BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 154
TRIVIAL PERSUITS
A rare and intimate homage to Uisge Beatha (Scots Gaelic for “the water of life”), hosted
by whisky legend Mark Thomson (right) and Jonathan Ray of The Spectator
THE WATER
OF LIFE
A once in a lifetime extraordinary journey across
Scotland with the old scarce whiskies
By Mark Thomson
Whisky specialist Mark Thomson
has worked in the industry in a
variety of rôles for 25 years: a
Keeper of the Quaich, he is also
a three-time winner of Whisky
Ambassador of the Year.
I
recently had the delight of hosting
a very special whisky evening
at Boisdale Canary Wharf, held
in conjunction with The Spectator.
Our select group included Ranald
Macdonald and Jonathan Ray, The
Spectator’s wine columnist.
The whiskies were selected from
the Duncan Taylor collection.
Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky is an
independently owned scotch whisky
specialist which was established as a
cask broker and trading company in
1938. The company’s devotion to the
principles of providing exceptional
casks for 昀椀lling from the 昀椀nest
distilleries, has been a key feature of
its history. The multi-award-winning
company has built a reputation for
its ownership of one of the largest
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privately held collections of some of
the world’s most sought after vintage
and rare whiskies, and it continues to
act as a reputable whisky merchant,
blender, bottler, and cask broker.
My aim for the evening was to
“impress with the liquid” and (after
much deliberation with Duncan
Taylor’s UK sales director, Andrew
Sinat) we had before us an incredible
array of drams totalling more than
£150k... in just six bottles.
So how exactly does one decide on
a running order for such exceptional
whiskies?
