We’re back at London’s youngest festival for the second outing of Club Oenologique’s dive into whisky events. After giving a mixed review due to what we hoped were first year teething issues we came back with an open mind and plenty of hope that this little show could rise to the top of the city’s festival scene. Our hopes aren’t dashed yet, but they’re not any higher than before.

We’re back in the gorgeous Christ Church Spitalfields for the second outing of The World Whisky Experience. We cannot get enough of how delightful this venue is for a festival. Cool, airy and spacious. There’s been a lot of thought put into the restoration of this church over the decades to make it work as a physical space for events, religious or otherwise, whilst retaining it’s Georgian history. Perhaps the only downside is the soft warm lighting makes taking pictures on a phone camera a challenge! Upstairs you have four rows of tables bookended by water stations, wide avenues for chatting, and plenty of spittoons too. Downstairs is a masterclass room, lounge area, food, pop up shop and a Scottish Malt Whisky Society stand full of interesting pours.

There’s a lot going on at this two day show and at the door you’re handed a well put together show guide to help you navigate it, as well as a food token and cocktail token. Between the 28 exhibitors and two IWSC entrants tables there’s more than enough here for you to see in a day if you’re a fan of whisky and open to trying new things.

The whisky selection differs from last year. Gone is the bourbon table in lieu of an Irish whisky selection. It’s a good idea to cycle this specialism but as a result this show went from being a bourbon dream to a bourbon desert with only one or two bottles floating about. The ‘world’ portion is strong, with more countries represented than last year. 10+ on the exhibitor stands and a half-dozen more on the IWSC awards stand. The IWSC Irish and World Whisky stands remain one of the show’s big USPs, bringing together interesting whiskies from around the world on top of the exhibitor list. It’s less expansive than Whisky Live but a better show in every other regard.

The only issue one could take with the selection is the arrival of more premium bottlings and the increased market share of Scotch with over half the stands being Scottish products. This is what you’d expect at a regular whisky festival and not one geared towards a global scene. Ultimately, the exhibitors are the customer before any members of the public are, and events cannot control who wants to come. Was this new Scotch product good? Yes! With six independent bottlers on show there was plenty to choose from and some premium bottles freely pouring which we always love to see. The Scottish Malt Whisky Society brought an interesting and large range of bottlings with the most successful attempt at ‘something for everyone’ we’ve seen in a long time.

The rise of new independent bottlers recently has not been without controversy and mixed in with old faces are new players trying to raise awareness of their brand, often by offering samples of expensive whiskies. Some of these bottlers may also be cask traders looking to sell full casks to private individuals. Our view is that so long as no cask sales pitch is given (none were at this show) then we’ve no issue with these bottlers at shows in principal. When you’re just buying a bottle at retail there’s no clear line to draw on who is legitimate and who isn’t – barring any investigations for criminal misconduct. However, consumers should still judge the liquid, branding activities, and pricing of independent bottlers.

Small distilleries made a strong showing too. We loved trying the single malts from Ikawa Distillery in the Japanese Alps as well as Black Fox’s experimental Canadian whiskies which I’m already a huge fan of. However, the showstopper for me was Seven Hills Whisky from Hungary who use dried Tokaji grape must to smoke their whiskey. This creates a richly smoked whisky with vanilla and cereals from the malted barley going up against a cognac-y finish. Would everyone enjoy this? Probably not, but it’s exactly the kind of product that this show is built for.

Was there anything wrong with the show? On the surface there’s a couple of quibbles. The water bottles ran out towards the end and were replaced with jugs that also ran out before last pours. Also the food from last year, a full meal, was replaced by a snack. No issue with that in principle as there’s an established food market across the road, but the show’s pricing was on par with last year so no major saving has been passed onto the consumer.

The pricing of this show was its Achilles heel last year and we’re afraid to say that it still is. We always disclose when we receive a free ticket and that matters doubly here because of our history with the pricing. Last year when no one knew who All But Drams was we paid upfront for our tickets at Early Bird pricing only to then be served adverts for 50% off “Flash Sales” that never seemed to end. We eventually got the difference refunded only after arguing and calling this out on Instagram.

So what happened this year? A friend and regular All But Drams participant who attended with me last year received a 50% off discount offer in his inbox the week before. This discount took a standard ticket down to £31 which is a huge discount over the Early Bird offer of £50. Offering widespread discounts lower than your early bird pricing is totally legal, it’s just not a good look, and not something other festivals resort to.

The matter gets hazier as a 100% discount code was leaked (intentionally or not) to whisky groups on Friday morning before the show and not killed off or enforced – I checked it myself when I saw the leak and on the Saturday too.  We’re not investigative journalists here, and we’ll likely never know what happened behind the scenes, but any festival where the price gets lower the closer to the show you buy is one we’ll hiss at. 

We are lucky enough to have a following that means we get access to tickets for free. However, we are whisky fans first and foremost and we always give our independent and honest thoughts on a festival, even if it means we don’t ever get invited back. Often we pay our own way instead, especially for the festivals we know are good and want to support as whisky lovers. Our Festival of the Year 2024 and this year’s (soon to be revealed) are shows where we paid our own money to attend.

This messy pricing can be distilled down into a recommendation. We really enjoy The World Whisky Experience and recommend it to curious drinkers. However, there’s one simple caveat: Don’t bother rushing to buy a ticket. Mark your calendar a week before whatever date is set for 2026 and see what offers are out there when it rolls around. £50 is an okay price for what’s on offer, £31 is a bargain! These numbers themselves aren’t the problem, just how they are put out there. No other London show needs such opacity to sell tickets and it remains the sole sore spot of an otherwise delightful evening of whisky.

[All But Drams received one free press VIP ticket for The World Whisky Experience].