In just 7 days time a crack team of MoMers (MoMists? MoMians? Something that sounds less like a cult?) will be setting off in the direction of the Fèis Ìle whisky festival on Islay!

Excitingly, as mentioned in our earlier Islay blog post, we will be running 3 Competitions while we are out there! The time has now come to break it down even further with a little more detail on each competition starting with numero uno...

More...

Ben:

We make a lot of cool stuff. This has been proven. As of a couple of weeks ago, we’ve got someone who’s going to be responsible for getting all this cool stuff into bars, retailers and your house (specifically you) throughout the UK, and worldwide.

We also really like exciting, cool whiskies and spirits distilled all over the world. Given that we’re reasonably decent-sized now, it sort of makes sense for us to start importing some of the cooler brands out there. We’ve also got someone who’s going to be responsible for bringing all those awesome products into the UK and getting them into the self-same bars, retailers and also into your house.

More...

Feis Ile is almost upon us once again and to celebrate our third visit to The Islay Whisky Festival, we will be running 3 Competitions (count ‘em) for all those souls lucky enough to be joining us on the Hebridean island between 24th May and 2nd June 2013!

We will also be releasing a brand new bottling from That Boutique-y Whisky Company: a Caol Ila! Schwiing! This new release will be up for grabs on Islay as well as other prizes. To see how you can get in on the action, read on...

More...

After poring over the entries from our recent caption competition, wherein the winner was promised a full bottle of Clynelish whisky from That Boutique-y Whisky Company, we were a bit stumped (or chimped).

We struggled to choose just one entry; there were so many outrageous images to choose from (some more so than others)! We finally caved and decided that though there can only be one champion, there were a few entries that deserved honourable mentions (and drams). Still, there can only be one, and there was one that was truly more evolved (wink!) than the rest.

So, without further ado...

More...

Just before we officially launched ‘That Boutique-y Whisky Company’ in the UK (and beyond), we packed up the Mini Malt Mobile (aka Ben's car, complete with boxes upon boxes of Scotch whisky, suitcases, and a ukulele), piled in, and took to the motorways and Channel to get to Maltstock, a yearly whisky festival in the Netherlands.

Pitched as "the relaxed whisky weekend" it is—indeed—"relaxing". Akin to a summer camp for whisky enthusiasts, the weekend is packed with music, bonfires, whisky masterclasses, whisky-themed games, a whisky quiz, and a veritable overdose (if that can be said) of food and friends. This was our third year in attendance, and believe me, it lives up to the hype. By the end, we were all a bit like newborn fawns: blinking in the sun and staggering gingerly about the place. We've got a flock of photos below to give you, dear reader, a taste of some of the activities to be had. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say…

More...

Excellent work: many of you successfully infiltrated The Competition! You completed all of your objectives and only a bare minimum of innocent bystanders were horribly crushed to death during your tank shenanigans!

More...

We thought it was high time we ran another caption competition (maybe we just felt like giving away some whisky), although this time with a bit of a twist… Where we found the original of this particular image however, I really don’t know.

Personally, I find it even more perturbing than C.M. Coolidge’s paintings of dogs playing poker. (“They’re dogs… and they’re playing poker…!”)

More...

Another month (well, nearly – it’s been over 3 weeks), another clutch of supremely awesome whiskies bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company. This time we’re bringing you whiskies from Brora, Arran, Tobermory, Tormore and Aberfeldy.

Sadly, one of these beauties has already sold out (no prizes for guessing which I’m afraid), but the rest are still available for your delectation:

More...

Yep.

Seven.

Like a striding colossus of the whisky industry powered by pure inspiration, awesomeness and zeitgeist*, That Boutique-y Whisky Company have brought you not one, but seven brand new releases, as well as a second batch of Aberlour.

Without any further ado:

More...

It’s a scary place, the brain of Ben.

It consists mainly of Alan Partridge and Father Ted episodes, cocktail recipes, and rain-man-esque recall of horsepower and torque figures for most production cars. There’s also usually something in there about whisky.

What I can tell you about the brain of Ben though, is that these Boutique-y whiskies have recently been upgraded from ‘a bit of fun’, to ‘something with a lot of potential’.

Because of this, you’re going to see a pretty decent number of new releases from brand spanking new distilleries over the next few weeks / months, and if the results of some of the recent whisky auctions are anything to go by, I think we’ll see them selling out in pretty short order.

More...