This year is not like the last two. 

These days things being different is hardly a rarity anymore. What this week's like, you'd be a person of immeasurable courage to stake your bets that next week would follow the same.

Yet, I think the past two years was kinda the same - a blur, getting by, waiting for something to break through and dispel the dark clouds. This year, we all got that wish. This year, everything resumed. The get togethers, the laughs shared, the friendships rekindled.

The whisky world isn't so different. It really isn't the arcane, esoteric world people like to bill it as - people inside and out. It's really a bunch of people who love to bond over drinks (you could swap that word out for any other topic, really) who want to meet, catch-up, have something to talk about and share laughs and half-boozed insights over.

So this year, 88 Bamboo attended as a group of friends our first ever collective festival - Singapore's The Malt Affair (TMA).

(Image Source: TMA)

What's particularly nice about TMA is that it has a very sort of grounds-up, grassroots feel to it. Various distributors and bars would set up their own booths in the hotel banquet room (this year's was held at Amara Hotel in Downtown CBD), and when the doors opened at 2pm, ticketholders would stream in and go around perusing what was offered. There's no sense of curation across the booths, every booth is given full creative control, for better or for worse. They get to put out whatever bottles they might have to offer - of any country, vintage, style, anything really. There's no theme, like Scotch goes here and Japanese whiskies go there. Nah, TMA would have you dispense with that. 

In a way, that makes it like a little show-and-tell or something of a whisky version of a garage sale. Visitors get to tinker with the distributor/vendor's stash and half the time, they end up with something real obscure in their glasses.

88 Bamboo as an online editorial got invited to take part in the fun as well. We got our bagels from the nearby Two Men Bagel shop and got to setting up our booth. We spilt some water onto the table and had to patch it up, but that's not really the point. Unlike the other booths, we don't distribute whiskies, making us a bonafide 0 ABV option at TMA. We laid out our wares - our freshly imported Chichibu barrel-aged coffer, hot off the press Autumn Edition of our Joy Luck Press (available here by the way), our In Good Spirits Tasting Journals, T-Shirts, Caps and Lucky Tiles Pin. We were ready to get down to business.

A banger of a Highland Laird 1992 Glen Scotia from Friends With Drams' booth - great creaminess, baked confectionaries, light yellow fruits. 

Between the crew of us, we took turns to take a stab at touring the other booths - all friendly faces of the good folks who tend to the bars we often frequent. Just last week we were all out and about The Single Cask, Swan Song, Auld Alliance, buzzing about TMA. We've always kept a look out for the awesome releases from the guys at Interco-MLE, Friends With Drams, Animal Spirits, Simply Whisky; we've conversed with the Bruichladdich folks more than our fair share. Familiar faces all-round, really.

All the way from Italy, Francesca brings us an amazing Horizon 25 Year Old 1996 Clynelish - a total fruitbomb, your good ol' Clynelish waxiness, a real spicy zinger! 

There were even some extraordinary folks who flew in just for the festival - Highlander Inn's Tatsuya-san who we've attended masterclasses hosted by the charismatic Scotland-based Japanese bartender with an impeccable dress sense, the affable Yamaoka-san who puts out dazzling manga-labelled whiskies from his indie bottler, WhiskyMew, and the lovely Francesca who helps her father with Italian bottler My Name Is Whisky.

We obviously had to take the opportunity to raid our good pals' stash while it's on full frontal display. We captured some of the highlights which you can expect reviews for in due time as we digest the festivities.

Who else but Animal Spirits would be walking around pouring out their new Chairmans Release's 1990 Old Rhosdu. Absolutely creamy, sweet, well-rounded stuff - classic Bourbon cask whisky if there ever was one. Review here.

A blast from the past from Simply Whisky's booth - I had this bookmarked. A lightly sherried Macallan bottled for Singapore's Raffles Hotel. This showcased light raisins and fruit cake, cinnamon and spices, a much gentler and milder style that bucks the trend of intensely flavored spirits these days. 

