Fort William to Finchley: spirits are high at London’s giant whisky simcha

Kippot were outnumbered by bare heads – and a sprinkling of turbans – in the queue to enter the Whisky Event on Sunday but with so much talking and eating taking place inside, this gathering was unmistakably Jewish. 

Spirits were already high before the doors had opened. Among one group of men waiting to enter the venue in west London the animated chat was a special blend of Spurs and single malts.

Once each of the thousand visitors had a glass in hand, the conversation became more concentrated: on examining, nosing and tasting the more than 800 bottles being shown. Many of the oldest and newest, and biggest and smallest, names in distilling, ageing and bottling were present, from the Highlands, Speyside and Ireland to areas with fewer hills or heather; such as Finchley.

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Fruitful Spirits, the four-year-old bottler and cask merchant based in N3, was one of several Jewish-owned brands showing at the event. The company, founded by Saul Kelly, was offering a 31-year-old single grain Scotch that it is just about to bottle alongside a 40-year-old rum. Fruitful also does a lot of ‘white labelling’, creating bottles as corporate, simcha or festival gifts.

The Israeli whisky label M&H (milk and honey) was also fully present on Sunday, fresh from having been edited out of a review column in the Guardian.

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Another Jewish brand, DS Tayman has already amassed a tray of awards since its founding in 2020. Visiting its stand on Sunday was whisky expert Colin Hampden-White – ‘Sir Colin’ to the trade – and a star of the Amazon TV show The Three Drinkers.

He was invited by DS Tayman co-founder Saul Taylor to sample its newest juice, Blair Athol, a 15-year-old single malt aged in Israeli Syrah casks, to be released next month. “I would not have believed the strength,” the unofficial knight pronounced after finally bringing his glass to lips (it’s 55%.) “It’s so smooth. That is stunning. I would have thought it was a blend because it’s just so harmonious.”

Hampden-White said he always enjoys the Whisky Event. “It’s an interesting place to go for connoisseurs as well as an interesting place to start.” Interesting, and joyful too: like multiple, simultaneous simchas. A string trio played on the floor below the tasting for those noshing on the sumptuous spread but the musicians were drowned out by whisky fans, determined to eat and talk at the same time. All that was missing was the dancing; and a gender balance. The event, inevitably, mirrors an industry that is overwhelmingly male, something that Becky Paskin, a drinks journalist based in Brighton, is tackling. Her foundation, OurWhisky, champions women and is an advocate for inclusivity and diversity.

Upstairs, The London Distillery Company, based in Bermondsey, was pouring. Matt Mackay, managing director, hopes it will be third time lucky for a name that had brief incarnations in Nine Elms in the early 1800s and in Battersea earlier this century. The current TLDC bought the casks of its defunct predecessor and hopes to revive the brand’s rich and spicy DNA. “It was the flavour that the forebears of the London Distillery wanted to have,” says Mackay, “so it’s my job to nurture it and bring it to the future.”

All five Whisky Events to date have been organised by Abe Lubelsky, of the online retailer Whisky World. Even the modest Lubelsky admitted that Sunday’s gathering could not have gone better. “It was the first time we’d had two levels,” he said. “We took a huge risk.” He has been overwhelmed with positive feedback.

During the evening itself two Jewish values, tradition and remembrance, kept coming to the surface: a drinker’s interpretation of flavour is often based on childhood memories. But the world of whisky, the ‘water of life’, is also embracing new companies and new tastes, to which we can all say l’chaim.