T W E WHISKY SHOW GLASGOW, OLD & RARE 2017

[STUDOGG37]

TWE are coming to Glasgow in February 2017 with an Old & Rare Show.
Priced at £100 a ticket, included are £50 of tokens.

I'm a bit concerned with the ticket price and how much the drams will cost but quite keen to go as it seems like an opportunity to try some very rare drams, mmmh.
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[Mark]

I wish they would bring back the Whisky Magazines Whisky Live show to Glasgow

[Lennox]

I am not keen on this tokens system especially when they want £100 per ticket. They would have to reveal details of the exhibitors, the drams available and the cost of each dram.

[Lennox]

[jwbassman]

I fancy this show too, but have a feeling I'm busy that weekend. Hopefully I'll make the London show again next year

[James T]

I think they need to provide details of the token system, pricing, drams available etc as £50 of tokens for a £100 entry ticket does not sound too good to me and it could be £10 plus per dram and besides I don't like London based The Whisky Exchange who in my opinion have played a major part and still do, in the prices we pay for our whisky today

[Charlie]

I had a look at TWE's The Whisky Show website, there still a lack of information about exhibitors and how this token system will work and what your £50 of tokens from a £100 ticket will actually get you. When I say "lack" I mean there is no information.

[Lenton]

I see that the TWEs Whisky Show website has listed 5 exibitors and a list of whiskies which they will have to taste at the event in Glasgow:

Geert Bero
Apparently the world's foremost Ardbeg collector. He currently has 3 whiskies to taste non of which are Ardbeg.

Michiel Wigman
Apparently Michiel Wigman is a legend amongst rare whisky enthusiasts, supposedly known at festivals around Europe. Currently lists 6 whiskies to taste.

Signatory Vintage
The independent bottler. They currently have no whiskies listed.

The Auld Alliance
The Auld Alliance is apparently a whisky bar in the RendezVous Hotel in Singapore. They currently list 6 whiskies to taste

The Whisky Exchange
The London based whisky shop who run the Whisky Show. They currently list 7 whiskies to taste.

Whisky.Auction
Appears to be a whisky auction owned by the folks at The Whisky Exchange- They currently list 5 whiskies to taste.

Still absolutely no mention of what you will pay to taste each whisky or what size of measure you will get.

[dramblersanonymous]

If it is anything like the London show the measures are 10ml and pretty sensibly priced. The ticket usually includes a glencairn glass, a 2 course dinner and lots of dreadful whisky chat.

I'm thinking about going too...

[Brummie]

It doesn't look like it will be like the London show, it looks like the individual distilleries will not be exhibiting and the exhibitors have been brought in by The Whisky Exchange to promote and sell TWEs old and rare stock. They do really have to provide details of how it will work, what will be available to taste and what you will get for your £50 of tokens which cost you £100 before I would consider buying a ticket and booking a flight and hotel.

[Jonny McM]

Hi everyone.

I'm Jonny, one of the organisers of the event in question. Just thought I would address a few of the points raised above.

The show is designed to be very different from other UK festivals. It is intended to be a celebration of old style distillate - some of the best spirits ever created. The exhibitors are all drawn from independent auctioneers, bars, bottlers and collectors - it is meant to be representative of the independent world of whisky. It is certainly not intended purely as a means to help The Whisky Exchange sell their old stocks or help brands promote new products.

For the ticket price of £100 you get £50 of vouchers to spend on drams at the various stands and a glass. The drams size will be in measures of 1cl or multiples thereof. You will also be able to purchase samples to take away at the discretion of the individual exhibitors. The prices of the drams will vary greatly. From around £1 - £5 for an old blend or standard malt from the 1970s-80s. To between £50-100 for some of the rarest old bottlings - many of which will be once in a lifetime tasting opportunities such as an 1894 Orkney single malt or a Laphroaig 14 year old bottled in 1953. Just to name two of many stunning examples which will be available.

You will be able to buy more tokens or pay for drams directly with cash whichever you prefer.

