Advice Please

I'm not in the Houston area or I would sign up! I'd figure on $60-75 for tasting fees, given the 4-2-1 program, and food, well add another $25-35 for food, and you've got yourself a $100 a plate banquet, sans politians ;)

My $0.02 worth

lurkning in Silicon Valley

Well, I'll tell you what we do, and you can take out whatever info suits you. Now we don't serve a supper, and we aren't trying to make a profit. It is just three guys who want to try some scotch, and need a few others to help pay for the bottles!

Our tickets this year are for $40 (all prices in Canadian dollars) which gives 5 whiskies, one ounce of each, some finger food, and a power point presentation by us. We also sell $10 non-drinking ticket which gives two soft drinks from the bar, and the finger food. The price has gone up over the last few years, but so has the price of the whiskies. Our average price per bottle this year is $80, up from $62 last year. Last year's ticket price was $35. We limit ourselves to two bottles of each, about 48 drinks from two 700 ml bottles, mainly because of the size of the room we are using. Last year we had about 35 drinkers and 15 non drinkers.

I find that 5 whiskies is enough. We have talked many times about reducing the serving to 1/2 oz and increasing the number, but we never have. I think that 1 oz gives the taster enough to savour the whisky, and to also add some water to see how the flavour changes. Some people have trouble drinking 5 oz in an evening, so we have not considered going to 6 samples. (Oddly, those who can't or won't finish their sample never have a problem finding someone who will!)

The food we provide is cold cuts, cheese, crackers, bread, veggies, fruit, pickles, olives, smoked oysters and local smoked fish. The fish is a big hit and goes very nice with the scotch.

In the presentation we discuss the history of scotch, the distilling process, and the regions. We talk a little about how to taste, and then get to the whiskies. For each one we talk about the distillery, and then give a tasting note, usually from a book or off the web. There are plenty of sites with lots of info that is very useful on the web. We allow about 25 min for people to taste and talk, then present the next whisky (it sort of depends on how fast the bartender can run the previous batch of glasses through the dishwasher! It's a small place with a limited supply of glasses.) We use little brandy snifters for the tasting, rather than shot glasses. It is much better to nose the whisky in a glass with a wide base and narrow top.

I think it is important to have the non-drinking option. Our non-drinkers enjoy the presentation and the socializing, and provide the important sober driver to get everyone home. I also feel it is important to hold the event at a licensed establishment with a trained bartender. We haven't had a problem with someone who is drunk, yet, but it may happen.

Our regulars want to try more expensive whiskies. We are talking about having another tasting with wiskies all over $100 per bottle. The price of tickets would of course, be higher. How high would depend on the whisky prices. We usually have a range, one under $50, 2 or 3 in the $50-$65 range, and 1 or 2 in the $65+ range.

H> There are a lot of folks venturing into the world of single malt. Many

I've attended several such tastings and prices have varied, mostly according to the malts being offered and whether food was involved. Some finger food is useful and appreciated, especially when you taste four, five, six, etc. malts. The formal tastings I've attended have ranged from as few as 3 to as many as 9 whiskies. I'm soon attending a tutored tasting of the three Glenmorangie wood finishes, which was

Bart