The Tasting Panel magazine

Dec 09

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54 / the tasting panel / december 2009 O ne rainy evening an hour south- east of Los Angeles, two Scots- men and an American descended on Rembrandt's bar and restaurant in Placentia, CA. There, the Scots—Alistair Longwell, Distillery Manager for Ardmore, and Simon Brooking, Master Ambassador for Laphroaig—donned their traditional kilts and sporrans, while the U.S.'s David Mays laid out bottles of Knob Creek fi lled with corn seeds. These three men are some of the preeminent experts on scotch and bourbon, respectively, and have gathered to educate an eager consumer audience about the differences between these brown spirits, as well as engage in a friendly—albeit rather competitive—Whisk(e)y Debate. As the room fi lled, Longwell and Brooking cheerfully turned up the volume on the bag- pipe music playing throughout the bar, while Mays (aka "the Whiskey Professor") com- manded, "Vote bourbon" during the mike check. All three men handed out branded swag to the crowd, hoping to sway them towards either team Scotland or team USA. Over the course of the next hour or so, Mays, Brooking and Longwell spoke to the benefi ts of their respective products, cover- ing a range of topics, from stimulating the economy, to health benefi ts, to heritage and packaging. Following a brief introduction to the history and heritage of scotch, Brooking landed the fi rst punch when he asked Mays, "We've been making whisky in Scotland for 700 years. You guys have been making it since . . . what, 1790? We still consider that a bit of a fad!" Mays and team bourbon quickly re- bounded when an audience member asked how this "distinctive product of the United States" can help stimulate a lagging Ameri- can economy. "Bourbon is the number one taxpayer in Kentucky," explained Mays, which seemed to satisfy the audience's inquiry. "We're stimulating the economy locally, as well, by totally and completely selling out of Knob Creek in Southern California!" continued Mays before Brook- ing could interject with his helpful solution: "Buy scotch!" As the debate waged on, it became clear that calling a victor in this battle would be The Great Debators When three of the biggest names in brown spirits gathered to debate the merits of scotch versus bourbon, things got a little intense. THE TASTING PANEL was on hand to bring you the best of by Rachel Burkons / photos by Elaine Chen-Fernandez Although a melee was avoided, passion ran high at the Great Whisk(e)y Debate, where Simon Brooking, David Mays and Alistair Longwell battled for supremacy

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