As hard to believe as it may be, but there are times when even I find myself growing frustrated with the whisky business, and dare I say, whisky in general. 

Whisky is one of the most complex, compelling, historic, highly celebrated spirits ever discovered. It’s certainly taken on a life of its own over the centuries and is now in a great place. As the spirit itself has evolved over the years, so too have our palates and tastes most definitely are changing. 

Having worked in the industry for longer than I care to remember, I’ve seen governments come and go. I’ve also seen various rules, regulations, laws, taxes, duties, and anything else you can think of, come into force, and let’s just say, it rarely ends well for us. 

Please don’t take what I’m about to write too seriously, it’s just a bit of fun. Rather than sit and grumble and mutter to myself under my breath, I thought I’d take a more light-hearted look at some of the things I find frustrating about whisky and the spirits industry in general. 

Legislation, Logistics, and Paperwork

As amazing as it is co-running GreatDrams, I do certainly prefer to take a more hands-on approach to the business. As Kirsty will attest, I’m much happier when I’m touring a distillery or in the tasting room, rather than stuck behind my desk in the office. 

Unfortunately, when you deal with booze in general, you need to resign yourself to the fact that you’re going to have to deal with endless mountains of paperwork, legislation, and logistics. 

I won’t bore you with the details of each one because in all honesty we’d be here all day, and I’m sure you’ve far better things to do with your time. Take it from me, though, if you are thinking of getting into the drinks business, be prepared to deal with A LOT of paperwork!

Whisky Tribalism

Another element of the spirits business that sometimes rubs me the wrong way is aggressive whisky tribalism. 

Listen, I’m all for favouritism in whisky, but I also believe that everybody is entitled to like what they like. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve found myself on a distillery’s social media, checking out the comments under a post launching their newest release, and groaning in embarrassment over fully grown adults arguing like children over their favourite dram of whisky and why they believe theirs is superior.

Whether you prefer Scotch or Bourbon, a Speyside or Islay, blended or single malt, don’t resort to name-calling or passive-aggressive comments just because somebody happens to like a different dram to you. At the end of the day, we’re all here because we love whisky, and that’s all that matters. 

As I keep saying, whisky has become so much more inclusive over the last decade or so, and that’s something I love to see. By all means engage in a healthy debate regarding whisky, but don’t get into arguments over it. Life really is too short for that. 

Having to Increase Our Prices

All jokes aside, this is one of the most frustrating aspects of working in the spirits business and it’s something I genuinely hate doing. 

Without getting too political, or depressing, you don’t need me to tell you just how expensive seemingly everything is nowadays. And it’s not just this country either. Due to things such as rising energy costs, stubborn inflation, interest rate hikes, taxes, duties, costlier ingredients, and various other expenses, every so often we, like every other business, have no choice but to raise our prices. It’s genuinely not a nice feeling and we make sure we’re more than fair with our pricing when we have to. 

99.9% of the time, our amazing customers are completely supportive and understanding. Every now and then however, you’ll see the odd comment online talking about how we’re being ‘greedy’ or are ‘ripping customers off’ when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. As you’ll see from our store, our prices are incredibly reasonable, especially considering the quality of our whiskies. There aren’t many places where you’ll find a multi-award-winning dram for under £50, but GreatDrams is certainly one of them. 

Running Out of my Favourite Dram

Finally, as a whisky lover, there’s no worse feeling than running out of your favourite dram. Okay, there are, but you get what I’m saying, right?

As I pour the last few dregs of a favourite whisky into my glass, I can’t help but feel a bit down. While I was out around town once (many moons ago) I saw some poor drunk fella’ drop an entire pizza onto the floor and in the gutter outside of the kebab house. He genuinely looked distraught. I imagine that I pull that very same face whenever I’m coming to the end of a dram of whisky that I’m particularly enjoying. 

Of course, the best way to get over the sadness of running out of your favourite whisky is to replace it with another fav. 

If you’d like to learn more about your favourite whiskies, or simply treat yourself to a dram or two in the process, head on over to GreatDrams.com and take a look at the diverse selection of unique whiskies we currently have in stock.

With an impressive selection of limited-edition, rare, and award-winning whisky, as well as heaps of whisky info on our blog, it’s the perfect spot for any whisky lovers out there.