But for GreatDrams, during the pandemic, we have managed to add 60% to our readership and turn a predominantly offline business (~85%) into a thriving online business by being first to market with virtual whisky tastings on Facebook / Zoom, most of the industry followed so think we did a decent job with the idea and making it happen…

It started life as a ‘what if’ concept during one of our government sanctioned walks a week after something in the region of 75 events we were booked onto for the year were cancelled, bringing with it a LOT of uncertainty about our business viability, and just after the original UK lockdown was brought into force. I asked Kirsty if it would be in bad taste as the country was nervous, panicking and unsure about what was going on in the world, for me to put a message out there to try and keep our company alive by seeing if we can get 15 – 20 people to join me on what I called a virtual whisky tasting on Facebook Live.

She was unsure, but I did it anyway and instead of 15 – 20 people we ended up with 212 people on our first virtual tasting – the first in the country from any brand – which was hosted on Facebook Live with me speaking to my phone which was beaming me life to Facebook and Kirsty as well as my father-in-law messaging me on the laptop which was showing me comments, questions, requests for shoutouts and the like through the event… there was also a backup iPad and a second phone recording a duplicate video just in case… and at this point we knew nothing about doing anything like this… it also ended up as our single biggest sales day in the history of the company as so many people were taken by the whiskies we sampled that night they cleared us out of most of them !
That was just the beginning.

It took a couple of months at the beginning to learn the magic of Zoom, but for those first three or four months we did one every fortnight and averaged 170 people participating – it was truly incredible. We also acted on ALL feedback received which lead to new packages being created, printed tasting cards for each whisky bring printed and included and even the content of the inserts with ‘how to get the most out of your virtual whisky tasting with GreatDrams’ with hints and tips on how to set yourself up for the perfect event at home.

We streamlined the process completely to make it easy for people who want to book and enjoy a great night in with GreatDrams

1. Submit an enquiry through https://greatdrams.com/whisky-tasting/
2. All we really need to know is when, how many people, where you’re based
3. We then provide a set of packages / quote
4. Once all is booked in and addresses are received we send out the packs to each participant
5. On the agreed date and time we all get on Zoom (unless you have a preferred alternative platform) and have an awesome time talking about whisky (or gin)

19 months later and around 600 virtual whisky tastings hosted, and we are still going strong, hosting mostly private virtual tastings for birthday parties, friends get togethers, corporate entertainment, whisky education, whisky clubs, even whisky brand training sessions.

AND I STILL LOVE THEM !

November / December 2020 I was hosting up to FIVE virtual tastings back to back each day, as was our Brand Ambassador too – it was incredible and without it our company would not exist and be as strong as it is today.

For me there is a joy to virtual tastings that you cannot get from ‘real life’ tastings – everyone can have an equal voice, you can moderate and balance the inputs of participants so no one dominates and people can communicate in a way that works for them – asking questions out loud, in the comments or in private messages, however it works for the participant it works for us.

And it allows us to tailor our conversation to each group too; some want the geekiness, others want more introductory conversations, others want banter and to challenge us (which I love) and others just want to listen – whatever the style preferred, we tailor and make it work.