In June, The Whisky Shop hosted a number of Balblair tastings across our UK stores. The roadshow was a huge success – we received wonderful feedback from attendees and staff alike! The Whisky Shop’s National Retail Manager, Darren Leitch, who attended some of the tastings cited the diversity of Balblair as a major factor in the roadshow’s success. “Balblair has a good spread of ages and when you taste them all side by side, you get to taste the differences,” he said. The show gave attendees the opportunity to taste new make spirit from Balblair, as well as the distillery’s age statements bottles and The W Club exclusive expression. On top of this, if attendees purchased a bottle of Balblair on the night, they were entered into a prize draw to win the entire core Balblair collection. Our lucky winner, Madan, attended the event at our Paternoster store on 14th June. As a member of our W Club, Madan has been attending in-store events for over a decade. However, the Balblair Roadshow was the first in-store event hosted by Paternoster following the COVID-19 pandemic. We had a wonderful chat with him about his experience. Fran: What is it about Balblair as a brand that you particularly enjoy? Madan: Balblair was one of the first few single malts I started tasting and getting familiar with. At that time, there was a vintage selection which I really loved. Everything from aesthetics right down to opening it and having a taste won me over. It’s a very interesting, intriguing, and fabulously done single malt. Fran: What is your favourite of Balblair’s age statement drams? Madan: I like the 15-year-old and the 18-year-old. At your tasting, I tried the 25-year-old which is really fabulous. Fran: How did you feel when you found out you had won the prize bottles? Madan: I was shocked. It took me a few minutes to read it over again to realise I had actually won the competition. On the night, I bought a bottle of The Whisky Shop cask but I didn’t buy the 25-year-old so I’m really thrilled that I can also now leisurely taste the 25-year-old because it’s so fabulous. Fran: What has your experience with The W Club been like? Madan: I joined many years ago. I joined Paternoster initially and moved between Paternoster and Piccadilly. I really enjoyed coming into the store, talking to the managers and the staff, and then coming in for the different tastings. Then COVID came in and everything kind of stopped. The Balblair tasting came after this small pause. The roadshow was very nice – it was good to meet Andy and Gavin. It was quite exciting! Fran: What brands would you like to see at upcoming tastings? Madan: The Balvenie, Glenfarclas, The Macallan, GlenAllachie, and Craigellachie! Congratulations to Madan! If you’re keen to try out some of the Balblair collection yourself, you can browse our range here today.