South Africa’s first ever Twitter whisky tasting

The tasting used Twitter as a conversation platform.

The discussion, using the #WBOT (WhiskyBrother Online Tasting) was an enormous success, and saw high levels of positive, authentic engagement with online whisky pros and novices alike.

The #WBOT was planned and driven by Pendlebury, and involved ten Johannesburg-based participants. These Twitter users – including notable online personalities such as Kojo Baffoe, Amanda Sevasti and Mark Hughes – each hold varying degrees of both whisky knowledge and online influence.

“The activity was entirely brand-independent, which is also unusual for online tastings of this nature that are normally sponsored by a particular label or distillery,” explained Pendlebury.

“The three different whiskies selected for the tasting, as well as the fourth ‘mystery dram’, were chosen based on their merits and interesting features as opposed to promoting a particular brand.” The purpose was to encourage unbiased, engaging and interesting conversations and reviews, rather than used as part of a marketing strategy.

On the effectiveness of holding a tasting in a format like this, Pendlebury remarks that there are certainly more advantages to using Twitter as a communication tool. “When you hold a traditional tasting in person, only the people in the room have access to the whiskies and the discussion,” he says.

Each of the ten chosen participants received a tasting pack – hand-crafted by Pendlebury himself – containing the chosen whiskies in 50ml numbered samples, as well as an introduction letter and brief step-by-step for the tasting itself.

Details: follow @WhiskyBroShop on Twitter, Whiskybrother.com