Whisky, women, and throngs

Cocktail maven Jonathan Beckhardt reports, tipsily, on last month's First Annual San Francisco Whiskyfest

A ballroom full of whiskies has done little to excite my pen over the course of the last week. I get jazzed up for these type of events, but am always let down when I remember, for example, that Whiskyfest is not so much a fest as it is a trade show.

Ready to whisky you away!

Walking from booth to booth, learning about new whiskies, meeting brand "ambassadors," it's like the first day of camp -- before every one's parents have left. You go around, meet the other kids, get an idea for what they are like. But you can't have any fun with them. At Whiskyfest you stroll around to the whiskies, but just get an idea for what each whisky is about. My notes are full of whiskies I enjoyed and were interesting. But I didn't leave with a fondness for any the way that I would after a special moment with one of them in a bar.

Of course, perhaps it's supposed be a sober, getting-to-know-you affair. To me, though, that doesn't celebrate anything about whisky more than its flavor. On Saturday, November 17, the Endup is hosting a "Beerfest" -- "modeled after the movie of the same name." Teams compete in various drinking games like Beirut and Flip Cup, and of course, a straight drinking competition. This is not so much my thing, but it's hard to deny that this event celebrates beer more than Whiskyfest celebrates whisky. Sure Whiskyfest has guys walking around in kilts, and holding 110-year old snifters. But hopefully someday there will be a whisky fest, that can capture on a ballroom-level the fun that surrounds whisky-drinking in more ordinary settings.

Until then, of course, I look forward to next year's Whiskeyfest. Free whisky, and a chance to see the Crown Royale girls again.

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