Month: October 2023

Women in whisky

It’s probably been more than 25 years since the theme or topic of “women in whisky” first got written about in the modern circles of whisky publishing.  By which I mean the new wave of books and magazines that started to emerge in the 1990’s, and the endless number of blogs, forums, and social media outlets in more recent times.   Indeed, flicking through my old back issues of Whisky Magazine from the early 2000’s, it didn’t take me long to find articles, profiles, and feature pieces that all revolved around women and whisky, or women in whisky.

Issue 14 of Whisky Magazine in 2001 had a feature article on “Whisky’s Women”. This issue from 2004 featured three articles about women and whisky; similar themes were explored in a 2005 issue, “Women of High Spirits”, and a 2007 issue with “Driven Women”.

It is an interesting topic to write about in 2023.  In some ways, there is a valid sentiment that holds this shouldn’t be a thing anymore.  Afterall, we’ve had several decades now of articles, interviews, and profile pieces highlighting the wonderful work of female distillers, master blenders, brand ambassadors, writers, journalists, bartenders, visitor centre managers, mixologists, and so on.   Women are prolific in so many corners and reaches of the whisky industry these days, one could be forgiven for questioning if gender needs to be an issue anymore.  And yet…

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Whisky Awards – Who really wins?

You don’t have to search or scroll too far through whisky’s marketing landscape these days before you encounter a reference to an award.  Gold medals, Double Golds, Trophy winner, Best-in-category…the list goes on.  To anyone marketing a whisky – whether it’s the distillery itself or a retailer looking to promote a particular product on their shelf – being able to say that the brand won an award should be a huge accolade and an indicator of quality.  But when it comes to the confusing world of whisky awards, there’s an increasing degree of scepticism creeping on to the podium.

Let’s make it clear from the outset that this piece is not intended to belittle or undermine any distillery or brand that recently won a whisky award, nor to cast shade on any specific awards program or award-giving entity.  But given that distilleries and brands are using awards as a selling point in their marketing arsenal and playbook, it’s important that consumers have at least some awareness as to what the badges, tokens, and ribbons might actually denote.   So let’s look first at some of the issues and criticisms that are causing concern…

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The Malt Whisky Yearbook 2024

In the wide and daunting jungle of whisky literature – that is all the books, magazine, blogs, subscriptions, and even video content – there’s really only one definitive resource that every whisky lover should have a copy of on their whisky shelf:  The Malt Whisky Yearbook.   An annual publication that has been updated and released every year since 2005, the latest edition for 2024 is out now.

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