It's been quite a while since I found the time to write a blog post, but various discussions on social media had me thinking about the topic being discussed, that of, 'Where we buy our whisky', I don't mean some shady operation such as the back of a lorry, no, although, maybe that could be a post for another day. We are talking legitimate and licensed retailers, at this point I will point out this is very much a U.K. centric post, so if you are unfortunately reading this in the U.S.A, you have my deepest sympathies as I am sure you will agree, you have some archaic laws surrounding the sale of whisky, one of the most common responses I see when some one posts about a whisky purchased from Amazon is usually from someone living in the U.S.A, with the disbelief that we can buy whisky from Amazon, sorry, again sympathies.

The 'Whisky Enthusiast', feel free to suggest another term for this group of people, which includes me by the way, are people who buy and enjoy drinking (collecting) whisky from the diverse selection available beyond the occasional drink in a pub or gifted bottle at Christmas. We have so much choice when it comes to where we can buy whisky, yet, we also don't. Let me explain.

1. Let's start with the small independent retailer / specialist. I often see it mentioned that we should buy from the specialist, often followed by 'if we don't use it we will loose it' tagline.
   The key point to note here is the tagline is correct, but the U.K. high street has been in decline for years, shops are closing all the time and it is not just limited to small independents, while I would love to delve into this, it's complicated and involves politics so I won't.
   
   Where I live, on Tyneside, in the North East of England (The best place outside of Scotland), there are two independent retailers, the closest in Tynemouth is 'The Wine Chambers', they have a relatively small but adequate selection of whisky, but as their name suggests, they are predominantly a wine specialist.
   The second, Rehills in Jesmond have within the last couple of weeks changed ownership, I look forward to seeing what the new owners bring. Rehills is a little bit of everything, they have a good selection of Scotch Whisky, Bourbon and other international whisky, they also sell wine, have a grocery selection, but they are more well known for their incredible beer selection which is possibly their main attraction.
   Both stores have an OK knowledge of whisky. However, you have to go in on the right day to have a conversation with the right person, otherwise its limited to what they hold in stock and critically what they may have tried themselves - This is takes me onto the key point about the small retailer which I often see people want as a reason for visiting them - Testers or tasting samples.
   Do you think it's reasonable for a small retailer to have:
   An open bottle for every whisky they stock? not only for staff to have their own tasting experience, but also to offer customer tasters? Of course it isn't. Is it reasonable for them to have at some point tried every whisky they sell? Of course it isn't.
   Do they even have room to store all these open bottles? of course not, some distributors, on behalf of the distilleries will provide a sample or not for retail bottles for this purpose.
   I often visit both stores, have a look at their selection, what I notice is at a minimum, a 10% increase in average online prices, why? the small retailer have a greater proportional overhead coupled with smaller margins compared to other retailers. They have to charge what they charge because they have to cover their overheads, but can't charge much more otherwise people could be driven to the next category. I am not fortunate enough to have a dedicated independent whisky specialist close by. After previous experience of visiting specialist stores in Scotland, I have mixed opinions on them.
   Some independents - The Wine Chambers is an example have an online store, their choice of whisky online does not include their full range available in the physical shop. But for those arguing we should purchase from this group of retailers, at a personal level, why should you choose one over another if you have never shopped there before?
   
