DC Whiskey Walk – No Green Beer Here!
I expanded my Irish Whisky tasting experience by 111%..
The DC Whiskey Walk came to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 9th, 2013 as a first time event. The concept was developed by the original promoters of the Beerathon which began in New York City, but has since been launched in many cities including Washington, D.C. – The DC Beerathon.
I actually hadn’t really intended to go on the tour, but when I stopped to say “Hi” to Daniel (the DC Based Organizer), he told it would be fun..so I signed up and went for my first shot!
Overview of the event-this was essentially a crawl: each bar had a set whiskey shot pour of about 1 oz. (sometimes they were larger!) and 1 Irish Whiskey to choose from. Each attendee wears a laminated card with a list of bars and shots on it (so it’s hard to get lost) and each establishment punches a hole in the card so that no one can return and sneak an extra shot. There were also beer specials for people on the Walk at each stop..sometimes a beer settles the tummy a bit!
The Audience – As you would expect, this was mostly a 20 Something crowd and many were in groups. There are two kinds of people on this tour: Sippers and Shooters. I was just enjoying sipping, hanging and walking, the tour took me about 5 hours to complete, no rush. The Shooters were quicker at both drinking their shot and travelling to the destination bars. Overall, this event is really for younger people in groups – I would call it a more upscale crawl then many of the Irish pub tours in town, but all in all, it is still an excuse to get a bit tipsy as a St. Patrick’s celebration!
I’m also the Administrator of DC Whiskey Drinkers on Facebook, so I felt a need to give this event, well, uhh, a shot! Overall, I really enjoyed the Irish Whiskies and I would say that there is value to aging them like Scotches. Because 8 shots
is a wee bit of a challenge (but it took me almost 5 hours..so that’s reasonable!) I would say my palate was slightly challenged near the end. There is little or no peat in any of these whiskies, so you get the whiskey caramel, bite and finish..overall, Irish whiskies are pretty “clean” – direct flavors and easy smooth finish.
Hey, you can even see this event reviewed on Yelp!
Conclusion:The quality of whiskies was very good, but maybe the time was a bit spread out – the first few hours had few people and then around 3 pm I began to see larger numbers of people. I’m sure the Organizers are concerned about people rushing their drinking, so I understand the fact that the event goes from Noon to 2 AM. Some bars were more accomodating than others (one of my favorite bars Maddys ran out of glasses and served us our shot in a plastic condiment cup!)
Cheers!
Charlie “I Drink on the Job” Adler
Buy the Book on Amazon – I Drink on the Job
Upcoming Whiskey and Spirits Events at TasteDC:
-April 10th, Wednesday – DC Whisky Guild Cruise 2013
-April 11th, Thursday – 1.5-Hour Scotch Whisky Tasting (LivingSocial)
-April 25th, Thursday – The Rum Diaries: An Introduction to Rum
Categories: Charlie Adler, DC Events, Whiskey Tastings
Tagged: Beerathon, Board Room, Buffalo Billiards, Charlie Adler, DC Whiskey Drinkers, DC Whiskey Walk, I Drink on the Job, idrinkonthejob, Irish Whiskey, James Hobans, Jameson, Jameson 12 Year Special Reserve, Jameson Select Reserve Black Barrel, Mackey's, Maddy's, MadHatter, Powers Gold Label, Powers Special Reserve 12 Year, Redbreast 12 Year, Science Club, Tyrconnell