Welcome to Delta Farce 2: Kick Some Glass! The follow up article to Delta Farce Part 1 (CLICK HERE if you missed that article) Previously on Team Delta Farce we introduced one of our many missions on the Nine Rivers Distillery project – the creation of our own distinctive whisky glasses. We introduced the team and […]
Read MoreWelcome to Delta Farce 2: Kick Some Glass! The follow up article to Delta Farce Part 1 (CLICK HERE if you missed that article)
Previously on Team Delta Farce we introduced one of our many missions on the Nine Rivers Distillery project – the creation of our own distinctive whisky glasses. We introduced the team and had a competition for you all to guess who created our unique concept (and who thought it was a terrible idea!).
Coming up, we’ll reveal how we designed the glasses, some challenges we faced, then showcase some cool images of prototypes alongside the finished product. Finally, we’ll reveal the winner of the contest.
Some of our broader team asked the same thing. The world has no shortage of fine glassware, so why go through all the trouble (and indeed, trouble was plentiful) of designing and manufacturing a new whisky glass?
There’s a few reasons why we did this. First and foremost, we want to show the whisky loving world that we really are different. It’s easy to say “yeah, we’re different because we say so” but actions speak louder than words. Doing things differently and taking on challenges that even the big brands don’t bother to do is the type of project that we want to be.
Secondly, because we see whisky as more than just chugging some oak cask matured, grain-derived booze. We see it as an experience. Something to be slowly enjoyed through aromas, flavors, in the company of good friends, and in a relaxed environment. A good whisky glass really does add to that experience, much in the same way people naturally reach for their favorite coffee mug, tea cup, comfy slippers, or a well-worn arm chair.
In Part One, we said we wanted cool whisky glasses, and we put Team Delta Farce on the mission because we didn’t want to be whisky industry sheep. We last left off at The Nerd suggesting borosilicate glass so we could use 3D sub-surface laser engraving. So what happened next?
The logic of four was an easy decision. Single glasses and pairs might sell better, but we weren’t looking for mass market merchandise. Four glasses not only make a nice set, but also reflects the four buildings that we are constructing for our distillery. With one building engraved into the base of each glass, well, you kinda have a visual representation of the distillery, right?
Wrong. When you have a nerd on the team, what you have is a “pain in the glass.” Nerds are mostly anal about precision and perfection, which was pointed out by The Nerd. Repeatedly.
“What’s going to happen when these glasses are not being used to drink whisky? They are going to sit on a shelf. The problem is going to be that most people won’t be bothered to lay these glasses out exactly as they should be. The spacing will be wrong and they won’t consider the need for the alignment to be 1.6 degrees off due north to cater for the feng shui requirements of our site.”
Two yawns, one “STFU,” one “stop being a nerd” and finally Chief Petty Officer Otter asked how this could be fixed.
Six minutes of silence later, during which The Nerd scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it over to Private Parts with some gibberish that only Private Parts and The Nerd could understand (they have developed some strange, caffeine overdose-induced language between themselves). Private Parts whipped out his…laptop, and proceeded to create a design that could be understood by other humans.
The concept was to create a scaled representation of our land parcel from locally sourced granite. The granite slab would match the shape of the land parcel and have inlaid holes with a correct feng shui- friendly alignment for each of the four glasses to sit.
While we’re not really into all that fluffy marketing waffle others use to “sell” a concept to an audience (and in all fairness, we think the finished product speaks for itself) we feel it is worth explaining what we think we have achieved.
We have created a set of whisky glasses that pretty much anyone would be proud to own. They balance the trade-off between high-end quality and an everyday glass. They weigh in at more than half a kilo per glass (yes – per glass) but are surprisingly comfortable to hold and use. They also make an interesting display piece when not in use, giving owners an opportunity to experience what we hope our distillery will eventually look like.
We won’t pretend this was an easy process. In fact, to most of us on the team, it has been an endless headache for months. 19 prototypes on the granite slab with 3 different cutting techniques. There were 7 different approaches to inlays on the holes which included 2 members of Team Delta Farce spending a day with scissors, craft knives, 3 different types of resin and literally a haberdashery worth of different cloths. Even the 3D sub-surface laser engraving went through numerous designs and renders.
We came away with the knowledge and experience of exactly why the big brand whisky companies prefer to just print logos on generic glass. As it turns out, designing your own unique whisky glasses is quite a challenge and none of those other companies have Team Delta Farce*.
*(please note, any attempts by other whisky brands to poach our Team Delta Farce will probably result in handbags at dawn…)
There were actually only 6 people who submitted correct answers. 2 of them cheated with multiple attempts from different email addresses, (we’re sure some of you can guess who they are……our favourite Italian guy and his wife) leaving just 4.
Chris P, Christian B, Daniel H, and Joel A. We threw all 4 names into a hat and we asked Winnie to draw one out. The winner is <drum roll> Joel A.
