Give Scotch a chance

Thankfully, some whisky companies are now talking to bartenders and sommeliers in their own language. It’s another step in the right direction

NEXT WEEK in the neighbouring gallery Yoko Ono is going to allow people to snip off her clothes while she’s wearing them.  She can afford to.  It’s a recreation of a famous "piece" she created in the ‘60s when she was part of the Fluxus art movement which, as you know, was all to do with breaking down cultural boundaries – or maybe, in Yoko’s case, cutting through them.

I looked up the long white curve of the gallery that housed our installation and wondered what reaction George Grant would have if some confused punter attacked his kilt with a Stanley knife.

Something would probably have been broken, but I’m not so sure it would have been artistic barriers.  It had been a long day. 

A worthwhile one though. Parisbased La Maison du Whisky had managed to pull off a difficult feat: organise a whisky festival stuffed to the gills with industry heavy hitters, hold it in a fantastic modern art gallery next to the Seine and invite the sort of punters you dream about – serious, interested, a wide spread of ages, a large percentage of women.

It must have been the combination of the white walls and the thought of Yoko which brought "Imagine" to mind.  Initially I wished it hadn’t happened.  I hate that song, its twee platitudes, its vapid sentimentality.

"Imagine no possessions?" aye right John you millionaire fraud that you were.  Not that higher ideals aren’t worth thinking about.  It’s the small matter of carrying them out which separates the fantasist from the revolutionary.

Which kind of gets me to the point.  Imagine people start to understand whisky.  Go on. It’s easy if you try.  Really, really hard. 

The million dollar question in the world of whisky is how to get new, young [which means over 25s] drinkers into the category.  The answer could have come straight from a  Hollywood musical: "I’ve got it! Let’s put on a show!"

Whisky fairs are good news, but I wonder if all we are doing much of the time is just happily pouring free drams to the already converted whereas the real task is to reach out to the unconverted.  I say "we" because as soon as you start writing and teaching people about whisky you are part of the wider game.

"These events are worthwhile," said Bowmore’s Kenny Mackay to me the night after.  "But we shouldn’t be satisfied with the whisky fans. We’ve got to get those non-whisky drinkers on board, find new ways to talk to everyone." He’s bang right.

Equally, the world is awash with whisky fairs.  I could attend one or two every month. There’s a happy (often extremely happy) band of kilted Celts and Kentucky Colonels on the spirituous equivalent of Dylan’s neverending tour.

Like Dylan’s gigs some are worth going to, others aren’t. La Maison du Whisky’s event was one of the former.  There were roughly 1,000 buyers, press, sommeliers and bartenders at the trade session.

Part of this is down to a Gallic love of all things Scottish, though mostly it is down to the fact that Thierry Benitah has made La Maison a stylish, unpretentious, inclusive 21st century whisky shop.  That got me thinking as well.

Every year Whisky Magazine runs a similar, excellent festival in London. If you see one bartender you are lucky, if you see one buyer (other than Grant Ramage) you’re hallucinating.  No wonder it’s so difficult to get whisky front of mind in the UK if the trade appears to be so dismissive of what it perceives as a massmarket commodity.

Is it the trade’s fault? Let’s be honest here, Scotch firms have hardly been quick off the mark in attempting to get the lines of communication open between themselves and the bar trade, and where are the unconverted drinking? In bars.

Instead, the attitude which prevailed for many years was walk into the bar, show them the portfolio, slip a wad of cash into their back pocket, say bye-bye and chalk up another listing. Thankfully it is changing: First Drinks Brands, Chivas, Fior/Bowmore and Compass Box are all now talking to bartenders and sommeliers in their own language.

It’s another step in the right direction, but like whisky fairs or whisky magazines it is just a step.  If the world is to wake up to whisky, if the UK – and Scotland in particular – is to be proud of its own product then the industry needs to start being radical, take risks and to, finally, work together in a generic fashion.

You might say I’m a dreamer… am I the only one?