Elite Event @ Inverarity

Having read the previous reviews I can only concur on all positive points made. As for the booze on a school night issue I woke up surprisingly well considering a 2-​something a. m finish and a 6.30 a. m start. I put this down to a combination of two things: firstly a bloody good night. We all know that muchos fun seems to lessen the pain somewhat — a hilarity-​related-​analgesic or something — and secondly because I think that the alcohol provided was a damn sight better quality than my usual ‘what’s on offer’ indulgences. This was even with the generous measures provided: I didn’t even register the spitoon directly in front of my booze-​filled face until it was clearly pointed out and discussed…
As already mentioned (by far more organised reviewers than I) Pete and Andy were lots of fun. I’d have paid to be in such good company but lucky, lucky me didn’t have to for this evening of drinky shenanigans. They delivered the evening with the enthusiasm of people who love their subject of expertise, but with none of the snobbery that can be adopted by those in the know. It’s clear that they love their work (and sci-​fi, and being BBC consultants…) and they engaged with the evening with the ease of people who have known each other for a good many years and through a good many bottles! Top tip for anyone visiting though, beware getting lost on the way back from the bathroom. Down the stairs, first left, third right, sharp 180 turn then up the step and ignore the woman with the roses.
I was definitely one of the guilty tipsy crew — shortly into the wine section I was sucked into the seemingly endless hilarity of figuring out which nostril was working best — you ascertain this with a distinctly unflattering, deep rolling snort of your wine glass, damn it if it doesn’t work — and certain that all I could smell was a mouldy rugby kit aroma. Previous experiences of arguing strongly that my champagne smelt like bananas suggest that this was where I waved a friendly cheerio to sobriety. And what a pleasant parting it was.
If I took one thing from the evening (and I took way more than that) it’s that I now have a completely refreshed view of family values. Bear with me here. I’ve never been the type of female to dream of weddings, white dresses and first dances. The things I dream of with Ryan Gosling have never once led to nuptials. There is no well worn box of dreams languishing in my cupboard, stuffed to the brim with sample invites and colour matches for my bridesmaids dresses. These men have awakened in me a desire to get hitched. Full blown fancy party hitched. .Calm down at the back — I want to have a wedding purely so that I can have a really good excuse to have all my friends together drinking raspberry gin and cava. That drink is so good, so luscious and more-​ish that I want everyone to have it and in copious amounts, all of them looking at me adoringly for bringing this joy into their lives. I want to get hitched purely so I can show off with my lovely new knowledge of good drinks. And so that I have a really good reason to ask to borrow the scouse wig and captain’s hat. Probably don’t want to sully my new favourite drink with a divorce though. May need to think this one through.

YOU CAN’T GIVE ANGELA BOOZE ON A TUESDAY!
This is now my motto. Damn you Chris. Darn you Inverarity One to One dudes.
What a super fun & informative evening though! I never even knew this hidden gem of a booze shop existed until this event. What a lovely discovery indeed. Thank you Sir Chrizzle of Unilocalness for the invite — only a selected few Elite peeps were invited along so I did feel very special (not just in a Forrest Gump kinda way either) to have been able to have experienced such drink wisdom & FACTS from the lovely lovely guys in the man shapes of Pete & Andy. They love their booze (wine in particular) and their Sci-​Fi. Yas.
We had a rather large selection of the boozeness to sample & I have never been to a tasting evening so generous. Woah. I’ve only ever been to one wine tasting evening before & that was in Peckhams & it was literally a mouse thimble of wine they let you taste. Pah. These guys know how to please! Oh my. We tried many wines of the red & white variety, a really yummy raspberry infused gin with cava (my fave) and also a great (and very expensive) whisky (my 2^nd fave). Wowzers. I do like my wine but having drunk so many in what felt like such a short amount of time I found it a bit hard to differentiate between them all… bad me. I am an amateur and I’ll admit it.
Luckily to line our (now booze soaked) bellies was some delicious cheese courtesy of I.J.Mellis & crackers of course. We’re not animals. Well… meow!
These guys really know their shiz and the passion they have for every bottle of drink they shared was so plain to see & hugely endearing. All in all if you want a really top notch bottle of wine then go to these guys. Nae Buckie here!
Also I feel I must apologise for the ‘rowdiness’ later on in the evening… all I can say in my defence was I was amongst some mighty fine ladies (& gents) and after all that lovely alcohol we did start to get rather excitable… sorry!

