The American whiskey fraternity is enjoying the burgeoning success and ever-increasing popularity of a thing called craft-distilling. There’s always been something intrinsically exciting that surrounds artisan food and drink, and whiskey is no exception. In fact, the spirits industry is abuzz with new releases of wonderfully packaged and gloriously quaint bourbons and other American whiskeys and we thought we’d throw in our two cents. You see, whiskey really is a spirit of provenance and it requires great attention to detail. You simply can’t go about mass-producing the stuff without due care and diligence, and that’s exactly what the new breed of craft distillers are tapping into, and they’re creating some of America’s best exports. More...

Cask finishing is rather trendy these days, and it’s becoming a case of the more exotic and unusual the better. Murray McDavid took this to a whole new level with their Renegade Rum range. You see, it’s independently bottled rum with a difference; all of the casks are taken to Islay for maturation at the Bruichladdich distillery, and (this has got ‘laddie’s prints all over it) the rums are “enhanced” in some pretty extraordinary wine casks. They also earn the packaging prize for their handsomely sand-blasted bottles, replete with metal dog tags! More...

For a huge number of us peat-freaks (yes, we here at Master of Malt include ourselves firmly in this category), Ardbeg whisky is the absolute pinnacle of Islay distilling, and often seen as in a league of its own when it comes to awards and ratings.

Since its acquisition by Glenmorangie PLC in 1997, the Ardbeg Brand has gone from strength to strength, winning awards and plaudits the world over, and garnering a fan-base unlike anything else in the world of whisky. Master of Malt have even heard tell of several devotees with enormous Ardbeg Tattoos covering their backs – what other whisky can lay claim to such unbridled fanaticism?

If anything, the huge uplift experienced by Ardbeg since its acquisition has somewhat overshadowed the ‘main event’ of Glenmorangie itself. More...

The headlines have become rather depressing these days, filled with unscrupulous rogue traders and Brits abroad attempting to stem catastrophic oil spills with sporting goods and general bric-a-brac grade detritus. It’s all a tad bleak, so it’s a good thing you can always count on us to brighten your day with some whisky-related jollity. 

That’s right, more drams! 

Today we are excited to announce we now sell whisky samples from Compass Box and Ian Macleod (including a phenomenal selection from the Glengoyne distillery).More...

We made a pact… To boldly offer samples of what no online retailer has ever offered samples of before. We started with some old favourites, and had some pretty exciting stuff on offer (including some show-stopping Glenfarclas Family Casks), but we never had anything quite like this…

We’re proud to announce a fantastic foray into the world of ultra premium spirits. Now you can try 3cl samples of mindboggling whisky that, until now, very few people have had the great privilege to try.More...

12 New Samples!

Just a quick post to let you know which samples we’ll be adding to the site today. We’ve been adding loads and loads and the range is starting to get pretty big! Click here to see all the drams.

Today we’ve got a very interesting selection for you; in fact we’ve only just got most of these in a week ago!

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The Maker’s Mark party line is a stoic stubbornness when it comes to quality and, in more or less every production process, Maker’s use slower and often out-dated techniques to maintain theirs as an incredibly smooth and supple bourbon.

Aside from production, the grain selection is a big factor in the overall flavour. Maker’s Mark is what’s called a “wheated bourbon” - distilled from a mashbill with no rye, and a higher content of wheat in its place. Rye is a spicy, heavy grain – like the Iron Maiden of the grain world, and wheat is mellower – like a cereal version of Lionel Richie. The omission of rye makes for a smooth and supple spirit that’s easy like Sunday morning. 

At every step it’s all about reducing harshness and retaining the distinctive character. More...

The Next Batch of Whisky Samples

The sun is shining, the sky is blue and the birds are just about to start getting on our nerves. But times are good, and after launching Drinks by the Dram – our whisky sample service – the Master of Malt offices have become organized chaos.

The samples are flying off the shelves and we’ve been flooded with emails and phone calls from you all, telling us how much you like them.

We’ve made a solemn pledge to keep adding loads and loads of new samples to the site every day, so this morning we gathered around the board table (sat in a huddle on the lawn) and came up with the day’s batch of whiskies to “dram” (turn into samples). More...

Imagine a world where you could try a glass of a whisky, or rum, tequila, even vodka for that matter, without having to buy the bottle first. A world with 100% customer satisfaction, and an end to buyer’s remorse! To literally try before you buy…

If you’ve got a little stash of whisky, you’ve also almost certainly got “that one bottle” (maybe even more than one) that just wasn’t quite what you expected, or wanted. Maybe it was too peaty, too sweet, or light, or rich, or maybe it just wasn't that good. More...

After one of the greatest montages in motion picture history (the training sequence in Rocky IV), came the epic fight between Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago (a fight that ended with a victorious Stallone and also what looked like the beginning of the end of the Cold War).

A similar title fight took place in the whisky world last year, when Bruichladdich flexed its peaty muscles with Octomore, and Ardbeg came back with a well-placed right hook in the form of Supernova – the peatiest Ardbeg yet - weighing in with peating levels of over 100ppm!

The interesting thing was Bruichladdich’s riposte – Octomore 02.1, a monstrously phenolic whisky at 140ppm. The odd thing is, it just doesn’t knock your socks off like Supernova does. The ‘Laddie just doesn’t seem as punchy, and perhaps this is because Bruichladdich’s style is much lighter and fruitier than Ardbeg.

When we first tasted Supernova we were beguiled by the medium weight nose of toffee and tequila. It leads you into a false sense of security. What comes next is a palate entry of mescal, smoked paprika and iodine, and then it develops into the biggest chili hit you’ll ever experience in the world of spirits. It’s just mind-blowing! More...