The Toshan Man

Linh Do is the publisher of Bliss in a Barrel, is a funny-in-a-good-geeky-way blog about whisky and related subjects. We first got in touch via Connosr, the social network for whisky aficionados and one thing lead to another. She was interested in an interview, I was interested in her beautiful doodles. Below you will find the complete text of the interview as well as the pages in Linh’s whiskybook with the magnificent artwork that she drew.

Would you be able to share a little bit about yourself?

I was born in 1970 and raised in Antwerp (Belgium) and currently reside in Ghent with my wife Sofie and three children (Kobe, Amber and Sarah). I work in a bank, where I lead a team of credit advisors. More interesting, though, is what I do when I'm not working :) I am a big Star Wars fan and love whisky. I collect autographs from people who worked on the Star Wars saga (www.jedimaster.be) and even went to Tunisia with a group of likeminded people to restore the Lars Homestead, the iconic movie set that serves as Luke Skywalker's home on the desert planet (www.savelars.com), but my prime hobby for the last few years has definitely been whisky, both Scotch, Irish, American and Japanese as well as others from around the world. At this time, I have just finished writing tasting notes for my 1200th whisky. This may not sound so impressive, unless you know that I've been keeping record since October 2009. Buy, they, my liver is not protesting, so I'm a happy man.

Ideally it takes me 45 minutes to sit down with one dram, analyzing it. I was wondering if you have a particular method of sipping your whisky.  For example, do you have it without water first, and then add 2 drops of water?  Ideally how do you drink your Scotch?

Obviously there is a big difference between drinking whisky and assessing whisky. I love to drink it with friends on social occasions, but to assess a whisky, I usually sit down with a couple of drams in front of me at my desk at home, where it is pretty quiet so that I can concentrate. I usually start out with 1cl of a particular whisky that is similar to the ones I am going to be trying, to prepare the palate. That preparatory whisky is one that I know very well and serves as a basis for comparison and scoring. Then I pour a minimum of two and maximum of 6 whiskies, usually only 2cl or 3cl, no more. I spend most of my time nosing them, but it does not have to take that long. Sometimes I can nose a whisky for twenty minutes, at other times it can last only about two. It all depends on the whisky. I always taste my whiskies without water first. Then, and only if I feel the need, do I add a bit of water. Some of my friends say I add too much water, but we all taste differently, I suppose. More often than not, I do not add any water at all. And I write my notes as I am tasting. I nose the whiskies head-to-head, than taste them head-to-head, so I keep going back and forth between the glasses and the notes. When I do a tasting session at home, it can sometimes fill the better part of the evening. But since I watch almost no television, I have a lot of time on my hands.

click to enlarge

What was the first whisky that intrigued you and got you interested in whisky?  When and where was it?

I had been sipping whisky for a couple of years when suddenly I was offered a bottle of Auchentoshan 12 Year Old in January 2009. My co-workers got it for my birthday. And for some inexplicable reason, I fell utterly in love with it. The delicate taste, the beautifully shaped bottle, the intriguing name of the brand. It was that bottle that made me decide that I wanted to know everything there is to know about this wonderful world of whisky.

Many people in the whisky world know you as the self proclaimed Toshan Man.  What is it about Auchentoshan that makes you such a diehard fan?  Do you ever just buy a plane ticket to land at an airport and buy some rare Scotch and fly straight back to Belgium?  

As I found my way around the world of whiskies, I found out that Auchentoshan was often neglected and even looked down upon by some so-called connoisseurs. I felt this was unjust. And since it was my first big love in Scotch, I started defending it, trying the whole range myself, beginning to collect it and ultimately visiting the distillery. One thing lead to another and before long, I just became the Toshan Man. And it is working. Auchentoshan is on the rise and getting more popular every year. I like to think my crusade has a tiny bit to do with that. And yes, I have at one time purchased a plane tickets to fly out to Glasgow, drive up to the Auchentoshan distillery to purchase a new limited edition and then fly back home. There is nothing wrong with that, is there? Of course not! I currently have over 100 closed Auchentoshan bottles in my collection, of which 55 are official bottlings, the others independents. They are proudly displayed in my home, so whenever I have visitors I can pour them a dram and tell them the Toshan story. I also organize Toshan Nights, all Auchentoshan tastings.

Hard question to answer, but what's your favourite whisky for the moment?

That is indeed a hard question as there are so many whiskies around. It would be too easy to choose an Auchentoshan, I suppose. But I'm quite all round and love other brands and flavour profiles as well. Some of my favourites are Clynelish, Bladnoch, Bowmore, Glen Garioch, Port Ellen, Greenore. The list goes on if I think about it. It is really hard to choose just one. So I'm taking the easy way out: the Auchentoshan 30 Year Old 1978 Bourbon Cask Matured Limited Edition.

What's your ideal setting to drink your spirit?  Would you like to be alone in your living room or be at a bar, sipping with a friend, etc?

I truly enjoy sipping whisky with friends, either at my home or at a tasting in a nearby pub. Talking about whisky is fun and educational. I still learn a lot every day and hope that I can impart some of my knowledge to others as well. But to really assess a whisky, I prefer the solitude of my desk at home. That is why I usually re-taste some of the whiskies I've had at tastings or festival back home before publishing any notes.

What's the best part about Connosr?

