Private Tasting Parties for you and your friends in the comfort of your own home. Each event pairs sipping whiskey with knowledge and will give you and your guests not only a unique experience but the knowhow to buy confidently for your home bar.
MOST POPULAR EVENT - Sample a Flight of 4 to 5 Bourbon's and learn the History of America's Native Spirit from our Executive Bourbon Steward and Certified Whiskey Specialist. From Jim Beam to Jimmy Russell and everyone in between, you'll learn how bourbon came to be, how it got its name, and how to taste it like a pro.
- $500 Non-Refundable Deposit Required
- Max 20 People
Sample 4 American Whiskeys such as Bourbon, Rye, American Single Malt Whiskey, and Flavored Whiskey.
- $500 Non-Refundable Deposit Required
- Max 20 People
Don't see something you like? Send us an email HERE with your request and we'll see what we can do to accommodate.
Got a business and want to host a tasting for your customers? We'll offer the same features as our private tastings but for your customers, at your business.
- Minimum of 2 Hours Required
- Within 40 Miles Of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Center
- Business Responsible For Purchasing / Supplying Bottles If Capable
- If Not Able To Purchase/ Supply Bottles, A Deposit Will Be Required To Procure And Purchase Bottles For Sampling
- Deposit Dependent On Price And Quantity Of Bottles Requested
- Will Recommend Food Pairing If Requested
- Minimum Of 20 People Required
Sprits have outpaced beer in overall sales and volume for the first time ever. If your business isn't prepared for this newer, more knowledgeable clientele, you could be left in the dust. We're here to make sure that doesn't happen.
Designed for fresh staff behind the bar. We'll teach you the basics of spirits, what each style is, what it tastes like, how to best serve it, and how to best SELL it.
Time: Approximately 1 Hour
Within 40 Miles of Myrtle Beach Center
RECOMMENDED - Everything from the Beginner Course with the addition of sensory panels which trains the staff how to properly analyze the spirits along with a brief history of each style and brand. This course will take your business to the next level and ensure customers come back for the knowledge YOUR staff has.
Time: Approximately 2 Hours
Within 50 Miles of Myrtle Beach Center
Everything from the Intermediate Course with the addition of a professional Mixologist to train your staff on advanced cocktail making skills and techniques. We'll even sit down with you, one-on-one, to consult and help curate a well-stocked bar to set you apart from the competition.
Time: Approximately 3 Hours
Within 75 Miles of Myrtle Beach Center
Recommended for new and struggling businesses
Bourbon & American Whiskeys are on the rise across the Nation. Tequila is the fastest growing spirit in the entire country. Rum is seeing a meteoric year-over-year rise from single to double digit sales. Even Gin is experiencing a comeback. For the first time ever, spirits have outpaced beer in Nationwide sales and if you can't keep up, you'll be left in the dust as your competition see's growth. It's no longer enough to have a good selection of beer. Spirits are the new trend.
- What's Trending This Year
- What to Expect Next Year
- Brands & Styles to Know
- How to Properly Serve Spirits & Cocktails
- Brand & Style Pricing
- Market Insights
- Cocktail Recipe Guide
- Menu Design
- How to Showcase & Highlight Your Bottles
- Social Media Marketing Tips
- How to Get More from Your Class B Supplier
- Building a Better Relationship with your Distributor
Minimum of 1-Hour Required
Within 40 Miles of Myrtle Beach Center
Your distributor reps may offer to design and print a cocktail or food menu for you but how good of a job do they actually do? With over 400 menus designed and in circulation across eight states, we'll design a customized menu just for your business based on the science of how people read menus, allowing you to sell more and make more money.
*Does Not Include Printing Costs
Have you been searching and searching for that special bottle but just can't seem to find it? Maybe you need something special for a birthday, anniversary, or other special occasion? Let us help you! We'll use our network of industry colleagues and professionals to find you what you need and make sure it gets to you safe and sound.
