Inside the world of whisky clubs
“It’s frustrating. Whisky is a delicious drink that anyone can enjoy,” says hospitality consultant Pooja Vir who along with Carissa Hickling founded ‘The Whisky Ladies of Mumbai’, a women’s whisky club. Julia Ritz Toffoli’s Women Who Whiskey club which launched in 2011 has over 10,000 women whisky drinkers with 25 chapters around the globe.
Most of the clubs have no membership fee and rely primarily on existing members to recommend new members. In most cities, tasting events take place at people’s homes, bars, restaurants, distilleries, or even whisky brands’ offices.
TASTINGS GO VIRTUAL
The pandemic has put a stop to most in-person social gatherings for now, but whisky clubs are still finding ways to come together around their favourite spirit.
Informal tastings are now held via Zoom with members receiving small bottles of the whisky beforehand. “We generally hold 3-4 tastings a month. Fun events like blind tastings, whisky and chocolate pairing, whisky and dessert pairing, etc help to keep the fun alive at these meets,” says Sharma. The opportunity to get together (virtually) to share drams is a way for the members to maintain some of the normalcy of life that they don't experience otherwise.
Most of the clubs have no membership fee and rely primarily on existing members to recommend new members. In most cities, tasting events take place at people’s homes, bars, restaurants, distilleries, or even whisky brands’ offices.