If you’d asked me back in 2020 whether we’d still be hosting virtual whisky tastings six years later, I’d probably have laughed.
Like countless businesses across the whisky industry, GreatDrams launched them because we had little choice. Distilleries had closed their doors, festivals had disappeared from the calendar overnight, and people who loved whisky suddenly couldn’t share a dram together due to the pandemic. Virtual tastings became a lifeline, both for businesses trying to survive and for whisky drinkers looking to keep those connections alive.
What none of us expected was that they’d become something people genuinely preferred in certain situations.
What Will Whisky Look Like in 2027? Voices from Whisky Live Paris
READ THE STORYToday, our in-person tastings are busier than ever, but so are our virtual events. That’s because they no longer exist as an alternative to the real thing. They’ve become their own experience, offering something different rather than something lesser.
Whisky Comes First
Whenever somebody books one of our virtual tastings, the first question is usually about the technology. “What platform do you use?” The honest answer is that it doesn’t really matter.
Whether we’re using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet, the technology quickly fades into the background. Once everyone has poured the first dram and the conversation gets going, people stop thinking about screens altogether.
Trending Content
Instead, they start talking about what they’re finding in the glass. That’s always been the point.
Before each tasting, we send every participant exactly the same kit, carefully packed with labelled whisky samples, a Glencairn glass, pipette, tasting mat and everything else needed for the evening. Once everyone joins the call, we’re all tasting the same whiskies at the same time, even if participants are spread across different cities, countries or continents.
It’s remarkable how quickly that creates a shared experience. Every palate tells a different story. One of the reasons I still enjoy hosting tastings after all these years is that no two groups ever taste whisky in quite the same way.
Recently we hosted a virtual tasting for an international business with colleagues joining from the UK, Germany, France and the United States. The brief was simple. Introduce everyone to styles of whisky they probably wouldn’t choose for themselves.
We began with our award-winning Founders’ Choice before moving into a Craigellachie finished in a peated cask, followed by our English Single Malt matured in Pedro Ximénez casks and finishing with an older grain whisky that challenged almost everyone’s expectations of what grain whisky could be.
Halfway through the evening, one guest admitted they’d spent years avoiding peated whisky because they assumed it would taste like an ashtray.
When we reached the Craigellachie, that assumption disappeared.
Rather than focusing on the smoke, we spent time exploring the layers beneath it. Grilled pineapple, vanilla, orchard fruit and sweet malt gradually emerged, and by the end of the tasting it had become their favourite whisky of the evening.
That’s the moment I enjoy most.
Not convincing somebody to like a particular bottle, but watching them discover something they never expected to enjoy.
Expertise Doesn’t Need To Feel Intimidating
Whisky has an unfortunate habit of making newcomers feel like they’re joining a club with too many unwritten rules. I’ve never liked that.
Yes, there’s plenty of technical detail behind every tasting. Between Kirsty and me we’ve spent well over a decade working in whisky, built GreatDrams into an award-winning independent bottler and seen our whiskies collect more than fifty industry awards. We spend our days talking about fermentation, cask selection, maturation, blending and flavour development. None of that matters if people don’t enjoy themselves.
Our tastings have always been conversational rather than instructional. People are encouraged to ask questions, disagree with tasting notes and tell us what they honestly think. If somebody says a whisky reminds them of Battenberg cake while someone else insists it’s baked peaches, both opinions are welcome.
That’s how whisky should be enjoyed.
Why Virtual Whisky Tastings Still Work
There will always be something magical about standing inside a dunnage warehouse or tasting whisky straight from the cask at a distillery. Virtual tastings aren’t trying to replace those moments. What they do offer is accessibility.
Not everyone has the time to travel to Islay for an evening tasting. Not every company wants to fly staff from four different offices into one location. Friends who met at university often end up living hundreds of miles apart, yet still want to share an evening together. A virtual tasting removes those barriers.
You don’t need to organise hotels, taxis or designated drivers. Once the samples arrive, all that’s left to do is pour a dram, settle into your favourite chair and enjoy the evening. For many people, that’s exactly what makes them so appealing.
Every Event Becomes Its Own Conversation
One week we might be hosting a Christmas tasting for a global law firm. The following weekend it’s a birthday celebration, a stag party or a group of friends who simply wanted an excuse to spend a Friday evening together. The whiskies change. The theme changes. The conversation always takes on a life of its own.
Some groups become wonderfully competitive, trying to identify every aroma in the glass. Others spend two hours telling stories while the whisky quietly brings everyone together.
We’ve learnt not to force a timetable. Some tastings finish in just over an hour, others naturally drift towards two because nobody wants the evening to end. That’s never a problem.
It’s Still About People
People sometimes ask what makes our tastings different. For me, it isn’t the number of awards we’ve won or the whiskies we choose, although both certainly help. It’s the atmosphere.
I’ve always believed whisky is at its best when it brings people together. The bottle is simply the reason everyone sits around the same table, even if that table happens to be virtual. The conversations, the laughter, the unexpected tasting notes and the moments when somebody discovers a style of whisky they never thought they’d enjoy are the things people remember.
Six years ago, virtual tastings helped keep the whisky world connected during a difficult period. Today, they continue for a much simpler reason. They’re genuinely good fun.
And if an evening spent exploring great whisky with friends, family or colleagues leaves you with a few new favourites and a few new stories to tell, I’d say that’s exactly what a whisky tasting should do.