Joel is based in Suzhou, Jiangsu where he has spent the last decade working for a rather large software company as a New Product Introduction Manager. He’s not your typical nerd – apparently he’s super into extreme sports. He has a black belt in origami, he’s a former world heavy weight duck wrestling champion, and he once stared down Phill’s auntie without even blinking. All impressive feats.
No doubt at least six people out there want to know what the answers to the questions were. The Negative Nelly was in fact Hayden. The Nerd was Jay.
Yes we know, the only reason you’ve endured reading our latest waffle is to get your hands on some right? Well, it’s finally THAT time. There’s a link right here for you to buy some. CLICK RIGHT HERE IF YOU WANT TO BUY
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.
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This is part one of a two-part article about Team Delta Farce and their mission to create something unique in the world of whisky glassware. The team is also offering you a chance to win a complete set of four glasses that Team Delta Farce created. These glasses will be a one off, limited release […]
Read MoreThis is part one of a two-part article about Team Delta Farce and their mission to create something unique in the world of whisky glassware. The team is also offering you a chance to win a complete set of four glasses that Team Delta Farce created. These glasses will be a one off, limited release of only 250 sets. They will be released for sale after we publish part two of this story next week.
This mission needed the very best of the best. The elite, spec-ops types. Battle hardened war veterans that could stare down Chuck Norris and make Rambo call his nanna for some comforting words and moral support. We assembled the our Special Ops team: Team Delta Farce. You may applaud.
We had Captain Cringe (Jason – content and editorial support), Private Parts (Darryl – product design and branding), Sergeant Major Catastrophe (Hayden – our GM), Corporal Punishment (Fabien – product design and branding) and Chief Petty Officer Otter (Phill – editor for all our content) all under the leadership of Major General Mishaps (Jay – our CEO, who just came along when he heard there was free whisky).
There are 4 main styles of whisky glasses that are dominant in the market. Although we don’t know the industry statistics (most of us just swig directly from the bottle so glasses are irrelevant) and we probably don’t even have the correct names for them, we decided to simply call them Rocks Style, Snifter Style, Glencairn Style and Tulip Style. We’re deliberately not including a shot/shooter glass because as every whisky lover knows, good whisky is to be sipped, savored, and experienced. Shot glasses can stay in their lane next to a cheap bottle of Sambuca, or (as we prefer) in the bin.
Most whisky brands typically brand one of these 4 main styles with their name and logo and bundle them in a box set with whatever bottle they need to sell more of (or, more likely, charge extra for). It’s boring, it has zero creativity, and its a rinse-and-repeat cycle that does little more than employ a Photoshop monkey to change the pictures on the front of a template for an outer box.
There have been some interesting ideas come out in the world of whisky glassware over the last decade or so, due in part to the growth in whisky consumption. When combined with crowd funding websites (which has created accessibility through pre-selling to fund new concepts) many new glasses have become available. This means different shapes, different sizes, even sometimes with new materials! What they all share in common are claims about how the particular glass enhances the experience of drinking whisky. I don’t know about the other members of Team Delta Farce, but I hold the opinion that a fancy glass in my hand speaks volumes about the quality of my character.
Well, our team has tried them all: every size, shape, and style there is. We’ll be honest, there are some styles that genuinely enhance the aromas of whisky, which does enhance the whisky tasting experience. But (and we’re sure most of you will agree) there’s a vast difference in mindset and comfort when tasting whisky versus drinking whisky.
When tasting, yes, we all use a tasting glass. The shape and style are normally a personal preference between a Glencairn style and a Tulip style. There are logical reasons to want a taller shape to capture aromas.
But, when we are drinking, our slippers on, bum in a comfy old chair, with some gentle background music, perhaps with a cigar, we agreed as a team that a rocks glass was the preferred style.
A slug of whisky, an ice ball, with no cares in the world.
The thought of us, growing wooly fleeces, bleating in synchronisation and following all the other sheep in the whisky industry with generic, branded rocks glasses would be as painful as gouging out our eyes with spoons.
The time had come to design our own. In the same way we do everything at Nine Rivers Distillery, it was mob of whisky lovers brainstorming ideas over a few whiskies. Starting with a long list of wants and needs, which would lead to some scribbles and sketches, it eventually led to some design concepts which resulted in developing prototypes.
We knew we needed ultra premium quality, extra flint glass. We wanted weight. We wanted a chunky thick base. We wanted some sculpted character. We wanted everything that would make this stand out amongst a sea of other glassware on any whisky lover’s shelf.
There aren’t many ways to include technology in glassware. How can technology improve the enjoyment of whisky once past the design phase? That was a question we all pondered on.
“If we changed the glass to borosilicate glass, the boron trioxide will give a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion.”
Five confused faces stared at the source of the noise they had all just heard and for a brief moment there was absolute silence. Eventually, one of the five asked what everyone else was thinking – “what on earth are you babbling on about – how does that help anything?”