Bottle down! Bottle down! This Chichibu Bar Stamp bottling was a big hit.

What a treat! WhiskyMew's Yamaoka-san probably had the shortest booth tenure - most everything was out within hours! Who would be surprised though. He brought along two bottlings from Stefan van Eycken's Ghost Series - a Tsunuki and a Kanosuke, as well as a host of Chichibu's - in particular a wine cask bottling that was part of the Chichibu Bar Stamp Series that was exceptionally popular. The bottle was obviously sought after given that you could only access the bottle by visiting 21 bars across Chichibu collecting stamps from each of them and only after which you can participate in a lottery to win the bottle.

The 2017 Ghost Series Non-Peated Tsunuki was hefty, with lots of honey, peppercorns, apricots and nectarines. It was incredibly smooth and well-rounded.

Another super hot bottle that was killed way too soon.

The 2018 Ghost Series Kanosuke was incredibly interesting - a first Chardonnay cask aging from the Kagoshima distillery! This produced a very complex, multi-dimensional dram that was equal parts spicy, fruity - fruit jams, orchard and stone fruits, and quite zingy and zesty. The zingy numbing sensation lingered for a hot minute!

A super IG worthy 2011 Glenfarclas from WhiskyMew featuring the manga City Hunter. This was super sherried with lots of oomph and a really vibrant palate - exceptionally expressive stuff and really reminded me of fruitcake. This bottle has been making its rounds around Instagram and was nice to finally try it.

Picking through our good friend Malt, Grain & Cane's stash for this 27 Year Old Redbreast that was matured in Ruby Port casks, this was really spicy - I'm talking bird's eye chilli, layered with lots of pomegranates and cranberries, uber creamy. They've just revealed a Port Charlotte and Ledaig that was really good as well. Check out our reviews here (Port Charlotte) and here (Ledaig).

An incredibly lovely, super squeaky clean, creamy, sweet, malty 1988 Sinnsear Forefathers Bruichladdich snuck to us courtesy of Brendan from The Single Cask, a familiar face that is always a sight for sore eyes. This was really exceptional, if you chance upon one - run, don't walk.

Some other goodies from the folks who organised TMA - a 30 Year Old Jura from Whisky Fair (check out the sick label!) and a vintage 5 Year Old Glenburgie, back from a time when young age statements seem to defy frowns.

Taking a break from the malt-based spirits and checking out some malternatives - a 24 Year Old HTR Caroni from That Boutique-y Rum Company (represented by EC Proof) and the ever popular Botanist Gin from Remy Cointreau.

Always good to see representation for what is probably my all time favorite Foursquare from Singaporean indie bottler Man and Dram - the Fortitude 2007 Barbados Foursquare Rum. Simply can't get enough of this. Had to go for another dram. Review here.

It was really nice to see great uptake for the Chichibu barrel-aged coffee beans we brought in from Highlander Inn. We just might bring more in given how popular it was! 

We've got more t-shirts coming your way, and if you didn't get a chance to pick up some of our merch, you can still find them here.

It was very heartwarming to see some young folks, rush to pick up our notebooks. It's genuinely a product we've crafted from our own experiences and we really hope you guys enjoyed it! You can still pick it up here as well.

Ultimately, it was truly heartwarming to see the community come back together to share good drams, laughs and kinship. It's after all what the whole jig is about. Festivals like these may be grounds up and grassroots and alittle gritty but that's what gives it a whole lot of heart and charm. Seeing good folks bring out their Sunday best and inviting the community to come join in the fun. As they say, sharing is caring. 

What probably struck us most was that young folks who've just waddled into the scene came up to us and shared what they liked about our site and enthusiastically supporting 88 Bamboo by picking up some of our merch - it truly warms out heart and let's us know we're doing a good job and our efforts are appreciated. I hope you good readers know your kind words are what fuels us to keep pushing forward to be your freshest drinks companion!

Till next time.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot