Washington, DC (USA)

[work - at 1715, took Metro to Federal Triangle - walked to National Union Building for MacAllan Manor whiskey tasting event - I had tickets for 1800 but ended up solo - the hosts let me in at around 1735 and I was in the first group of attendees - we started with and informal happy hour (about 20 minutes) and then started climbing stairs to reach the first stop of our tour of the MacAllan whiskey-making process - in the room (decorated with colored lights and "trees"), we learned about the ingredients (smells, flavors, textures) used by the manufacturer - after about 15 minutes there, we moved to the second location (more stairs) - there, a man dressed as a "butcher" took us through a pairing exercise (cheeses, meats, fruits) for each of the three Scotch whiskeys they let us sample: Sherry Oak, Double Cask and Triple Cask - each of the drinks was aged in different ways, sometimes with Sherry seasoned casks made out of different wood and other times with ex-Bourbon barrels - we all wore aprons and had a fun time sampling - after another 15 minutes, we walked up more stairs to a wide open bar area - for the next 10 minutes, we listened to a MacAllen rep talking about ways to enjoy the whiskey with friends and family (and we got more to taste) - the rep made a perfect sphere out of ice for us and talked about other items we could buy to improve the atmosphere - after this point, the demo was over and we were given two wooden chips that could be exchanged for mixed drinks at the bar - I tried each of the cocktails ("The War is Over" and "Scottish Commodore") and enjoyed the live music that was playing for close to 30 minutes - at 1915, I was done with this outstanding event and left for home (walked to L'Enfant and took Yellow Line to Huntington)]