People sometimes look at me funny when I tell them I periodically write about whiskey in my wine blog.  However, here is an excellent example of how the world of one is in many ways very similar to that of the other.

Raimonds Tomsons, who is from Latvia, won the ASI (Association de la Sommellerie Internationale) Best Sommelier of the World competition earlier this year in Paris, France.  Prior to winning the championship, Tomsons had already made a name for himself due to his work in wine, being a board member of the Latvian Sommelier Association and having worked with several high-end restaurants and importers in Latvia.

He is now going to be the global brand ambassador for The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. of Dublin, Ireland.  Tomsons will now be applying his expertly trained nose and palate in his new role.  He sees this new endeavor as giving him the opportunity to further enhance his learning by exploring the diverse world of spirits and other beverages.

Tomsons sees that by joining Jay Bradley and his team at The Craft Irish Whiskey Co., he will have an opportunity to explore fine Irish whiskey in depth, and work on innovative whiskey and food pairings.  Bradley feels that Tomsons’’ knowledge and ability to detect nuances and layers of flavour compliments the way he makes whiskeys, each bottle of which offers a unique complexity of flavours.

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. was founded by Bradley in 2018.  The distillery creates rare and ultra-rare Irish whiskeys, including The Emerald Isle, worth an incredible $2 million US, making it one of the most expensive whiskeys in the world.

Craft Irish Whiskey is made only in a pot still and with hand-selected barrels.  They craft whiskey as it was once made before the rise of blends and mass-production techniques. They are proud to be reviving the art of crafting whiskey.  The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.  considers themselves as being rooted in tradition but with an eye on the future, a modern expression of a historic craft.

It is now also a marriage between the world of wine and that of whiskey.

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