I am 30 years old and come from Aberdeen. CASC is the brainchild of myself and my father, Bill. We have always preferred the better things in life and were tired of the lack of choice that was on offer in Aberdeen in terms of bars. Every bar offered the same handful of mass produced beers and offered very little selection in terms of whiskies. We wanted to offer some of the best products out there but offer as many as we could cram into CASC as well.
What is your personal relationship with whisky? First dram sipped? Any personal favourite?
My relationship spawned from an early age, my dad would often force feed me when I was sick haha. Joking aside, my dad was the one who introduced me, at a certain age I would regularly have a sly drink out of his bottles and my love grew from there. I honestly can’t remember my first dram but I certainly remember the peat of Ardbegs and Laphroaigs. I don’t have a specific favourite but I love big flavours, I mostly drink cask strength and prefer either bourbon or sherry matured (never together).
What makes the CASC bar different from other whisky bars?
CASC is Aberdeen’s only dedicated whisky bar that also offers a huge selection of craft and world beer, Havana cigars and artisan coffee. Our staff are knowledgable and passionate about what we sell meaning no matter if you are a seasoned whisky drinker or beginner they will find a whisky you will enjoy. We also have our own Whisky Ambassador, Aly Mathers who runs our monthly whisky club tastings.
How do you select the whiskies? What kind of profiles drive your interest when selection a special whisky for your bar? (Special bottlings, limited releases, independent bottlers…)
I select the majority of our whiskies based on my own preference. We prefer to stock limited releases, single cask bottlings, independent bottlings and anything cask strength.
The CASC bar also boast a great selection of craft beers, could you recommend us some interesting whisky & beer pairings?
I would suggest using colour as your guide. Examples would be Blonde beers/Lagers/Wheats and Pales match perfectly with Bourbon cask whisky. IPA’s, Bocks and Stouts work very well with big sherry whiskies and wine finishes.
Have you noticed any change in whisky consumers’ profiles those past few years/months? The CASC bar being a very relaxed and modern bar, one may imagine it attracts crowds of millenial drinkers, what kind of experiences in terms of consumption is this specific group seeking (in your opinion)?
The great thing we notice is just how mixed our customer base is. A lot of people assume CASC will be filled with grumpy old men all drinking whisky. This is not the case and in fact we often have more women enjoying a dram, from the age of 25+. There is definitely a younger crowd getting into whisky.
How do you see the future for the CASC bar? Any projects in the pipeline? A crazy dram you’d like to achieve?
We have plenty in the pipeline, a lot of exciting projects coming up. One of which is our Whisky Mash whisky festival. We started it last year with great success and this year we’re going bigger and better. All information is available at www.whiskymash.co.uk