   
2. The national chain store - The Whisky Shop, Laithwaites, Thresher, Majestic Warehouse etc
   The former are whisky specialists in the sense that their main focus is on the sale of whisky with other alcohol drinks also available, I suspect they offer a formal overview of whisky training but also expect perspective employees to have some knowledge or experience of the subject. The former also has huge buying power when compared to independent stores. They are able to compete on prices due to an online presence, but with the additional advantage of being able to offer reserving bottles for store collection.
   Having 24 stores 'The Whisky Shop' do have some overly inflated bottle prices when you visit a physical store, but when you factor in the rent that they pay for a store such as the Metro Centre in Gateshead, you begin to understand why they have the prices they do.
   In terms of shopping experience, in a physical store, they have good selection of regions and styles, the staff ask the right questions to understand whisky preferences and they do have a very small selection of whisky to sample, often, the Whisky Shops own bottles, where I suspect they have the greatest margin.
   Laithwaites, Thresher etc have a very limited selection, for my experience, the staff have little knowledge, unless you happen to speak to a fellow enthusiast, but its doubtful, if they are being honest, they would be able to recommend something from what they sell, certainly its unlikely they will sell something you haven't already tried. Prices are competitive with large online retailers, but they are not first in mind for a whisky purchase.
   
   
3. Supermarkets - The mainstay of the low price with introductory bottles to some whisky brands. You will often find very competitively priced, heavily discounted core range releases from the big whisky players - Diageo, Brown Forman, Beam Suntory, Emperador etc, so Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Whyte & Mackay, Tamnavulin, Laphroaig etc but don't expect anything beyond introductory core range.
   There are some exceptions to this rule, Waitrose, Ocado, Booths and some others, do seem to branch out and offer some batch release whisky from smaller producers. Generally the supermarket is a cheap simple thrill experience for the whisky enthusiast.
   
   
4. Department Stores - Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols etc. The department store fit in a place between the supermarket and small independent specialist. They have huge buying power to negotiate competitive prices that benefit them, brands are eager to get onto their shelves as they will potentially become visible to customers with greater buying power. The range of whisky that the department store offers varies between companies, but often, rarer and more limited releases can be found, but expect to pay a premium. Sometimes they sell a core range bottle offered by a less well know distillery at RRP, meaning that you could pick up a bottle that has sold out elsewhere and pay a reasonable price. The Department Store are worth a look for a browse, however, they are not specialists and not the usual realm for affordable whisky purchases.
   
   
5. The distilleries  - Many distilleries have their own shops and sometimes provide an online store.
   You can't argue that they aren't the specialist in this story, they will, more than likely sell most if not all of their core range together with the inevitable distillery exclusive. 
   They will probably be able to offer samples for you to try, some may be free, some you may need to buy at a bar, others will only offer samples as part of a tour.
   Prices are usually thereabouts what you would pay online at a specialist retailer, although you will probably be able to buy them cheaper in some places. Some distilleries, such as those part of Diageo for example, will also offer a range of core bottles from the owners portfolio. However, how many of us live close enough to a distillery to be able to just pop in and buy their latest exclusive release which inevitably sells out in nanoseconds online?
   The other point to note is if you are buying from a distillery online, you can only buy from that producers portfolio, so postage costs could mount if you are buying from multiple sources.
   
   
6. The online specialist, this group includes Master of Malt, The Whisky Exchange, Royal Mile Whiskies, House of Malt, The Whisky World etc. So this group is a confusing one, some of them don't have physical stores while others do, those that do have people you can speak too, in person, one on one. They have massive buying power, a huge range of choice, competitive prices, will stock whisky from the large multi distillery corporations, to the smallest single site producer. And have the financial power to offer promotions and competitions which drive social media conversations both positive and negative.
   For a lot of whisky enthusiasts they are the first port of call when looking for a whisky.
   However, are they necessarily a specialist if you cant physically go there and speak to someone?

But you are an enthusiast, you know enough about whisky, the regions, the distilleries the flavour profiles, the meaning of the word 'Single' or 'Malt' on a bottle label, so why would you need to speak to someone other than to geek out or prove you know more than the employee.

The point is, where you go to buy your whisky is limited to where you are located, your wealth or disposable income, your personal knowledge of whisky, your palate, your ability to use incognito mode with multiple browser tabs or by simply using an automated purchasing script.
There is no right or wrong here (except the latter - that is always wrong bad BOT).
Often you buy a whisky based on who has the bottle you are wanting at a price you are willing to pay, otherwise its 7. Auctions...