Hot Dram: The Whisky Club set to open—partially—in downtown Monterey.

Some people collect coins. Others keep boxes of baseball cards. The more extravagant may care for classic cars.

Mitchel Sawhney is part of a more select group. He treasures whiskies, a hobby that sees valued bottles trade in the five or six figures—or more. In 2019, a 1926 Macallan sold at auction for a gavel price of $1.9 million.

“People used to buy one bottle to drink and one to, we call it savor,” Sawhney observes. “Some of those bottles are worth a fortune.”

The Whisky Club, which he owns with his wife LisAnne, will stock bottles in Macallan’s “Fine and Rare” selection. But the downtown Monterey shop and tasting room will also house more approachable bottles—at least 200 labels from Scotland, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, as well as distilleries in unexpected locations, such as Israel and Mexico. The sturdy shelves also showcase gins and other spirits, most not found in chain stores.

The shop opens to the public on Friday, April 8 and will keep Wednesday-Sunday, noon to 7pm hours. The bar, which will serve pours and flights of whiskey plus a list of 16 cocktails on tap, should be ready for customers in May.

Sawhney’s mental library of tasting notes includes more than 20,000 different expressions of the spirit. He can reel off details of a particular bottle so readily a listener can easily lag behind. Yet this trove of knowledge is handy. Sawhney is witty, down to earth and eager to help out. You had an 18 year Oban you thought was nice? He can quickly direct you to a bottle that is both less expensive and more nuanced.

“It’s kind of a passion project,” LisAnne Sawhney says of The Whisky Club.

He is also well acquainted with dozens of distillers and many others in the industry. The shop will host regular tasting with representatives from different labels. The goal is to showcase quality whiskey at price points from “I’ll take two” to “maybe if I win the lottery a couple of times.”

It suits Sawhney’s motto. “Drink less, but drink better,” he says. “The level of satisfaction is higher.”

Bringing The Whisky Club to downtown Monterey was a bit of a saga. The couple received their liquor license in November of 2019. Then came pandemic and supply chain woes, on top of the usual construction delays.

“We could have a whole issue about that,” LisAnne Sawhney says with a laugh. “Really, it’s a complete blessing to be here. We wanted to be on Alvarado Street.”

The Whisky Bar bottle shop opens Friday, April 8. 425 Alvarado Street, Monterey. 241-6713, twc11.com