vPub Live - How To Pick An Indie

Walk into a whisky shop. Ask for advice. Pay, leave, drink. Easy.


But joking aside, we reach a point in whisky exploration and naturally want to move beyond the official bottles, stretch our palates a little, right? Surely, at some point, Independent Bottlers will become of real interest.


It's different for everyone, of course. Some are introduced to independent bottlings immediately, while others wonder why they even exist. Some have a plentiful supply and selection, while others rarely see an indie appear local to them. Yet, someday, we'll all happen across an indie and it'd probably be nice to understand the whats and the whys when we do.


Now, I'm not the person to say what you should and shouldn't choose, but I've had my fair share of scuffs and scratches along the way, as well as some truly memorable delights, purely from taking a gamble on a non-distillery bottling. Very often, especially with evermore illusive single casks, they can often be the pinnacle of that single, laser-focused, one-off and utterly transient experience.


So, what should we be looking out for? Which indies handle transparency well? Who has kept prices fair and selection canny? More than anything, and completely regardless of whose bottling you're holding in your hands; how can you make an informed and mitigated decision in advance of handing over your cash on something that you have little experience of? It’s worse because often your peers and the community around you is likely to be in the dark too.


That'll be the scope of this vPub and, for us flavour chasers in the vPub, it's about time we switched over to celebrating that these bottlers, and bottlings, even exist.


Really hope to welcome you there!

Link to the Dramface session over at The Inverurie Whisky shop: https://www.youtube.com/live/hkeUfsqE...

0:00 - Opening
2:19 - Brief intro to topic
6:13 - Welcoming in the lounge
12:45 - Intimidating Indies(?)
22:28 - The Pale Whisky in the glass
24:19 - Confessing: why no indies on the vPub?
27:37 - Framing the session & updates
34:15 - The 'Big 4' Indies
44:56 - So many indies!
49:03 - Official vs Indie Definitions
53:45 - Indies & age statements
1:02:38 - Indies & Value (SMWS & Sig Vintage 100º)
1:27:30 - Indies as champions
1:31:18 - ABV Natural CS vs Reduced
1:55:13 - Indies & colour
2:04:00 - Personality and summary
2:12:44 - Quiz at the End (somewhat botched)
1:42:22 - Finishing - too much? Sometimes., yep.