We asked Eugene, a certified whiskey connoisseur, “What would be your Whiskey 101 class for whiskey amateurs like us?” and he said, “Taste.” Sounds obvious right? It’s not.
Once we received our invite as Stylenerds to attend an exclusive media tasting by Glenmorangie, we were beyond ourselves with excitement. The excitement for some of us was because we had never been to Villa Rosa Kempinski, which is said to be a hotel for the elite class of individuals. For some of us, we were just excited because we had a nice Friday evening plan. ‘Enjoyment’ is that you? The event took place on Friday the 13th(December, 2019), a day that is deemed ‘the end of the world’ since the movie 2012came out. We did not fret it though. If the world really was ending, we would rather die holding a glass of scotch on the rocks. Falling with grace.
Arriving at roughly 5:30pm, our experience begun with the regular security search after which we were guided inside to the reception. Wow! Stepping foot into the building, we could feel that there was a different almost exotic type of vibe. The décor was minimal with a touch of luxury. Nothing short of what we expected. A nice lady from the reception asked for our names and then proceeded to guide us to the elevator saying the event was at The Balcony, located on the first floor. A few seconds later, we arrived.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a glorious view of The Balcony, a restaurant and bar, decorated in a gold theme. Dim lights, leather couches, ladies dressed in white standing at the entrance ready to receive us, we were in luxury heaven. One of the ladies, Maya, approached us, introduced herself letting us know she would be of service to us that evening, and that we could sit wherever we preferred. We chose to sit near the windows in order to catch a glimpse of the fading sunset, and to take good pictures, you know, for the gram!
Once we were settled, Maya gave us a short run down of the Glenmorangie whiskeys we would enjoy; The Glenmorangie Original is the Glenmorangie’s expression of their elegant, floral spirit and it is their real backbone. Matured over 10 years, it has a soft, mellow and creamy taste in texture. It is perfect for any sitting. Secondly, The Lasanta is a smooth whiskey with a caramel aroma, aged in American oak ex-bourbon casks for its smoothness. The Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban is the darkest and most intense of their whiskeys in terms of maturity. Matured over 12 years, it has a smooth, crisp, cooling texture with a dark mint chocolate aroma. This one was definitely intriguing. Last but not least, the Nectar d’Or. A special reserve whiskey, it has a mellow and fruity taste with a silky texture. Smooth and intense, perfect for a celebration, we think. We decided to start with the latter.
As we enjoyed our drinks, we met this one guy, Eugene, who is apparently a whiskey (and rum) connoisseur who has travelled around the world, notably to South Africa and France, tasting and reviewing different drinks of the world. He complained a bit how much the Kenyan whiskey space is all about the hype instead of the art that comes with crafting drinks. Apparently, Kenyans drink to ‘die’ not to appreciate a good whiskey. We bet you knew that already. As our banter continued, two gentlemen joined us at our table, one of them being Hamish Torrie, Glenmorangie’s Director of Corporate Responsibility. It was clear this Eugene guy was legitimately a whiskey guy because he literally drew the host to the table. Impressive, right?
Mr. Torrie picked up the conversation, telling us a bit about Glenmorangie. According to him, the goal of Glenmorangie is to become a household name all around the world, not by how much money they make, but by being the go-to whiskey during parties, kickbacks or chill end-of-day sundowners. At this point, we were ready for our second round of drinks, and of course we had to go for the Quinta Ruban. How could we not!
As we got our drinks, we quickly began to realize that this was not your ordinary launch. Despite the growing number of guests, nothing had been said by the hosts themselves. What we mean by this, is that there was no structure. Rather than impose a programme on the guests, the hosts, with the help of African Elite PR, decide that individuals would come at their own pleasure, have a chance to interact with each other over drinks and banter, have a few bites here and there and then leave at their own pleasure. Interesting, right?
Rather than return to Eugene’s table, we decided to walk around and interact with people we were familiar with and possibly make new friends, which we did. We had a chance to speak to Antoinne Chidi Bbayaga, a tall dark gentleman, who is the Glenmorangie brand ambassador for East Africa. He was kind enough to exchange a few words with us, amidst the high demand for his attention from many of the guests. He said that the reason Glenmorangie decided to bring their whiskey to Kenya is because our country is filled with culture and positive vibes, and of course, an exquisite taste for the finer things in life. Despite our corruption and other small embarrassing situations, at least there is a positive light on us. As earlier stated, Antoinne was on high demand therefore we had to part ways after this.
The rest of evening was spent conversing with friends, new and old, over great music from the DJ, who clearly loves Bruno Mars too much. At around 8:30pm, a bit tipsy but fulfilled, we decided to call it a night and headed home. The lack of structure made the event a fulfilling one and non-restraining at that.
All in all, one thing you should take from all this is: When it comes to whiskey, taste is key!
— Written By Tony Ngige, Stylenerds Journal.
