Asia Batch Strength Tour – Part 3

The final leg of the Asia Batch Strength Tour took us to China and South Korea. My father and I arrived in China to take over from Catherine, who needed a well-earned break after 2 weeks travelling through South-East Asia. After a quick dram and a catch-up with Catherine, she flew home and we carried on the tour.

It was the first time Anthony had been to China for over 25 years, back in his independent bottling days, and safe to say plenty had changed. Beijing was the first of 9 cities on the tour, followed by Yanji, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nanning, Kunming, Hefei, Suzhou and finally Shanghai.

We hosted a variety of events in bars and restaurants across the country. From the chilly temperatures in the north (where we sponsor the annual Ice Racing competition!) to the tropical south, the hospitality and welcome we received was incredible, making the jetlag and early flights more than worth the trouble!

There were plenty of bottles of Batch Strength to be signed as the tour edition was snapped up fast, ranking top of the pile in most of our tasting line-ups. Anthony was also introduced to the word ‘gānbēi’, slàinte in Scotland (with a twist), which resulted in many drams being consumed on tour.

The pin badges, Kilchoman tweed and Batch Strength t-shirts we brought with us were worn with pride at each event and a few lucky guests went home with some extra presents – who doesn’t like going home with some free whisky!

After finishing up the Chinese leg of the tour in Shanghai, I hopped on the short flight over to Korea for 3 days of events. First in Busan, somewhere I had never been before, and then on to Seoul.

We had a sold out tasting in Busan with over 70 people there to get a taste of our new core range whisky. To those who missed out, don’t worry, we are already planning our next trip back here for our 20^th anniversary next year!

After one day in Busan it was then time to leave for the bright lights of Seoul. We hosted another packed out tasting event before it was time to visit one of the Kilchoman Comraich bars for an evening of drams in Aslung. There was core range, limited editions, single casks and a few surprise distillery exclusives all up for grabs behind the bar.

A packed few days of Korean barbeque and delicious whisky, not a bad combination to finish up the tour with! After 6 weeks, 9 regions and countless drams, it was time to wrap up the Asia Batch Strength Tour and head home… See you next time!

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