Member profile: Japan whisky quest

For Ben Love, whisky is all about connection, and The Scotch Malt Whisky Society has always been at the heart of it.

The connection runs so deep that Ben and his wife Cat chose The Vaults as the location for their wedding in October 2022. “I was a member, Cat’s dad was a member…we’re all big whisky fans,” says Ben.

“When we first joined the Society in January 2022, it felt like we had found our second home and the perfect place to celebrate our wedding. Celebrating this milestone in a Society that feels like home was truly special. The Vaults will always hold a special place in our hearts. It’s our Society, and it’s a part of our story.”

Now Ben and Cat have taken their Society love story on the road, with a trip not only to Japan but to one of the Society’s fantastic partner bars in the country.

“It was class, like completing a quest,” says Ben. “We’ve left Scotland but brought a little bit of The Vaults with us. We knew we had to go to at least one Society bar in Japan!”

A HIDDEN GEM IN OSAKA

Ben and Cat’s quest led them to Osaka, where an element of serendipity played its part.
“We happened to be staying two streets from one of the Society’s partner bars,” Ben recalls. The bar was called Bar Minmore House, tucked away in a tiny street with multiple businesses crammed into a single building. “It looked very anonymous, just a narrow office block,” says Ben.

“Down the stairs, it looked like a fire exit – no windows, white tiled walls, and a door at the end that said Bar Minmore House. We walked through to find a tiny bar, only about three metres deep by four metres wide – but absolutely full of whisky.”

Inside, the welcome was as warm as the surroundings were compact. “The bartender was serving, and we started chatting. We told him we were Society members from Scotland, which he thought was amazing. He had a plaque to show his bar’s affiliation with the SMWS. We showed him our memberships and of course the conversation turned to whisky.”

A STAGGERING COLLECTION

What Ben found was staggering. “The whiskies on show were amazing – there was something like 700 bottles in this tiny bar. Just a mad number of whiskies, 30-year-old Cragganmore, bottles of Springbank, Port Ellen – a whisky collection that would put any bar to shame.”

They started with what was popular, then asked for recommendations of Japanese whisky as well. “It was just great talking away to him,” Ben says. “We even got to write on the wall – we wrote ‘Slàinte from Leith, we’ll be back’.”

For Ben, the experience was about more than just drams. “It was amazing to travel all the way to Japan and find someone to talk to about a common topic,” he says. “That fact that he was so chuffed to host us, as members of the Society who had come there from Scotland, made it even more special.”

And it proved that whisky can be an international language, as the conversation flowed from Ben and Cat’s experiences on Islay to a tiny partner bar in Osaka. “We explained to him that we had been over on Islay and at Ardbeg distillery, talking about how different the island is from Japan, discussing how we drink our whisky in Scotland, telling him we love to drink it when we’re camping. He loved the experience as much as we did.”

Ben also recognised a kindred spirit in the barman’s passion for the world of whisky. “You can’t be normal if you collect that amount of whisky!” he says. “Visiting a Society partner bar feels like you’re guaranteed to meet interesting characters who share that passion and enthusiasm, wherever you are in the world.”

A GLOBAL SOCIETY

The trip reinforced what makes the Society special for Ben and Cat. “We even messaged some friends at The Vaults while we were there in Osaka, to say look where we are – we’re over in Japan, but still at the Society! Having that network of partner bars makes it easy to go in, there’s already a link. From getting married at The Vaults, to sharing whisky stories in Osaka – it gives you a profound sense of connection.

“If you have the chance to go to a Society partner bar outside the UK, go! It could open your eyes to different whiskies and it’s really nice to hear the thoughts on whisky from someone outside Scotland, where it’s not their national drink.”

The Osaka experience has Ben and Cat thinking about future visits to more Society partner bars around the world – and wondering what the experience could lead to.

“We’ve seen a bit of the Society outside of Scotland now,” he says. “Someone, somewhere, should have a quest to get to every partner bar…”

From Edinburgh to Osaka, it’s clear that Society whisky can create bridges across cultures and continents. For Ben and Cat, this wasn’t just a bar visit, it was a celebration of a shared passion, a reminder that wherever you go, the Society spirit is never far away.