It feels a bit surreal that another year has flown by—another year filled with countless drams tasted, whiskies reviewed, and scores shared. What stands out most is how your enthusiasm for our humble little blog has continued to exceed all expectations. Despite competing priorities and the occasional weeks of silence where no new words graced the page, your continued support and engagement have been unwavering. The consistent hits and loyal readership have kept us motivated to keep sharing our passion, all in the name of the “water of life.”

This year has been one of many firsts. Attending the Echlinville inaugural whiskey launch was a particular highlight—it became my “looking forward to 2024” moment. While these opportunities didn’t come often enough, I was thrilled to get out, meet like-minded individuals, and share conversations about whiskey. Finally engaging in person with members of the whiskey community that I’ve connected with over the years was one of the most rewarding aspects of the year. It’s an experience I truly hope to continue and build upon in the year ahead!

Johnny mentioned that what he’s most excited about is seeing Irish distilleries releasing more of their own aged stock. While some releases weren’t significantly aged, we’ve witnessed distilleries like Echlinville, Copeland, Micil, Boann, and Clonakilty (to name just a few) debut their own spirits. Distilleries like Killowen have even released older expressions, such as their recent 5-year-old. It’s truly a momentous time for Irish whiskey, with plenty of highs but also some significant lows—like the unfortunate news of Waterford Distillery closing its doors. With money tighter than ever for everyone, how we choose to spend it has become a serious consideration for whiskey enthusiasts and producers alike.

This year has brought an incredible variety of offerings from beyond Ireland and England. Mike’s spontaneous trip to Nepal unearthed some unexpected highlights from Asia, including gems like Rampur, Gurkhas and Guns, and Kala Patthar. Even Johnny hopped on the Asian whiskey bandwagon, noting some fascinating similarities between The Yamazaki and Redbreast 12. England, too, impressed me with its contributions—Cooper King, in particular, stood out as a personal favourite. It’s been an exciting year for discovering new horizons in whiskey!

Interestingly, our article on Kala Patthar was a standout hit with you, our readers, becoming the second most popular piece of the year. However, the clear favourite was Blanton’s Gold. In fact, the United States led the way in readership, with an impressive 37k hits this year, closely followed by the UK. Nepal, India, and Singapore also made it into our top 10 readership countries, highlighting the growing appreciation for the quality of Asian whiskey.

What has truly impressed us, though, is the incredible engagement we’ve received on social media. From likes and hearts to retweets (or whatever we’re calling them now!) and thoughtful comments, it’s the interaction that we value most. Whether positive or constructive, your feedback inspires, motivates, and energises us to keep doing what we love. Thank you for being such a big part of our journey.

As per usual, we’re asking our contributors for their top whiskey of the year, best whiskey experience of the year, worst whiskey moment of the year and most looking forward to in 2025.

Dave

Best Whiskey of the Year: Cooper King Distillery has quickly become one of my favorites—not just for a single whisky, but for everything they’ve released. Since Mike’s visit two years ago, I’ve been beating the drum for them, and their consistent quality over the past year has only deepened my admiration.

When people think of English whisky, the image is often one of something uninspiring, but Cooper King is the exact opposite. Their unique Tasmanian influence, combined with sustainability initiatives and charity-driven incentives, creates a truly standout team and product.

I’m already counting down the days until I can visit them next year.

Best Whiskey Experience of the Year

Attending the Echlinville inaugural whiskey launch was an unforgettable experience for so many reasons. It was a chance to reconnect with friends from the whiskey community, meet some of my whiskey idols, and, most importantly, finally experience the Echlinville spirit properly.

Every detail of the launch event was meticulously planned, making it feel truly special. The presentation alone was enough to leave a lasting impression, but luckily, the whiskey itself lived up to the hype! This was an incredible moment that perfectly showcased everything Echlinville has to offer.

Worst Whiskey-related moment of the Year

Breaking my favourite whiskey glass. For those unaware, it was a Two Stacks branded Copita. I am still coming to terms with its loss.

Most Looking Forward to in 2025

Kicking off the year in style with a visit to Cooper King Distillery—a destination that’s been on my whiskey bucket list ever since Mike’s trip there back in 2023. Over the past two years, I’ve had the privilege of tasting some remarkable drams from their lineup, each one solidifying my admiration for their craft.

I’m excited to finally meet Chris and Abbie in person and gain deeper insight into the incredible operation they’ve built. It’s sure to be an inspiring and rewarding visit, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store!

Mike

Best Whiskey of the Year:

This is a really tough question. I’ve travelled a lot this year, trying some excellent drams in interesting places. To narrow it down a bit, I’ve only considered the whiskies I’ve actually bought a bottle of. In this case, the Isle of Raasay Bordeaux Cask release gets my vote. I won’t say top much as the review will go up later in January, but this is one of the best red wine cask expressions I’ve tried. Raasay’s flagship is pretty good, but their single cask releases really eclipse it for quality.

Best Whiskey Experience of the Year:

While in Tokyo, we spent an amazing evening in Bar B in Kanda. We had the place to ourselves, and were looked after in great style, talking with the barman about whiskies and Japanese whisky culture late into the night (through the magic of Google translate). As a bonus, I managed to try a couple of drams that I’ve been looking out for for a while. It was a real highlight of an excellent trip.

Worst Whiskey-related moment of the Year:

Probably the hangover after catching up with Dave after some time abroad. He’d been saving up samples and plied me with quite a few. Either that or trying Mustang Gold. It was a Nepali whisky that didn’t quite make the review series. It cost around £5 for a full size bottle, which should have been seen as more of a warning. I could never quite face actually trying to make tasting notes for it, but the rating would have been in the region of 1/10.