“It means the glass wont crack under extreme temperature changes, so we could (in theory at least) get a laser with a wavelength of 532nm, map it against the 3D renders from the architects, we could essentially create a path of micro-fractures in the glass. “
Five confused faces stared at the source of the noise again and for another brief moment there was absolute silence. This time another one of the five asked what they all thought – “are you just drunk and talking nonsense?”.
“We could create a 3D sub-surface laser engraving in the base of the glasses. Each glass could have one of the buildings in it. A set of 4 glasses would become a representation of the entire distillery.”
This time there was no silence. There was 5 dull-sounding clunks as 5 jaws hit the table in front of them, quickly followed by two “wows” one “awesome” one “show me what that looks like” and a “I think this is a very very shit idea.”
With five being in favour and some examples shared of 3D images being engraved within blocks of glass, this injection of nerd-factor motivated the team to get scribbling with some designs that were literally good enough to make.
We have a lot to show in Part 2. We’ll do the big reveal on what our first whisky glasses are going to look like (and you can trust us when we say they look absolutely amazing). We’ll also be showing you all what we did to take what was already a pretty awesome concept and turn it into what we consider to be a work of art.
The competition winner will be announced (just to prove we’re not cheating) and they will be featured in the article.
We’ll announce the cost of a set of glasses and open up sales on them as soon as the content goes live. Remember, there are only 250 sets available so these glasses will sell out quicker than Jay can trigger a wobbler in a WeChat group.
Answer the questions below to have a chance to win a set of glasses. Remember, we need your details too so don’t skip that bit – 回答下面的问题，有机会赢得一套杯子。请留意填写你的详细信息，请勿忽略。
Back in March we announced that Joy Tan was joining our Board of Directors. Recently, our beloved, extremely handsome, and not even remotely tipsy editor, Phill (who’s currently writing this), had the opportunity to sit down and chat with her about her background, why she joined the Nine Rivers project, and her own ambitions for the distillery. […]
Read MoreBack in March we announced that Joy Tan was joining our Board of Directors. Recently, our beloved, extremely handsome, and not even remotely tipsy editor, Phill (who’s currently writing this), had the opportunity to sit down and chat with her about her background, why she joined the Nine Rivers project, and her own ambitions for the distillery.
Here’s what she had to say.
I’ll condense the introduction. Most of it was spent with me having Zoom issues and strategically adjusting my camera to hide how much I may or may not have been drinking at the time. Joy Tan
How would you introduce yourself to the world?
Joy Tan: I grew up in Beijing and studied biology at Tsing Hua University. I first came to the US for graduate school and just stayed here in Texas after school. Over the years, I’ve worked with several large technology companies, including Verizon and Huawei. I had the opportunity to live in Shenzhen for several years when I was the head of Global Media and Communications for Huawei.
Last year, after more than two decades in tech, I decided to start my public affairs consulting firm to help companies improve their reputations and expand their businesses globally. I also do venture capital investment, especially startups led by female founders. I’m very passionate about initiatives that help empower women and girls around the world.
That’s quite the journey. From China to the US, from biology to digital tech. There’s a lot of big jumps in your life. What would say is the thread that connects all of these experiences?
Joy: I think that, at the time, fundamental science research wasn’t nearly as technically advanced as it is now. So a lot of the work was manual, tedious, and SLOW. The amount of time it took to do basic things was really frustrating. Today, thanks to advances in technology, we can sequence an entire genome in about an hour for US$500. That’s about a 100 million-fold increase in efficiency compared to when I was in school.
That frustration is what first pulled me into the world of technology. I knew technology was poised to create exciting advancements in medical technology. But I didn’t want to wait for it to happen – I wanted to be part of it! The practical application of science has a much more immediate and tangible impact on the world. So halfway through my PhD, I had a good opportunity to jump ship, so I did. I got an MBA in marketing and jumped headfirst into the tech sector.
At first glance it may seem like I’ve quite a few seemingly unrelated branches in my career, but the connecting thread is really my passion for using technology to make life better. Joy Tan
So why whisky? Why did you end up getting involved in Nine Rivers Distillery?
Joy Tan: First and foremost, I love whisky. And I can see you do too.
[Editor’s note: Oops. Got caught trying to sneak a drink between questions.]
I especially love a good scotch, although I’ve got a foot in both camps because I love bourbon too. Second, it’s a very vibrant and burgeoning industry. Whisky has seen massive growth over the past few years.
We’re seeing all kinds of new startups popping up around the world. Truly artisanal shops that are doing some groundbreaking stuff with flavor and experience. At the same time, we’re seeing larger, more traditional Scotch distilleries start to reinvent themselves. Distilleries Brora and Rosebank are opening up their doors for business again, and of course we have Port Ellen due to reopen next year.
The demand is there, and China especially is an untapped, eager market for whisky. Chinese consumers are growing more sophisticated by the day. So when Jay approached me about bringing some of my experience to the project, I jumped at the opportunity.
