AN ADVENT CALENDAR WITH A DIFFERENCE - AND ONE LUCKY LADY!
As regular readers already know, Angels’ Share Glass sells an Advent Calendar with a difference – instead of chocolate you open a dram of Scotch Whisky every day.
We thought it would be good to share that surprise daily treat with our customers and have enlisted the help of one of our favourite whisky bloggers – Anne-Sophie Bigot aka The Whisky Lady.
It was a tough job but someone had to do it and who better than French whisky enthusiast Anne-Sophie who runs popular website – www.thewhiskylady.net - featuring news, reviews and interviews.
From December 1 onwards,, Anne-Sophie will open her Advent Calendar, taste her dram and then publish her tasting notes and thoughts on each of the whiskies on the Angels’ Share Glass blog.
She’ll also be posting photos on Instagram - www.instagram.com/thewhiskylady - for those who want to take a closer look at the surprise dram every morning.
There are 25 miniatures for Anne-Sophie to taste - each one from independent bottlers and many at cask strength – with an extra special whisky for Christmas Day.
As Anne-Sophie kicks off her tasting notes, we thought you might like to know a little bit more about her and her Blog – so here’s a Q and A to start things off:
- Do you think you might have one of the best jobs in the world - tasting whisky for a living?
As I often say when I’m ask this question: no. Because, if I had, my job would also involve cuddling kittens & eating my body-weight in milk chocolate on a daily basis.
Let’s say that I feel absolutely blessed for doing what I love and making a living of my passion. However, my job implies way more than tasting whisky ;) including some less funny stuff like KPI reporting or boring financial analysis…
- When and why did you set up your Whisky Lady blog?
I set up my blog around 3 years ago while I was still at uni studying tourism management and writing my academic dissertation on the visitor experience in distilleries. Where I live in France, I couldn’t unfortunately share my passion with many people so I thought “hey! Why not simply create a blog to talk all things whisky online!” – I wasn’t expecting at all that my website will see so much visitors reading my articles and I’m always amaze when I check my monthly statistics ;)
I also noticed most of the blogs I read (and I still read) at that time could sometimes be too technical/geeky and I wanted to offer something new, a bit lighter, a bit more fun, a bit like me! Writing in English came as natural to share my thoughts and experiences with as many people as possible.
Finally, I see my website more as a “whisky lifestyle” kind of blog, and it has been an incredible adventure since the beginning, enabling me to meet so many inspiring people along the way.
- What does your typical work day involve?
I usually get up around 8.30/9 and go straight to my computer – still in my pyjamas and comfy slippers (the perks of working at home – all very glamourous!) – to check my emails, have a look at the latest whisky news, watch a stupid TV show, post the article of the day (I try to prepare all my articles in advance since a few months so that my readers can be sure to have something to read every morning ;) ) and do a bit of social media (or maybe a lot… ). I also work as a whisky auctioneer and consultant for various clients. So depending on the day, I could spend the rest of my day estimating bottles for auctions, building sales, creating marketing content, discussing with potential sellers, managing my clients’ social media pages etc.
Another interesting part of the day for me is waiting for parcels to arrive ;) My postman thinks I’m involved in some sort of traffic…
When I have a bit of spare time, I go dig into my sample cabinet, pour myself a dram and decide if I will review or not on my blog – I’ll then go to the gym or simply relax!
- How and when did you discover whisky?
The legend says that I fell into a giant mashtun when I was a child. But the reality is less exciting. My partner is Scottish, born in Aberdeen, but only lived there for less than 3 years. Years ago for his birthday, I took him to Scotland and like proper tourists, we simply went on a distillery tour. The distillery was Auchentoshan and I fell in love at first sip, the rest is history!
- What’s your favourite whisky (if you have one)?
Can’t remember where I’ve read that and who said that but I’ll just quote him: “the next one I’ll be offered”.
Seriously, this is a terribly tough question. I believe there’s a whisky for every occasion… Although, if you want to make me happy, you can’t go wrong with Bruichladdich, Auchentoshan, Clynelish, Old Pulteney… I’m also a huge fan of world whisky and particularly excited about the nectars we produce here in France, as well as whiskies from new world distilleries such as Box in Sweden or Westland in the USA.
- If you don’t fancy a whisky, what’s your go-to tipple on a night out?
I’ll always go for a G&T or a simple fresh draft beer, no IPA or Stout for me though, I’m more of a wheat beer kind of girl, with a slice of lemon.
- How excited are you to be carrying out the Advent Calendar Tastings for ASG?
SO EXCITED! I seriously can’t wait to get started – I’ve always been crazy about all things Christmas and advent calendars are just the best way to be immersed into the festive spirit! I’ll even be opening my surprise daily dram everyday on Insta Stories for those who want to discover it with me.
- Apart from the Advent Calendar, what would be on your Christmas wish-list from the ASG online shop?
I recently came up with a special gift guide featuring ASG water droppers but my wishlist would also include those utterly cute Glencairn bracelet & earrings, a must-have for a whisky lady right?!
We’ll soon be opening our own whisky bar in Toulouse (France) and I saw on Instagram yesterday this incredible water dropper chandelier… I don’t know if it was only a one-off, but it was seriously cool and would do just great in our future tasting room! #SubliminalMessage
FOLLOW ALL ANNE-SOPHIE'S REVIEWS FOLLOW US HERE on Facebook or Twitter or on Anne-Sophies own blog page www,thewhiskylady.net