Pour & Sip - sounds pretty straight forward really. And actually, it is.
This is the new whisky subscription service from the folk at Atom Brands; the same people behind Master of Malt. Each month (for £29.95) they send out a tasting pack of five drams - the first month's pack also comes with a couple of Glencairn glasses - and then you can either taste them at your leisure or join in on one of the online tastings on offer.
The first Pour & Sip live tasting took place on 24 September and you can get an idea of what's on offer by watching it over on Facebook here.
Well, I've always been a bit dubious about whisky subscription services. I guess that's because I live in Edinburgh where there are plenty of whisky bars, whisky shops and, now, distilleries. I'm also not too far away from plenty more of the latter should I wish to visit. So the opportunities to try before you buy haven't been too difficult to come by. Things have obviously changed significantly in that respect over the last six months or so and, these days, the world of virtual or online tastings has started to become the standard way of finding out about new drams.
However, even in 'normal times', if there's a dearth of the above near where you live, these whisky subscription packs are a good idea.
There are plenty to choose from but I always feel as though the vast majority are geared towards folk who are just starting out on their whisky journey. Nothing wrong with that, of course; it's just that they're not really for me.
Maybe this is a gap which Pour & Sip is trying to fill. Of the drams themselves, I was already familiar with some of them - a few of which I've reviewed on here or over on social media. But as a lineup, it's really quite an interesting range.
In the pack that Atom kindly sent me, there is:
Legent Bourbon - 47%
Bunnahabhain 12 years - 46.3%
The Balvenie 14 years "The Week Of Peat" - 48.3%
Teeling Whiskey Brabazon Series 3 - 49.5%
Mackmyra Grönt Te - 46.1%
This is a solid lineup covering a good range of different flavour profiles as well as different countries - Scotland, Ireland, Sweden and the USA. The Legent Bourbon is completely new to me so I'll be looking forward to tasting that soon. There's a great write up of it over on the MoM blog: https://www.masterofmalt.com/blog/post/creating-legent-a-blend-of-beam-and-suntory.aspx
As much as I would like to add tasting notes for each of them now, I think it's something I'll add on social media as I try each one. Because with this whole new world of online tastings, the competition for my liver is fierce and we all really need to be looking after ourselves just now. So look out for some longer posts over the next few weeks on Instagram and Facebook.
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