Whisky, Whisky Everywhere, and Many a Dram to Drink

On Friday we ran a few errands, including a visit to Berry Bros & Rudd (a shop that is fast becoming--I hope--a mandatory stop whenever we're in London). Suzie, patient as ever, settled in by the fireplace in this cozy 300+ year-old shop. Me? I headed straight for the whisky room.

Customer service is a rare thing these days. It is, however, alive and kicking in London. At Berry Brothers in particular, what I love is that the shopkeepers take the time to give personalized attention--inquiring as to what whisky styles, flavors and distilleries you favor, and then make suggestions tailored to your taste, preferences and budget. And you don't buy blind: sample tastes are readily offered, even of the spendier drams.

Sure, Berry Brothers does not always have the absolute lowest prices on all their offerings, but they are very competitive, especially when it comes to the more unique and extremely rare bottlings from current and shuttered distilleries. One of the best reasons to patronize them, in fact, is that in addition to their broad and deep selection of distillery-bottled whiskies, Berry Brothers offers "Berrys' Own Selection" whiskies, which are bottlings produced exclusively by Berry Brothers from prime casks they've acquired direct from the distilleries. These are not only exceptional, but also in many cases aren't even available from the distillery's own stocks. And at a great price.

In fact, I was hoping to buy a bottle of the 3rd Limited Release of Berrys' Own "Blue Hanger" vatted malt (a blend of single malts), which I regretted not purchasing during my last visit in May, and which I had heard was sold out. I hoped against hope that Berry Brothers still had a small stock remaining, but as it turns out, I was told that the 3rd Limited Release Blue Hanger was forever gone. They now offered a new version of Blue Hanger--it was delicious, but different, and alas, not what I wanted. I was a bit deflated. However, serendipity--not to mention good fortune--intervened, since at that very moment, a gentleman who happened to be walking by heard the disappointment in my voice. A few minutes later, while finalizing my ultimate selection with the shopkeeper, that same gentleman (who turned out to be the head of Berrys' whisky department) approached me and said, with a wink, "I hope this will help ease your disappointment." With that, he handed me their last remaining sample bottle (although already open, half full!) of the long-gone prior version of the Blue Hanger. On the house. Needless to say, I was incredibly grateful, and this generosity cemented my goodwill as a Berry Brothers customer.

Both times I've visited Berry Brothers, I've bought single malts that are not available in the US at any price, including, during my visit last May, an extremely limited Berrys' Own bottling of a fantastic 25-year-old Islay from the long-silent Port Ellen distillery. (In fact, I only bought that bottle six months ago, shortly after it was released, and it is already completely sold out.) This time, I chose a rare 18-year-old Longrow from the Springbank Distillery. Needless to say, I am a Berrys' customer for life, and look forward to many more visits in the future.