A true snowy Paradise is one with Pappy close at hand.

Looking out over the new snow, Rhode Island is now a winter paradise – albeit one without bread and milk by the look of the stores  – I thought I’d take a moment to look back  on 2013.

It was a big year for WhiskyRI, 2013 was the first full year we’ve been doing our tastings and I’ve pulled together some key factoids about the year.

• $1,030.00 – Our post tasting raffles raised $1,030.00 for Operation Stand Down Rhode Island – benefitting homeless Veterans – with your generous donations. This brings our total raised to date to $1,430.00. We’ll work hard to make 2014 even better.
• 160 People – We had 160 different people come to our tastings in 2013. I’m incredibly thankful to everyone who came to our tastings in 2013. Some data –  71% of people came to a single tasting and 29% came to two or more tastings. This is an increase over 2012 which had 62 people attending tastings – 79% of them attending a single tasting and 21% attending 2 or more tastings.
  

  This was not one of the 99 whiskies, maybe it’ll be the 100th?

• 99 Whiskies –  We tasted our 99th whisky since WhiskyRI began in August of 2012. Our very first whisky was the Auchentoshan 12 Year Old and our 99th whisky was The Balvenie 21 Year Old PortWood. Therefore the first Whisky of 2014 will be our 100th whisky. I’m working hard to ensure that our 100th whisky is as special and memorable as it should be.
• 72 Whiskies in 2013 – give or take, sometimes things get a bit hazy after tasting a few whiskies. We started the year off with the Benromach Traditional working our way through Scotland, visiting some world whiskies, checking out some American distillers, heading up North for some Canadian Whiskies, having a bit of Islay whisky,  finally having some  bourbons, ryes and finishing up the year with 5 different expressions from The Balvenie.
• 37 Brands – We tasted whiskies from 37 different brands and 32 different distillers. We even tasted 7 different rums illustrating different styles and stills. I know whisky is our focus, but sometimes you want something a little different and after all, rum is pretty tasty.
• 15 Brand Ambassadors and Moderators  – I want to specifically thank the people and they brands they work for who were vital to making our tastings possible. Each and everyone of you helped make 2013 a great year for WhiskyRI.
  • Chris Riesbeck – Gordon and MacPhail
  • Jay Scenti – Campari America
  • Ralph Rooke – Dalmore
  • Raj Sabharwal – Purple Valley Imports
  • Chris Weld, founder and distiller of Berkshire Mountain; Herman Mihalich, founder and distiller of Dad’s Hat Rye;  and Daniel Khan, Brand Steward of WhistlePig
  • Brent Ryan – Thomas Tew Rum
  • Davin De Kergommeaux – Canadian Whiskey
  • Simon Brooking – Laphroaig
  • Jobie Smith – Buffalo Trace
  • Malt Impostor – with the entire Malt Impostor team of Jon, Steve and Bill
  • David Laird – The Balvenie
• 11 Events – After taking January off to give everyone’s whisky budgets time to recover, we had a tasting each month from February to December. We sold out every whisky tasting and had a dedicated and appreciate audience at our Rum tasting.
• 2 venues – we did 10 of our 11 events at Waterman Grille. They really work hard to accommodate us and we are very appreciative of their support, hopefully it will continue in 2014. If you need a venue for a private event – you’d be hard pressed to find a more attractive in Providence. In December we also tried out a new venue, Ri Ra Providence – very helpful staff.
• 1 Retail Partner – Big thanks go to our retail partner – Bottles Fine Wine – they’ve been a pleasure to work with and I look forward to continuing to work with them in 2014.
• Lots of Prizes – it was a good year for our raffle prizes. Please forgive the lack of detail but I lost count of how many bottles of whisky and whisky-related books and ephemera we gave away this year – it was a lot. I do know however that we gave away 12 copies of the Whisky Advocate. The Whisky Advocate has been a reliable supporter donating the magazine for us to give away each and every month.

Looking forward my hope is 2014 will be even better – we’ll try some new ambitious events like an Irish Whisky Dinner, another author tasting and book event, maybe a field trip to an active whisky distillery (unfortunately not one in Scotland, we’ll stay right here in Rhode Island) plus a few other surprises. We’ll keep raising money for Operation Stand Down RI and we’ll keep having fun.

Ideas, suggestions and wishes for WhiskyRI are always welcome and actively sought. Sláinte -t