I’m glad you mentioned Jay. Because, seriously, why Jay of all people? I can’t join the dots. How on earth did you end up in his mad, mad world?
Joy Tan: (Laughs) Yeah, craaaaazy Jay. I originally met him years ago, back when Nine Rivers was still a concept and very much in the early stages. We were introduced by an old colleague of mine in Shenzhen. One night we were chatting over drinks and Jay started talking about this project he was working on.
He said he was working with a group of whisky lovers across China to start their own distillery. It was a grassroots approach. At the time, he was building up this whisky community across China through one of his other projects, Oak and Barley. It brings whisky enthusiasts together in different cities, combining their love of whisky with professional networking.
These whisky networking events always had a ton of diversity. Men, women, people from China, North and South America, Africa, Europe. Everywhere. There were older people and younger people, and people from all walks of life: engineers, teachers, architects, writers, designers, even shoemakers. All brought together by a common love for whisky. It sounded like an awesome group.
Jay’s dream was to put China on the international whisky map, and he wanted to do it together with this community by making them co-founders, investors, and ambassadors. There was no shortage of talent; they all brought their expertise to the table through focusing on one thing: making incredible whisky.
The idea of a grassroots distillery in China was interesting, but what really stood out to me was his ideas on technology in the whisky industry.
A lot of people might not know this, but prior to his alcohol import business in China, and his adventures in Africa, Jay was a real nerd. We’re talking old-school computer programming, networks, infrastructure – that kind of nerd. Even in Africa he was out there helping remote villages get internet access through satellite, so technology has always been a part of what he has done over the years.
When we met, he was throwing around ideas about using technology to revamp areas ranging from production and brand protection to customer engagement. Not only to create better whisky, but also to create a better overall whisky experience. It was right up my alley.
Needless to say, we stayed in touch. And last year, when Jay noticed that I’d moved on from my previous role to do consulting work, he reached out. We started talking formally at the start of 2022, and well, here I am.
Can you talk a little about what the public can expect regarding technology and Nine Rivers Distillery?
Joy Tan: Absolutely. I can’t share all of our secrets just yet, but there are a few things that make this project uniquely awesome.
Currently, whisky is a relatively untouched industry when it comes to tech. In terms of distilling itself, nothing has really changed for the past 200 years except the tendency to lean towards profitability over consumer experience.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing. In a lot of ways, whisky is about tradition. There’s a reason why traditions become traditions in the first place, and that’s because they produce good results.
At Nine Rivers, we want to use technology to build on those traditions. We can protect the good parts and see if we can do better in other parts, such as environmental impact, production quality (like flavors and aromas), and customer engagement.
That’s where technology really shines. For example, you know those big copper onion or lantern-shaped stills you see in distilleries? They are quite wasteful when it comes to energy use. You need to heat them up super hot, and then cool them back down for emptying and cleaning. All of that energy is just lost in between. There is some partial energy recovery that happens with heat exchangers, but most distilleries still end up wasting most of that energy.
Nine Rivers Distillery is going to use it. To start with, we’re using renewable energy as our primary heat source. We will use air source heat pumps. Additionally, we have designed and patented a more efficient way to use heat exchangers on our stills. Current projections show that we can meet about 70% to 80% of our energy needs with renewable and recovered energy. This is huge. So much so that we patented it and the patent has been granted.
That all sounds great. Obviously we need to protect the natural environment because, well, if you don’t have good natural resources, you can’t have good whisky. But if we take a step back, what about me as a consumer? You mentioned product quality, and you mentioned customer engagement. What is Nine Rivers doing with technology that will directly benefit me as a consumer of whisky?
Joy Tan: Essentially three things: We will use digital technology to make whisky in a more sustainable way, to make whisky better, and to improve the overall “whisky experience.”
For example, we are setting up connected systems to monitor all aspects of the mashing and fermenting process. Sure, these exist in general terms, but not to the precision and accuracy that we will use. I’m talking about three-second time slices on data sampling.
We will be taking a “big data” approach to every single aspect of production and then modelling this against all of the environmental data so we can leverage renewable energies – not just at the most optimal time to harvest energy, but also in consideration of the tradeoffs that we have to accommodate. For example, a hot day might give us more renewable energy from air source heat pumps, but we would then also have challenges with chillers on fermentors and condensers on stills.
That’s the sustainability aspect. As a consumer, you probably won’t really “feel” that directly, but to tech nerds like me and Jay, this gets us excited. And like you said, protecting the environment also protects our product.
We can also use this big data approach and create data models that will help us maintain strict consistency in the production of our milling, mashing, and fermenting, which means reliable consistency in the quality of the final product. For example, wood management, like everything about our casks, can be managed with the same technology-driven approaches.
That means better whisky. And you will definitely be able to taste and feel that.
