Vancouver is a great town for whisky lovers; we’re lucky to have quite a few great events over the year (mostly in the winter months). For now, though, Vancouver Island holds the title for BC’s best malt event – the Victoria Whisky Festival. A four-day program encompassing dinners, masterclasses and of course the Grand Tasting hall, it receives a lot of support from distilleries and independent bottlers. It’s possible to taste some seriously good stuff here.
After last year’s close call when it came to getting tickets, I made sure to reserve them nice and early for the 2012 festival when they went on sale in November last year. Despite calling the ticket line the minute it opened, it was several hours before we got a call back and by then many of the packages had sold out. However my wife (my whisky partner-in-crime) managed to score some great events and as the day rolled around we couldn’t wait to get started.
After a somewhat damp ferry ride, the first event of the weekend on Friday night was one of the big ones – the Amrut Grand Tasting hosted by Ashok Chokalingham, brand ambassador for the distillery. Ashok is a great host and had some really excellent whisky to share.
The line-up for the evening