The 9th Annual Whiskies of the World Expo takes place in San Francisco on March 28th and 29th. Recently, I spoke with Riannon Walsh, the engaging and energetic founder and organizer of this popular Bay Area event.

So this year marks the 9th annual Whiskies of the World expo. It must be very exciting to still be going strong after 9 years.
Yeah, it's amazing to me to realize it's been nine years because when I first started to do it I said I'm going to do this for like 5 to 7 years, that's it. I do it all myself and it's a big show and you know here we are going into the 9th year.

You put it on all by yourself?
I do, yeah. I'm a consultant primarily so I don't really have any need to have any staff. Like a lot of the shows are put on by magazines, who've got these armies behind them. I think that's part of the glow of this show, people feel, even though it's such a big show, for most of the attendees now it's personal. Sometimes during the show people will come up to me, and it blows my mind, because they just paid $100+ dollars for tickets and they'll say to me, "Thanks for inviting me to your party!"

Well, it does have the feeling of a party because you have food and bands...
We try to make it feel really different than other spirits shows, which can, you know, tend to dissolve into drunk-fests because there's not much else going on but drinking. And I personally think that's a damaging platform for the brands. This year we are really trying to raise the bar, and I'm really into cooking with whisky, pairing with whisky, I do menus for restaurants...

So this year we're bringing in about 12 artisanal food purveyors to the show all who know that their stuff is there to be paired with the various whiskies.

Are these local Bay Area artisans?
All but one are local, Northern Calfornian [artisans]. One of them comes in from Texas, called Caledonian Kitchens which is geared toward mail-order supply of whisky cakes and haggis, and stuff like that. The woman at the Cheese Shop of Healdsburg is coming down and I mean her stuff is drop dead amazing. And then Scharffen Berger Chocolate, they've come every year and they'll be back with their chocolates this year.

We're also having a chef come in, named Alan Stern, he's a San Franciscan, and he has a catering business, and he has a specific interest in cooking with spirits, so he's doing four different dishes each hour and each has cocktails that he's created to pair with each dish.

All the food booths give out samples so people can bring their whiskies over and pair them, mix and match and really learn how conducive a beverage whisky can be with food.

Oh that sounds delicious...
And this year we have more music too. We're doing the big night tasting on the boat again, and on the top deck at 8pm, the Bushmill's International Pipe and Drum Corp will be with us doing a full 40-minute concert out over the bay, where you can really let the sound out.

Nice. So basically on Friday you're doing the seminars and the Whisky University, which is also new, and then on Saturday there's tasting and the big event on the boat.
Yes, exactly. You know, we've got a lot of people who come to the show who are interested in the seminars, and a good supply of people who are really super into this and they want more of a learning experience so that's why I decided to do the Whisky University this year.

The other thing is that we are the only whisky show that doesn’t charge our speakers so we can pick and choose from the smallest to the biggest companies, hands-on artisanal spirits producers... you know at the other shows it's [very expensive] and we don't charge them because I don't want to be bound to only having speakers because they're rich.

So over the years this has allowed us to have speakers at our show that have never been able to speak anywhere else. It's really great. And it kicks me in the pocketbook, but it's really worth it.

This year we've got a couple of independent bottlers, one of them is doing our Whisky University, and that's John Glaser from Compass Box, and people just line up for him.

Oh yeah, I know his whisky. It's really good.
Yeah, I've been a part of his development of the company since like the day he started it, and been really involved. He's a very close friend and we do a lot of business together. I’m so proud of Compass Box, I think it's amazing stuff.

And we're launching a couple of artisanals this year at the show, which will be really exciting. Tuthilltown, a distillery in upstate New York, which is doing beautiful stuff.

Also, High West, which is something again that I've been very involved with and am very excited about. It's in Park City, Utah. Right smack in the middle of Mormon country they started a distillery (laughs) and they're proud of that. They have extraordinary rye whisky called Rendezvous.

Actually the distillery was started by a Californian called Dave Perkins who was with [a big silicon valley corporation]. Young guy...he's a chemist by training. He'd always wanted to do a distillery, and he came to me—he's just a guy who used to come to the expo and he decided he loved this whole thing to death one year and said "You know I really want to make whisky, I really want to open a distillery, and I've got the money, I can do it, what do you think, will you help me?" And I said to him, here's all the reasons why you shouldn't do it, and which I'm dead serious about because it's a killer business to start up. And I said if you still want to do this after you've considered this, come back to me in 6 months and damn if he didn't come back to me ready, totally prepared to go. He bought these great historic buildings right on the main street of Park City, and he launched everything this year at Sundance. And he's up and running. And it's really cool, cause if you're in the chair lift line and the line gets backed up into town, you're standing right in front of the windows and watching the distillery operate. And he's doing a little saloon too.

There's also Copper Fox Distillery and Eades Malts who are launching.

So, I'm curious why you chose San Francisco for this event and what inspired you to first organize it?
I was spending a lot of time in the silicon valley back in '95-'96 raising money for a distillery project I was doing in the west of Ireland. And I was doing a lot of little tastings to investor groups, anywhere from 8 to 50 people as I was trying to talk them into writing big checks. And people were saying, "We have so many wine things and there's nothing for whisky out here." And I was turning them onto how fascinating and complex whisky is, and they'd never talked to anyone who could teach them how to nose it and appreciate it, the way winemakers do. There was a whisky show that had just started in NY that year, and there were a couple in Europe that I'd been to, and I just thought it would be a great thing to do and I love San Francisco, and wanted to spend more time out there. And I was literally sitting on my porch, looking out over the pond, and I remember just saying, "You know, I'm just going to do a whisky show in San Francisco next spring. And that was it."

