Some time in 2016, after several negronis at East London Liquor Company with the owner Alex Wolpert, I confessed to him that I would always choose scotch whisky over bourbon, and that I was relatively unfamiliar with America’s favourite liquor. Pointing up at their extensive selection, he proclaimed, “YOU WILL LOVE BOURBON!”, and we proceeded to work our way through a few of his favourites. Sadly, for some unknown reason, my recollection of that night is a little fuzzy.
Twelve months on, we decided to do something a little more memorable, and the You Will Love Bourbon event was born, masterminded by Ash at ELLC. Teaming up with Lewis from Merchant House, and the two Eds from the British Bourbon Society, we put together a ridiculous line-up of “juice” and invited the public to join us at Merchant House of Fleet Street for a welcome cocktail and multiple samples of the hard stuff for only £10. TEN POUNDS. Ridiculous. Anyway, needless to say, it sold out before you could say Pappy Van Winkle and good times were had. As you can see below, we were spoiled by the likes of Noah’s Mill (my new favourite), King’s County Distillery, Blanton’s, Few Spirits, Four Roses Single Barrel, Sonoma County Distilling and more. The bad news: it was a one-off event. The good news: we’ve got our eyes on rye next. Who’s coming?
Huge thanks to photographer Ian Sargent for taking the camera off my hands for an evening!
