Whisky Classified at the Quaich Society

Whisky Classified was presented at the University of St. Andrews Quaich Society in Lower Parliament Hall, St. Andrews on 10th October 2002.  This ancient room in St. Mary's College dates from the 16th century, and is so-named because the Scottish Parliament met here in 1645.  It is also the home of the University of St. Andrews Union Debating Society, founded in 1794 and thus the oldest student debating society in the world.

Around 65 members of the Quaich Society turned up for our Whisky Classified seminar and tasting.  As the photo shows, Lower Parliament Hall was full with, regrettably, some late-comers having to be turned away.  Our tasting included samples of Aberlour, Auchentoshan, The Dalmore, Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie and Laphroaig, which were all kindly donated by their respective producers.  The tablemat we used for the samples, which includes profiled tasting notes, is reproduced below.  To obtain a copy of this in Word format, click here

As is the custom at the Quaich Society, a raffle was held for charity.  Ours was slightly different from the normal raffle - we gave away two bottles of fine malt whisky, reflecting two of the malts used in the tasting.  Chivas Bros generously sent us a bottle of Aberlour 15 y.o. sherry cask; and HRH The Prince of Wales donated a bottle of his own vintage edition of Laphroaig - Highgrove 1991.  This was won by Matthew Russell (pictured right), which David Wishart presented together with a copy of Whisky Classified and a letter from Prince Charles's secretary.

Naturally the raffle generated much interest, and around £200 was raised for the Quaich Society's charity - WaterAid "Water for life".  In our opinion it's really appropriate to link the " water of life" (our national drink) with "water for life", which is dedicated exclusively to providing safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene for the world's poorest people.  To visit the WaterAid's website and make your own contribution, click here.

Thanks go to the Quaich Society for a wonderful evening presenting and tasting some of our finest Scotch malt whiskies in the company of some very nice people!