Sipping single malt on the Cigar
Terrace at Spirit of Toronto.

Johanna Ngoh does not have a lot of time to talk to me. It's just weeks away from the fifth annual Spirit of Toronto show (for which Gremolata is a promotional partner) and the week before her computer died. So much to be done! But I am determined to find out how and why a thirtysomething real estate agent from Ottawa has become one of the country's foremost whisky aficionados and the powerhouse behind one the continent's coolest drinks parties. When I think of whisky lovers, I think of grey haired guys with moustaches, so I have to know how she got into single malts.

"It was my boyfriend - now my husband," she explains. "Charles had no money, but he always had a little bottle of The Glenlivet in his apartment. It was one of the few single malts that came in a smaller bottle format so it was the only one he could afford. It piqued my interest and I started having one occasionally with him."

An interest in single malts blossomed into a passion when the couple did a tour of Highland distilleries a few years later - on motorbikes, their other great love. By then Johanna had discovered Michael Jackson (not the singer, the great whisky writer who just passed away) and was starting to distinguish between distilleries. When she discovered Fredericton had a long established Whisky show she began to think, why not Toronto? And when the whisky appreciation club she started, Single Minded, started to attract the interest of distillers in Scotland and beyond they told her they couldn't understand why Toronto didn't have it's own show... by 2004 she had the first Spirit of Toronto organised and ready to go.

Does she think she's different from the typical whisky drinker? Not at all. The attendees of the show prove it. Spirit of Toronto brings in a diverse crowd, albeit weighted to professionals. But the demographic starts in the mid-twenties and works up from there. This makes sense: a single malt after a meal or just to taste at a bar is an affordable luxury. When you compare against the cost of, say, fine wine - especially since a bottle of whisky could last weeks, months and so on.

I ask what Johanna's really excited about this year. She says the 'Masterclasses' never fail to teach something new. When I see there's one on whiskies from all over the world (i.e. not Scotland and Ireland), she gets really excited. "You have to try the Japanese whiskies! People think they're a novelty item but they're not. They put so much care into making them. They're excellent - we have some amazing ones this year."

I ask her if she's still as excited as ever? Absolutely: "The thing about whisky is you can have these amazing flavour profiles. Interesting notes like 'camomile tea' - something I just picked up at a tasting."

What about those that say that they don't like whisky? "I guarantee they haven't tried enough, and they have tired is probably not single malt. There's a single malt for everyone. You just have to taste enough to find it."

Good advice!

Spirit of Toronto starts at 6:30 PM on Saturday, May 10 at Roy Thomson Hall. Click here to buy tickets and bsrowse this year's program.