The Famous Grouse brings its Masters of the Famous Blend Master Class to Glasgow
Whisky-loving bartenders will be pleased to learn that The Famous Grouse Masters of the Famous Blend Master Class is coming to Glasgow on Wednesday, 8th March.
The session will take you through tasting of the family range, led by Master Blender Kirsteen Campbell, along with an in-depth session on maturation and barrels with Master of Wood, Stuart MacPherson.
Global Brand Ambassador, Lucy Whitehall, will also be on hand to talk about the history of the UK’s best selling whisky, and Mixxit’s David Miles will get behind the stick and lead the group through a practical, whisky cocktail-making session.
Last year, the team held a similar session in Leeds, which proved very popular. You can read about it here.
It is quite unusual to find a Master Blender, Master of Wood, and a Global Ambassador in the same place, at the same time (outside the distillery), so this is a great opportunity to ask any questions you have, not just about The Famous Grouse, but on whisky production and maturation in general. The Leeds session filled up quickly, so make sure you reserve your spot today.
When and Where
Venue: 29 Private Members Club, 29 Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow, G1 3AJ
Date: Wednesday 8th March
Time: 12.30pm – 3:00pm
Who: Master Blender Kirsteen Campbell, Master of Wood Stuart MacPherson, Global Brand Ambassador Lucy Whitehall and Master of Mixology David Miles
RSVP: Email tfgteam@bigpartnership.co.uk by Sunday 5th March
Whisky Cocktails with David Miles
David’s role in The Famous Grouse Masters of the Famous Blend masterclass is all about putting what you learn about production and history into practice, making drinks.
He will do this by taking inspiration from cocktail recipes dating all the way back to the early 20th Century, particularly those created during the Prohibition era. David sees Harry Craddock, known as ‘the dean of cocktail shakers’, as one of his biggest influences and even owns a first edition of his hugely popular book ‘The Savoy Cocktail Book’, published in 1930.
Craddock, born 1875 in Stroud, England, spent over 20 years in America working at different bars in New York and Chicago including the highly renowned and luxurious Knickerbocker Hotel.
Craddock is believed to have left America the very day after the Prohibition began in 1920 and with his charming American accent managed to land himself a top bartending role at the American Bar in London’s Savoy Hotel. Serving the likes of Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn and Charlie Chaplain, it was here he developed ‘The Savoy Cocktail Book’ with over 1,000 cocktail recipes, gaining international recognition as one of the world’s most prolific cocktail makers. His finest creations included the White Lady, the Corpse Reviver #2 and a revised version of Bobby Burns #1, which Craddock claimed was ‘one of the very best Whisky cocktails’.
Another book of cocktail recipes from this era, which also delves as far back as the 19th Century, that has inspired David over the years is Ted Haigh’s ‘Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails’. Better known as ‘Dr. Cocktail’, Haigh compiled this collection from extremely uncommon sources including old cocktail manuals and scrap pieces of paper that were never published. The book therefore pays homage to some great bartenders of the past whose innovative recipes were almost lost to history, resulting in over 80 drinks that are rarely made today.
Haigh, who is co-proprietor of The Internet Cocktail Database and a regular columnist for Imbibe Magazine, proclaims in his book that The Famous Grouse is a ‘brand dear to my heart’ and recommends it as the preferred Scotch in a number of cocktails including the Blood and Sand, the Mamie Taylor and the Vowel Cocktail.