Houston Whiskey Social

[TexLaw]

Is there anyone else going to the Houston Whiskey Social this Saturday?

A good friend of mine invited me to go to the first one, and I've only missed one since. While it's more expensive than it used to be, it's still a great way to sample a whole bunch of different whiskies without reaching too far into your pocket. With a little luck and a close eye, you also might get to try a few very limited, very expensive whiskies (such as Black Art).

I'm not affiliated, mind you. I'm just a fan, and I know we have other Houston area folks around here.

 

[TexLaw]

Well, folks, I would have loved to come here and tell everyone that you missed out on a great time. While we did enjoy ourselves and are (in total) glad we went, we also were terribly disappointed. Overall, the quality was a good deal lower than past years. We've watched the quality drop from year to year, but this year really went off a cliff.

The number of vendors still was relatively high, but number of quality vendors was low. You have some good stuff out there, but we really had to sift through a lot of chaff to find it. I've never dumped so much whiskey at one of these things. A lot of the bourbons and "American whiskey" was just bad--thin, astringent, flat, dull, solventy, or any combination of any or all of those.

On top of that, the crowd was somewhat atrocious at times (both in number and character), and the "VIP" early entry was pretty much shoulder-to-shoulder within minutes of opening. The food provided used to be quite excellent--good meats, cheeses, substantial salads, and a few hot offerings. This year you might have thought you were at a school cafeteria--a dry pulled pork slider, cold and bland roasted potatoes, a Sysco fried chicken strip, and bland macaroni & cheese. I wish I were kidding about that.

Now, we did discover a few notable, new, excellent offerings. For Scotch, I finally got to try Glen Scotia and Loch Lomond (Campbeltown), and I was glad for it. Great stuff, that. For bourbons, the clear winner was McTavish, a new offering from an outfit that includes Graham McTavish (of Outlander and The Hobbit). I fully expected McTavish whiskey to be more novelty than anything else, but their rye was quite good, and that bourbon was out of sight. Mr McTavish also was there, and he was a great guy to talk to!

I really did mean it that we are glad that we went, but we likely have gone to our last one.

 

[jesseix]

That’s a bummer to hear. It does seem like a lot of festival-type of events have gone downhill in the last handful of years.

 

[TexLaw]

Yeah, it's a shame. While things were going downhill in a way, it's more like the average quality was going down. There still was a lot of good stuff out there. This year, it really felt like having to pan for gold--go through a good number of middling, subpar or downright bad offerings to find something good or, at least, interesting. While there most certainly was good stuff out there, a lot of the quality labels were absent and were replaced with a bunch of folks trying to ride a wave.

 

[Doc4]

I'm guessing that the recent inflation is squeezing things and they can't do the same for the same price so trim a bit here and a bit there and hopefully nobody will notice too much.

"Hopefully".

The number of vendors still was relatively high, but number of quality vendors was low. You have some good stuff out there, but we really had to sift through a lot of chaff to find it.

Are they the same vendors from past years, or new vendors not living up to the ones they are replacing?

Are the returning vendors not bringing their best, or is their "best" not as good as it used to be?

 

[TexLaw]

Are they the same vendors from past years, or new vendors not living up to the ones they are replacing?

Are the returning vendors not bringing their best, or is their "best" not as good as it used to be?

A little bit of all that, really. There were lots of new vendors with just so-so products and new attempts at novel stuff that didn't really fly with me. Many of those who returned did not have their "good stuff" out (although some did). And, then, there were just a lot of the good ones missing altogether.

 

[BGSIMETO]

That’s a bummer to hear. It does seem like a lot of festival-type of events have gone downhill in the last handful of years.

The same regarding this kind of events in my corner of the globe - being wine, whisk(e)y or other spirits. Too many people, due to the growing popularity, which is not bad in general, but attracts more quantity than quality, if you get my point. The picture attached is from an event that took place last Sat, downloaded from the FB page of the organizer.