The Whisky Exchange
I wanted to introduce you to the most recent link now usable on our site: The Whisky Exchange (TWE). TWE is an on-line retailer who, although in the UK, should be, along with Binny’s, one of your key sources of single malts. As I have said in the past, one of my goals for the KOTQ site is to help facilitate the purchasing of single malts; whether for our quarterly tastings or for your individual needs. From a sourcing standpoint, unless you have other sources I need to be aware of, your purchasing outlets probabaly should be:

  • for distilleries actively marketing expressions (really any distillery with an ‘Active’ status in our database) —> shop local at Binny’s or somewhere like Main Street Liquors in LaGrange if you have such a local spot
  • for rare malts and “silent” distilleries—> order on-line at TWE and have it shipped to you here in the States

The WOW Factor
To give you some idea of the breadth of offerings of rare bottlings at TWE consider that they have an offering for every single one of the 27 “silent” distilleries in our database. In fact, the only one that has only one bottling, somewhat surprisingly, is Littlemill. Of the remainder, most have at least 4 or 5 and quite a few have more than that. Here is a good example.

On the other end of the spectrum, they have much better access to newer distillery’s offerings than we can ever hope to have through our local outlets such as Binny’s. If you have an interest in the distilleries “building stock”, and just can’t wait to try one, you should check out TWE from time to time and see what they might have. Here is a good example of what is available now. Finally, rare bottlings of active distilleries are very likely to be at TWE and not at your local Binny’s. Here is a great example of that. Another nice thing is, although the default currency used at TWE is GBP, they have a handy currency converter link at the top of every page so it’s easy to see the cost in USD.

The only chink in the armor that I’ve seen is in regard to those “distilleries” which our database refers to as “Stills Removed” (Mosstowie, Glencraig, Killyloch). Their offering of those is limited; they only carry Glencraig of which they have only one expression. The only other thing I can think of is, and this may really be a backhanded compliment, since their offerings on rare bottlings is so complete, that their marketing presence doesn’t reflect their actual inventory; but that will remain to be seen. For now, I have to take their offerings at face value.

Integration with our Site
I have included a direct link to TWE from our distillery summary display. The bottom row of the distillery display now reads (L to R): @Binny’s, @TWE, @Master of Malt. The fourth cell will either display a link to its KOTQ Tasting Comments or Malt Madness’s mapping function depending on how you get to the distillery display. I am so impressed with TWE’s depth and breadth of single malt offerings that it clearly trumps even Master of Malt as an on-line resource. You should view the links to Binny’s and TWE as purchasing sources (local and on-line respectively) while the link to Master of Malt (although a fine on-line retailer, their site is a better implementation of Malt Whisky Yearbook’s data on each distillery) should be used as a “further information” link for the distillery history and details.

How Best to Utilize TWE
Whether you are using the distillery filter to help you plan a tasting lineup or you have a special event coming up that you wish to commemorate with a special single malt I recommend that you look to the @TWE link on our distillery display as a terrific sourcing option. Here’s what you may find if you carefully review TWE for a potential order:

      Hosts wanting to include a rare malt as a special expression in their tastings
  • several bottlings are priced within our budgets (full attendance please), even with overseas shipping from TWE, to be included individually in any tasting
  • other, a bit more expensive, bottlings are available to the host who doesn’t mind paying his own premium (above budget) to essentially get a rare expression at a discount as he retains the leftovers after the tasting

      • Individuals who wish to order their own rare expressions
  • several are available in the $90 – $250 range (all-in price w/shipping included from TWE) which is comparable to walking into your local Binny’s and buying an 18+ yo expression
  • many others are available in the $750 – $5,000 range for those who may have the means and proclivity to: “invest” in a collectable, or enjoy owning and drinking a $1,000 bottle of single malt scotch once in their life (“bucket list” stuff?!?), or have a special occasion to which they wish to match a very special single malt