Scotch whisky store in Double Bay, Sydney

Double Bay's World of Whisky

At the Double Bay bottle shop you can get anything you like, as long as it's whisky

By Julietta Jameson 7 March, 2011

"Something brown would be nice." Double Bay drinkers choose their drops from World of Whisky in Double Bay

The tattooed guy in board shorts knows exactly what he wants.
“Do you have that Chivas 18-year-old?” he says. “This time it’s a gift for my mate. We always drink it together.”
“Well, you will have to allow me to expand your repertoire,” says World of Whisky shopkeeper Ivan Myers.
Shortly after, two conservatively dressed older men enter Myers’ ritzy, Double Bay shop.
Unlike the previous customer, they’re indecisive.
“I want to buy a bottle for my brother-in-law here,” one says.
The other replies, “I remember I liked one that had a white label with black writing on it. It came in a white cylinder.”
That’s no worries for Myers. He’s well prepared.

All about whisky

Myers' store (with business partner David Ligodd) is World of Whisky, a bepoke bottle shop dedicated to -- you guessed it -- whisky. It's the only one of its kind in Australia.
It’s a small space, but the range available is substantial and impressive. The shelves are organized into Scottish whisky producing regions -- then clusters of a few Irish, Welsh, Japanese and even Indian drops.
And a dram or two of Australian-produced whiskey, from Victoria and Tasmania, where the water has that essential purity.
Out of the Highland whiskies available, two makers are Australian exclusives to World of Whisky: Glenglassaugh and Tullibardine.

The oldest and most expensive whisky

There are other special attractions for the whisky aficionado.
“This is probably the oldest bottle of whisky for sale in Australia,” says Myers, motioning to a 58-year-old Glen Grant. “People ask me what it tastes like, and I say it’s too expensive for me to taste.”
The price: AU$5,000.
There are other one-off prizes, among them a Johnny Walker bottle with a real gold cap.

World of Whisky has a membership scheme and hosts weekly tastings around a big wooden table in the middle of the store. The tastings attract beginners and experts, member and non, and mostly men.

“Whisky is undoubtedly a drink favored by more men than women,” says Myers. “But only because a lot of women don’t have experience of it.”
The tastings, he says, are an ideal starting point for them.
Often there’s a special guest presenter: an executive from Glenglassaugh was a recent highlight.
“Sometimes we Skype direct to the distiller himself in Scotland,” says Myers.

A matter of taste

There are less formal tastings -- like the one Myers turns on for the two indecisive brothers-in-law.
Attempting to glean what they prefer in a whisky and what they don’t, Myers pours several substantial tastes.
“Whoa, I need to sit down,” says the man for whom the gift is being bought, after his third "taste."
In the end they decide on a 1993 Tullibardine with a sherry finish, for AU$150.
But they promise to be back for more. That’s mission accomplished for Myers.