We have had a lot of different whisky in Lusso, all the way from Macallan, the finest single malt, through to special editions of Johnnie Walker Blue label blends. So far though we have been geographically very limited – sticking just to Scotland. Of course, any expert knows that you can get very good whisky from many other places, Ireland and Japan in particular.

And of course, even though they spell it slightly differently, the sheer number of whiskeys coming out of America must rival that of the whole rest of the world put together.

The state of Kentucky is considered by most to be the home of American whiskey, or Bourbon as it is most often called. Nestled in amongst some of the most serious stud farms to be found anywhere in the world are hundreds of distilleries producing enough Bourbon to keep the whole country happy – and there is even some left over that they ship out to the rest of the world.

Unlike in Scotland, when a distillery in the US changes owner, or changes its product, more often than not it will also change its name. As a result there is a constantly shifting landscape of brands and tastes out there, making for a bit of a bewildering exercise when an outsider tries to get their head around it all. One name that has not been around for a hugely long time is Woodford Reserve, although they have already managed to carve out a very impressive global image, due mainly to how good their product tastes.

Towards the end of 2007 I was lucky enough to take a quick trip out to see their distillery in action. We already know what the regular product tastes like, so that was not on the agenda, what I was invited for was altogether much more special. It also gave me a glimpse into a side of distilling that is not often seen, even though it is more impressive than anything you will see on a run of the mill tour.

For a cool £20,000 it is now possible to get your own batch of Woodford made up for you. This is much more than a labelling exercise, because once at the distillery, one of the master blenders is on hand to help you taste the contents of individual casks, pre blending, and then put together your ideal whiskey. The contents of each cask is a real eye opener – the differences in flavour were more than just marked, they were incredible. Ranging from smooth hints of spice and tea, through to liquids that pucker your mouth, and make me never want to look at, or think about, whiskey again. Obviously in a small batch this sort of barrel is left out, but what is really amazing is that to keep the consistent flavour of Woodford reserve, every barrel has to be used, mixing a seemingly infinite number of flavours together. How this can be done even once, let alone year on year, is an almost super human feat.

At our tasting there were ten casks to choose from, and in the end it came down to just two. A two thirds to one third mixture turned out to be the ideal, and so we left the blenders to do their job. Two months later the 120 bottles arrived in England, ready to live their (probably short) lives as the ultimate in personalised gifts.

www.woodfordreserve.com