As for the better overall experience you asked about, we have several plans in the works. Joy Tan
Take that whisky glass you keep trying to hide from me. I don’t know how you got your hands on one of the prototypes before I did. That’s totally not cool, and I’m definitely going to yell at Jay for that. (Laughs)
As someone who was part of the team that designed those, though, you know first hand how much technology went into creating what I can only describe as a work of whisky art. We are making a very conscious effort to provide people with a product and experience that make the most of technology to amplify tradition.
For example, we have plans to incorporate augmented reality in the distillery itself. When people visit, they will be able to engage more closely with what we’re doing, understand our end-to-end processes, why we do things the way we do, and interact with the distillery around them in a more immersive way.
We also have our own “grain to glass” technology that tracks the entire product lifecycle. Every bottle will have its own NFC chip, which means that when someone taps their phone on our product they can see everything about that bottle. This includes the farm where the barley was grown, the specific production process, the aging of the whisky, and everywhere the bottle has physically been.
Of course, technology will play a role even when we aren’t producing. We’ve got a lot in the works. Over the next few months, we’ll be releasing some really interesting technology-driven experiences. Joy Tan
Right now we’re working on something called “Project X.” We think it’s going to be a first for the whisky industry, and we’re pretty confident it will make all players take note of what Nine Rivers is doing. I dropped a little hint in there if you’re paying attention!
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.
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.
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Shenyang, the flagship city of Liaoning province, is not typically a destination that travellers or expatriates first think about when pondering Chinese cities. Nonetheless, Shenyang has its own culture points and attractions that boost its fame among those of us who live in China and are “in the know.” We’re here to give Shenyang some […]
Read MoreShenyang, the flagship city of Liaoning province, is not typically a destination that travellers or expatriates first think about when pondering Chinese cities. Nonetheless, Shenyang has its own culture points and attractions that boost its fame among those of us who live in China and are “in the know.” We’re here to give Shenyang some well-deserved love and encourage more travellers and expatriates to give this charming city a visit. So, what is Shenyang famous for?
With a population of over 9 million people just within the main city, this megalopolis is actually home to a staggering 23 million people when counting the full suburban and rural areas. Even though the five inner urban districts are likely to have given Shenyang most of its fame, owing to rich contributions in science and industry Shenyang is also famous for how far its rich history extends into suburbs and rural areas where some interesting things have been discovered: 8,000 year old human remains, for example, as well as artifacts belonging to the neolithic Xinle people. It was only more recently (well, 2300 years go) that Shenyang was born out of Hou City, which was home to several dynasties, earning it the honorable title of Shengjing or “rising capital.”
Today, Shenyang is famous for its many museums, attractions, shopping areas and food. For those more active, Shenyang’s people have an obsession with football, basketball and many other sports. As you might have guessed, we’re not focusing on any of that. If you ask the whisky lovers in Shenyang “hey, what is Shenyang famous for?” you’re only going to get one answer:
Now into its fourth year, Whisky Networking Shenyang is a regular event that has been hosted since its inception by Mudy G. Don’t worry, we aren’t being disrespectful by clipping his name; Mudy G. has a name that’s as long and culturally rich as Shenyang’s! His full name includes a first name of 9 syllables, 17 middle names and a triple barrelled family name – made up from no less than 4 different languages. Also, don’t let the name fool you; he’s not “moody” at all, despite that being how you pronounce it.
Whisky Networking Shenyang first started in April 2018 when Mudy G. decided that Shenyang needed more of a whisky culture. Sure, of course Shenyang had whisky, but anything you might see at a bar was placed high on a shelf and gathering dust because nobody bought it; there was simply not enough demand for the “good stuff.” So, leveraging the collective wisdom of those in the Oak and Barley WeChat groups, alongside other Whisky Networking events, Mudy G strove to make those bottles less ornamental and more practical (as in, drinking them instead of looking at them). is Shenyang Famous For?
While those of us in Shenzhen treat whisky nights more like opportunities to glug expensive bottles, Mudy G took a more educative approach. His whisky networking nights included sharing whiskies that were previously unseen in Shenyang as well as helping people understand more about whisky in order to describe and judge them.
“Whisky can actually be quite intimidating for most people. There are so many different types, styles, aromas and flavours. More often than not, a first whisky experience (typically a cheap blend) can be so disappointing that people simply avoid whisky unless its flavour is overpowered with a sugary soft drink.
I’d been lucky to have been able to try many different styles of whisky so I understood that there is always a style that people will like – they just need help discovering that style. That’s what I wanted to share with people. The opportunity to find a style that suits them. Building knowledge within our Shenyang whisky community to give people the confidence to explore whiskies was my mission.”
