Big day, Wild night

I went to a conference yesterday at ICC Sydney called Destination Australia, organised by Tourism Australia.

Karl Stefanovic was the MC and raced over to give his opening spiel straight after filming The Today Show.

He seemed very chill about the quick switch, whereas I was a bit flustered by only remembering the conference at 11.30pm the previous night.

I am a person who likes to plan things, so it threw me to have to recalibrate the how, what, where, when and why of my morning.

Destination Australia was focused on the future of tourism in Australia, with the Minister for Tourism Don Farrell in attendance and speakers including Ross Greenwood getting out his crystal ball to dive into what lies ahead from a domestic and international point of view.

Ross said the Australian dollar was probably going to slide well below 60 cents – argh – but said that would be a great drawcard for international visitors and would also encourage Aussies to travel domestically.

There goes my plan to see the Norwegian fijords.

I showed unprecedented willpower and did not eat morning or afternoon tea in deference to my new health kick. Go me!

I missed the networking drinks at the end of the conference due to having a Wild Turkey function to attend.

I thought 30 minutes would be long enough to walk from ICC Sydney to Circular Quay.

It was nowhere near long enough.

So I was very flustered and sweaty when I met DD out the front of Hinchcliff House.

We were there for the launch of The Masters Milestone, a new release to mark the 70th anniversary of Jimmy Russell working at Wild Turkey.

Jimmy got his start sweeping floors at the distillery as an 18-years-old in 1954 and has gone on to shape the industry. He’s known today as the ‘Buddha of Bourbon’.

I cooled off with an iced tea spiked with Wild Turkey while flapping my hands around a lot and talking at DD.

When it came to the snacks, I started off being very good and eating ceviche and oysters, but then prawn toast came around and dashed my streak of healthy eating.

As for The Masters Milestone, we were among the first people in Australia to try it. DD was impressed with the liquid, which features a blend of 8-year-old whiskies selected from a few of Jimmy’s favourite rickhouses.

On the nose, the bourbon shows oak, honey, cinnamon, while the palate is marked by sweet cream, vanilla and butterscotch. To enhance those sweet notes, Hinchcliff House served squares of homemade butterscotch with the whiskey, delicious!

DD and I were both a bit knackered by our return to the real world, but we enjoyed catching up with a few industry friends, including our The Whisky List mates Oliver and Scott.

We were among the first guests to head off as I prepared to do battle with insomnia once again.

But weariness won’t stop me from heading out again tonight!

Song of the day: John Mellencamp “Wild night”