Rarest whiskey in the world comes to Wexford
A WHISKEY that is so rare worldwide even millionaires can’t get their hands on it was recently served up in a wellknown Wexford pub.
In the USA, fans of Pappy Van Winkle camp out in front of off-licences for days and pay hundreds of dollars to charity raffles for the chance of winning a bottle.
With demand far exceeding supply, the Pappy Van Winkle range of premium bourbons has become one of the hardest whiskey to get your hands on.
So it was something of a coup when Johnny Barron, owner of the Sky and the Ground in South Main Street held a whiskey tasting evening that included not just several whiskeys from the Buffalo Trace Distillery’s Antique Collection but two of the most sought after bottles of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon.
Like the Irish whiskey industry which is currently experiencing unprecedented growth, the American bourbon industry has also experienced worldwide interest in its spirits over the past five to 10 years.
The Sky and the Ground event was organised by Johnny Barron and well known local whiskey connoisseur, Willie Murphy who together run the South East Spirits Guide, a local whiskey interest group which organises monthly whiskey tasting events where enthusiasts, including experienced and novice members, get an opportunity to sample whiskeys from around the world that they would otherwise never have an opportunity to taste.
‘We try to give our members an enjoyable, educational and very sociable evening with like-minded individuals where they get to experience a variety of quality whiskeys’, said Johnny.
‘We are gaining quite a reputation for having one of the best whiskey collections outside of Dublin. We have a quality selection of not just Irish whiskeys but also Scotch, Japanese and American whiskeys’, he said
‘It is this growing reputation that en- abled us to entice Hi- Spirits Ireland, the distributors of the Buffalo Trace Brands in Ireland, to come to Wexford for this extremely rare Pappy Van Winkle tasting event’, said Willie.
‘Ian Doogue and George Roberts, the Hi-Spirits reps pulled out all the stops to get us this very rare whiskey tasting and we are extremely grateful to them for the opportunity to provide our group members with such a rare whiskey event’, he said. The South East Spirits Guide advertise events on social media such as Twitter and The Sky and The Ground’s Facebook page. Everyone is welcome to attend. The group will be running more whiskey events in the near future and some special tastings are lined up again for this year’s Wexford Food Festival weekend.