Sandton gears up for whiskey festival

Whisky lovers, connoisseurs and new-to-whisky consumers are in for a great night out in exceptional whisky company.

This year the festival has a world-class line up of global whisky experts who will grace our shores for the three days of the festival.

Dave Broom, the official whisky ambassador to the festival was recently awarded the Whisky Communicator of the Year. His knowledge, his ability to break down barriers to entry and his secret stash of new to SA whiskies, not to mention his resemblance to Johnny Depp, make him a sought out whisky companion at any whisky festival.

Other guests in the know include Highland Park’s Gerry Tosh; master Blender of Kavalan, Ian Chang; Ian MacMillan (an ardent Cheetahs fan) and Ian Logan (Scotland).

Not only will visitors get the opportunity to engage with these whisky legends at their respective stands, but they will also be hosting short and informal mini-tastings in the Tasting Hall, as well as more in-depth and interactive hour long workshops upstairs in the Sandton Convention Centre Committee Rooms.

The festival will also see a number of new and interesting features this year. This year, Brandhouse, who lead the whisky category in SA, have created a unique “Whisky Sensorium” and will be interactively transporting whisky consumers through the vast breadth of whiskies and their flavours.

Whisky isn’t complicated, it just needs to be explained in the right way. The Brandhouse Whisky Sensorium will help you choose whisky based on its flavour at a price that is suitable for your pocket and comparing it to ones you may already be familiar with.

A number of well-known whicky distillers will be in attendance. Among these is Jack Daniels, who will honour its world famous friendship with the legendary Frank Sinatra with their bold, smooth and classic Sinatra Select.

Jack Daniel’s 7th Master Distiller has selected a number of specially crafted barrels, which are maturing a bold Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey.

These “Sinatra barrels” were crafted to provide full character and a rich amber colour by exposing extra layers of toasted wood on the inner surface of the barrels. These extra rich barrels are mingled with Jack Daniel’s classic Tennessee Whiskey to provide fuller character of oak and spice notes that give way to an exceedingly smooth vanilla finish.

The Sandton FNB Whisky Live Festival is a world class event aided by the fact that whisky is perceived as a sexy, sophisticated and aspirational drink. The calibre of the whisky stands is exceptional.

The consumer engagement is insightful and highly informative and the range of whiskies is superb with a good mix of blends for the novice, and single malts for the more discerning.