Raise a glass of fine single-malt whisky on Nov. 30 to toast St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, along with the 50 million people around the world who claim to be of Scottish descent.
Aberdeen Asset Management Inc. jumped the haggis, so to speak, a wee bit early and hosted a whisky-tasting dinner on Nov. 13 in Chicago to celebrate Scotland's national day in conjunction with the Charles Schwab IMPACT 2012 conference.
The Philadelphia-based company is the U.S. unit of Aberdeen Asset Management PLC, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Several native Scots who have been transferred to the U.S. attended the dinner in Scottish formal dress — kilts or tartan trousers, woolen jackets and sporrans.
But the true star of the event was Nicholas M. Pollacchi, a single-malt whisky expert and founder of The Whisky Dog, which curates private whisky tastings.
Mr. Pollacchi guided sippers through the intricacies of savoring five very different whiskies and later in the evening, generously shared one of the last bottles in existence of an exquisite 25-year-old Highland malt from his private stash.
By the sixth round, the budding whisky experts were in happy agreement with Mr. Pollacchi's pronouncement about the liquor: “Whisky drinkers are promiscuous. We are the David Petraeus of drinkers.”
