At the end of November 2014, there was a gathering at an Italian restaurant called Urban Garden in Jeong-dong to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Epicure, the Cyworld gourmet club. Around fifty club members showed up, including Geondaun, who has since become a nationwide celebrity.

The front entrance

As the name Garden suggests, the whole place feels like a botanical garden or a courtyard. I heard that people who work nearby drop in often because the atmosphere is so nice.

Salad

The lighting was dim that night, so I do not have many photos that came out properly. The food was about the level of your average Italian restaurant.. this is a place that wins on atmosphere rather than taste.

Whisky

I remember it being the Glenfiddich 17 Year Old. I once did a vertical tasting of Glenfiddich, so drinking it again after so long brought back memories. Back then all I could tell was that expensive, old whisky tastes good.

As you would expect from an Epicure gathering, lots of people brought lots of bottles to share. I brought a modest little gift myself. There was so much good whisky in particular that I was able to have a fun – and very boozy – time.

Pasta

I kept moving from seat to seat, so I think I barely ate and just drank.

A makgeolli that is all the rage these days, Jahuihyang

It had a refined taste unlike any makgeolli, and apparently it is not easy to get hold of either.

A wine someone brought

A good wine, but drinking it after whisky is a bit.. That is the biggest problem with starting on whisky from the outset.

The bottles people brought

I can see the bottle the chef of Polpo brought, and there was a really wide range of drinks on offer. This culture of bringing bottles to share is what Epicure can be proudest of~

Pasta

Once again I only got to look at it, not taste it.

Whisky again

This time it was Glenfarclas. Outstanding value for money. Glen Grant, another superb-value whisky, also came out, but I cannot find the photo.

Vodka

This is the vodka Geondaun brought, a Finlandia Lime, and he even posed for the photo. I seem to see it in bars here and there lately, and when I actually tried it, it turned out to be a tasty vodka.

Steak

This one too, I only got to look at.. I hardly ate anything but salad that night.. which is why I got drunk incredibly fast.

After the fun of dinner was over, there was a lavish event. I do not remember much after that.

That night, starting with the Glenfiddich, I got to drink whiskies I had not touched in a while, and I discovered the charm of the bestselling whiskies that I had never noticed before. The moment I took a sip, the aroma and the taste came through as delicately separate layers. Vanilla and citrus, a smooth body, a peat aroma gently tickling the tip of the nose, and that crowd-pleasing honey flavour that clings to the palate. I finally understood clearly why the bestsellers are bestsellers.

And I was surprised at myself for being able to analyse, in my own way, a whisky I had not drunk in ages from just a single sip. It made me happy to feel that years of steadily drinking whisky had borne some fruit. With the 10th anniversary and all, it was such a happy day that I think I drank even more than usual.

That my palate could improve this much in such a short time is entirely thanks to the hard-drinking gourmet members. On my own, I cannot even guess how long it would have taken to learn this much. I am always grateful to the club members.

Of course, knowing a little more about whisky is not going to change my life dramatically. I have no particular plans to make money from whisky either. Even without much of a payoff, for now the simple act of learning something new is enjoyable in itself.

Since my whisky studies seem to be more or less done, I am thinking about slowly taking on another gourmet genre. Whether it will be cognac, bourbon or something else entirely, I have no plans yet, but I intend to look around at my own pace. There is plenty of time and no need to hurry. It feels like something new that I have never known is waiting in 2015, and that gets my heart racing.

To everyone who visits my blog, Happy New Year and best wishes for the year ahead. And I look forward to seeing you again next year.

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