) I paid €30 (IWS rate), good value, didn't get to a masterclass but was with a couple of friends and was happy enough going around the regular stalls.
(5) See (1)
(6) Yes!

[John]

Hi Adrian,

Apologies, I'm only getting around to sharing my experience of the event now

(1) I had a good time at the show, though to echo the comments above, I thought that it lacked any serious promotion unfortunately. I don't know what the visitor numbers were exactly, though I am lead to believe that they were around the 450-500 mark, but I believe the figure would have been much higher if more had known in good time that it was on.

(2) The exhibitors were certainly very approachable and most were more than happy to go through the background and processes involved in producing the products. Only one or two were basically 'fronts' and clearly knew as much about the drinks as the 'man on the moon'

(3) There was great variety available, all the major classes were represented including Single Pot Still editions, Single Malts, Blends, Grain and Peated whiskeys; we were spoilt for choice.

Great to see Mitchell's there with the really old editions; fantastic history and the guys were as friendly and as willing to engage as always

The chocolate and whiskey/food pairing stands were also excellent!

Bushmills however was a bit of a disappointment surprisingly, I really thought that they would have put in a bit more of an effort.

(4) I also paid the Society rate of €30 which I felt was good value. I didn't go to any of the masterclasses, though in retrospect there was one that I now wish I had attended.

(5 & 6) I did enjoy it and hopefully it will be bigger and better in 2012!!

Cheers,
J.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Might as well throw my tuppence seems I mooted the question


1. I really enjoyed the day too as I said earlier I spent way too much time talking to people (Not just Exihitors) so missed half the stands

2. of all the exhibitors I talked to Yes I found them all very engaging. I think the IWS shirt help immensely in garnering a quick rapport with any exhibitor I did not already know.

3. The variety of Irish whiskey there was very good and great to see. It was especially great to see the likes of the smaller guys Irishman and Slane Castle there. In regards to Scotch I think only for the Signatory stand and the Duncan Taylor stand I would have been quite disappointed but at the same time a good CWS put on good fronts for Bowmore, Benriach and Springbank.

4. Again I paid €30 for my ticket and felt it was definately value for money at that point however if I was to pay €45 I think I would think it was quite steep. I thought it was really well organised but I was a bit disappointed with the food. Unless I missed something all I got was a small bowl of Beef stew which seemed more like a sample and I had to pay for my accompanying drink (No alcoholic) ?!?!?!?!? When I was in London and Glasgow they had large filled rolls and wraps, accompanying drink, dessert and tea/coffee and it was clearly indicated what you were entitled to.

5. Yes, Really great day of chat and tasting

6. Would love to see it back but as already mentioned may need a bigger push.

[Michael Foggarty]

The official attendance figures were 470 visitors.

The Mansion house only has a capacity of 700 minus approx 150 of those for event staff, exhibitors, security etc etc brought the available tickets to 550. There was some comp tickets handed out (the ones that made it on to gumtree annoyed me) some of these people didnt turn up (including a competition winner !) . All in all ticket sales and advertising was fine from our point of view, why over promote an event at extreme cost only to turn people away?

Food, mixed reports, unfortunately the mansion house tied our hands on that one, the vegi option was fantastic and filling though.

Exhibitors will only exhibit if their product is sold in the country of show.

Bushmills did want a masterclass but its first come first served on these things im affraid,

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Thanks for the feed back Michael, sounds like ye learned a lot about the Irish set up.

The food was actually quite nice it was just the portion and lack of anything else but at least were able to give us a reason for that.

So ye were not far off capacity which is brilliant ... In all fairness the crowd was just right for a relaxed atmosphere so it was good for us but ye obviously would like to see more possibly in a bigger venue. It may even be an idea to have this bi-annually instead of every year if the numbers don't pick up next year. There is going to be a next year ... is there????

[IainB]

Well the rapture and the end of the world didn't happen at the weekend so there probably will be a next year. I think you can relax on that count.

Now as to whether there's be another whiskey live. Well I for one really hope so. I won't do the big response but I thought the whole thing was fantastic. As for the food, yes the portions weren't huge but the black pudding sausage rolls at the L Mulligan Grocer stand more than made up for that - I hope someone else got some - I may have eaten more than my fair share!

[IainB]

Actually IWC there may not be a next year after all....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing13.html

Sorry about that.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Actually IWC there may not be a next year after all....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing13.html

Sorry about that.

Okay start getting them into ya lads we don't have much time left

[IainB]

Actually IWC there may not be a next year after all....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing13.html

Sorry about that.

Okay start getting them into ya lads we don't have much time left

This could be difficult - less than six months to get throught 300+ bottles. I may be busy for a while.

[varizoltan]

even worst here, 800+ bottles

[IainB]

I'm not saying I have 300. Just that if we need to start getting through them there won't be much time for anything else.

Anyway this is very off topic. As I said above I really enjoyed the day. The food was limited enough I guess but what was there was good and there were lots of other things to nibble on around the room. Also Zoltan gave me an apple. Though I'm not sure if that was actually part of the event or not. Did anyone else get a Hungarian apple?

I actully didn't go near Bushmills all day - the seemed very under represented and from what I could see didn't eve stretch to the 21yo. The weren't exactly in a great spot either. I get the impression that they're very much in the place IDL were a few years ago - trying to build the profile and sales of the core expression and keeping the range limited so as to build up stocks for both the core expression and for future growth. This may be just a quiet phase for a few years and hopefully, like Midleton, when they've built up the main expression sufficiently, they may start to broaden the horizons. It would be a shame if Diageo's only Irish Whiskey was kept in the shade.

I thought the Celtic Whiskey Shop did a great job of adding an international imension to the event that would otherwise have been lacking. I thought it was also interesting that the most interesting and unusual Bushmills in the room was at Ally's Knappogue stand, not the Bushmills one.

And I really really like the L Mulligan black pudding sausage rolls. I may have mentioned this already.

[varizoltan]

Also Zoltan gave me an apple. Though I'm not sure if that was actually part of the event or not. Did anyone else get a Hungarian apple?

VIP's only

[DavidH]

Also Zoltan gave me an apple. Though I'm not sure if that was actually part of the event or not. Did anyone else get a Hungarian apple?

VIP's only

I got a hamper of Hungarian chocolate. Mmm!

[John]

Has anyone seen any official or non-official photos from this event? Given the number of photographers around on the day I was sure that there would be albums in circulation at this stage!!
J.