Whiskyfest - Part I - the VIP hour!

10th Annual Whiskyfest Chicago took place on Friday April 23. Well, a few of us had the VIP ticket. Let me tell you. it was well worth it. You got an extra hour. They gave you a bag of goodies (not necessarily a good thing) and the number of tickets was limited. HUGE PLUS.

So this all took place in the Hyatt Regency on Wacker drive in a giant conference room. Each company had their own table. There was also two giant buffets in the room. You could eat whenever you wanted. They had bottles of water and soda everywhere tool until near the end. Bottom line - this set up was great. During VIP hour, they had certain high end bottles available too.

Before going in, I did some research of things I wanted to try during the VIP hour. After that, it was more a look and see game. Since the VIP time only last an hour, I really wanted to hit a lot in that first hour. So taking notes was actually the hardest in the first hour.

So, as usual my notes are in italics, exactly how I wrote them.

Jameson rare ifisrt shot smooth no burn no after taste I was awesome - Ok. You will see a lot of typos. I was writing with one hand while holding my sipping glass in the other. Now, I say shot but for this high end bottles, it was more like a 1/4 shot at best. Well, it varied. Here was almost a shot. Everyone knows I am a fan of Jameson. This bottle of Jameson is called Rare Vintage and costs $250. Well, this shot was so smooth. It did not burn. It was great.

Crown xr _ these high end are so smooth. shocked how good - $140 bottle of Crown. I am awarding Crown my favorite table of the night. More on this later. I have never been a big Crown fan. This shot again was good. No after taste. No burn. High quality alcohol.

Michters - 10 year - not as good as the first two - little more bite. Bourbon...first hit won't be the last. - Well, stopped at our first bourbon. $100 bottle. I wasn't very impressed. A little too much rye for me. I think it was destined to fail after the first two.

Kilbeggan - irish whisk - really good. If the bottle is in a box its good...really good. On good pace. One per 5 min. - Back on the Irish whiskey. So we are trying for 10-12 different drinks the first hour. One per 5 min was perfect. I was surprised it was going to plan. On a different note, some of these companies displayed their high end bottle by putting it in a box with a pillow inside. We get it. This is your best bottle. I thought it was funny.

Rocky mountain rye - lot of rye - bite!!!! - Well, this bourbon is like 95% rye. A very distinct taste. I was not a big fan obviously. Lets move on.

Balvenie - 21 year - I hate scotch...yuck! - This place had a long line but it was for a bottle that was $900 but it was gone by the time we got up there. I was beginning to believe there was not a scotch in the world that I liked.

Bushmills - 1608 tastes the same!!!! Wtf! I am on a streak! Bad one dumped some of it - The $82 bottle of Bushmills to me tasted like the $15 bottle. This was the only sample that I dumped for the night. That is saying something.

Rowan tree - best scotch I have ever had - 6600 bottle. - Arran Malt is the company. Rowan Tree is the bottle name. There are 6,600 bottles of it worldwide. It was SO GOOD. Wow. The guy pouring was hardcore Scottish. I could barely understand him. Loved this! There is a scotch in the world I would drink.

Park hert - 21 - it is a sweet bourbon with a kick - like knob creek- not sure why it is so expensive- Well, I think I didn't get the golden anniversary bottle and got the 21. So, I missed out on the VIP bottle. Oh well. This did taste like knob creek to me which is ok but not great.

Makers - decent - not tasting as good as usual - Makers did not have a VIP bottle but they had the red wax there and a guy was dipping glasses right there for people to take. So we decided to stop by before the caddies were let loose in the place. So we grabbed a glass and had a shot. Makers is so good. (I will explain the caddy reference later).

Cognac - ancestr - this was fantastic! 900 bottle really good!! - Not surprising that a $900 of cognac tastes great. This was everything you ask for though. One of the best things I tasted all night.

Unibrow- quelque chose- great change of pace with a beer - 400 cases total to the us. Wow is that good! A little fruity but you expect that from frenchmen. - Was it too early to start making fun of the French? Not for me! I was definitely feeling the effects at this point. A dark beer. great flavor. Not heavy. Loved it and it was a great change of pace! Plus, only 400 cases of this beer are in the US.

Vcrown royal black - nit as good as xr but decent! - The Crown guys told us we should try the black too. Since XR was so good, we figured we would hit it up. It was good,really good. Smooth and only a $30 bottle. I was impressed.

Closure - I finish the way I start...jameson rare vintage!!! Yessss! This might be where I stop remembering...time check...625...uh oh - Well, the VIP hour was ending and I wanted one last taste of Rare Vintage Jameson. I snuck it in before time was up!

Vip over... Well, if anyone is counting, we had one beer (part of one beer) and 13 tastings. It was a great start to a great night. I and everyone else I think slowed down CONSIDERABLY after the first hour. No one keeps a pace like that. Well, not if you want to remember.

I have a Caddyshack reference for everyone. There is a scene when the open up the pool for like an hour to all the caddies. When the hour starts, you see all the caddy go running around the pool and jump in. They flood the pool area in complete chaos. Well, moments before the 8 doors were about to open at Whiskyfest, Nelson said "Here come the caddies." It was the perfect line. The amount of people there probably tripled when the door flew open and people flooded the booths.

Tomorrow I will finish up the event.

Cheers!