Around the World of Spirits in… 5 Days!

WISP, a fantastic travel agency to guide us on this world tour!

The educational team supports you through the different stages of organizing your training journey. As for me, I had already called on the WISP team to take the Level 2 Spirits exam last April. Since the experience was successful, I didn’t hesitate to take Level 3 with WiSP and embark on this journey!

After a few exchanges with the WISP training team, I received the very latest version of the famous WSET bible… the holy grail: 215 pages that became my guidebook for this journey through different lands, both explored and new to discover!

Sure, I came from this field, but I was able to grasp the new vocabulary in Shakespeare’s language for the occasion!

It wasn’t easy going back to “school” at home, but this initiation journey, along with the first half-day with Didier, was essential: meeting other travelers and also getting a real sense of the difficulty of the exam, as well as the expertise we would gain through tasting.

Just like planning a trip, we immerse ourselves in the various stages of the journey. First, we identify the starting point: here, Scotland! Then, we organize the different stages of the itinerary: a short stay in the United States, an immersion in Asian distilleries with stops in Japan, China, and Korea, followed by a temporary return to the roots in western and northern France.
To recover from this adventure, we allow ourselves a sunny break in the tropics of the Caribbean and Brazil before heading back and finishing the adventure in Europe.

At each stage, the basic principles of distillation are well understood: from traditional stills like the rustic ones used for ancestral Mezcals, the Charentais stills of Cognac, to the more technical and complex stills like the multi-column stills with hydroselction and demethylation for some Vodkas.

The tastings are also tied to these principles to fully understand how different stills and other processes affect the flavors, textures, and colors of the spirits tasted.

This journey through WSET Level 3 in spirits is, of course, accompanied by an expert guide: Didier!

His expertise, his anecdotes from his own travels and visits to distilleries, his explanations: he has the ability to make complex distillation concepts and product specificities accessible to us while also teaching us the correct pronunciations of those same concepts! Thanks to him, I now have the correct pronunciation for Shochu and Baijiu, which might come in handy for a future exploration.

Furthermore, to prepare for the rite of passage at the end of the session, Didier allows us to collect spirit samples from each destination so we can practice at home with a clear head. Sure, the guide was excellent, but the company was just as rich!

We explorers came from all walks of life: an experienced bartender/mixologist sharing his creations, a doctor who loves challenges and was taking both the spirits course and the first module of the Wine Diploma, a Belgian-Brazilian considering a career change into this field, a sommelier from a beautiful château in Bordeaux, and myself, a passionate Zythologist. We all shared the same passion: the desire to discover the wonderful world of spirits!

Take a look at this amazing team during the tastings on Day 3. But let’s come back down to earth after this wild expedition. Here’s the summary:

• Reading the guide and personal preparation are essential. Given the breadth of concepts and categories of products covered and tasted during the in-person courses, it’s crucial to prepare well and devote time beforehand. This will only enrich the discussions during the in-person sessions with Didier and the other participants.
• Didier’s guidance is of undeniable quality: as a Global Ambassador at La Maison du Whisky, he has visited an incredible number of distilleries during his career! He has the patience to go over the concepts, column types, and distilleries with their own specificities several times!
• In terms of tasting: Didier gives us excellent training with tasting techniques, support from the SAT, and a mock exam at the end of the third day. Guided by Didier in the early days, we were able to “fly solo” during our tastings and evaluate the quality of the spirits by the end of the last in-person day. This was important learning, as blind tasting of two spirits and evaluating their quality level is an integral part of the final rite of passage! Over these five days, we tasted over 60 spirits, but we managed to have a few extras (yeah!!!), as we were lucky enough to be at the Lab at La Maison du Whisky store in the heart of Paris: Scotch Whisky, Bourbon, Rye Whiskey, Japanese Whisky, Cognac, Armagnac, Grappa, Calvados, Caribbean Rums, Cachaça (and thank you, Jessica, for introducing us to the Brazilian liqueur made with Brède Mafane!), Gin, Vodkas, Vermouth, Pastis, and more! The list is far from exhaustive
• Regarding written preparation : throughout the in-person sessions, Didier gives us sample questions, corrects us, and clarifies any misunderstandings. We started working in groups in the first days and ended by writing the answers solo on the last day, the day before the exam. This is still an exam with specific expectations about how to explain, and Didier prepares us very well for that aspect!
• Finally, the last morning—final evaluation! Not without stress, on D-Day, we start with the written exam, which I personally think is best to have fresh taste buds for the tasting just before lunch. The written exam takes two hours, and the tasting takes 30 minutes. Didier repeated this to us countless times during the course, but his advice really makes sense on the big day: every minute counts, and it’s essential to be well-organized with your time.

In summary, this 5-day world tour of spirits with Didier as your guide is a must if you really want to understand the principles of distillation in detail with a group of passionate people, learn distillery anecdotes, and experience a wide range of spirits from around the world!

Get on board with your eyes closed!

Julia Charlotte BASSO, WSET Level 3 in Spirits, founder of Substances