NOTE: THE MICHTER’S PRIVATE EVENING DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE IS FULLY BOOKED.

Mark Patton, President of the Korean Bourbon Club talks whiskey with Alex Jensen as a preview to KBLA’s Private Evening Michter’s Event at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul.

At the event, Mark will be providing a brief education session on how to enjoy your whiskey. Mark is a Level Three Whiskey Sommelier. His whiskey his philosophy to keep it as egalitarian as possible. As he says, “The best whiskey is the whiskey like to drink and the right way to drink whiskey is the way you like to drink it. We’re not here to be snobs. But we can help you describe your experience. How does it make you feel? What memories does it bring back? How does it affect your enjoyment of your meal, your evening? That’s what we’re trying to do with evening.”

Mark also retraces his own journey with Bourbon, growing up in and around the industry living in Kentucky and how a visit back home with his wife Oh Sook Hyun inspired them to create a community of bourbon lovers back here in Korea. “Going back to Kentucky and touring distilleries and drinking we realized, this is sweet, it’s nice, it’s fresh. Why is this not more popular in Korea? So, we started the Korea bourbon whiskey club and started promoting it. And in the space of just, you know, seven years, the bourbon of mania has taken over Korea, people are just searching for all kinds of brands and high-end bottles. I think we’ve contributed to the interest to get it moving as much as it is. Last year, Mark’s wife took the next step opening the Whiskey Bible, a whiskey retail shop in Yongsan.

Mark and Sook Hyun are building a community, and KBLA is very proud to become part of this effort, and everyone here. We look forward to Friday night with Mark and Michter’s and look forward to more fine dining events throughout the year.