Whisky Wisdom continues the exploration of interesting people in the whisky world. This entry was born from a sojourn to Seattle and a targeted visit to OOLA Distillery. While the main focus is the interview, we will also intersperse our own observations throughout.
Interview with Kirby Kallas-Lewis, owner of OOLA Distillery.
Seattle, WA. March 20, 2017.
Our SnapShot series continues with an exploration of a company we’ve long been curious about: Compass Box Whisky. They have been on our proverbial radar for years but we only recently dipped our toes in with bottles of the Great King Street “Glasgow” and The Peat Monster. One reason is not wanting to plunk down the price of a bottle without trying any first, and none of the bars we normally frequent in the metro carry blends. Hey, don’t blame us for having standards. The set featured here is an elegantly put together kit, with the 50ml vials feeling especially generous. There was also a snappy foldout filled with info-graphics attempting to distill the tastes and sources of each whisky into something digestible, walking the edge between too much for beginners and not enough for the more curious. We tasted the entire set in the space of about one hour in the order of the following.
There have been a few articles over the past several months by whisky bloggers and writers that deal with the subject of whisky evaluation (really, great stuff). Generally, they comment on the state of the review industry – both professional and amateur, however you want to define those terms – and an examination of what they do, usually spurred by a change they are themselves making. Draw your own conclusions about whisky bloggers in general and the choices they make in particular, but it drove home the point that there isn’t necessarily a detailed, transparent place where the aims of Scotchology have been listed out.