The Universal Whisky Experience returns to Encore Las Vegas April 5-8, this year growing to four days to accommodate even more events and exclusive tastings of the world’s finest spirits for whiskey connoisseurs and collectors.
“This will be the biggest one, and I’ve been to every single event since the original,” says Mitch Bechard, Senior Glenfiddich Ambassador for William Grant & Sons, the legendary family-owned Scottish distiller and distributor. “The liquids you see at this show and get to taste make for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, that’s for sure.”
Bechard, who has spent 10 years working with Scotch, points to last year’s event, when a group of show attendees jumped into five helicopters, flew into the Grand Canyon and opened 30-, 40- and 50-year-old bottles of Glenfiddich—the ultimate whiskey tasting trip. That’s the kind of experience that sets this event apart.
What do Bechard and Glenfiddich have in store this year? “We are getting people to rethink the way they look at Glenfiddich,” he says, describing a new twist on the beloved spirit in which the whiskey is aged in IPA beer casks. “This is the first time ever we’ve used beer casks in the maturation process, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg for us.” He’ll showcase the stuff for the first time at Encore.