There will be show exclusive bottlings available to purchase as well.

We are not planning to publish full dram lists for each exhibitor. As much as we would like to do this many of the exhibitors will not know their exact list until nearer the show date. As each exhibitor is announced on the website (the full list will be ready by the end of the year) a short selection of their highlight bottlings will also be announced.

Further information to announce will include show bottlings and full masterclass details, there will be four masterclasses in total at the show. As we get more info it will be added to the site.

It is not an event geared around naked profiteering or promotion. It is designed as a celebration of some of the rarest and most wonderful whiskies ever made. Think of it as the worlds greatest whisky bar for one weekend only. We have endeavoured to ensure drams are priced fairly so that people can taste as many of these special whiskies as possible. In traditional retail, bar and auction environments these whiskies would be far too expensive for most. We have tried with this show to make them more accessible for all attendees.

Really hope you can all make it along. There will be some mind-blowing drams...

[Islay Pete]

I have to say I have looked at the set up of this event and to me the exhibitors look like no more than a front for The Whisky Exchange and their stock of old whiskies which perhaps they are struggling to sell now as most folks go to an auction if they want to taste a standard Scotch single malt bottled in the 70's or 80's rather than pay the prices you find at The Whisky Exchange.

Sounds like a £50 entry fee into a bar where they will be selling small samples of whisky which you wont know the price of until you attend the event. I am sure there will be some very nice whiskies available but how about revealing a price list, if they can list the whiskies available surely they can list the prices of each whisky listed, what they got to hide.

[James T]

The reality of this set up is your first £50 of vouchers actually cost £100, so whatever prices the whiskies will be you can double it.

[Drover]

[Jonny McM]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the comments... I'm a big fan of cynicism too and I agree it's good to look objectively at new ideas in the whisky industry.

1) I agree on the pricing, and in January we're hoping to have as many drams priced as possible on the website. Our next mailout will give a pricing tier guide, but most of our exhibitors are in the trade, and this is a busy time of year so getting them to send across pricing is proving tricky.

Perhaps a good way to think about pricing is that the vast majority of bottles at the show will have been bought on the secondary market so think of the price of these bottles at auction, add a standard margin then divide by 70 (10ml measures to allow for more sampling at cheaper prices). i.e. a dram at £2 might cost £100/120 at auction, a dram at £10 might cost £500/600 at auction, a dram at £100 might cost £4000/5000 at auction – this is just a guide.

I'll personally be putting in two bottles from my collection;

i) A Cadenheads 22yo 1957 Highland Park; similar to the one below, it'll be £14 per 10ml https://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/auctions/97_the-59th-auction/92974_cadenheads-1957-highland-park-23-years-old-75cl/

ii) 1967 SMWS Glen Garioch 32yo; I can't find an example of this selling at auction, but it'll be £14 for 10ml also

Here's a masterclass that features 6 drams, each glorious in their own right, for £120 presented by two of the best respected collectors in whisky;

https://whiskyshow.com/glasgow/what-s-on/masterclasses/6886/old-clynelish-vs-old-highland-park/

Personally I'd say that's all good value... if you want to taste all the 8 whiskies listed above by buying full bottles at auction you'd probably spend over £10,000, so I don't think £150 is a bad price.

2) Yes, we're charging £50 entry - there are costs for putting on a large show like this. The £50 you get back in tokens goes 100% to the exhibitors and we can't run this for free. Anyway all my 'charitable' work goes to co-organising www.dramboree.co.uk (which is not for profit).

3) The idea that this is sinister ploy by TWE to sell off old bottle stock that isn't shifting is a bit silly - we'll hopefully end up with c. 15 independent exhibitors and it seems a bit churlish not to offer bottles from TWE's collection to add to the line-up. TWE have an amazing, vast collection of vintage bottles and the idea that they've set up a new festival to sell 10 or 20 bottles at the same margin they'd make on the site doesn't make sense.

Serious guys, no one is trying to rip anyone off. Yes, it’s fairly expensive, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good value.