Call me a purist.
Call me a fuddy duddy.
Call me old fashioned – just don’t serve me one!
Whiskey – neat – in a glass is all I’m after.

No day-glo coloured freshly squeezed juices.
No flame throwed cracked pepper toppings.
No fancy straws or designer sculpted ice-cubes.
I want the whiskey to talk to me.
So what has Roe & Co got to say for itself?
Simple really.
Sing it Phil!
Actually that should be The Girls.
Tanya Clarke – Diageo’s General Manager of Reserve Europe – launched Roe & Co at the event & credited the expression to Master Blender Caroline Martin.

And what a show the event was!
The former Guinness Power Station – intended site for the new distillery – was filled with bloggers, blaggers, influencers, designers movers & shakers & media.
They tempted us with trendy cocktails made with much panache & flair.

They sated our appetites with gorgeously tasty foods served by an army of friendly & efficient Roe & Co branded staff.
They treated us to a cavernous industrial building not normally open to the public atmospherically lit up with dazzling lights & soft smoke.

They moved us with infectious dance music.
And if you got through all of the above & asked the ice sculptor for a glass of neat Roe & Co, you did indeed get one. Well – rather more than one in my case.
Roe & Co wants to be noticed.

It needs to be.
After an absence of a few years Diageo are back in the Irish Whiskey playground strutting & preening among all it’s former play mates.
It’s young.
It’s enthusiastic.
It’s delightfully bold and
It’s got character.

I took notice.
I liked it.
Welcome back Diageo.
Sláinte