Hans-Ueli Früh | member since 1996
In the beginning there were horses – in my family, horses and riding have always been a big theme: as carriage teams, as riding horses and also the races at the Schänzli in Basel. That is where the fire was kindled in me, and by now I have been to more than 65 different racecourses at home and abroad. In the 1980s I discovered the English crime writer Dick Francis, a former jockey who had also ridden for the Queen. I read his books with enthusiasm – and the fifth, Proof (published in German as Weinprobe), led me to whisky! Its subject was wine and whisky fraud (a wine merchant had to find out whether the bottles really contained what the labels claimed, i.e. cheap wine instead of good Bordeaux and cheap whisky instead of expensive Laphroaig!). Unlike Laphroaig, the cheap whisky brand Rannoch does not exist.
So I tried to tell Laphroaig apart from other whiskies, which I managed rather well (hardly a surprise!). My love of whisky had been awakened, however, and in the early 1990s I joined SMWS Switzerland so that I could attend the tastings and visit the Members’ Room in Schönenwerd. In 2003 we went to the Edinburgh Tattoo, where we were even able to stay in the Society’s holiday flat at the Vaults in Leith (with a nightly visit to the stylish Members’ Room). On our travels through Scotland we of course also visited various distilleries: Laphroaig and Bowmore on Islay, Glenfiddich and Glenfarclas in Speyside, Talisker and Torabhaig on Skye. I was particularly taken with Glenfarclas, so I treated myself to two SMWS bottles 1.100 (36 years old!), the absolute non plus ultra for me. Visits to races and distilleries often went hand in hand (Kentucky Derby and Woodford Reserve, Musselburgh and SMWS Queen Street, Dublin and Bushmills and Jameson).
In 2007 I began breeding racehorses with friends, with a fair amount of beginner’s luck. In 2014 a colt was born in Normandy for whom we were looking for a name – something that is sometimes a little easier over a glass of whisky. Because the name had to begin with an F, we chose Farclas, since in the glass there was of course a … It was a good fit, because Glenfarclas means «valley of the green grass», which is the very basis for a racehorse. Four years later he was bought by Michael O’Leary, owner of Gigginstown House Stud and Ryanair; running in his colours, Farclas became one of the best steeplechasers (26 starts, 5 wins) and won a truly big race in England. The British journalists did not even notice that Farclas should in fact be pronounced in Gaelic rather than in French – and this although Glenfarclas is a major sponsor at Cheltenham of all places. After that wonderful success, the bottle of 1.100 I had saved had to give its life as well. Both tasted marvellous!
Since then we breeders have experienced more downs than ups, and whisky serves not only as praise in success but also as a consolation in defeat.
The SMWS tastings remain a highlight, especially in combination with the Basel Tattoo.
Slàinte!
