Online Whisky Tasting

Image: Minal Shetty

When Glenfiddich invited me to witness their whisky tasting through social media, I was puzzled. Four barrels of whisky that were set to mature in 1978; why did they want to taste it online? Wouldn’t it have been better if you got a bunch of aficionados and a malt master at one place to judge the best malt?

This is how it worked. Via Twitter, they had single malt experts from Scotland, of course, and also Taiwan, New York, Moscow, Canada, Denmark, Sweden and India’s Anish Trivedi. I was an observer at Trivedi’s Breach Candy house in Mumbai.

They decided which cask to start with, then, in their various corners of the world, they started drinking, and tweeting their impressions. It was interesting to follow them at the start. But as time passes by, it got tedious. Trivedi occasionally commented on the flavour and essence of the drinks for my benefit, but mostly he was busy tweeting to the world. Good thing that his home has an awesome view of the sea; I spent a lot of time watching the waves.

Many tweets and much debate later, it comes down to a choice between casks 121 and 145. And finally, 145 wins, because 121 is a bit too much like another Glenfiddich whisky. (But the show’s not over yet. Brian Kinsman, the Glenfiddich malt master — who oversaw the Twitter event — will  take the final decision in September 2010.)

I come away thinking it’s a cool idea; getting all these connoisseurs in one place would have been tough. This got the company a lot of online buzz. But, damn, I didn’t get top taste a drop.