The Soul - what CoCo Bottle Club is all about
Hello,
Like most things in life, it all starts with curiosity…
Curiosity for luxury spirits, a fascinating and fun industry.
Curiosity about ultra-rare releases and how to collect them and taste them.
Curiosity about technology and how it can help enhance our experience.
CoCo might as well have started in one of my cousin Santiago and my family's long dinners, where uncles, aunts and cousins gathered to talk and laugh, and good quality spirits were never missing. Something about sharing a good story with someone you love and then sipping a good whisky or tequila just elevates that moment.
So, CoCo was born out of curiosity and the understanding that life without sharing is no life at all. We are starting this community, this club, for curious people that want to share their life around the sophisticated world of luxury spirits.
A place for our community to learn through collecting, sharing stories and experiences and, most importantly, let's open bottles that few people dare to open and let's drink them at unique locations.
This is our first Newsletter, so let us start with our mission.
The Road of Santiago - a journey from curiosity to connoisseurship
I have decided to share with you my journey into the whisky world. My name is Santiago, and that's how "The Road of Santiago" was born.
Of course, there is a lot of information about this magnificent spirit; it is ancient; some say the first records of "modern whisky" occurred between 1000-1200 AD. But I want to share my personal experience. Why am I embracing this road, and what do I find exciting and surprising about it!
Let's begin with how I am. I was born in Mexico City and lived there until my 28th birthday when I moved to Madrid. I am an industrial engineer by training. I have always been passionate about new technologies and collections. I have collected all sorts of things, like lead figures, coins, world cup albums, etc. I love to travel, meet people and, like many others, enjoy a good meal with a good drink or two.
Also, I love to try different foods and drinks worldwide. As soon as I try new things, I want to learn about their fabrication process. Why do they have different notes and flavours, and why are some more expensive than others? This applies to everything we eat and drink.
Coming back to Whisky, my journey started a long time ago since it was one of my father's favourite spirits, only surpassed by tequila. It was one of the first spirits that I tasted, and at the time, to be honest, I did not enjoy it! But it grew on me, and now, it is one of my favourite drinks.
The spirit industry is a whole world by itself, with its own unique set of words that describes every process. The crazy experiments and the mixture of cultures and materials make it complex, dynamic, and intriguing. So I can assure you that it is worth your time.
Let's begin the road with one of the first questions that I wonder: Is it Whisky or Whiskey?
Well, it turns out that both are correct, but they are different, apart from the obvious. The region where it is produced affects the spelling. American-produced varieties such as bourbon, rye, and Tennessee, as well as the Irish spirit, use the "Whiskey" spelling. Meanwhile, Scotland, Canada, and Japan's spirits use the "Whisky" spelling.
But the difference also comes with some regulations attached. Bourbon has to mature on "first use" casks, and Scottish Whisky has to be at least three years old (I’ll go into more detail on future newsletters). I will mainly talk about Scotch Whisky; we have much to cover. But sometimes, I will mention other varieties for specific topics.
Meme of the week:
The Arbitrary Section - curious random facts provided by our network of experts
Fun Facts by Charles MacLean No. I
Springbank Shock
The Daily Mail of 16th June 1974 reported, breathlessly, that an hotelier in Galashiels (Scottish Borders) was displaying a bottle of 50YO Springbank to customers at 10p a viewing. “He paid £29 for it – the wholesale value of the whisky… It’s a sobering thought when he tells you what it would cost for a dram – if the liquid gold was up for sale (which it isn’t). Without so much as a blush, he puts a price tag of £2.00 on a fifth (of a gill) measure”.
How times have changed. A 50YO Springbank, almost certainly from the same batch of 36 bottles as the above, distilled in 1919, achieved £266,200 at auction in January 2021.
We hope you enjoyed our first newsletter and would love to hear your feedback; after all, this is for you.
Thank you,
The CoCo BC Team