Tickets are now on sale for our April 16th tasting. Ralph Rooke, Brand Ambassador for Dalmore, will be moderating a tasting of 8 whiskies. We’ll be tasting 5 whiskies from Dalmore: The 12, 15 and 18 Year Old whiskies, the Cigar Malt and the King Alexander. We’ll also be tasting 2 whiskies from the Isle of Jura: Superstition and Prophecy. And finally we’ll be tasting the legendary Mackinlay’s Shackleton Rare Old Highland Malt. If you aren’t familiar with the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Endurance expedition and his recently discovered cache of whisky in Antarctica, it really is an epic story well documented in photos and an excellent documentary. (read more here).
It really will be a great night at our usual venue, Waterman Grille, and tickets are available for purchase for $30 at Bottles Fine Wine. Although we normally sell out quickly, I expect this tasting to sell out very quickly, both because of the great lineup of whiskies to be tasted, but also because WhiskyRI is growing each month.
We’ll be doing the usual raffle at the end of the night to help raise money for Operation Stand Down Rhode Island, dedicated to helping homeless veterans. in 2012 we raised $400 and so far in 2013 we’ve already raised $210
Thom,
Thanks for keeping us up to speed on these great opportunities. As someone who is aspiring to get into the distilled spirits blog scene, I find opportunities like your tastings to be a great chance to network. I stopped by Bottles a few days after you posted this announcement, but was disappointed to hear that tickets had sold out in only 24 hours. Might I suggest considering a change of venue for future tastings that would accommodate more guests? Or, if the amount of whisky to be procured is an issue, perhaps a ticket price change would help secure more? I am hesitant to offer the second option, since I am a whisky evangelist and want everyone to be able to access great whisky, but I’m just thinking outside the box. Either way, congrats on running a tasting that seems to be experiencing explosive growth and interest!
Respectfully,
J.R.Highley
J.R., thanks for watching the website and sorry that the tasting was sold out before you had a chance to get a ticket. A few ideas have been kicked around regarding meeting demand for tickets and such. As far as problems go though, rapid sell-outs are a good problem to have, but the challenge of course is trying to accommodate demand without losing those characteristics of the tastings that created the demand. I don’t have the answer yet, but I am thinking through some things.
Tickets for our May tasting will go on sale around the middle of April. I’ll make the announcements via a pre-announcement email to prior tasting attendees, then follow it up the next day with posts on Twitter, Facebook and on the website. Hopefully you’ll be able make the May or June tasting. Thanks again.