It’s fair to say that while Mikey’s is the spiritual home of Shenyang Whisky Networking, other venues such as Milo’s German Restaurant, Taverna Vigna Italian Restaurant, and Suerte have all taken turns playing as host. Yet, there’s a special kind of magic that always brings the whisky loving community back to Mikey’s. While Shenyang is famous for its own local cuisines, Mikey’s makes fantastic burgers served by friendly staff. The owners are also warm and generous: ¥15 Asahi pints, or their happy hour where for ¥50 you can have unlimited refills on Asahi! This is why, across all photos taken at whisky networking events here, there are plenty of bottles and glasses present. While we would never want to call the attendees at Shenyang’s event unsophisticated, we will give them the benefit of the doubt and imagine those beers are for palate cleansing purposes only.
Sophie’s World Bar also deserves a special shout-out for hosting some of the whisky networking events. In the expatriate community, Shenyang is famous for Sophie’s, having been a dedicated hangout for as long as expats have called Shenyang their home.
Sophie’s actually opened in 1996 and has been a Shenyang staple ever since, making it an obvious choice for a networking event.
Shenyang’s whisky enthusiasts arrive at the venue starting from 7 P.M. and go until late. Some arrive earlier to eat at the venue while getting a head start sipping/chugging their whiskies (and maybe beer).
Ticket prices are typically between ¥158 to ¥198 for a flight of whiskies, depending on the night’s theme. Pretty good deal, yeah? So…
There’s a bit of rivalry between different Whisky Networking events, and the rivalry between Shenyang and Wuhan is pretty fierce. So fierce in fact that Mudy G. has committed to shave his head at Mikey’s bar, at the next Shenyang Whisky Networking event – if this article can achieve more page views on our WeChat Official account than the Wuhan article achieved.
We’re counting the first 3 days of the article being live, which would equate to 3227 page views on the English language version, and 613 on the Chinese language version.
So if you’d like to see Mudy G, balded into a Lucas clone, then get sharing the WeChat official article with everyone you know. We’ll post an update at the bottom of this article on Saturday 23rd July at 6pm, 3 days after this is published, and if a balding is going to happen, we’ll add some snaps of that too, when they are available.
If you’re in or near Shenyang and your interest is piqued, you are welcome to reach out to Mudy G. to sign up for the next Whisky Networking China Shenyang Chapter!
There is a fixed number of tickets available for each event so they normally sell out within a couple of days. The August meet up has yet to be announced, so feel free to use the QR code below to add Mudy G. on WeChat. He’ll add you to his group so you can know when events are taking place and how to get a ticket. See you there!
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.
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. What is Shenyang Famous For?
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE.
As a proper, born-and-bred Chinese person, I wouldn’t feel comfortable starting this article without a formal, primary school-style introduction. So before I get onto working with the Mayor, here’s a little about me. My name is Hayden Zou. I’m originally from Hengyang in Hunan Province, and I moved to Shenzhen back in 1992 to be […]
Read MoreAs a proper, born-and-bred Chinese person, I wouldn’t feel comfortable starting this article without a formal, primary school-style introduction. So before I get onto working with the Mayor, here’s a little about me.
My name is Hayden Zou. I’m originally from Hengyang in Hunan Province, and I moved to Shenzhen back in 1992 to be part of what was – and still is – the most exciting city in the world.
During my time here, I’ve worked as a GM and COO for companies making metal, digital displays, and… snowboards. Needless to say, that last one was a relatively short endeavour, given the lack of demand for winter sporting equipment in a subtropical region where snow is about as common as standard Mandarin. working with the mayor
Eventually I got tired of the corporate life, so I decided to retire and open a hotel. The tourism industry had always interested me, so I bought a fix-me-up hotel, some power tools, rolled up my sleeves, and put together a team to help me renovate. I would have been content to live out the rest of my days in the comfort of my inn, but one fateful day, the phone rang.
In 2019, I answered a call from Jeff Olyniec. Jeff was the former boss at one of the companies I used to work for. He had recently invested in another company I was working with, so I answered thinking he wanted to talk about his new investment.
“Hey Jeff, how are y—”
“Yeah, Hi, Hayden, listen. I’ve got a job for you. Stop whatever you’re doing, get in your car, and drive to the address I’m sending you now. Gotta go.” *click*
This was pretty typical Jeff. A briefing would have been nice, but sometimes a little mystery is enough to make you get in your car and just go. And that’s what I did, leaving behind my unfinished tea and half-eaten youtiao (that’s a fried dough stick for you non-Chinese).
I drove to the office of Jay Robertson, who was known in expat circles as the “Mayor of Liquor Town” – a reference to his sprawling empire of importing western booze into China . True to his namesake, his office had shelves with hundreds of bottles on display. Most of them were whisky, and I didn’t recognise a single one.
We sat at his desk, and he walked me through a slide show about building a distillery in Fujian. I smiled and patiently let him get through it.
You see, I knew a distillery would do well in China, and if Jeff was involved, I was willing to invest too. But Jay surprised me when he said he wasn’t asking for me to invest. He was asking me to work for him. I remember laughing and saying that I didn’t know anything about whisky, but he grinned back and said I’d learn on the job, starting Monday.