Most Looking Forward to in 2025:

It looks like my 2025 whisky focus will be Bourbon. Early in the year, I’ll be spending a little time in the US, including a weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. I’m looking forward to trying the best that the city has to offer. With the likes of Evan Williams, Michter’s, Rabbit Hole, and Angel’s Envy all within a short stagger, I’m really looking forward to exploring American spirits.

Jonathon

Top Whiskey of the Year- Redbreast Cuatro Barilles 

As work travel becomes more regular for me again, I find myself gravitating towards travel exclusive releases. I was fortunate enough to be travelling when this bottle dropped so I was very excited walking into Dublin Duty Free that day. However, I was a hair too early as the bottles have not made their way onto the shelves. I was promptly told to order Click & Collect upon my return. I wasn’t going to get duty free but I wasn’t going to let that get in the way. 

Redbreast Cuatro Bariles is an exclusive bottling for the Dublin and Cork Duty Free. It is the second permanent expression of the brand’s Iberian Series (Lustau being the first one). The combination of American ex-bourbon, Spanish oloroso sherry butts, Portuguese tawny port hogsheads, and European virgin oak casks works wonders in delivering a truly Redbreast experience that I’ve not had in newer bottlings. Sure there are some detractors but I’ve finished a bottle of this and can confidently say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The fact that it’s readily available (if you are passing by Dublin and Cork airports), priced reasonably, and provides a great balance of enjoyment and complexity makes this my top pick for Whiskey of the year.

Best Whiskey Experience

I am a supporter of Fionnán O’Connor’s Créatúr project. For those who don’t know, it’s a crowdfunding initiative revolving around the making of Fionnán’s second book and aside from a cask share and a copy of the book some years down the line, it’s full of very insightful events, both online and in-person. 

One event I attended that stood out the most was an exploration of peat with Mike Billet when he was visiting Ireland. Mike’s knowledge about peat  is so vast and it was an experience to hear from him live and get his thoughts about its part in whiskey making. I have to admit that I’ve not heard of him until the event was announced but I immediately ordered his book, Peat and Whisky: An Unbreakable Bond. During the event he shared about how he got into peat and subsequently whiskey, his thoughts about sustainability, and dispells a lot of myths that we might have heard from some brand’s marketing team. It was a great event that was definitely up my street in terms of learning something new about whiskey. No doubt there will be more high-caliber events for Créatúr supporters and I’m looking forward to it. 

Worst Whiskey Moment

With many highs including more inaugural releases I could count, it’s hard to think of some low points in the world of whiskey. However, the industry itself is not immune to macroeconomic factors and the tougher times have already claimed a few casulaties. 

I’ve heard about craft distillers in the US campaigning to be able to shop direct to customers and bypass the three-tier system in order for them to survive. A few multinational-owned distilleries have also announced scaling back of their productions. In the deeper end, there’s the news about Mackmyra’s bankruptcy, and eventual rescue. However nothing is as close to home than the news about Waterford distillery. I may not be their biggest fan but I support what they stand for and the news about them entering receivership is to me the worst whiskey moment of the year, not just for what it is but how it could be a canary in the coal mine for some other smaller producers of Irish Whiskey. 

Most Looking Forward to in 2025

For the last three years, I’ve picked a theme for my whiskey journey. Not a strict policy but more a general guideline in helping me decide what bottles to buy, open, or drink in a bar. I find that having this sense of direction helps me parse through a lot of noise. 

In 2022, I explored a lot of young spirit from new make to poitín to spirits that are yet to be called whiskey. In 2023, I switched sides in exchange of older age statements. Although I enjoyed exploring distillate/driven whiskeys, I prefer the sit down and sip enjoyment I get from their more mature counterparts. In 2024, I moved to readily available whiskeys after being gifted a bottle of standard Jameson whiskey and genuinely enjoying it. Sure I still drank a good amount of cask strength limited releases but I realised that the approachability of “supermarket” whiskeys is not something to be snobbish about. In a time of inflating prices, the volume whiskeys offer great value for money as margins are usually thinner than special releases. 

In 2025, I’m looking forward to (drumroll please…) trying more Scotch! I already took the first step by joining the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society and looking forward to visiting their venues and trying more of their bottlings. I picked this theme as I try to expand my knowledge into single malts. Irish pot still and the industry has placed a lot importance in adjunct grains the past few years and it was a great journey to take with them. I’m thinking by moving into a more established category and with a focus on a single grain, I’ll be able to explore more about the other parts of whiskey production and maturation. A bonus of which is the economics of Scotch is better for the wallet than Irish at the moment. To 2025 and beyond! 

And just like that, we step into 2025—a year that promises to be another fantastic chapter for whiskey enthusiasts. Here’s hoping for more of the same: exciting releases, lower prices (we can dream, right?), and plenty of opportunities to visit distilleries and share those experiences with you.

Most importantly, we want to thank you, our readers. Without you, there really wouldn’t be a reason for us to keep writing. Month after month, your engagement and trust in our opinions show us that this little passion project truly resonates. So, we’ll keep doing what we love—it’s not exactly a hardship, after all!

As we raise a glass to the year ahead, let’s celebrate the ever-growing whiskey community, the stories waiting to be told, and the drams yet to be discovered. Here’s to a 2025 filled with great whiskey, good company, and unforgettable moments. Sláinte!