Whisky Wonderland launches in Scotland

February 18, 2020 | Uncategorized

Scots pub The Gate and Experience Glasgow have launched a new practical hospitality course dedicated to making whisky simple for bartenders and consumers.

Whisky Wonderland is a series of educational sessions that will educate and empower the Glasgow hospitality trade to be able to talk about our national spirit with passion and knowledge.

This is the first course of its kind to focus on flavour and in essence, how to sell whisky to consumers when working in bars and restaurants.

The new course has been designed by whisky expert Andy Gemmell and his team at modern Scottish pub, The Gate after research found that there was a lack of understanding into our national spirit amongst frontline hospitality staff.

Andy, owner of The Gate, said: ‘Scotch Whisky is a vast category and can be overwhelming to bartenders and consumers. What we want to achieve with Whisky Wonderland is a session that will break down those barriers.

‘It is built around being able to talk to your guests more confidently about Scotch, and ultimately be able to sell the right brand to your guests based on flavour.

‘Our goal is for every person that takes part in Whisky Wonderland to leave with a basic grasp on the category and the knowledge that they can now talk about whisky to their guests.’

The Gate team behind Whisky Wonderland

Whisky Wonderland is a full day course which starts off with a distillery tour of the impressive Clydeside Distillery. Attendees are then shuttled across to The Gate, opposite the Barrowlands, for lunch and an interactive three-hour session hosted by industry-leading whisky experts.

The course content includes a sensory test into understanding flavour and aroma, whisky styles by flavour, a session on how to sell whisky with confidence and how to mix Scotch.

Sallyann Tindall, project manager, Scottish Enterprise said: ‘We’re excited to support the first interactive whisky course of its kind and work towards delivering on the priorities and ambitions of Glasgow’s Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023.

‘Visitors to Scotland currently spend almost £1 billion every year on food and drink. By investing and developing training resources like Whisky Wonderland we can help to provide staff with specialist knowledge and insights which will improve the visitor experience.’

The pilot run of Whisky Wonderland will focus on Glasgow first then roll out to the rest of the country. Created in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise and Clydeside Distillery, the usual cost for the full-day course is £60 per person but an introductory half-price of £30 per person has been set for the pilot sessions.

Whisky Wonderland also has plans to launch a fun and interactive consumer-focused course in the summer.

The first pilot sessions take place on Tuesday, 25 February, and Tuesday, 10 March.