There was a run on the spirit stocks of Bowes pub last Thursday evening when forty or so whiskey buffs turned up to launch the Irish Whiskey Society. Michael Foggarty, honorary Irishman (like his compatriot, John Jameson) and tireless whiskey advocate, had brought us all there. He kicked off proceedings by telling us that the whole world was watching as we finally set right the national embarrassment of not having our own whiskey club.
There were plenty of faces familiar from tastings, and others who brought welcome expertise in the making and selling of whiskey. Much of the evening was spent getting to know those we hadn't met before, the conversation oiled by the generous gift of a couple of Tyrconnell finishes from Cooley.
An ad hoc committee was set up to pull together some of the paraphernalia that a society needs, like mailing lists, articles of association and proposals for membership fees. A shiny new online forum is in the works too so the membership can get cracking on generating ideas and dreaming about society bottlings.
Meetings of the Irish Whiskey Society will take place on the last Thursday of every month at 7pm. So on February 26th we should all be back in Bowes again for round two. If there are any updates in the meantime, I'll be sure to mention them here.
By the way, I was scooped by JC Skinner over here :-)
