Continuing our story of the whisky communities all over China that are the foundation to Nine Rivers Distillery, it’s time for us to pay a bit of an homage to Whisky Networking China Wuhan Chapter and its leader, Lucas “Cardigan” Driggers.
Kicking off in the early part of 2018, Whisky Networking China Wuhan Chapter was born out of some whisky-fuelled conversation between Lucas Driggers and his friends. (Sound familiar? It’s pretty much how Nine Rivers got started too!) Unfortunately, whisky just hadn’t taken off in Wuhan, and excluding a few of the “usual suspects” that bars are always obligated to stock, there was nothing that would interest or excite any whisky lover. Indeed, the bar was pretty low for the expat community.
The sad truth is simply this: bars are almost always cash flow intensive and locking money up in stock that won’t sell is bad business. Without a demand for whisky, bars simply don’t bother to stock anything more than “mixing whisky.” You know the type. ‘Nuff said. Without any real whisky knowledge within the city, demand never starts or grows. And thus, the hero of Wuhan Whisky emerged!
Lucas reached out to Oak and Barley to learn more about what was going on down south in Shenzhen and to understand how Whisky Networking China Shenzhen Chapter made things happen. We covered the Shenzhen events a couple of weeks ago, but in case you missed it, you can CLICK HERE and catch up.
Straight From The Horses Mouth
“Wuhan was far too sophisticated for the off the cuff style of Shenzhen’s early whisky nights. I needed something more to attract a classy crowd. Educational, hosted whisky nights were the answer to the needs of Wuhan. Themed flights of whisky to explore styles, flavors, textures and to also understand that globally, whisky really is so much more than just Johnnie Walker and Jamesons.”
…seriously? Did he just call Shenzhen unsophisticated? Does he not know I, the editor, live in Shenzhen? It’s ok. I can let this go.
“With a combination of teaching newcomers how to nose (smell) and taste whisky, preparing printed sheets to help people explore aromas, flavors, and give their own reviews on whisky, and throwing in just enough facts and anecdotes about whiskies to keep it interesting, Wuhan was officially on the whisky map in China.”
The Venue
Whisky Networking China Wuhan Chapter has had a few different homes over the years, rotating around a number of different bars around the city. For a while, everyone’s home was where the tasting events happened due to pandemic lockdowns. That’s right, the whisky tasting moved online. We’ll get back to that in a moment.
Its current home (with no likelihood of moving) is The Devil’s Brewery in Jianghan District, in Wuhan, where Taylor, May and the rest of the team at Devil’s have been a real asset to helping to grow a whisky community in Wuhan. Devils’ has been around for quite a few years and Taylor has a pretty strong reputation in the brewpub and craft beer community in China.
Lockdown Didn’t Stop Wuhan Whisky Networking
There were some challenges in Wuhan for a few months, as I’m sure we all know. But, that wasn’t going to stop the need for whisky nights in Wuhan. Lucas took a crash course in computer-me-bobs, and worked out how to do virtual tastings.
For those unaware, virtual whisky tastings have become more popular globally over the years during various times of lockdown across the world.
After distilleries and brand owners woke up to the fact that making hand sanitizer as a marketing and brand building “strategy” was an expensive and epic fail, some of them realised it might be a good chance to actually engage with customers in their homes by shipping sample sized bottles of product and hosting live tasting sessions. As it may or may not surprise you, people sometimes like drinking at home just as much as going out to a bar.
Lucas jumped on that bandwagon, swapped the cardigan out for an eye gouger of a shirt (sophisticated? ha!) and got all hi-tech.
Hand filling 25ml bottles and shipping them far and wide, all over Wuhan, Lucas showed just a sample of the level of dedication that he has put in over the last 4 years and more.
Award Winning
The efforts of Lucas didn’t go unnoticed in Wuhan. In fact, in 2019, Lucas won the Wuhan Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Whisky Networking China Wuhan Chapter. He was officially recognised for creating something new, interesting, and above all popular on the Wuhan social scene. Voted for by the people of Wuhan, it recognised the efforts that Lucas had made in building a whisky culture in Wuhan.
The Nine Rivers Distillery Connection
Through a number of whisky groups and a group specifically for those people taking up the challenge of building whisky culture in their cities, Lucas logically got involved at the very start of the Nine Rivers Distillery, bringing along some of the other whisky lovers in Wuhan. Simon, Mischa, Steve, Luke, Mark, Travis, and Aztlano all got involved as investors and ambassadors for the project.
Lucas continues to be a leading figure in the project with active involvement in some of our steering groups, with Simon being involved in a lot of our social media activity. We’re just waiting for Mischa to get over his Magic: The Gathering obsession (which he has been playing non-stop since 1993) so he can roll his sleeves up and get involved a bit more. [Editor’s note: I had a joke here but I’m all tapped out.]
Would You Like To Attend?
If you’re in or near Wuhan and your interest is piqued, you are welcome to reach out to Lucas to sign up for the next Whisky Networking China Wuhan Chapter!
There is a fixed number of tickets available for each event so they normally sell out within a couple of days. The July meetup has yet to be announced, so feel free to use the QR code below to add Lucas on WeChat. He’ll add you to the group so you can know when events are taking place and how to get a ticket. See you there!
Read More
If you enjoyed reading this, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
Follow Us
If you have enjoyed reading this and want to learn more about Nine Rivers Distillery, then use the QR Code below to follow our WeChat Official Account.
Alternatively, if you prefer Linked In then you can CLICK HERE to follow us.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE.
Whisky Networking China Wuhan Chapter
