CHICAGO, April 11 (UPI) -- Whiskey is the new wine or imported beer, attracting growing numbers of U.S. adult drinkers, young and old, aficionados say.
"A decade ago, I didn't have near as many people coming here to drink whiskey," said Mark Miller, owner of Delilah's bar in Chicago. "The stereotype, a decade ago, was true. It was older men. It's impossible to say who a whiskey customer is these days. You can have 22-year-old punk-rock girls sitting next to 50-year-olds drinking high-end whiskeys."
The growing taste for whiskey reflects an increased U.S. interest in affordable luxuries and a more sophisticated palate, The Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.
Those palates will be put to the taste test Friday when 1,800 adults pay at least $105 for a 3 1/2-hour WhiskyFest, sampling more than 250 whiskey types at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
Among the whiskeys to be tasted are the Bunnahabhain, an 18-year single-malt Scotch from the island of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland; Knappogue Castle (1994), a single-malt Irish whiskey from County Clare; and Bulleit bourbon from Kentucky, the newspaper said.