- We'll Find The Bottle(s) You Want & Ship To You
- We'll Send You Your Bottle With A Fact Sheet So You Can Impress Your Friends With Knowledge About Your New Bottle
- For Rare & Allocated Bottles, No Guarantee Is Made That You Will Receive MSRP
- Vintage, Antique, or Ultra Rare Bottles Require More Searching And May Come Up Empty Handed
PRICE:
- $35 Flat Fee For Any Bottle Up To $700
- 8% Of Bottle Cost For Any Bottle Over $700
- Shipping Fee Extra If Applicable
Do you have a collection of whiskey that you need to have evaluated? Maybe you inherited some bottles from your family, or maybe you moved into a house that has some bottles collecting dust that you want to know more about. We'll use our experience plus our national network of colleagues, industry pro's, collectors, whiskey authors, and historians to get you the best price possible for your collection.
- Full Quality Assessment of Your Collection, Including Estimated Price per Bottle, List of Potential Buyers, and Shipping Costs
DISCLAIMER:
All dollar amounts given at assessments are based off of current secondary market value and prices. It is illegal in the state of South Carolina to appraise anything meant for auction without proper licensing. Ample time is needed to research each product and conclude a final price prior to assigning a dollar value.
For customized courses and pricing, email us at TheWhiskeyCloset@gmail.com | Negotiable Deposit If Rare / Allocated Bottles Are Requested
"We want to thank Mike for hosting us via Zoom and teaching our executives about bourbon. We now have a greater understanding of what whiskeys to feature behind the bars at our award-winning locations across the United States and abroad to better serve our guests. We're excited for what 2021 and beyond will hold."
"We built our selection from just a few basic bottles when we first opened to over 250 with Mike's help. He was able to locate and procure a selection of rare and vintage whiskey and various other spirits for our bar ranging from pre-Prohibition to modern day rarities. He has since helped us pick five single barrels for our restaurant, each of which has sold out almost immediately."
"Mike did an amazing job creating our cocktail and food menu. Our theme as a Prohibition era Speakeasy was no challenge for him at all and we have seen amazing sales due to his diligence in creating a menu that is both era appropriate and delicious."
"Our new cocktail and drinks menu looks amazing! Thank you, Mike for keeping with the theme of our little beach restaurant!"
"Mike was able to work with his network of suppliers and industry colleagues to acquire some truly unique and desirable bottles of whiskey and other spirits. He even helped us set up a tasting and charity event and has worked with us multiple times since to pick single barrels for our store."
"Bourbon Tasting Night was a great success! First of all, thanks to Mike Verive for hosting and all his bourbon knowledge. We all learned a lot and had a blast!"
"Thanks to Mike's efforts and hard work, we were able to raise over $5,000 at his latest fundraising Bourbon History & Tasting event. We can't want to have him back!"
"Even during a pandemic, Mike was able to make our Zoom event so incredibly special, one of a kind, and informative. We had guest speakers from distilleries across the country and our donors can't wait for the next one. He helped us get the bottles we needed at a discount, and we were able to raise over $6,500 for our next project."
"Mike and his club, the Fox Valley Whiskey Society, did a great job at their Scotch Whisky event and we were so glad and happy to accommodate them. We can't wat to have them back for another event!"
"We were thrilled to host Mike and the Fox Valley Whiskey Society for their inaugural event. What a great night filled with amazing whiskey, incredible food, and even better conversation."
"We had Mike host a whiskey tasting for my husband and his group of friends for his 50th birthday and it was an absolute blast! I wasn't going to take part, but after learning how to properly smell and drink whiskey, I can say I'm a bit of a fan now and often join my husband when he goes out looking for new bottles to add to OUR collection."
"We have done whiskey and wine tastings before, but none matched the knowledge and personal touch that Mike gives to his tastings. He came prepared with everything we needed to properly sip whiskey and he went into great detail about the brand history and tasting notes to help my teammates and I shop more confidently for our own collections."