I went home, baffled and confused. I was retired! I was a hotelier now! I had no intention of going back into full-time employment… but somehow, the idea of working in an entirely new industry stuck with me. Jay has a “big” personality, to put it politely, and the ridiculousness of working with the self-proclaimed Mayor of Liquor Town also had an odd if not grim sort of appeal.
I’ll admit, I was more than a little intrigued about the project, so I wrote up a list of questions and decided to follow up.
On Monday morning, I went back to Mr. Mayor’s office for a chat. Right as I arrived, he was on his way out. He ushered me back to the carpark, asked where my car was, then took my keys, told me to get in, and started to drive.
This was all in the span of about a minute. What the hell is wrong with all these foreign guys, I thought. He said we were going to Dongguan, about 90 minutes away, to meet a couple of other board members.
I used the drive to go through all my questions. I wanted assurance that this guy knew what he was doing. He answered every single question without any pause for thought, demonstrating that this distillery wasn’t some half-baked idea; he had an eerily encyclopaedic response for everything I threw at him. Some might think that that’s normal for a CEO, but a lot of CEOs I’ve met don’t tend to deal in the finer details. If Jay had any gaps, aside from those in his sanity, I couldn’t find them.
Between my questions, he was also juggling a few dozen conversations on WeChat using the voice message feature (safer while driving but still a bit nerve racking). I distinctly remember the audio messages he was sending. They ranged in topics from customs issues at a nearby port, an argument with an architect to correct another architect, two arguments with two different lawyers to correct some contract wording, lecturing someone on how to correct the chemical composition of a type of fertilizer, and something to do with software development that went completely over my head.
Not for the first time, I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into.
Despite being borderline hostile when arguing with his colleagues about technical details, every single question I asked about the distillery seemed to flip a mental switch and bring out something different in him. The “asshole personality” was replaced with one that was much warmer, engaged, and – I hate to admit it – fascinating.
Those 90 minutes were more interesting than anything that happened to me in the previous few years combined. Hotel work isn’t all that exciting I suppose. I realized that either this guy was an absolute nutter and we were going to die in a car crash on the way to meeting these other board directors (who might not have even existed, for all I knew) or he was something of a mad genius.
Either way, I was intrigued.
(PS – We didn’t die on the way to Dongguan.)
At the end of that day, Jay and I were sharing a top-shelf whisky together.
“So are you in?” he asked. I quickly learned that Jay wasn’t much for transitions. “I need someone to manage day-to-day operations. I want that person to be you.”
It occurred to me then that I had no idea how much he knew about me or why he was offering to me, just an Average Zou, an important job without so much as a formal interview. So I asked. Jay laughed and said I wouldn’t believe him, so I knew this was going to be a good story.
It went like this: Jeff and I had known each other for years. When Jay was in the market for a Managing Director, Jeff forwarded him my CV. As is standard practice in China, it included my birthday.
Jay being Jay, he’d given my date of birth to the distillery’s Feng Shui master (you can read about him here) and told him to read my fortune – or “Suan Ming” (算命). He used a traditional method known as “Zi Wei Dou Shu” (紫微斗數) or calculating destiny based on the positions of stellar objects relative to the North Star. It’s basically a metaphysical mashup of zodiac signs and astrology with a dash of Feng Shui.
Apparently – and I took this with a huge grain of salt, as I hope you do too as you read this – despite the fact that we were both stubborn and pedantic asshats who would fight like cats and dogs, we were predicted to have a perfect partnership and could achieve great things together.
Yeah, right. I was absolutely sure Jay was bullshitting me. I nodded, smiled and didn’t ruin our nice moment. But the moment I got back to my hotel room, I looked it up online, the source of all reliable information. I found this:
“属马和属蛇之人组为伙伴多可有互补之势，其二人一人多有莽撞，一人则多有沉稳，一人性格内敛，一人则多有张扬，分工之搭配得当，多可有成，属马和属蛇事业合作顺成。
属马之人其人多有善言辞，尚且可善应酬之事，为人之喜冒险，未有胆怯之心，尚且多有为人之坦诚，多可相处之无碍，然亦有急躁冒失之症，故多有犯错之时。
属蛇之人其人不喜言语，多有默默无闻于工作之时，尚且多可能力之佳，多可自行决断处事，不喜言辞之症多有疲于应酬之事，故与人交往之事尚有费心之时。属马之人和属蛇之人搭配恰到好处尚可事业无忧，长久之合作多可有合作之成果，少有波折”
[Editor’s note: I tried to convince Hayden not to include what some people might consider to be a load of hogwash. It’s cheesy, but he insisted, so… enjoy, I guess. I’m just the editor, what do I know?]
It more or less says the following about Jay (the snake) and I (the horse):
The horse and the snake have complimentary characteristics. If two people, one more reckless (guess who) and one much calmer (me) come together, the division of labor flows smoothly.
