At 4.28pm yesterday on the shores of Victoria Harbour, a new and highly exclusive Scotch whisky was born. It was blended according to popular vote of a group of about 20 Hongkongers from cask samples drawn from selected distilleries in three of Scotland's famous whisky-producing areas.
Lovingly mixing the malt and grain liquor together in proportions dictated by his audience was London-based American master blender John Glaser, a man on a self-appointed mission to change whisky's image and make it 'more approachable' to more people.
But don't flock to your liquor store to pick up a bottle - the blend is unlikely to be seen anywhere but in the dark, unmarked bottles carried away by guests at the tasting, held at the Harbour View Renaissance Hotel in Wan Chai.
Mr Glaser, head of boutique whisky blender Compass Box, and local distributor Pacific Cigar Company held the tasting to promote the four Compass Box blended whiskies that have recently gone on sale in Hong Kong.
They range from the $370 Asyla, a light malt-grain blend that Mr Glaser - who learned his trade at Johnnie Walker - describes as 'good before-dinner whisky', to the $890 all-grain Hedonism, a 'great cigar whisky'.
They also include Peat Monster - which, as its name suggests, is a powerful, smoky malt - and an elegant vatted malt called Eleuthera, which seems an odd choice of name for a Scotch (it's Greek for 'freedom') until you learn it's also the name of a Caribbean island where Mr Glaser says he was inspired with the idea for his five-year-old venture.