Our competitions
Our motivation is three-fold:
1) Provide whisky & rum enthusiasts with an affordable alternative to the secondary market.
The market for fine spirits is growing at unprecedent rates. Changing consumer preferences, better distribution channels, larger core ranges, greater disposable incomes and lifestyle aspirations of drinkers in east Asia, are amongst others, just some of the contributing factors. What this inevitably means for faithful fans & collectors alike though, is that it is getting harder & harder to get your hands on that prized bottle. With highly anticipated releases selling out literally minutes after going on sale, the only way to obtain certain bottles is via the secondary market and auction houses, the hunting grounds of predatory flippers. Many consumers and fans will either find themselves priced out of accessing many fine releases or will need to pay dearly to secure them. Our competitions provide fans with an alternate route to accessing their favorite releases without breaking the bank.
2) Educate consumers on the nuances of ascribing ‘value’ to fine whisky and rum.
There is a growing interest in high quality spirits as a viable alternative investment. A lot of the optimism, however, is either misplaced or based on faulty assumptions. For example, newcomers to the world of whisky and rum often believe that buying any nice looking bottle with an age statement and locking it away at the back of a cupboard will see its value appreciate in a few years time. Nothing can be further away from the truth. In fact, the risk of depreciation is far higher for the large majority of releases. Not all releases are alike – some are meant to be opened, while others have specifically been marketed to the investor class. We aim to feature both types of prizes in our competitions, but we will not mislead you on their investment potential. We will clearly identify those characteristics (if any) which may make a prize collector and/or auction worthy. We want to help consumers make informed choices. .
3) Make our collective disposable incomes go a bit further by running charity competitions
We realise that participating in our competitions is somewhat of a privilege. That’s why we want to do our part by running charity competitions as often as we can. 100% of proceeds from our charity competitions shall be donated to the chosen charity or campaign. Our first charity campaign raised £400 for emergency Covid relief aid to India organised by Khalsa Aid. We welcome the opportunity to work with charities and crowdfunding campaigns in the future. Please do get in touch if you would like to partner on a future charity competition.
The main prize(s) in our competitions will always have one or more of the following features:
- Limited Edition whisky/rum
- Single Cask whisky/rum
- Whisky/Rum which is no longer available to purchase at release price
- Investment grade whisky/rum
- Annual releases with a reputation for significant batch variation
Many of our paid competitions will also feature bonus runners-up prizes. Whilst it may not be possible to always provide bonus prizes with the above attributes, we will always endeavour to offer something special to cheer you up.
Obviously, this would not apply to the prizes in our Free Giveaways, as the purpose of these is to help people develop their palates and to discover releases which they would not necessarily think to purchase in the shops. In other words, we expect our free giveaways to be opened and consumed !
We are a limited company registered with Companies House (SC688685) and not a pop-up operation looking to take off with your money.
Our prize draws will be broadcasted live on our social media channels and not in some secretive manner. The date and time of prize draws will be communicated in advance so that everyone is able to attend, if they can. In most cases, the prizes too will make an appearance on camera, however sometimes bottles will be in secure storage with our retail partners and not physically in our presence. In such cases, prizes will be shipped directly to the winner(s) rather than making a detour through our office.
To participate in either our free giveaways or paid competitions, you must be resident in the UK (excluding Northern Ireland) and you must be over 18 years old. Your entry will be disqualified and you will not be provided a refund if you fail to meet these criteria.
We run prize competitions. The UK Gambling Commission stipulates that prize competitions must depend on the exercise of skill, knowledge, or judgment by the participant. Although they may seem similar, our competitions are not raffles or lotteries, because you must show a level of skill in order to take part. That skill is demonstrated by answering the question(s) attached to each competition.
Please note – if you enter and get the answer wrong, you will be charged but your entry will not be included in the draw. There can be absolutely no exceptions to this rule.
Each competition will have a closing date as stated on the website. However tickets may sell out prior to the closing date.
