Beijing Boyce

I went to the Dewar’s Academy of Whisky launch last night. It marks the start of 60 Whisky-related events - master classes, parties, etc - to be held during the next 30 days. BRAWL - The Bourbon, Rye and Whisk(e)y League (the club founded by Ed Ohlin and myself) - will be the guinea pigs and take the first class tonight. A few observations about the launch party:

- The academy is a giant castle-like structure between buildings A and B in Jianwai Soho, and includes two long bars, an area for the master classes and a big open space for parties. The one thing they forgot was a Whisky-filled moat.

- Based on some of the imagery, Dewar’s hopes to do what Chivas did - cash in big time with young, rich Chinese. One poster features five well-dressed, attractive, young Chinese (evoking thoughts of Babyface). The women wear the types of short-skirted dresses that might be slipped off by moving a strap or two, while the men are in full suits with ties up and shoes tightly laced. I’ll let the psychologists explain what it all means.

- There were guys wearing kilts, there were bagpipes, there was a Scottish band - what else would you expect?

- One patron approached the bar, looked past the 12-year-old Scotch and spied a bottle of Dewar’s Signature. He asked for some… with Sprite. Before generalizations kick in, he was a foreigner, American I believe. There’s nothing wrong with Sprite and Whiskey, but best to use the cheaper stuff with mix, even when it’s free (it’s the principle of the thing).

I will have more later. Now, I must be off to class…