So 2013 is coming to an end so it’s time for the last post of 2013 and wrap it up and summarize all the good Whisky things happened in it.

On a personal level, 2013 was the year I started blogging. I’ve been blogging seriously for only 6 months but those were amazing 6 months – I’ve acquired online friends all over the world, swapped samples, tasted lots of whisky, visited Scotland and toured distilleries.

Even locally in Israel, it was a good year for Whisky. Thanks to the tax reform on alcohol which reduced Whisky prices to sane levels, more whisky brands arrives to Israel and the Whisky scene is rapidly evolving and growing with more people exposed to whisky.

It’s a custom to have some awards for 2013 and I didn’t want to be left out so here are mine, but I’m doing it a bit different 🙂

Best distillery twitter presence: Tomatin Distillery

Best IB twitter presence: Douglas Laing

Best whisky hashtag of the year: #whiskyfabric

Best whisky joke: How to cook a Turkey

Best peated whiskies: SMWS 127.37, Old Particular Port Ellen 31, Caol Ila 1984 27yo

best non-peated whiskies: Balblair 1975, Linkwood 1946

Worst whisky of the year: Secale Single organic malted rye 56% from Domaine des Hautes Glaces

Best trend of the year: New distilleries!

Worst trend of the year: A tie between: Expensive NAS whiskies and Rising whisky prices.

Best guess of next year best trend: Type your guesses in the comments section!

Best guess of next year worst trend:  Further sharp rise of whisky prices.

and now, bring on 2014!