Women & Whisky: An exclusive tasting with MileagePlus
The night began with a cocktail hour where customers enjoyed a specially crafted Old Fashioned cocktail using TLD's not-for-sale 18 year old Blended Scotch Whisky. Rebecca Jago, Managing Director of The Last Drop, led the tasting with three of their exquisite reserves. As Rebecca guided the women through the flavors they were experiencing, she stood next to a "perfect-pour" decanter, Phoebe, "Our wonderful pouring decanter was originally developed for our 10th anniversary in 2018. She [Penelope] got her name when we joked that my mother had not poured my father a glass of whisky in 66 years of marriage, so we had to invent a machine to do it for him," shares Rebecca. "The latest, refined version is smaller, and therefore named after my daughter, Phoebe." The tasting weaved through stories of her childhood growing up with the inventor of Bailey's Irish Cream as a father, her travels searching for the perfect batch of Scotch, and the history behind each of TLD current releases that customers got to taste.
Rebecca paired each release with a canapé to complement the whiskies' complex notes, "These aren't spirits you drink every day. But you should certain drink them with pleasure and enthusiasm – cheers!" The first whisky, a 1971 Blended Scotch Whisky has spent over 45 years maturing in different woods and was paired with a Hamachi crudo, plum, umeboshi and scallion skewer to bring out the notes of stone fruits from the sherry and toasty vanilla notes from the time spent in bourbon barrels. Customers were fortunate enough to taste a very old single malt from the renowned Glenrothes distillery, a TLD Glenrothes 1968 Single Malt Scotch Whisky, a tribute to a perfect marriage of spirit and wood, matured for nearly half a century. Customers ended the tasting with a TLD Tawny Port from 1870.
United Vice President of Community Affairs, Sharon Grant, closed the event by commenting on the easiness of the night's conversation, noting how welcoming of an environment Rebecca created through her presentation of the whiskies. "I'll leave you with this," Sharon said, "As they say, a fine whisky, like a beautiful woman, demands appreciation." The group applauded, exchanged business cards and said their goodbyes—it was clear that everyone left the experience reenergized to head into the next day with the support of 30 new women.
MileagePlus Exclusives
A different way to use your miles
United MileagePlus program offers many other ways for members to use their miles that go beyond air awards. One of these options is through MileagePlus Exclusives where members can access VIP experiences across travel, food and wine, arts and entertainment and sports, including access to Uniquely United opportunities such as experiencing our flight simulators, touring airport maintenance bases and being part of historic inaugural flights.
For more MileagePlus Exclusives experiences visit here.
We will continue building out our already expansive route network next year, adding flights to some attractive leisure destinations in the United States and the Caribbean.
Our hometown hub, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, will be the beneficiary of three of those new routes, which include Santa Barbara, California; Pasco, Washington; and Vail, Colorado. Rounding it out, United will add service from Denver to Nassau, Bahamas, and from Houston to Spokane, Washington. Tickets for all of these destinations are on sale now.
Colorful houses in Nassau
The Denver-Nassau route will begin on March 7, 2020, followed by Chicago-Santa Barbara, Chicago-Pasco, Chicago-Vail and Houston-Spokane on June 4. When that time comes, United will be the only airline offering nonstop service between Denver and Nassau and Chicago and Pasco.
All of these routes will open up a world of connection possibilities for customers living in each market. They'll also be scheduled to give flyers optimal arrival and departure time options. For instance, a passenger going from Chicago to Santa Barbara will have a flight option that departs O'Hare at 7:45 p.m. local time, arriving at Santa Barbara Airport at 10:30 p.m. That's ideal for business travelers.
"We want to offer customers the very best schedule, the best network and the most flight options in the industry," said Ankit Gupta, United's vice president of Domestic Network Planning.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft will serve the Denver-Nassau route. Passengers going from Chicago to Santa Barbara and from Chicago to Vail will fly on the 737-700. United's 76-seat Embraer 175 aircraft, equipped with United First, Economy Plus and United Economy class seats, will operate on the Chicago-Pasco and Houston-Spokane routes.
You'll find flight times and additional details in the grid below. For more information and to book your tickets, visit united.com or download the United mobile app.| Depart | Arrive | Frequency | Duration |
| Chicago (ORD) 7:45 p.m. | Santa Barbara (SBA) 10:30 p.m. | Daily | Year-round |
| SBA 11:20 p.m. | ORD 5:20 a.m. | Daily | Year-round |
| ORD 8:00 p.m. | Pasco (PSC) 10:24 p.m. | Daily | Year-round |
| PSC 11:38 p.m. | ORD 5:20 a.m. | Daily | Year-round |
| ORD 4:00 p.m. | Vail/Eagle (EGE) 5:54 p.m. | Daily | Summer seasonal (June 4 through September 6, 2020) |
| EGE 9:00 a.m. | ORD 12:45 p.m. | Daily | Summer seasonal (June 4 through September 7, 2020) |
| Denver (DEN) 9:56 a.m. | Nassau (NAS) 4:00 p.m. | Once a week on Saturdays | Year-round (with a break from mid-August through late-October) |
| NAS 11:37 a.m. | DEN 2:43 p.m. | Once a week on Saturdays | Year-round (with a break from mid-August through late-October) |
| Houston (IAH) 9:32 p.m. | Spokane (GEG) 11:32 p.m. | Daily | Summer seasonal (June 4 through August 17, 2020) |
| GEG 11:55 p.m. | IAH 6:17 a.m. | Daily | Summer seasonal (June 4 through August 17, 2020) |
