Whisky Party

How should you drink your whisky?  The Jura distillery has found a unique way to settle the question once and for all: a battle royale between two tasting legends (hat tip to The Scotch Blog):

In an attempt to settle the issue once and for all, Jura is to host an exclusive online video debate between Richard Paterson – master blender at the Isle of Jura distillery and widely recognised as the world’s best whisky blender – and Colin Field, who as head barman at the Ritz Paris is arguably the best cocktail mixer in the world.

Representing polar opposites in the argument over how good Scots malt should be enjoyed, the two men are primed and ready for what looks set to become an historic battle.

You can watch the video, in three parts, below.  First, I had a few comments on the whole experiment.

1. The first video starts out a little stiff, but Richard and Colin very quickly warm up, so give it a few minutes.  Once you see Richard fling some whisky across the room, you know its on.
2. I love how Colin is constantly framing this experiment as being about expanding whisky to a broader, younger audience.  I think he’s right that this is something distilleries need to be thinking about a lot.  Many are experimenting with Twitter, blogs, and social networks in an attempt to do this, and The Macallan (recently featured on Entourage, and innovating on Twitter) seems at the head of the pack so far.
3. I think Richard and Colin did an excellent job in these videos, and it is somewhat amazing to me that I can talk directly to Richard Paterson via Twitter (@the_nose) and he responds, but distilleries need to be putting a younger face on a lot of these outreach efforts.  I still think there is a huge niche opening for a young guy/girl with some looks and on-camera personality to become the Gary Vaynerchuck of the scotch world.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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