It seems like subscription services are the new growth market in the last couple of years. There is a service now to suit just about every budget and interest. If you want a full size bottle once a month, a couple of sample sizes or just a single sample in a plastic pouch someone out there has a service just waiting for your cash.
Whisky-Me is one which I have just come across and meets the needs of the single sample in a plastic pouch brigade. Who knew this was an untapped market but with over 1000 members now at the time of writing it seems to be an idea which is kicking off.
For a monthly price of £7.95 or £7 if you pay for a year in advance (£84 if you can’t add up that quick) you get a 5cl sample posted out to you in the mail. 
Each sample is something which is fairly expensive in the shops so this Caol Ila Distiller’s Edition is £70 a bottle therefore a £7 sample is fair value I would say. The company also provide you online with information about the distillery and the sample which they have bottled for you. They also make a YouTube video of the distillery with heavy use of a drone camera. It doesn’t really work for me but might be interesting for a lot of the members especially if you have never visited one.
You can check out all the videos at YouTube and there website is at www.whisky-me.com
On the website the company have outlined a road map of how the service will grow as the idea takes off and more members join the service. The road map can be found at www.whisky-me.com/member-rewards and includes things like single cask samples from Strathern distillery, free glasses and larger pouches.
Speaking of the pouches, I do like them and I think they solve a number of problems. Firstly, glass breaks and screw tops leak. It is a constant problem with posting out samples to people that nothing will arrive at the other end. The pouches are much more secure and resilient to the postal service abuses. The other issue is getting anything delivered while also working a full time job to pay for stuff. If things don’t fit through your letterbox you have the constant trips to the sorting office or the risk something is stolen from your doorstep by opportunistic thieves which is never cool. Again, these little pouches fit through the letterbox and the problem is solved. Unless, you have a dog who rips it open but then I guess that is kind of your problem you want to have solved before now.
Malted 