Through all kinds of Twitter conversations with Billy Abbott, I found out about a little thing called The Whisky Squad. Its a group of (now) friends who come together every month to enjoy a few new drams.
Everyone present pays a certain amount (lets say, €25) and the organization buys bottles of whisky from that money. Of course a tasting follows and the bottles are everyone’s so they may be drunk in its entirety (but not on a school night, of course).
I’ve done a few of those tastings a few years back in Den Bosch, but on a very irregular basis, with far less people (usually around 4 or 5) and from my own collection. This was fun, but I guess its more fun when the bottles are new for everyone and with more people..
Reading about the Whisky Squad got me thrilled to start doing tastings at home again. Occasionally a few guys from the Usquebaugh Society come over for a BYO tasting, sometimes blind. I, of course, come up with this just before summer, the worst time for whisky and tastings…
I plan to start picking this up in the near future, no concrete plans just yet, though. I usually like tasting at someone’s home better than a regular tasting in a shop or something. Of course, in a commercial environment, someone from the distillery might show up and that can be nice. One more plan added to my list of things to do!
Malt Fascination 
Wooooooooooooooo! Whisky Squad’s awesome fun! Would love to hear how you get on.
We’re lucky enough to be able to use the little upstairs room of a pub in London that we like, although now occasionally we’re starting to do the odd “field trip”, such as our tasting at Berry Brothers & Rudd’s magnificent premises back in January.
And, it’s always flattering to be describe as an “organization”.