Back to School with Edinburgh Whisky Academy - Part 1

In these times of lockdown and quarantine it seems that people have been going back to basics to fill their time. Maybe revisiting an old hobby or learning a new skill that they have always wanted to do. It could be one of the positive things to come out of the global pandemic as the world we knew and the way we operate in our lives, both socially and professionally, seems to be changing for ever.

Therefore, I decided to do the same but wait for the correct inspirational opportunity to arise. Then I saw that the Edinburgh Whisky Academy were offering a 30% discount on their courses for a short period as people were unable to physically attend their classes. Having heard good things about them I decided to sign up and go 'back to school'.

The Edinburgh Whisky Academy offer a wide range of course on whisky and gin. These range from singular module short courses right up to in-depth diplomas. Their certificates are quickly becoming widely accepted as qualifications in the drinks industry. I decided to go 'back to basics' and sign up for the Introduction to Whisky.

Some may think that strange as I have been working in the industry for over a decade and writing about whisky on this very blog and elsewhere for longer. However, when you reach a certain level of expertise or knowledge about a subject you can easily forget that you were ever a beginner and knew nothing. I see this attitude more often than you may imagine.

It seems like something that would have been so useful for my learning and development when my whisky journey was starting. It then also seemed like a good idea to share my thoughts and experiences while going through the different modules. Do not worry though, there will be no revealing of any answers or any other crucial information.

The welcome page shows which course you are signed up for.

So I sat down to do the first module to the Introduction to Whisky - entitled Historical Development - on an unseasonably warm day in my garden. There are 10 modules in all with others covering subjects as diverse as the production process and the business side of the industry.

Navigation is easy with a series of slides taking you from the earliest known recordings of the distillation process through the legalisation acts in Scotland and other key dates, then finishing with recent history and developments. The content is concise and extremely informative with snippets of facts and figures driving the learning. A mixture of simple graphics, photography and pop-up boxes give it aesthetic satisfaction too.

A couple of pages from the first module - Historical Development.

Once the module is completed then you take a quiz that gives you multiple choice answers for subjects that have been covered. A fun element is never far away and is shown here by awarding you a cask for each correct answer to put in your personal warehouse. My aim is to get a full warehouse of casks by the end of the course! Did I mention that I was competitive?

The next plan is to work through the course and write a blog post for each two or three modules. If this has sparked your interest then you can contact the Edinburgh Whisky Academy at www.edinburghwhiskyacademy.com and sign up. Or they even sell vouchers so that you could purchase a course as a gift for a whisky loving friend, relative or colleague.

Until next time ... Matt.