Draw dates will also be specified on the website. The draw date may be different from the competitions closing date.
The closing date of each competition is fixed and will take place regardless of the absolute number of tickets sold for each competition. Somebody will always win each prize on the stated draw date
We select winner(s) using an independent service such as the Google Random Number Generator or Random.org . These services are unaffiliated with us and we have no control over the winning number(s) drawn. Winning numbers will be checked against the competition entry list.
The prize draw will take place on the date stated in each competition details. The draw itself will be available to view on social media channels via a live stream. Winners will then be contacted and a record of the winner of each prize placed on the website.
There is no limit to the number of competitions you may participate in, and you may win a prize in each competition. However, you cannot win multiple prizes in any single competition (e.g. bonus runners-up prize). In order to not disadvantage participants with multiple entries, the main prize of a competition shall always be drawn first.
We may amend this rule for specific competitions, for example, when multiple prizes are part of a collectible set.
We work with a range of trusted retailers and stockists to procure prizes for our competitions. Our partners are part of secure supply chains which are unlikely to have been compromised.
Due to the focus of our business on collectible and rare releases, we may on occasion purchase bottles from auctions or private sellers. If so, this will be clearly indicated in the details of the competition. Bottles will be inspected in advance for any defects or signs of tampering.
Absolutely! We would love to know what distilleries or collections you are interested in. Feel free to drop us an email with your ‘wishlist’ anytime. Alternatively, post on our Facebook or instagram pages.
In due course, we are hoping our subscriber list grows to a sufficient size that we can send out periodic requests to crowdsource which prizes to feature in our competitions.
Tickets
The maximum number of tickets for each competition are displayed in the draw details. This maximum number is fixed and will not change.
We will always aim to keep the draw sizes as small as is financially feasible. It is not our intention to run very large competitions of several hundred tickets.
To encourage responsible behaviour and ensure fairness, there is a maximum number of tickets which can be purchased by any participant for each competition. Unless stated otherwise, purchases are restricted to 20% of the total available tickets for any competition. The exact number will be specified on the order page.
Please be aware that any entries in excess of the maximum allowed (i.e. purchased through multiple transactions) will be disqualified and payment shall not be refunded.
Both the maximum number of tickets for sale, and the total of tickets sold so far, are displayed in the draw details.
Once the payment process has been completed you will receive an email containing your ticket details.
Participants will be sent an entry list in advance of the draw. The entry list will only contain the participants chosen name (this can be a nickname) and their entry number(s).
Please note that entry lists for our free giveaways will only be supplied upon request.
You can view your tickets and transactions in the My Account section of the website.
Unfortunately not, the purchase of a ticket is final and cannot be either amended or withdrawn.
Please use the forgot my password feature on our website
Prize mechanics
Winners will be contacted using the email address and mobile number associated with the winning ticket. The quickest way to find out if you have won is to join us during the live draw. Please also check back on the website after each prize draw where the winner will be featured.
No, your ticket price includes the cost of delivery if you win. Note that we can only deliver to a UK address. Please inform us if you are unable to take delivery of your prize straight away (e.g. if you are away on holiday)
We aim to only provide the prize as advertised in our competitions with no cash alternative. In the unlikely circumstance that the prize is no longer available, we may offer you either cash or a voucher as a replacement for a prize. This is entirely at our discretion.
To ensure transparency and compliance, we require you to supply us with a photo of yourself with your prize to go onto the winners page of our website. That’s all we need from you.
We will contact all winners using the email and mobile number provided during ticket purchase, so please ensure these are accurate provided to us. If we are unable to reach you within 21 days we reserve the right to award that Prize as a bonus in a different competition. The prize may not be claimed by a third party on your behalf.
Payment
The cost of each ticket is clearly stated by each competition and won’t change during the sale period.
We use secure, encrypted connections across our website and do not hold your card details on our servers.
You may enter our free giveaways through the website. You may also enter our competitions without purchasing a ticket by following the free entry route procedure outlined in our terms & conditions.