This is a big year for popular Melbourne bar Whisky & Alement, with the Founders Brooke Hayman and Julian White set to enjoy its 10th birthday, by hosting 10 big events over 10 months, including opening a $10,000 bottle of Japanese whisky.
The 10th anniversary celebrations will also be a ‘flashback’ to when the bar first started pouring drams in 2010, with 2010 prices on all 1000 whiskies on pour as well as hosting some of the great alumni bartenders and going back to the venue’s original trading hours – until 5am!
The 10 big events kick off next month, with the ‘Bar White Oak Revival’, a nod to 2016 when the largest Japanese whiskey collection was housed within Whisky & Alement’s front booth by the window. This will see team opening a bottle of The Hanyu Noh Cask #6066, a rare $10,000 bottle, and tickets for the event are still available at $159 each.
Why that bottle? Hayman told Bars and Clubs: “We actually put it to a vote on Facebook. We had five bottles of Japanese whisky that we really want to open, and that one won the vote. I think it might be because it’s one of the most expensive, but we’re cracking and I think that will be one of the best events we have ever had.”
A big call for a venue that has hosted many events over the years, but Hayman that one of the birthday events she is looking forward to is the last one, in December, especially as there is a family element.
The ’10 Whisky Icons That Shaped Us’ will take attendees through the incredible 10-year journey of the bar and its Founders
“It will be really special to us to have those 10 people here. There have been definitive events throughout the 10 years that have sort of shaped us, so I am really looking forward to hosting them.
“One of them is my dad, he’s a whisky drinker, but he’s not presenting whisky every day – or any day – so it will be lovely for him to choose something that’s just special to him.”
Since 2010 the venue has poured over 300,000 drams and opened over 4680 different whisk(e)y bottles, welcomed over 160 guest speakers for tasting events and educated over 17,000 Melbournians through weekly whisky classes.
But what does Hayman think has changed the most over the 10 years that the bar has been open?
“We’ve seen a huge wave with the whisky industry. Ten years ago nobody was drinking single malts it used to be overpriced as a luxury goods, but whisky is seen as an everyday drink.
“I think about three years into opening, so around 2013, we saw a huge number of people into the bar saying they were going to open whisky distilleries, so we’re seeing that coming to fruition now and seeing quite a few open.
“We’ve obviously seen a lot of whisky bars open since around 2013, so that’s changed things dramatically as well and some whisky is increasing in price as it becomes more scarce. But I think auction hit their peak last year with Japanese whisky, so we are just going to see the industry stabilise now.”
Whisky & Alement has around 1000 bottles of whisky available at any one time, and the team rotate those on a regular basis, adding 10 new whiskies to the bar every week and taking 10 off.
The 10th birthday celebration takes place on Friday 27 March and the first of the 10 in 10 events happens on 12 March. You can still buy tickets and find out more about what this exciting bar is doing to celebrate 10 wonderful years at the Whisky & Alement website.
