whisky talk

Glad that's over. I was one of the two presenters for this fall's St. Andrew's whisky tasting. The theme was silent stills (distilleries that have closed). They only just added me to the team, but this theme was my idea. Since I'm the history guy, it was up to me to give the talk. I talked history, and Larry talked tasting. My dad stood up occasionally, when he had something to add.

So I've been doing research all last week, and some of this past weekend. Tons of research. Of course, I didn't give quite as much info as were on my notes, but I think that's for the better. There was one part I messed up, where my notes were inadequate. It was a little embarrassing, but it turned out well overall.

Up until now, Larry and my dad have just mostly talked about the whisky. Since there was so much interesting history involved with the silent stills, that was the main theme. Everyone was really interested in this aspect. I talked about the history downturns in the whisky industry (1899, the 1920's and the early 1980's), and some of the reasons for the decisions of which distilleries to close. I think I kept it not too dry, and worked a little humor into it. And Larry and I alternated between my history and his tasting discussion, so that helped to keep things from bogging down for too long on one subject.

I think this raises the bar for next time.

silent stills

For those who may be interested in my whisky presentation, here are my speaking notes, slightly altered. I didn't actually tell the crowd everything written here, and I added a few things.


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