PM whisky tasting, courtesy of Bunnahabhain

Aaaah... now that's a whisky! The occasion was a Popular Mechanics whisky tasting event for readers at a rather appealing bar-restaurant in Bree Street, Cape Town, called French Toast. Our host was  larger-than-life Pierre Meintjes - regional director (Africa) for CL World Brands, South Africa's only Keeper of the Quaich (pronounced "quake"), and a raconteur of note.

The man in our picture is Louis van der Berg, who walked off with a bottle of Bunnahabhain 18-year-old worth R750 (when we say walked off, we don't mean he pinched it... he actually won the bottle in a lucky draw). If the image looks a little dodgy, it's partly because the lighting was bad, but also because it was captured on the cellphone of PM editor Alan Duggan during a particularly emotional moment (someone had just offered to top up his glass). Thanks to the wonders of modern communications technology, it was live on this site within 90 seconds.

Pierre Meintjes, South Africa's sole Keeper of the Quaich.

Thanking Pierre for his illuminating presentation, Alan said some people might be inclined to question the connection between a science and technology brand and a single-malt whisky. "That's a no-brainer... our audience wants to know how and why things work, and that's exactly what we had here tonight. What's the point? Another silly question... that's like asking 'what's the point of Shakira's hips?' You don't question miracles of Nature."

For the record, Bunnahabhain (pronounced Boona-Har-Vin) is a delicious single-malt from Islay (pronounced eye-la). If you'd like to know more about it, check out their Web site. Or better still, invest in a bottle.

* Please visit our Facebook page soon for images from this function.