Gareth: We clung on, fingertips buried in the soft mulch of the steep hillside as the Spey roared dark and terrible in the late afternoon light, 60 feet below.

How had it come to this? Half an hour ago we'd been enjoying the rich, dark fruit notes of a Macallan 25yo. Now we faced the very real danger of plunging to our deaths in a raging torrent. Something had gone wrong somewhere, and it was only my third day on the job. More...

Finally we’ve arrived at the halfway milestone; that point in Movember when our upper lips no longer look lazy and unkempt, but instead play host to genuine moustache excellence. The chaps at Master of Malt are now fully fledged mo-wearers, and could proudly play the lead role in the upcoming biopic of Tom Selleck that I’m secretly writing when Ben’s not looking. That is, aside from one of the new “placement stiaowdents” and our MD, Justin, both of whom now must cope with ridicule and social ostracism for their inability to develop anything more than a shadow under their noses. They live with their shame.

Onto the really important stuff, so far, just halfway through Movember 2011, we’ve raised £5,135! Cripes! We’ve done this by selling our marvellous Movember whisky – a stunning 9 year old Glenfarclas drawn from two casks. We’re selling the bottle for £39.95 and you can read full tasting notes here. More...

“Hey! Wait just one second. People are incorrectly spelling November and are growing things on their faces that suggest they shouldn’t be within a 500 metre radius of a school. What the devil is going on?”

Maybe that reaction was entirely made up, but it does give me an excuse to fully explain Movember to all who will lend an ear, and so here goes…

At Master of Malt, we’ve been loyal Movember supporters for ages, but for the past few years we’ve actively participated by launching our own, incredibly special, More...

You may remember a little while ago, we launched our biggest prize giveaway yet – a chance to win a 50 year old, single cask, one-of-a-kind bottle of Glenfarclas worth £3,995. Quite possibly the greatest prize ever…

All the entrants had to do for a chance to win this astonishing prize was purchase any 70cl bottle of Glenfarclas from our website. There were just 500 chances to enter, and as you can imagine, they sold out pretty quickly!

We put all of the names into our bowler hat of wonder, and duly picked a name, and we can now announce the winner, Mr Steven Wright of Cardiff. Here’s a picture of his beaming mug… Envy this man... More...

Father’s Day 2011 (Sunday 19th June) is encroaching, and as a whisky retailer we feel dutifully obliged to recommend that you buy your papa a gift he will actually enjoy, and not another pair of socks. In a bid to save father/child relationships the country over, we’ve compiled a list of the socks you were going to get him, and the whisky-related merchandise you should really get him instead. More...

With Father’s Day encroaching, we’ve teamed up with the good folks over at Glenfarclas to offer you a frankly mind-boggling whisky giveaway. In fact, we can hand-on-heart tell you that we’re offering you our best prize yet! Drum roll please…

We are giving you the chance to win a 50 year old, single cask bottle of Glenfarclas, worth £3,995! More...

Okay, so once in a while at MoM towers, we like to make a brief foray into the wonderful (if dangerous) world of Mixology.

Over the next few months we’ll be publishing some reasonably detailed recipes of our favourite whisky cocktails for you to make at home – and this week’s instalment is the famous Blood and Sand.

This absolute belter of a cocktail is best made with fresh orange juice, but (and this is really important) you’ll need to find More...

Glenfarclas added a 40 year old to their core range this year. A bold move like this is testament to Glenfarclas’ incredible stocks, and most distilleries would struggle to maintain production of a core range 40 year old bottling.

It was set apart from the year’s other high end releases by two factors. One was quality; we’ve sung its praises before so we won’t go into too much detail, but suffice to say it’s a stunner! The second factor was price; most whiskies in this age range (particularly from stalwart premium distilleries like Glenfarclas) retail at a minimum of a grand. Amazingly, you can find Glenfarclas 40 at just £289 (from us of course!). More...

Old whiskies have always commanded respect from the drinking public. It is widely thought that the older the whisky, the better. Distilleries have always pushed for this, because they can demand higher prices, and the increased rarity of old whisky has helped cement their éclat. At Master of Malt, we think whiskies have a life span; some require a lot of ageing to reach their peak, and others need only a few years. There are some very young whiskies which have reached their full potential very early in life; Ardbeg 10 is an awe-inspiring single malt and we’ve only got good things to say about the 3 year old English Whisky Chapter 6!

It is undeniable, however, that there is something very special about extensively aged malt. We’ve been lucky enough to taste some great 40 year old whisky recently. 

A single cask 40 year old Glenfarclas had this impression on us:

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We know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath for the results of the £1,500 Glenfarclas prize draw, and we’re pleased to say that this morning, one lucky customer has been drawn from the 250 entrants, and will shortly receive the prize of a bottle of single-cask 40 year old Glenfarclas.

So, without further ado, the lucky winner is order number 1266770 - Mr Eamon Roque.

Congratulations to Eamon, who will be receiving his bottle within a few days, and to those who sadly didn’t win this time, keep your eyes on the site, as we’ll be holding another prize draw in not too long.

For now though – why not have a look at our new headline offer – the spectacular Bowmore 26yo.

The Chaps at Master of Malt