Chris, you bloody enabler. Not only are Unilocal Friday hangovers your trademark… boozing on school nights are soon becoming a dangerous pastime.
When you work for a large international spirits company with generous allowances, you tend to take for granted hidden gems (it’s literally hidden) such as Inverarity One to One. But not anymore! This Elite event was by far my favourite to date. Taking place in the intimate basement setting of the Glasgow Art Club, Pete and Andy proved to be incredibly warm hosts, as well as great resources of knowledge when it comes to spirits and wines.
The tasting started with an interesting raspberry-​infused gin served with cava, followed by generous samples of various new and old world whites and reds. An assortment of delectable I.J. Mellis cheeses accompanied the wine selection, and I could not keep my paws off them (Chris, you enabler!). We rounded out the tasting with a beautiful 21-​year-​old bottle of Old Pulteney, albeit was a bit too much for me after all the gin and wine. So my partner in crime most happily obliged me by finishing off my portion. (In Kris’s head: I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly…).
Here are some key points to take away from this evening:
1. If you go to a tasting and don’t use the spittoon, expect to be hungover the next day
2. From point 1, doesn’t matter if one of the samples had milk thistle
3. Cheese may cause you to have insane dreams
4. Pete and Andy are incredibly friendly, hilarious, love their drink, and know drinks (tap into their knowledge)
5. What you can’t find in the grocery store, you will probably find here (if you’re looking for quality; and quality doesn’t necessarily mean £100)
6. I know what I will be buying on pay day (Edinburgh Raspberry Infused Gin + Château La Croix St. Benoit)
7. Chris’s middle name should be enabler… evil enabler
8. When you mix an array of wines and spirits, delectable cheese, sci-​fi references… don’t be surprised when space laser cats attack (see event photos)
9. And no, I’m not a crazy cat lady, I actually hate (I’m deathly allergic to) cats in real life… Puppies and dogs FTW!

Alcohol, alcohol, cheese, chat, alcohol, chat, daleks, and alcohol. Oh, and alcohol.
That was pretty much the course of the evening at the Elite Event @ Inverarity 121 last night, and what a fantastic evening it was! I need to start by thanking Chris for inviting me along last night, it was lovely to meet so many new people and put real faces to profile pictures!
I’ve never actually been to a wine tasting before, so when I was invited I jumped at the opportunity as I’ve always wanted to try one. Inverarity 121 is located in the basement of the Glasgow Art Club, and has a HUGE collection of wines, gins, vodkas, whiskies and a wee room filled with cigars. The two guys running the tasting Andy and Pete (or Smiley Pete as he’s known!) were absolutely amazing at what they did. You could tell they were so passionate about their wines and they’re so incredibly knowledgeable about everything they were talking about. On top of that they were lovely, funny guys and massive sci-​fi geeks, as was made obvious by the dalek cookie jar, the chewbaca figure and the fact they referred to themselves as Han Solo and Captain Kirk!
After the time we’d tried a gin, 8 wines, and a whiskey, the Unilocalers were all slightly tipsy, to say the least! It was such a great night, thank you again Chris for inviting me! I’ll definitely be using this place for any wines (or the Edinburgh Raspberry Gin!) that I need to buy in the future.

All I knew was this was a limited placed event and there would be good food and drink. It felt exclusive as there was only so many that could fit round the table of Inverarity One to One and therefore I felt one of the «special Unilocalers» to be invited. Oh yeah!
I of course was late, stuck in stupid rush hour traffic. Boo! So I was a little behind, and it looked like I was playing catch up all night. I wasn’t sure what I was letting myself in for, as I hadn’t realised it was a wine tasting. Now, I hate wine, sorry guys, but to me it all smells the same and tastes minging. I thought ok, these guys sound cool, they know their booze, they talk sci-​fi and are called Captain Kirk and Hans Solo aka Andy and Pete, not sure which one’s which, I’ll give it a try, the wine that is. Steady!
Very interesting backgrounds on the wines and I thought I’ll give it a go and see if any that they are suggesting are going to appease my palette. Alas it was all that same smell and that taste I unfortunately can’t stand. The only one that was okay-​ish was the Edinbugh Raspberry Gin. With lashings of cheese and biscuits this certainly helped to make it a fab night and also with the crazy company as per usual and with the addition of faces I had not met in person before but had read their reviews. It did indeed also acquire Andy and Pete to tame our lot. Down Unilocalers! We is wild sometimes.
I think I may have been the cause of some Unilocalers being a little worse for ware as my share of undrunk drinks were not wasted including the whisky. I’m a sweet drinker, you could have thrown me a Blue Wicked and I would have been happy. Ah well you cannae say I didnae try.
Thanks again to the D to the Chizzle for making it a great wee night, the banter as always cracking, the people mental, er. wonderful, thanks to IJ Mellis for their deeeelicious cheese. Some crazy dreams last night, I fear I had a cheese hangover. Last but not least thanks to Inverarity One to One peeps for keeping it real.