Executive Bourbon Steward | WSET Level II Spirits Certified | Certified Specialist of Spirits | Founder of Fox Valley Whiskey Society | Founder & Host of The Glass Less Traveled Podcast | Featured "Rising Star" in South Carolina Voyager Magazine | Beverage Specialist at Southern Crown Partners | Honorary Kentucky Colonel | Over 130 Private Barrel Selections | I've also collected all of the Blanton's toppers ;)
A native of Illinois, Mike moved to Myrtle Beach in January of 2021 with his wife to be closer to the ocean and the beautiful weather. He has hosted over 200 whiskey events and consulted with over 400 bars, restaurants, hospitality groups, and liquor stores and helped curate some of the most respected whiskey selections in Illinois and South Carolina. Since 2019 he has hosted several charitable events at his hometown historical society and museum and helped raise nearly $12,000 for their efforts. He is currently working on writing a book about bourbon's history immediately following Prohibition and publishes articles and reviews of his personal whiskey collection, The Whiskey Closet, to his website. You can also catch him on his YouTube Channel, The Glass Less Traveled, where he interviews Americas craft distillers and brewers. Since 2017, he has been a part of over 150 barrel selections for both on premise and off premise businesses as well as his own and other whiskey clubs. He has a library of books written about spirits of all kinds and regularly finds himself in his home speakeasy reading and writing about whiskey.
When he's not hosting, thinking, reading, or writing about whiskey, you can find him on his patio enjoying a nice cigar or out on the beach with an ice cold Naturdays. You can follow him on his personal Instagram at @The_Real_MEV or on his whiskey clubs' social pages, The Fox Valley Whiskey Society. You can also catch his passion project on Instagram, @bourbon_history, where he shares his personal collection of whiskey and tells the story and history of each bottle.
Mike keeps up to date with what's new, what's trending, and what people are asking for. As a professional in the beverage alcohol industry, he keeps his finger on the pulse and knows the who's who in the industry. He'll give you the knowledge you need to grow your business in the latest spirits driven landscape of the beverage alcohol industry.
Please reach us at TheWhiskeyCloset@gmail.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Most states have folks who offer these kinds of services and events, and in South Carolina you can likely find at least a dozen that host some sort of private or public offering catered to spirits, wine or beer. With over 200 events under our belt along with having worked with over 400 bars, restaurants, hospitality groups, and liquor stores, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone else with our experience and expertise.
We prefer to be experts in just one thing: American Whiskey. That's why we don't offer wine events, beer events, or dedicated cigar events. If we don't know something, we bring in a dedicated expert who does. Our experts are experts in one thing and one thing only. Other individuals will advertise that they host all kinds of spirits, wine, beer, and cigar events and that's just fine with us. We don't want to be a "jack of all trades, master of none". We'd rather be everything to someone than, something to everyone.
We do not price match with others. It will be hard to find anyone with our knowledge, expertise, experience, and skill to host your event that is more affordable than us. We have hosted over 200 private and public events and have helped curate whiskey for some of the best bars in the country. We like to use the phrase, "you get what you pay for", and with many others, that's just not as good as what we provide.
Knowledge and experience don't come cheap. You may find someone cheaper, but you get what you pay for. We have years of experience in the beverage alcohol industry and have a team that has spent countless hours and more than our fair share of money to get certified in specific fields. Our backgrounds, experience, and training give us the ability to answer questions and give you confidence that what you're getting is the best experience possible. In addition to experience and knowledge, we don't bring basic whiskey to taste like many others do. We utilize nearly every dollar of the deposit to acquire the best quality and hardest to find bottles that fit within that budget. You can rest assured knowing you'll sample something that will make your event exceptionally special.
Think of it this way: If you get 10-15 people to chip in, it runs less than $75 per person for our top-level events.
We'll come in with a PowerPoint presentation and teach you the history of the product, the brands we're sampling, as well as how to professionally analyze spirits like the pro's do. We'll guide you through each sip and help you experience it to its fullest then open up the floor to discussion and questions. The bottles and brands we bring are typically highly sought-after and allocated based on location. Rest assured; you will be experiencing a one-of-a-kind event that won't include basic whiskey.
The Non-Refundable Deposit is used to purchase the bottles needed for the event. As much as I would like to supply them for free from my own personal collection, that just isn't possible or practical. The deposit is calculated by the average price of a bottle x how many bottles are needed for the event. The bottles that get selected are not your average, every day, $30 bottes and brands. We use as much of that deposit as possible to purchase brands that are special and often times, very rare.
For Instance: If the deposit is $500, we'll buy 4 bottles that equate to as close to $500 as possible giving us an average bottle price of $125. Any additional monies left over gets allocated to things like transportation costs, shipping (if applicable), pens and paper and ink for any printouts, sample cups, snacks, etc...
