You may recall a few of us discovered The Macallan Bar in Macau a few weeks ago, buried deep in the Galaxy complex on Taipa.
Against the improbable backdrop of blazing log fire when it was about 34 degrees centigrade outside, (OK, fired by gas, but a blazing hearth nevertheless), we were offered something new: extremely expensive water from the same Scottish region as the spirits.
I promised a proper blind tasting of this water, which was selling for an astronomical HK$128 per 110ml bottle in the Galaxy. With a free one thrown in, apparently, but even so, astronomical. But I thought we should see how it stacked up against Watson’s and more reasonably priced bottled water such as Highland Spring. Would we be able to taste the difference in our whisky?
The expensive Scottish stuff comes in three choices: Uisge Source - Highland, Speyside and Islay – all priced at something north of HK$128 per 100ml bottle in Galaxy, which made the water more expensive than many of the whiskies it was supposed to complement. The posh water even comes with pipette, so you can drop it into your glass.
Having established that Uisge Source was imported by a company called Pure-Water and that a chap called Chris Lillingston-Price was a director, I realised I already knew him as a motor racing enthusiast, and had no idea he was into water. He rashly agreed to a blind tasting of the stuff at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, paired with appropriate spirits.