Whisky Live Paris 2007 Review
A Collector Vintage
A prestigious gathering indeed: 50 old bottles or very limited releases including blends, single malts and a few bourbons. The oldest was a blend, a Ballantine’s bottled in 1935. One of the most acclaimed drams was the Classic Balvenie 18yo, in an original long neck bottle, reminding of an old armagnac flask. The Laphroaig 10yo dating from the seventies and the Ardbeg 10yo (white label) from the same period were commented by many as exceptional drams. Once again, Balblair greatly impressed with a 38yo bottling, quite recent but already sold out. Glenfiddich stand offered a large selection of old bottlings of the standard version, including the very first one, released in the sixties. Hans-Henrik Hansen, the well-known Danish Glenfiddich expert, had joined William Grant’s marketing team to comment these oldies. And a special tasting was hosted on Thursday night for the aficionados. They must have been aware of that as the event welcomed 2 500 visitors in three days. Whisky Magazine French Edition had also focused its last issue on the “Collector” theme and so had La Maison du Whisky in its annual catalogue. But Whisky Live is also the event that the brands choose to unveil their “new collection”. The opportunity for Whisky Magazine readers to taste the new Glenmorangie range or some of Diageo Special Releases. John Glaser’s new creation, Hedonism Maximus (a blend between two grain whiskies, respectively 28yo and 42yo) was presented for the first time at Whisky Live Paris and received a unanimous applause. There was also a “Whisky Live off” event with several evenings, starting on the Thursday which made Paris the Capital of whisky for a long week-end. Focusing on wine finishes, a special tasting was hosted in a prestigious Parisian wine cellar, Ampelos, on Thursday 21st, On the menu, were Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or (Sauternes wine finish) and the new Benriach Moscatel and Tokay finishes. Whisky aficionados had to make a difficult choice as they were also offered another fantastic tasting : a selection of five drams from the Glenfarclas Family Casks. All sherry bottlings but very different. The 1955 cask will long be remembered!
Saturday night was dedicated to malt and food combination with two tantalizing events. A cooking session held in Paris most trendy cooking school, L’Atelier des chefs, gave the participants a lively demonstration of how to nibble with the Classic Malts range. The “students” scattered from stand to stand to prepare 12 mouthwatering “bouchées”, each time matching one savoury and one sweet tapa with a Classic Malt. The “tartare de daurade à la pomme verte et à la mangue (raw white fish with granny smith apple and mango) combined with Oban was one of the highlights. One could also learn to prepare a tuna and salmon maki, to be served with Talisker. In Paris “Far East” (13th district), Jean-Michel Noel, a talented chef (and whisky enthusiast) had created a four courses menu around Compass Box John Glaser’s range. A superb “exercice de style” which married marinated sardine and crispy tomato with Eleuthera or Oak Cross followed by a truffle and haddock shepherd pie with Spice Tree. A fresh goat cheese as a carpaccio brushed with olive oil and pistaccio was associated with The Peat Monster or Flaming Heart and the apotheosis came with a blancmange with Hedonism (the perfect dram) or Orangerie. But that was not all for Saturday. When talking of pairing, cigar and whisky is a classic one, which was not forgotten at Whisky Live. A tasting around a small selection of rare bottles (Glenmorangie 25yo and Laphroaig 1980) and a Cohiba Madura 5 limited edition 2007 offered the participants some great marriages made in heavens ! Last but not least, another tasting session was dedicated to the Oldies with a prestigious tasting of some of the rarest bottles of Giuseppe Begnoni, including Clynelish 5yo extra light (bottled in the earlies 70’s), Glendronach 8yo 45.4% and Caol Ila 15yo (the golden flagon decanter). An exclusive moment of enjoyment for a few dozens of happy few. Whisky Live Paris 2007 was certainly a great Collector Vintage. Martine Nouet Coming Soon
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Will the fourth edition of Whisky Live Paris become a «collector» for many a visitor? It might well be as seldom has a same venue welcomed such a prestigious gathering of rare (and dear!) drams. 
The venue matched the theme as Whisky Live Paris was held in the superb salons of Christie’s, the famous British auction house. One may wonder what heights some of these bottles would have reached, had they been auctioned instead of being enjoyed. The pleasure the visitors took is certainly one of the best dividends a whisky lover can expect from a collection!
On Friday night, there was another event to compete with Whisky Live : the rugby world cup match France-Ireland. What better support to both team than a perfect chaser, a Bushmills in one hand and a pint of Guinness in the other, alongside with a pronostic game? 150 whisky and sport addicts toasted the two competitors in the most friendly and celtic atmosphere while watching the match on a huge screen. 
