In the wake of The Oak Barrel postponing its upcoming tastings, we’re excited to announce that in collaboration with the Boutique-y Whisky Co and importers Proof & Company we’ll be hosting the next Boutique-y whisky tasting virtually.

Last year when we hosted a tasting with independent bottler Boutique-y’ we promised that it would be a regular occurrence. The breadth and scale of the independent bottler’s inventory means that one tasting a year just isn’t enough. However, with the current global situation our plans for the next tasting were put on hold – until today.

Boutique-y are not only famous for their remarkable range of whisky and spirits, but also their small format offerings (they’re the mob behind your favourite whisky/rum advent calendar). That’s means that we are able get our hands on verified 50ml samples, packed and bottled in Scotland.

We’ve chosen a line-up of five excellent drams, available in Australia right now, to package into a tasting line-up. We’re going to send them out across Australia and then live stream the tasting from The Oak Barrel.

Most of these whiskies don't need explaining, but the highlight is probably the single cask Springbank, which is incredibly rare, let alone as a 19-year-old. There's a 25-year-old from an undisclosed Islay distillery, plus the Blended Malt series are always showcases of excellently-aged drams.

We've also chosen two house-favourites, BenRiach and Inchgower to enjoy.

Not only will it enable us to share excellent whisky with whisky lovers during a period of self-and-social isolation, but it’s also the first ever Oak Barrel tasting that is available to people all over Australia, not just Sydney.



What We’ll Be Tasting:

• Boutique-y BenRiach 9-Year-Old 51.7%
  
  
• Boutique-y Blended Malt Batch 3 21-Year-Old 47.1%
  
  
• Boutique-y Inchgower 14-Year-Old 50.5%
  
  
• Boutique-y Islay 25-Year-Old 48.7%
  
  
• Boutique-y Springbank 19-Year-Old 57.8%

These samples will be sent to you in 50ml bottles. 250ml of whisky in total.

We suggest 15ml pours during the tasting, save the rest for later.

How The Tasting Will Work

Packs will be sold for $100 (including delivery) from today.

We’ll be sending out those packs from Monday 30 March, to ensure that we can get them everywhere they need to be.

Then on Tuesday 7 April Boutique-y Whisky Co Brand Ambassador Simon McGoram will be joined by Proof & Co’s James ‘Dub Dub’ Wynn-Williams and The Oak Barrel’s Scott Fitzsimons behind a desk at The Oak Barrel (a metre-and-a-half apart) from 6.30pm at The Oak Barrel to discuss the whiskies.

That will be live streamed through The Oak Barrel’s Facebook page as we field your comments and questions from around Australia.

To ensure your pack arrives in time, please order by Sunday 29 March.

That said, the live stream video will be posted after the live event concludes - so you can do the tasting at your leisure.

Because this is a break-even event, we're offering the flat $100 price to Oak Barrel members and guests.

(Depending on how things go, we might even do it from our respective lounge rooms.)

• WHAT: Boutique-y Whisky Co Virtual Tasting
  
  
• WHERE: Your house
  
  
• WHEN: Tuesday 7 April, 6.30pm
  
  
• PRICE: $100 for members and guests