Philippines : opening of Whisky Live Manila from 9 to 10 November

Live Manila whisky will open its doors from 9 to 10 November in the prestigious Shangri-La hotel, located in the “Fort Bonifacio” district. For this third edition, ten new whisky brands will be honoured (Victor’s, Douglas Laing and Scotch Malt Whisky Society among others), out of the 100 distributed between the 43 stands present. “This year, we expect about 3,000 visitors, or 1,500 tickets a day,” said Johnssen Li, festival organizer.

Many speakers will be present: Ian Chang (Kavalan Master Blender), Giancarlo Bianchi (Technical director of Penderyn Distillery), Jonathan Scott (Director of Glengoyne Distillery), Murphy Chang (Keeper of the Quaich, & Glenmorangie BA), ​Paul Wang ​(“Keeper of the Quaich” and Douglas Laing Global BA), Stephan Berg (Owner and Creator of Bitter Truth), Iain T. Forteath ​(Angus Dundee Distillers PLC Global Brand Ambassadors), Ervin Trykowski (​​Singleton Global Brand Ambassador), ​Frasier Campbell (​Dewars Global Brand Ambassador), Kevin Liu (​​Raasay Distillery Global Brand Ambassador), Neil Strachan (Balvenie Regional Brand Ambassador), Cindy Chiu ​(Brand Ambassador of Scotch Malt Whisky Society), Hamish Houliston (Chivas Brand Ambassador), Jamey Merkel
(Beam Suntory Brand Ambassador), Keith Nair (Macallan Brand Ambassador), Fintan Cannon (Pernod Ricard Brand Ambassador), Charmaine Ann Thio
(Hendricks Brand Ambassador), Kai Lum (Bacardi Brand Ambassador), Cedric Mendoza (Head Bartender of Manhattan – Ranked #3 Bar in the World), Francis Hasegawa (​Lit Manila & Japanese Whisky Specialist) and Lee Watson ​(ABV Cocktail, Bitters & Master Mixologist).

Whisky Live Manila will host this year, in addition to its master classes, a live cocktail competition. Students from six schools will be chosen to present their favourite drink to a jury of bartenders and local bar owners.

If you have the opportunity to participate in the show, here is the schedule of the event. Each guest receives tokens, which can be exchanged for whisky samples in the stands. Knowing that each kiosk can offer up to five flanges.

Unfortunately, Whisky Live Manila is already almost full but there are still 400 seats available out of the 3000 on sale. With a little luck, you can try to take them on the festival website.