Whisky Clubs - The Red Tape

[Exciseman]

Finally, I just might have found a licensed venue in which to hold "whisky club" tastings. Sourcing decent malts will be no problem. Plus, I might even be able to entice the odd "whisky celebrity" to host an event (you know who you are guys).

I'm guessing that it will start small - conceptually not that different from an office milk club. I'll simply aim to collect enough from attendees (who'll doubtless vary from month to month) to cover the cost of the whisky and some crackers/bottled water.

Does anyone run such an 'informal' club along these lines. If yes, is there any 'red tape' that I should be aware of? The last thing that I want is to get embroiled in constitutions, AGMs, accounts, etc.

[2eriskay]

Hi Exciseman,

In reply to your request, I've been a member of the Glasgows Whisky Club for a number of years, which ran very well on an Informal Basis. However, and there is always a however, as the club grew members started to raise their voices and now last year we had to have Elections for Chairperson/Committee etc.. This year we will be having an AGM with full Rules and a Constitution which only leads to more work for the small band of volunteers. The COMPLAINERS who insisted on the changes, never stick their heads above the parapit to help.

If you want my suggestion, keep the group to a very small number, who only want to sit around and share cracking drams in good RELAXED company!!

[Stewart C]

Hi Exciseman,

I currently run a whisky club in Armadale, West Lothian. I am quite friendly with a landlord of one of the pubs here and he was wanting to expand on the choice of whisky available in the bar, we decided to host a whisky tasting evening to see if there was any call for a club in the area.

The first tasting night 4 people showed up, and 2 of these were myself and the landlord and 1 of our friends. The next month we got 7 people to show up, due to more advertising in the bar. We have had 5 meetings now and at our last meeting we had 15 people show up.

We either host it in the function room if free or in an area of the bar, we don't have a constitution or elected members as we don't really think we need it at the moment, the people show up, pay £10 and get 5 or 6 drams for their troubles. Any money left over i place into an envelope and use to help buy more expensive bottles for the next meeting. We are hoping to avoid a situation with AGM's and constitutions and are trying to keep it informal as much as possible, though you never know what the future holds.

[ABZ12]

Hi Exciseman,

I run a wee whisky club in Aberdeen. We started with 8 regulars, but recently decided to expand the group to 12, as we wanted to get 8-10 every meeting, mainly so the income was maintained and we could get 3 decent bottles. The Club pays for Glencairn glasses (which are essential for portion control, in our experience) & the whisky. The fees are kept in a jamjar, and we have a wee bookie for income / outgoings. That's about it!

We haven't found a pub yet, so it is held in member's houses, rotating each meeting. Ostensibly, the Club should decide what we go for every meeting, but invariably it comes down to two of us to decide what to buy, where & when the next meet is. That certainly isn't too much hassle.

We are nowhere near as big as the Glasgow whisky club, and I must admit I am envious to their success and modernity; website and everything! However, to prevent descent into a free-for-all from the start, I do insist that we mark the 3 whiskies bought (and the host's wildcard). I take on the minutes / scores from the meetings; that can be a bit onerous, and there isn't too much evidence of the rest of them reading them, but it is a useful reference later on.

I'm also in a share club, where such things like rules, constitutions, etc... are definitely required due to values involved, but for our whisky endeavour, there is no real danger of being short-changed. The host brings out his collection for sampling, and is left the 3 purchased whiskies in return. And the costs are relatively low (£15 / meeting for what turns out to be all the whisky you can take on a school night), so not really worth it.

We did go for a philosophy - the Club aims to provide the means for Members to appreciate a greater range of whisky collectively than on an individual basis, and a motto - A Dram, No Drama (which kind of echoes the Glasgow ideal of relaxed company).

Hope it all works out for you!

alan