The Whisky Event is far from London’s oldest show. Whisky Live and The Whisky Show both outdate it substantially. However, since its inception in 2018 it’s grown from a festival with 150 whiskies to one with around 600. In raw numbers that puts its second place to The Whisky Exchange Show’s 1000+, however there’s a hidden difference that makes The Whisky Event an unmissable experience for whisky fans despite not being the biggest.

Most whisky festivals don’t have ultra-premium pours on offer (think whiskies that are £500+). They’re generally not brought along by exhibitors as they would be a mismatch with the purchasing power of the audience. If they are then they’re kept behind a token system paywall or hidden under the counter for those in the know. However, at The Whisky Event bottles with price tags in the thousands are freely available for you to try with no strings attached. Whilst the show isn’t a secret, it sells out every year, it does fly under the radar versus competitor shows that advertise heavily to secure ticket sales.

The Whisky Event is a Scotch dominated show, perhaps the most out of any show in London. You’ll find not just the big brands showing off their well aged offerings but a wide range of small distilleries and a huge number of independent bottlers that specialize in Scotch. but if you’re a Bourbon, Japanese  or Irish Whiskey fan there isn’t a huge amount to see. Across the Scottish range we tried well aged grains, old blends, drams from silent distilleries, potent cask strength pours from newer ones and everything in between. We often praise shows for category breadth, i.e. they have something for everyone. The Whisky Event goes for depth instead. Any Scotch fan will come away with multiple new bottles on their wishlist and more they didn’t get around to trying.

For 2025 The Whisky Event shifted venue from its long-time home of Grosvenor House Hotel to the Royal Lancaster Hotel just under a mile away. In doing so they resolved the few criticisms we had of the show last year.  I joined the entry queue 15 mins before opening with about 40 people in front of me. We were slowly drip fed into the venue and I had my first dram in hand 10 minutes later. Other shows are definitely faster, but this is a massive improvement on last year where I was one of the first in line and yet it took 20 minutes to get in. Attendees also got to keep their bags whereas last time checking them into a cloakroom was mandatory.

The events spaces as The Royal Lancaster are relatively new and fresh and whilst they lack the grandeur of the previous venue, The Ballroom at Grosvenor House, they’re an improvement overall. Upstairs there’s plenty of space in the neat rows of stands and whilst it can be loud that makes no difference from every other whisky festival. Only a couple of the stands with the rarest of the rare drams had any major queues either so it was easy to get about and get a drink to try. Each corner of the room had a water station and spittoons were on every stand too. Between this and the food, guests were well cared for at The Whisky Event.

The famous buffet is now in an entirely separate space with more seating, less queuing, lovely live music, and complimentary soft drinks on top. Whilst I personally missed the fried chicken and bao buns of last year the buffet was still plenty varied with sushi, cold cuts, salad, roast meats and more with plenty of side dishes. Dessert consisted of chocolates, mousses, fruits and frozen yoghurt. The buffet room also hosted the cocktail bar with Espresso Martinis, Pornstar Martinis, Whisky Sours and a Dragon Fruit Mocktail. Whilst I heard plenty of praise for the Espresso Martini I was after something to enjoy in a break from whisky so I tried the mocktail. It was impressive to look at with plenty of lychee and strawberry and not too sweet.

If anything there’s too much whiskey. The Whisky Event is a one night affair with only 4 ½ hours of drinking time in it. Most shows with 600 bottles are split over multiple days or at least two long sessions within one day. This is a nice problem to have but whisky shouldn’t be rushed and there’s no dram list published in advance so enthusiasts can’t plan their consumption. However, if the single session works for brands and keeps them attending with such great whiskies then we can all agree to accept this first world problem. Nevertheless, speaking with other whisky fans the consensus is that we would happily pay more money to get more time on the show floor.

With the new venue The Whisky Event has improved on last year with only a £5 increase for an Early Bird ticket. Considering how bad inflation of festival prices has been recently, this is nothing to fret about. The only criticism from last year that remained was some small retail confusion as last year we got a discount voucher to use at the event shop whereas this year that identical looking voucher was for online only. This and the noisy venue are miniscule complaints for a show which, compared to its local competition, is a bargain for what you get. If you are a whisky enthusiast within reach of London then this is an unmissable event and worth a sore Monday. For beginners we’d recommend checking out Welcome to Whisky or, our favourite of 2024, Croydon Whisky Festival. At these there’ll be a lower cost of entry, a wider variety of global whisky styles, and an environment better suited to education and learning than a room full of enthusiasts dashing about to try all the rare stuff. 

Whether or not The Whisky Event is our favourite of 2025 remains to be decided but it’s a strong contender. Later this year we’ll be covering the Whisky Events biggest competitor, The Whisky Exchange Festival, and seeing how London’s two premier shows compare.