Six months of Dramface
Thanks to you, we’ve covered a lot
Six months in, eh?
How was it for you? Has your Dramface time flown, or does it seem a little like we've been around forever?
We've made it to our first meaningful milestone. Half a trip around the sun. Dramface was conceived and built in the dark days of winter and we've made it to the warmth of summer (unless you're in Wellington, in which case reverse that. Like you have to reverse a lot of what you read, I imagine).
There's no celebration. Just business as usual. But we'd like to share some achievements. Not to show off, but to celebrate with you. So when we say thank you, you can see what for. We have a way of thinking here which is about doing the best we can, quality over quantity, and listening to the community.
A word from Wally
So, from all 24 members of the team, a sincere and heartfelt thank you!
— your ham-fisted Editor,
Wally Macaulay
Our focus —as it turns out
We don’t really have a strategy when it comes to content. Leaving the review selection to the writing team inevitably brings a lovely mix, and every week turns up a surprise or two.
And yet, the numbers betray us. Despite being open to anything, we do love our Scotch.
Most Read Review
Our Wally has topped the list with his review of Clynelish 14 year old. We asked him about it.
DF: The Clynelish 14 review tops the view charts. Why do you think it has done so well ?
WMc: It was the first one.
DF: Would you still rate it the same way you did six months ago?
WMc: You’ve not read the article, have you?
Most popular news story
Ardnamurchan shared the news of their new AD/02.22 Cask Strength release through Dramface exclusively.
You lapped it up. We reviewed it. More please.
Exclusives? Yes, but we’d prefer a lot more great, honest whiskies like this.
The future’s bright.
Bottlings reviewed.
It’s nice when we review popular core releases and widely available bottles. It certainly helps bump the numbers (that we don’t chase).
However, we believe it’s worth reviewing everything, even small outturns and single casks. Why? Because every Dramface write up is more than just a review. It’s a about the backstory, the insight, the details and the context.
Sometimes it’s simply just about vicariously enjoying whisky.
Random but interesting…
And the most common ABV reviewed?
Yep… 46%!
Most Reviewed Distilleries
Benromach
Springbank
Caol Ila
Age statements
The majority of our reviews focus on 10yo to 16yo, but there are a lot of NAS reviews in the mix. What with new distilleries, blended malts and ‘special releases’, it looks like non-age-stated whiskies are here to stay.
220
WHISKIES REVIEWED
350k
VIEWS
20
WRITERS
Our spread of scores so far
We predicted 6/10 would be our most frequent score: so far, we’ve been proved wrong.
Is whisky getting better? Are we being too kind?
Neither. It’s simply the way it’s shaped up.
3
9/10
20
8/10
72
7/10
67
6/10
32
5/10
16
4/10
5
3/10
2
2/10
We’ve yet to award a 10, boo.
But the good news is, we’ve yet to ‘award’ a 1!
The truth about GlenDronach.
The truth about GlenDronach.
Our most read feature, by a margin, was Hamish’s piece on the chill-filtering practices at GlenDronach.
We think there’s more to explore there. Did you catch it?
13 Podcasts Aired
Gregor has welcomed many worthy voices over the first season of our podcast. It seems it’s being very well enjoyed, much to the surprise of everyone. Including Gregor.
We’re looking forward to bringing you more in Season 2.
Dramface is free, because it's funded by a few.
Dramface is free, because it's funded by a few.
It’s not a common concept, but it makes sense and it works. We don’t share ads. We don’t have sponsors, and we don’t do paid-for reviews.
We write about the whisky we own and buy ourselves. We only ask for support after giving something first. Six months of independent and honest opinion is a pretty good start, don’t you think?
If you’d like to support what we are achieving…
Thank you from Team Dramface.
“We’re not experts, but neither are we impostors. We are enthusiasts. We think that’s where the appeal lies. Besides, if we don’t step up to do this thing, who will?” - Wally
We’ll continue to don our Dramfaces and bring you the best we can. Whisky demands it.