I’m a Glaswegian living in Melbourne and I’ve been watching as the pandemic has impacted both my home and adopted towns. We’ve been in lockdown in Melbourne for the best part of the last 6 months and it’s affected entire sectors, including the hospitality industry which supports our enviable and much-talked-about bar and restaurant scene.

Stepping away from light fittings and decor for a moment, I’d like to acknowledge two incredible businesses on opposite sides of the globe, adapting and evolving in a difficult economic climate, who put together a brilliant online event that I was lucky to be a part of last week – and stick with me, this post involves whisky.

Whisky and Alement in Melbourne's CBD was the first dedicated whisky bar in Melbourne (and if not technically the first, they were certainly the first whisky bar worth frequenting). Prior to having children, my wife and I used to be semi-regular visitors to the venue that has over 1000 whiskies and features everything from classics to independent bottlings, through to some of the rarest whiskies in the world. If you are a whisky lover, and Scottish (both of which I am) – then this is the place to go. And it’s also incredibly good value.

Now that I’m old and have kids I get to be treated on Father’s Day, and this year I was gifted an online tasting organised by Whisky and Alement in conjunction with the Balvenie distillery. Balvenie is a single malt distillery based in Dufftown in the North East of Scotland. It has a long history, having distilled its first batch of whisky in 1894 and was one of the first distilleries to bottle a 50-year-old whisky in 1987.

Prior to the event, my tasting pack turned up in the mail with four whiskies and a handcrafted cocktail courtesy of Whisky and Alement.

30ml x "A Sweet Toast of American Oak" - 12 Years Old, 43%
30ml x "The Week of Peat" - 14 Years Old, 48.3%
30ml x "The Edge of Burnhead Wood" - 19 Years Old, 48.7%, RRP: $480+ AUD (700ml)
30ml x "A Day of Dark Barley" - 26 Years Old, 47.8% - RRP: $1,100+ AUD (700ml)

I’ve done lots of things during lockdown (including the obligatory head shave) but this was my first virtual tasting, and I cannot overstate how incredibly special it was. To call it simply a ‘tasting’ does not do it justice at all. It turned out to be more like a slickly produced live TV event that had been months in the making.

YouTube was the platform for the live stream and it was used seamlessly in conjunction with Stream Yard which allowed multiple presenters. Between Australia and Scotland there were about six different people in various locations; Ross Blainey – the Balvenie ambassador in Australia (a fellow Scot); Miranda and staff from Whisky and Alement; Charlie and James in Dufftown at the distillery; Gemma from Balvenie who worked away in the background to ensure there were minimal technical hiccups; Kelsey McKechnie the Apprentice Malt Master in Glasgow; and last but not least David C Stewart MBE, Balvenie’s Malt Master who has worked there for 58 years and started there when he was 17 years old, and who was joining us from his home in Glasgow.

Ross did an incredible job of hosting, supported by a brilliant team. It was a truly dynamic event with the live stream crossing between all the various locations in a way that built on the story of Balvenie and the whiskies we were tasting. The chats were intermixed with pre-recorded videos to help set the scene and not an ounce of the quality production value went unnoticed. To give you an idea of what a thoughtful experience this was, when it came time to taste ‘The Edge of Burnhead Wood’, Charlie took us literally to the edge of Burnhead Wood so we could see the location that gave the whisky its namesake. It was breathtaking and incredibly touching.

The irony of all this is if it wasn’t for lockdown I may not have been at such an event – with two small kids and no immediate family around my wife and I struggle with the logistics to go out for an evening – so to be able to participate from home was incredible and even though I was on my own the whole experience felt really inclusive.

I am in such admiration of both Whisky and Alement and Balvenie for being able to so successfully pivot to a new way of doing things. Balvenie said they had never done anything like it before, but with onsite tastings and tours off the cards just now (not to mention a lot of domestic and international tourism) even the old-school whisky companies are having to embrace technology to reach their customer base. What’s so striking is just how brilliantly they managed to achieve this in an online event. It was so special that this will be lodged in my memory alongside my ‘real world’ tour of a number of distilleries in Islay and Jura back in 2017.

To be so far away from home and have this incredible opportunity to feel like I was right back at home was a highlight of the last 6 months and it completely tugged on the heart-strings.

Visit Scotland, tour distilleries, visit Melbourne, visit Whisky and Alement, buy the Balvenie - and most importantly, if there's another live event organised by the team, I encourage you to attend.

Even the Zoom after-party went on for about 2 hours. You can watch a recording of the event below, or take a look at a little info on the Balvenie whisky pioneer, David Stewart.

Thanks everyone involved - you made my lockdown.

The Balvenie Stories | Whisky And Alement