Inside the exclusive whiskey tasting dubbed London’s ‘Disneyland for adults’

“This place is like Disneyland for adults, isn’t it?” said the grinning, red-faced gentleman in front of me in queue for the buffet, one floor below the sprawling ballroom full of more than 800 different whiskey tastings.

Now in its fifth year, the annual Whiskey Event is a luxurious affair, and this year provided hundreds of attendees sampling that precious amber elixir from 63 exhibitors – both well-known and more niche distilleries – at the Royal Lancaster hotel in Westminster.

Armed with my “whiskey explorer’s map” and a tasting glass, my first stop on a worldwide tour for the palette was a lightly smoky, punchy scotch from the Isle of Raasay.

At the next was a very special, balanced sampling from Japan followed by a dark, woody number from India, a vanilla and pecan dram from New Zealand and a smooth sip hailing from a small town near Nashville, Tennessee.

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Behind each table I was greeted by a friendly face eager to introduce me to what lay before them, the finer details of its creation and the histories of their respective distilleries.

At one point I confess I found myself more conscious of gravity than usual as I did my utmost to avoid stumbling across the room, which was bustling and jovial, filled with powerful aromas and cheerful conversation.

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I sampled last year’s winner of the World Whiskey Award’s best single malt, which was from Norfolk, then immediately followed it with the 2023 winner: a syrupy-vanilla concoction from the Milk & Honey distillery in Israel – which for me was one of the best of the night.

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It was around this time that I sought refuge at the lavish buffet downstairs, where I ran into the red-faced man who giggled as he filled his plate with freshly made sushi and told me about his favourite samplings of the night so far.

The food on offer – all kosher – was delicious, and I paired it with a passion fruit martini and, what else, but a whiskey sour. Every detail of the event had very evidently been thought through, including the appetisers being given out to those people waiting for the buffet when the queue got a little long.

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Following the recommendations of the newly befriended man (the impression the drinks had on me and the night itself were memorable, but peoples’ names less so), I found myself back upstairs and tasting a remarkable sample from Blackadder’s ‘Statement’ range, distilled in the year I was born – 1992 – and a major highlight of the night.

Eventually (I forget how many tastings later) I decided I’d had quite enough and stepped out of the hotel into the evening air for a reflective stroll through Hyde Park, feeling warm and fuzzy and harbouring a great deal more admiration for both purveyors and connoisseurs of that special brown liquor.