It was in the midst of Supercars weekend in late November, that extravaganza of bravado and almighty sound, that Hawthorne quietly taught one of his weekly whisky masterclasses at Coal and Cedar.

I use the word taught because he is really a teacher more than a barman, his bar being all the more unusual because it is a place for learning as well as for drinking.

And it certainly was a strange time to be attending a class. Fighter jets were screaming across the rooftop just as we were ushered through the door. Once we arrived inside, the almighty sound became a whisper. The afterburners became tea light candles.

Thankfully, at least for that weekend, the rest of the city could be forgotten.

Perhaps it's more accurate to say that under their hanging plants, ornate chandeliers and the spell of their dashing, gentile service, you can forget about anything you like at Coal and Cedar. Anything except, of course, the historical context behind every nip of spirit that you taste.

For the past four years, and alongside his business partner Sean Geddes, Hawthorne has run a masterclass in which a hand selected collection of whiskys can be appreciated over the course of a few hours.

The sensory aspect of the experience, hidden between every element of flavour a whisky might have, is one thing. Another thing altogether are the stories from the soil - the shadowy ties between power and the Prohibition, between an idealistic America and the moonshine that boiled beneath it. And that's just the story of one of your whiskys. In Scotland or Ireland the shadows can be cast even further.

For Hawthorne, who founded Coal and Cedar with Ethan Ortlipp six years ago, it was always these ties - between the law, the barrel and the man - that inspired him to learn more about its story.

"The reason why I became so interested in whisky is because it is always intertwined with history," Hawthorne says. "As soon as you start learning a bit about these whiskys, you learn about the history of the time. I wouldn't have known so many things about the Irish famine or the Great Depression and Prohibition if it wasn't for whisky."

As he further expounds: "The history of alcohol in the Western world is actually our own history. The two stories have evolved together.

"In the beginning there wasn't necessarily a lot of understanding about how the processes involved in making whisky worked. There was so much trial and error and that went on for generations. It was all done in order to eventually make something that wasn't completely poison."

Fortunately for us, and anybody else who attends one of these masterclasses, any talk of errors and poisons can also be easily forgotten about.

Lovers of whisky take heed: there are some premium drops being poured by Hawthorne and Geddes during these afternoon sessions.

After a Pennsylvanian style Rittenhouse, bottled-in-bond straight rye whiskey come the Highland Park, 12-year-old Single Malt Whisky, the Irish, Single Pot Still Whiskey and the Japanese, Hibiki Harmony Blended Whisky.

"Japanese whisky has been all the rage for the last decade," Hawthorne says. "It's definitely been the cool kid."

In any other bar, hosted by any other barman, the temptation to spill over into your own, tipsy chit-chat might be too hard to resist. But of course it is different in here.

Hawthorne is not just a barman serving drinks at a bar on Hunter Street. As much as we might be drinking and enjoying ourselves, it always feels like we are being taught and are learning a whole lot more.

Even better, our teacher possessed two uncommon things - the knowledge we came for and the passion to deliver it. In the right time and place, sometimes that delivery can have its own almighty sound.

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