We had a blast

I had a great time with DD last night at a gorgeous hidden bar near Wynyard Station called Eau de Vie.

My friend Oliver from The Whisky List invited us to a Kentucky Owl bourbon tasting because he knows how much DD loves American whiskey.

I needed a drink after having a family meeting via Skype at lunchtime with my ex and the youngest.

My ex is very excited that we’ve passed through the Medicare threshold and are eligible for vastly reduced medical treatment for the rest of the calendar year. He’s on a mission to make the most of it.

The call was to discuss what specialist appointments we should make for the youngest, which included speculation about what incurable conditions she might have.

Is it fibromyalgia? Could it be myalgic encephalomyelitis?

So many exciting diagnoses without cures to explore!

Anyways, fast forwarding to my evening out … Eau de Vie is a wonderful venue, with a moody, speakeasy vibe.

It was previously in Darlinghurst, where DD and I attended a cocktail making class as a team building activity when I was working at The Drinks Association in its good old days.

DD hadn’t been to the new location, which I can highly recommend after attending a few memorable events there.

I was also familiar with the highlighted spirit of the evening, as I went to the launch of its Maighstir Edition earlier this year with the Master Blender Maureen Robinson.

Maureen is a legend. She spent 45 years at Diageo and was one of the first women to hold the title of master blender. Her work centered around whiskies including Johnnie Walker, Old Parr, Buchanan’s and Singleton.

She was inducted into the Scotch Whisky Hall of Fame in 2019 and retired from Diageo in 2022. While she was hoping to relax and play lots of golf, she was enticed to join Kentucky Owl as master blender last year.

The prospect of working with a new spirit piqued her interest. Her first project was Maighstir (‘master’ in Gaelic), a whiskey that blends together four, five, eight and nine-year-old Kentucky straight Bourbons.

Maureen was lovely, so self-deprecating and fascinating. I had a great time talking to her.

Scott from The Whisky List also had a great time talking to her in preparation for last night’s event. She generously imparted her wisdom to him so he could more knowledgeably host the event.

The festivities kicked off with one of my favourite cocktails, the Manhattan, accompanied by delicious oysters.

Then there were six sensational whiskies to sample – I am particularly fond of the rye whiskey, while DD liked the barrel-proof Batch 12 – alongside the most divine nibbles.

My favourite morsels were the prawn toast thingies, which don’t look like much but taste like heaven. We also loved the potato rosti thingies with salmon roe on top.

The lamb croquettes with saffron aioli and black garlic were also to die for. And the Shiitake vol-au-vents with creamed leek and ricotta salata … wow, so much flavour!

Everyone had a blast at the event, as you can tell from the photo above.

However, DD was wishing he’d taken more than one selfie of us as he’s not entirely happy with how it turned out …

That will teach him to go out with a wannabe middle-aged influencer. It will be all over social media later today …

I asked a few vaguely knowledgeable questions during the night and drew the attention of a few of the blokes in attendance, with one excitedly coming over to introduce himself. He was a sweetheart and gave us lots of tips on the bourbon trails in the US, which are on our bucket list depending on the results of the election.

After the tasting concluded and the chitter chattering drew to a close, we wandered around the corner to catch the bus home, stealing a quick kiss when I alighted at the first stop, while he stayed on until the last.

Thanks for inviting us Oliver, we had a blast!

PS I promise to stay home tonight and blog tomorrow about something that doesn’t involve booze – perhaps I’ll tell you the story of why DD is called DD to fill the void.

Song of the day: The Beatles “In my life”