Connosr, the whisky social network, is absolutely fabulous, for the simple reason that you are welcomed from the start, without having to be a connoisseur. Au contraire, I would say. It is the starting point for many new to the spirit world. Ask any question and you will find that you will get interesting answers immediately from all over the world. It is a warm community and I have met quite a few people there (albeit virtually) that have become friends (virtually but also in real life, I'm happy to say). The guys who run the site, Jean-Luc and Pierre, have become personal friends as well.

I was really excited when I watched your "Whisky Ramblings" on YouTube because you make it personal and welcoming.  One of my favourite quotes from you is that there's no such thing as a bad whisky--only good and better (well, that is about your Auchentoshans!).  On that note, if we talked about whisky that's outside the scope of Auchentoshan, would this expression apply to all whiskies or have you tried something that was just downright rancid? 

Thanks for your kind words on my videos. They are big fun to make and I'm quite proud of them, even though I know I still have a lot of work on sound quality and lighting. But the essential part is of course trying to bring across some knowledge, facts and figures in a fun and passionate way. The most warming compliment is people contacting me and saying they went out and bought this or that bottle to try because of my Rambling. I do try to make them a little fun. Not the standup comedy type of fun, but I feel everybody should feel welcome and enjoy watching them and hopefully learn a thing or two. I'm far from a connoisseur in my own opinion (and the opinion of many others, I'm sure - LOL), but I do feel the urge to share my passion to win over people to get into whisky as well. It's such a great spirit (pun intended). And while I stand by that quote, I have to admit that I have also tried a couple whiskies that were not up to standard to put it mildly.

Is there a distinct association that you find between Star Wars and Whisky?

Haha, what a fun question. The answer is absolutely none, except for how passionate I am about both. And I have a couple of friends who love both Star Wars and whisky. What more can I ask for?

Have you visited other distilleries besides Auchentoshan Distillery?  

My my heart belongs to Auchentoshan (that could be the title of a pop song, eh?), but of course I have visited other distilleries as well. From the top of my head, I also visited Edradour, Glenturret, Dalwhinnie, Speyburn, Benromach, BenRiach, Glengoyne, Glenlivet, Longmorn, Aberlour, Tormore and Filliers in Belgium. I hope to visit Scotland again soon. I would love to do a tour of Islay.

What was the most memorable moment that you experienced at the Auchentoshan Distillery?

That must be the experiment I was allowed to conduct in the blender's room. I was offered 8 cask samples from 1975 and could play around with those to create my own single malt. I aptly named it the '1975 Toshan Man Experiment'. It is composed from the hip, so to speak, with 7 bourbon cask samples and 1 sherry cask sample. It is absolutely delicious.

How is the bar culture in Belguim and what do most people drink over there?

Belgium is one of the best countries to live in as far as whisky is concerned. A lot of Belgians are very knowledgeable about whisky and we have quite a few well stocked bars. But the general population (sorry for this general term) is not into whisky, but other spirits such as vodka and the like. We still have a long way to go.

Can you share with us about your 43rd Birthday Toshan Tasting Celebration?  This sounds really cool!!!  I take it you've done this before!?

Well, I have organized quite a few tastings (and usually try to squeeze in a bottle of Auchentoshan obviously), this is the first time I am planning a big Toshan Tasting for my birthday. I have invited friends and family to join me in opening up seven rather rare expressions from the distillery that I have collected over the years (no worries, the collection will not suffer, I simply got a second bottle for the tasting). We will be trying some bottlings from the 70s, 80s and 00s, including my two favourite bourbon matured bottles, the 30 Year Old 1978 and the newly released 35 Year Old 1975.

I like to imagine that you live in castle and you have 2 whisky rooms, one that's dedicated to Auchentoshan and the other room is dedicated to other scotches.  Do you actually have a huge whisky room and how many Auchentoshan bottles do you own?

I do not live in a castle, but you are right that I do have a whisky room. Well, it is just the study in my home, where the Scotch shares space with my Star Wars collection. My Auchentoshan bottles are proudly displayed in a handmade wooden cupboard in the hallway, while the other whiskies are stocked in my basement study, right next to my Star Wars pinball machine.

I see that you're a huge collector of Star Wars autographs and scotch, of course. What is it about "collecting" that draws you to it?  I don't know if that's a dumb question.  I guess I'm curious about why people collect stuff.  There are some folks on Connosr who don't crack open half of their bottles that they purchase.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm just a little piggly wiggly because I open all of my bottles, despite how "rare" or "expensive" they are...I just want to share with everyone and the next thing I know it's almost gone! Is part of the excitement about "searching" for the item and "researching" it??  

I'm not entirely sure why I have this bug for collecting. I guess with Star Wars autographs, I got that bug when I visited my first Star Wars convention in the early 90s. They all have a personal story to them. So it is a way of preserving memories, I suppose. And the Auchentoshan bottles will all be opened at one point. I plan to collect until I'm 60 and then will slowly but surely drink/share them all. I hope to live that long! And I do open quite a few of my bottles as well. I usually have between 80 and 100 open bottles in my cabinet, some 20 Auchentoshan among them.

Anything else you'd like to share with anyone?

I just find it a bit weird to be interviewed like this. It's not like I'm Jim Murray or Harrison Ford or anything. But it is good fun, I'll admit that much. So thanks for showing an interest!

Thank you for taking the time to answering some or all of my questions, Mark! 

An absolute pleasure, Linh!