And that was it. That's where it started...

Whiskies of the World Expo
Friday March 28
Le Meridien Hotel
3-8:30pm

Saturday March 29
San Francisico Belle, Pier 3
5:30-10pm

First of all, let me just say that I am not a whisky expert. In fact, I've only just begun my whisky journey. But I'm learning fast, and I'm taking notes. And I am very enthusiastic about it.

Recently, for my husband's birthday, I bought tickets to Malt Advocate's WhiskyFest. Now, my husband is part of my inspiration for not only learning about whisky, but also enjoying it. Not only is he a great lover of the amber liquid, but it kind of runs in his blood (he's Scottish, so what can I say?).

After making sure we had a good foundation (cheeseburgers from Taylor's Refresher), we headed over to the First Annual WhiskyFest at the Hyatt in downtown San Francisco. The doors hadn't quite opened, but already there was a buzz in the air. We positioned ourselves near the main entrance to the floor, where there were over 70 booths sampling approximately 240 whiskies (at least that's what I counted in the booklet, there were likely more that weren't listed).

In addition to the booths on the main floor, there were a series of seminars that took place throughout the night, on such topics as Bourbon vs. Scotch and The Art of Japanese Whisky. We made a decision early on that it might be a good idea to attend one of these and chose quite possibly the most popular talk of the night, the Chocolate and Scotch Pairing, which I'll be covering in my next post.

So, back to the floor, which is where we spent the greater part of the evening. I kept very accurate notes, because I wanted to know exactly what we tasted. It's quite a list. In fact, I'm not sure if I'm impressed or horrified by it. You can make your own judgments.

Springbank, 15 year
The Macallan, 15 year Fine Oak
Highland Park, 12 year
Highland Park, 15 year
Highland Park, 18 year
Highland Park, 25 year
Highland Park, 30 year
Compass Box, Oak Cross
Compass Box, The Peat Monster
Compass Box, Asyla
Compass Box, Flaming Heart
Suntory "Yamazaki" 12 year
Suntory "Yamazaki" 18 year
Suntory, The Cask of Yamazaki 1993
The Glenrothes, 1991
The Glenrothes, 1985
The Glenrothes, 1987
The Glenrothes, 1975
Bruichladdich, 12 year
Bruichladdich, 14 year
Isle of Jura, 10 year
Old Potrero, 18th Century Style Whisky, 100% rye
King's Crest, 25 year
North of Scotland 1964
Edradour 1983 22 year
Ballechin
Signatory Laphroaig 6 year
Signatory Glen Scotia 14 year
Tullibardine 12 year
Tullibardine 1992

My favorite whiskies from this list were:

Highland Park, 12 year
This delicious whisky is distilled on the Orkney Islands northeast of Scotland, and is the world's most northerly located whisky distiller. This particular year was sweet, lightly peaty, and bright. It was my favorite whisky of all the Highland Park whiskies (including the older, more expensive versions they were sampling) and one of my absolute faves of the night.

The Balvenie, 15 year and PortWood 21 year
Located in the northeast of Scotland, The Balvenie is a good example of a Speyside whisky, which tend to be more sherried and less smoky (although the ones we tried were both aged in bourbon casks). Their 15-year single barrel is aged in bourbon casks, and was one of my favorites. It's smooth, slightly sweet, and really delicious. The 21-year was interesting in that it was aged in bourbon casks but then finished in port casks for 4 months (any longer and the port wood would become overpowering).

Edradour 1983 22 year
Granted this was the last one of the night, but it was also the only one I finished, and the guy poured me a healthy nip. This 22-year-old is finished in port wood, and from the smallest distillery in Scotland. It goes for about $300/bottle.

Suntory "Yamazaki" 12 year
This Japanese single malt whisky, which is made in the outskirts of Kyoto, is a Scotch-style whisky. The distillery was actually the first of it's kind outside of Scotland. If you've never tasted Japanese whisky I suggest you give it a go. Aged in American oak, it's delicious and quite interesting in flavor, you know it's not Scotch, but you can't quite place it.

In addition to tasting a whole lot of whisky, I learned quite a few things at WhiskyFest, such as:
1) Older whisky is not always better.
2) I tend to like younger whisky (it's often bright and feisty).
3) Peaty is good, it doesn't necessarily have to knock you upside the head, and it really can be subtle.
4) Chocolate and whisky are a match made in heaven.
5) I can drink a lot of whisky and still remain standing.
6) Not everyone suits tartan. Especially when it's made into a suit.
7) Conventional wisdom is bullshit; the great thing about a whisky tasting or event such as this is to turn things on their head, and discover that you might not necessarily know what you like.
8) Japan makes some damn good whisky.

I also learned how to "nose" whisky two different ways (no no no it's not dirty). The first way is to open your mouth and stick your nose down into the glass (mouth on the outside) and breathe in. With your mouth open. Apparently this allows you to smell the actual aroma of the whisky without breathing in so much alcohol. The other way, which was more about smelling the barley while it was malting (we did this with a 10-year-old Laphraiog) is to cover your glass with your hand, palm down, and shake the glass to get a bit of whisky on your palm. Then rub your hands together vigorously until you create heat and friction. Cup your hands to your nose and breathe. Try it.

The best part of WhiskyFest, however, was having the opportunity to taste things against each other (all different ages). Nowhere can you sample so many whiskies in one place and one night (without seriously falling flat on your face). So if you are at all interested in whisky, or know someone who is, you might consider going next year. I promise, it's worth it.