This next part might be a little harder for some people to accept.
The snake is usually introverted, hates public speaking and is fiercely independent when making decisions.
Many will say that only one of these accurately describes Jay. You can guess which one. But after years of working with the Mayor of Liquor Town, I have learned that there’s a kernel of truth in his horoscope here. Although he runs his mouth online like an angry streetside preacher, I know for a fact that he hates public speaking and likes to keep to himself outside the demands of his profession.
And this is why we make such a great team, because I’m good at what he hates.
Besides, a good friend once told me that I was smart as a horse and hung like Einstein, so perhaps there’s even greater truth to this horse-snake fortune telling after all.
[Editor’s note: I included this last bit out of revenge for making me translate all that obscure Chinese. You’re welcome Hayden.]
Just a few weeks after accepting the role as GM for the distillery, I relocated to Longyan in Fujian Province, the future site of Nine Rivers Distillery.
Relationships with local stake holders are absolutely critical to the success of any serious project in China. Many people are familiar with the concept of guanxi or relationships, and it’s true that meeting professional contacts face to face, at any time, is absolutely necessary.
Many people wrongly think that things in China happen naturally fast. And that if you grease a few palms, things go even faster. This, quite simply isn’t true for any serious business.This is how we build things quickly in China – with just a little bit of magic.
While you might scoff at me saying that China is one of the strictest countries in the world concerning construction and safety, it’s true. Many Western countries have rules that govern the aesthetics and general “feel” of a building, but China’s rules are heavily biased towards the safety of staff and the general public. working with the mayor
This is doubly true for a distillery where fires and explosions are a distinct possibility. There have been several instances where we wanted a specific design, but fire regulations wouldn’t allow it or the Feng Shui master would veto it (also an important part of doing business in China), so all in all, we’ve been patient and creative, especially concerning the design of our roofs.
Fortunately, through concerted effort and nonstop meetings, PowerPoint presentations, and local engagement, we have been able to build lasting relationships with important stakeholders in Fujian, which has gone a long way towards accelerating the progress of our project. We were able to secure a perfect plot of land, better and more sprawling than any organization that isn’t a Fortune 500 company could ever hope to have.
It was a mammoth task, but we did it.
As we continue to move forward with construction and interest in the project grows, the single question I get asked the most is: “What’s it like working with the Mayor of Liquor Town?”
A lot of people ask this because they only know Jay from his abrasive online persona hawking goods online. If you are in any of his whisky, liquor, food, or townie groups, you know how he is. How many of us have laughed at how he handles people that annoy him or disrespect his staff? He’s a legendary troll, the one who treats online communities like a playground, all for entertainment while giving out pretty good deals on food and drink.
I might ruin a few people’s perceptions of Jay here, but here it goes.
Very few people know Jay outside of these online personas. Having worked with him since 2019, interacting with him multiple times a day and working alongside him to bring our project to life, I’m probably the person with the most insight into his character. I can confidently say that I know him better than anyone else in China.
When I first met him, I could have sworn he had multiple personality disorder. But I’ve come to realise that it’s not so much a disorder as it is a superpower. Depending on who he’s talking to and the subject matter, he blends in like a chameleon and brings out the best in people. That’s why our project has been able to grow as a truly grassroots endeavour and why everyone who gets involved is more than eager to lend their talents and abilities. Working with the mayor.
In a way, he’s the glue that holds us together. Jay has always said that the Nine Rivers Distillery project will always be about the people involved and not about him. But the fact of the matter is, his vision and insane passion for the distillery are the reason we all got involved and invested in the first place. Anyone can invest money, but to inspire someone to invest money and talent? That’s exactly why our project will be successful.
I won’t pretend Jay is easy to work with. He’s really not. He’s the most difficult person I’ve ever worked with. But he also happens to be the most talented person I’ve ever worked with. Working with the mayor
He’s a taskmaster perfectionist. He’s impatient and has the bedside manner of a feral cat with rabies. Yet, beneath all that, when someone asks for advice or help, he will drop everything and give you his undivided attention.
It’s a bit of a roller-coaster at times, but that’s just Jay.
So what’s it like to work with the infamous Mayor of Liquor Town? It’s fast-paced. It’s fun. Its educating. In short there’s method to his madness and knowing that helps me get past his thousands of character flaws to see him for what he truly is: a leader with vision, a nerd with a broad range of passions, and a good man who I trust with the future of this project.
[Editor’s note: The official line is “hundreds” of character flaws, not thousands.] Working with the Mayor
I’m going to close my story with a huge thanks to Phill, my fellow Nine Rivers investor, for helping me put this together. English isn’t my native language and while I can communicate decently in professional contexts, I didn’t want this article to sound like it came from a Business English textbook.
Phill surprised me with his Chinese skills; he understood much more than I expected and was able to expertly capture all the little nuances I hoped to convey.
[Editor’s note: Aw, thanks Hayden.]
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