Thursday, October 6th, 2016. Heart revving. Mind blackening. Bones liquid. Chills. Aches. Slight fever. The works.

As soon as we got to the Denver Marriott Tech Center, the anxiety began. I am not normally an anxious mess, but this was a special occasion: I was about to attend my first major audio show, the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival 2016. (I did attend the 2015 New York Audio Show, but that doesn't compare to the size of RMAFeven taking into account this year's construction-induced compaction.)

AudioStream's Michael Lavorgna and I made the 50-minute ride from Boulder to Denver in a compact UberX. (We had arrived in Boulder the day before to visit Ayre Acoustics; a A full report will soon be available on AudioStream.com.)

Upon entering the hotel, I was welcomed by Dennis, a kind man at the front desk. Dennis is the best. We briefly bonded over both being Filipino, and I attempted to converse with him in my broken Tagalog. He kept my anxiety at bayfor the moment, at least.

After dropping off my bags in the hotel room, I headed toward the mezzanine to meet fellow Stereophile writer Jason Victor Serinus. Nothing crazy, I told myself. No need to get worked up. I'm just meeting Jason in person for the first time. We're probably going to have a quiet chat over some snacks and tea. Then I'll head back to my room, listen to Debussy, put on a moisturizing Korean facemask, and pass out early. Lovely.

False.

The mezzanine is packed with maybe thirty or forty industry people, chatting, drinking the free alcohol, and having a good time. What to do? These are esteemed audiophile professionals: people whom I deeply respect, and whose ranks I aspire to join. Will we get along? Will they like me? Do I smell?

There's no scotch in sight! There's no side stairway in sight! I've reached the point of no return. I must go on.

I spot friendly faces of Internet acquaintances I've never before met in person: Michael Fremer (one of my four bosses!), Mat Weisfeld of VPI, Bill Leebens of PS Audio, Brian Hunter of Audio-Head, and of course the one and only Jason Victor Serinus.

As we begin chatting, and as I keep gulping down the cheap rosé, I realize: it's alright. This isn't so bad. They're really cool audiophiles, but they're still just mortals. I still feel shy and slightly out of place because I don't know most of the people there but I begin to feel comfortable.

Some time passes, then a small group of us begins to leave for dinner at Shanahan's, a nearby steakhouse. (The wagyu rib eye satay was so tasty!) The group consisted of Philip O'Hanlon (On A Higher Note), George Vatchnadze (Kyomi Audio), Dominique Brulhart (Merging Technologies) and his wife Irene, John Atkinson, Jason Victor Serinus, and myself.

During the dinner, I learned that, in addition to being an audio-shop owner in Chicago, George is also a renowned classical pianist who plays a mean Rachmaninoff 2!

Somehow, the conversation started to lean toward the topic of whiskeyas it usually does (and should). Philip, the confident ball of Irish energy, proudly states that Irish whiskey is the best.

He begins to tell me the story of the Irish: "While we taught our cousins [the Scots] how to make whiskey, we didn't teach them how to make the best whiskey. We left a few small things out." And from there, he proceeds to elaborate on why Irish whiskey is superior to all others.

So of course, I must have a taste for myself after hearing Philip's Irish whiskey spiel!

Philip (right), George (left), and I return to the Marriott, and enter Philip's showroom on the mezzanine level, where his stash of (then-) unopened whiskey was hidden. (I'm quite proud to be the first room visitor to experience this!)

Philip first poured me a dram of Green Spot (a single pot still Irish whiskey) and we listened to Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet. I found the Green Spot to be soft and creamy with slight vanilla but wasn't completely sold on Irish whiskey from that single dram.

We listened on a TechDAS AirForce 3 turntable ($29,750) with a Graham Elite tonearm ($12,500) and TechDAS TSD TCd01 Ti cartridge ($15,000), installed on an Artesania Krion turntable platform ($3,390), with a Luxman EQ-500 tube phono stage ($7,500), Artesania Exoteryc four-shelf rack ($7,990), Artesania Aire amplifier stand ($3,790), Luxman C-900u control amplifier ($19,900), Luxman M-900u stereo amplifier ($19,900), Merging Technologies NADAC Multichannel-8 music ServerDAC ($14,000), Shunyata Research Denali line conditioner ($6,000), and Magnan Cables of varying lengths (ranging in price from $2050-3400). (Jason will report on this room in the days to come.)

Philip then handed me a dram of Jameson Select Reserve Black Barrel, and we switched from Miles to London Grammar. At this point, I learned that I preferred the wider range of flavors (and probably the added sugar) in the Jameson over the Green Spot. But unfortunately (for the Irish), I am still a die-hard peat girl at heart. Nothing can compare to the smoky, peaty finish of an Islay malt! I also learned that I actually enjoy London Grammar. I had not disliked them before, but I had just never got around to listening to them much.

What I thought was going to be a quiet, early evening before the start of RMAF turned into a night of meeting new peopleand Irish whiskeys.