In the instance you may want a very rare or expensive bottle that is going to cost more than the listed deposit for the event, a total will need to be calculated based on the bottles, the quantities, and brands you are hoping for.
For instance: If you want to procure a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 23-Year-Old Bourbon for your event, that particular bottle costs 6x the listed deposit for just that one bottle (around $3,000) and will take time and additional funds to procure. In this case, we will utilize our sources here in the United States to find a bottle, have it shipped, and ready for your event. The rarer and more expensive the bottle requests, the more expensive the deposit.
If "ultra rare" bottles are requested that require us to spend more time and effort searching for and procuring, an additional fee of 5% of the bottle cost will be required. in addition to the Non-Refundable Deposit. (Example: A rare bottle that requires days of searching and negotiation on price that ultimately ends up costing $5,000 will require a 5% fee of $250 to locate and procure with additional shipping fees added on if applicable.)
You absolutely do! After all, you paid for them.
If you can find them, yes! Our relationship with store owners and suppliers allows us the ability to source bottles that the average person won't have access to. Some liquor stores keep their "good stuff" in the back and reserve it for only their best customers, which gives us the advantage and ability to get you the bottles you may not see on shelves. Because of our relationships, we often times get discounts on bottles which you likely will not be able to get. In addition, we have contacts across the globe to help us secure rare bottles that may not be available in the U.S.
If you already have fully sealed, unopened bottles that you want to sample, you do not need to pay the deposit. The Non-Refundable Deposit is only in the event that WE need to purchase the bottles ahead of time for your event. In this case, only the hourly rate is owed for the event.
However, we advise that you allow us to select the bottles and purchase them when possible. We know the who's who of the industry and have access to more brands at better prices than you might.
The prices for the Non-Refundable Deposit vary based on what is needed to purchase for each event. Bourbon & Cigar events cost more because in addition to procuring whiskey, we also need to procure cigars, which is an additional cost.
In addition to brining in our American Whiskey Expert, we also bring in a Cigar Expert from one of the local cigar shops here in Myrtle Beach. We believe that having individual experts in one specific subject makes for a better experience and event than having one person who is a "jack of all trades but master of none". We'd much rather be everything to someone, than something to everyone.
Not for our standard private tastings. If you want to do some sort of pairing, we will supply food. In this case, the deposit will go up to cover the cost of the food as well as the spirits. You can email us HERE with requests, and we can review costs at that point. Otherwise, it is recommended that you provide some sort of affordable snacks for your guests.
As with most side gigs, I prefer to not bring Uncle Sam into this. Because of that, you can pay with cash, Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal (Friends & Family).
I always recommend the Intermediate Class as that will include a sensory panel to actually taste the spirits and learn more about each style and brand. The Beginner Class is great for fresh staff that have little to no experience and the Advanced Class is great if you need to refresh your cocktail menu and give your staff expert knowledge.
What We Bring:
- Sample Cups & Napkins
- Pens & Paper for Notes
- Laptop w/ PowerPoint Presentation on Preferred Topic
- Ingredients for Cocktails (if applicable)
- Matches for Cigars (if applicable)
What You Need:
- TV w/ HDMI Hookup
- Ash Trays (if applicable for Cigar Events)
- Glassware (if you choose to use your own)
- Snacks
The average private tasting event will usually run at least 2 hours with presentations and answering questions. Because of this, we require at least 2 hours for an event.
For private and public events, yes. We will travel up to 40 miles to cover most of Horry County as well as some parts of Georgetown County. If further travel is requested, please email us at TheWhiskeyCloset@gmail.com.
However, we are able to procure bottles for anyone across the country. Just email us at TheWhiskeyCloset@gmail.com to let us know what you're looking for.
Since our experts work full time as professionals in their respective industries, tastings and private / public events must work around their schedules. For that reason, any events must be scheduled after 6pm on weekdays and any time on weekends. We'll work with you to come up with a date and time that works best for everyone. For date / time requests and availability, please email us HERE.
The Whiskey Closet
Copyright © 2024 The Whiskey Closet - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.