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...

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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…

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As Ian McCulloch certainly didn’t say:

We've been up to Filliers terrace,

And we did like the taste!

The Filliers family have been making jenever near Deinze, not far from Ghent, for more than five generations dating back to the 19th century. More recently, they became the producers of the first double still Belgian whisky, and even more recently, Master of Malt made their fine products available in the UK retail market for the first time ever!

Zonder dank. (That’s Flemish for you’re welcome.)

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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!

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Mission Objectives:

A: Buy a bottle of The Macallan.

B: Have your name automatically entered into the prize draw to win The Flask: cutting edge technology worth £600 that is currently in the hands of The Competition. (Plus a bottle of The Macallan Gold & 2 tasting glasses too!)

C: Minimise civilian casualties.

The countdown has already begun. T-minus 7 days or 99 chances to win.

Good luck, James.

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It was a wet and stormy winter’s night in the calendar season of spring when the note came. The wind swirled menacingly in the half-light. The atmosphere was tangibly foreboding. As I walked towards the front door of the building, the sense of dread built and a sudden, low and particularly long piano note could almost be heard. (The longer the note, the more dread.) I slowly opened the small black envelope that awaited me just inside the door, and the contents took me aback!

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So... I guess we have to come clean about the simply astonishing work of Dr Brian Cocks and his coveted Scotch Eggs.

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After our many years in the wonderful business of whisky purveyance, it’s not often that we come across something that really takes us aback. Today, however, we have the rare honour of announcing a distilling phenomenon hitherto unknown: A heady blend of spirit and science, seasoned with a shake of quackery and a dose of credulity...

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It's finally here. Yes, folks, Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley have raised the anchor and set sail to release the third instalment in their A-Z of whiskies series. This time, they took to the high seas (or high rails?) to celebrate their first crack at creating a blend. And what a blend it was! It stands up to water, cocktails, and rush-hour traffic on the London Circle Line.

Our journey began with an introduction by two salty dogs, dressed to the nines in seafaring garb and presenting us with a fractured history of the London tube. Were there sea shanties, you ask? But of course!

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Hot on the heels of our success at the Off License News Drinks Retailing Awards, the World Whiskies Awards 2013 were presented last week at the Waldorf Hotel in London, and, erm, we cleaned up again*.

I’m not going to re-hash the recent blog post I wrote about our success at the OLN awards, but suffice it to say, there’s a reasonable-length post here about the innovations and initiatives we’ve launched in the past 12 months. It’s well worth a read if you’ve not already.

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