Many of you have asked why things have been so quiet lately.
It’s not so much that things have been quiet – as much as I’ve been focusing primarily on private tastings for several reasons. One big reason is that they are simpler to arrange. The logistics in arranging a public tasting are complex and take time to arrange and manage. A private tasting is also simpler partially because there are usually 8-10 attendees and they provide the tasting space, and often the catering as well. I really like the feeling of intimacy when everyone is crowded around the dining room table, rubbing shoulders – the
I really enjoy being invited into someone’s home and sharing my whisky with them. Whisky always tastes better when you share it with others.
A second reason is I really enjoy the scale and dialogue at a small tasting – when there are 6 or 8 people around a table, the tasting turns into a real conversation with back and forth across the table allowing everyone to participate. Something that is hard, or frankly almost impossible, to achieve when you have 20 or 30 people in a room.
Another thing I’ve been focusing on more lately is charity tastings – donating a tasting to organizations I support allows me to share my whisky with people who support charities and non-profits that I also support. A true win-win.
In the 5 years since WhiskyRI was founded we’ve directly donated over $2,500 (in actual cash from the tasting raffles) to Operation Stand Down Rhode Island and helped other organizations like Reach Out and Read, the United Way, BayView Academy and the Southside Community Land Trust raise over $10,000 through donated tastings. I’m really proud of that and consider myself incredibly lucky to be in a position to help people while having fun doing it.
Of course I’ll still hold public tastings, just less often. Sláinte. -t