The Whisky List acquires The Whisky Show

The Whisky List, Australia’s largest online whisky retailer, has acquired leading whisky event company The Whisky Show, a strategic acquisition that will help it to connect with its consumer base on a more intimate level. The move comes at a time of growing demand for premium in-person whisky experiences. 

“The Whisky List is thrilled to welcome David and The Whisky Show to our growing family of brands and experiences,” said Oliver Maruda, Co-Founder of The Whisky List. 

“The Whisky List is now one of Australia’s fastest growing whisky companies. The direct-to-consumer online store boasts a growing distribution portfolio of local and international whisky brands and is now complemented by a premium in-person festival experience with the addition of The Whisky Show.”

Since its 2012 inception, The Whisky Show has quickly crescendoed to become Australia’s premier whisky festival. 

“We’re immensely proud of what The Whisky Show brand has accomplished,” said Co-Founder David Ligoff. 

“For over a decade over 55,000 Australians have discovered new whiskies and made new friends at our festivals.” 

For 2024, The Whisky Show is scheduled to host nine events across the nation. This will include various niche festivals such as the cult-favourite Feis Ile - The Islay Festival, now returning to Melbourne for the third time, and The American Whiskey Show, the largest American whiskey festival held on our shores. 

The Whisky List has been partners with The Whisky Show for the past several years, during which it has assisted in areas such as developing the Show App, rolling out online events during lockdown, and operating pop-up bottle shops at each show. 

“The TWL team has been a valuable partner for the last few years, helping us pivot quickly and stay connected by launching the first global virtual whisky festivals during lockdowns, as well as creating the world’s first whisky festival app which captures and shares real-time data on each SKU’s performance to our exhibiting brands,” said David.

“Through partnering on innovations such as these, we realised our united capabilities significantly enhanced the overall Show experience for both consumers and trade. I’m personally looking forward to the next decade of Whisky Shows in Australia with our continued single-minded purpose of providing Australian whisky lovers with their favourite whisky festival.”

Despite the new ownership, The Whisky Show Australia will continue to operate as a standalone brand. As part of the deal, David Ligoff will join The Whisky List full time as its Director of Experiences & Events.

“David has over 20 years of experience working in the liquor industry, with diverse experience including launching Australia’s first dedicated whisky retailer, World of Whisky, and running dozens of festivals and thousands of whisky tastings” said Oliver Maruda. 

Since its establishment in 2018 as an online whisky search engine, The Whisky List has fast become Australia’s largest online whisky retailer and is considered an influential force in the Australian whisky industry. 

“Whilst the last couple of years has been a time of innovation and optimisation for The Whisky List, we’ve updated our operating model to better service our growing customer needs to be in line with what global leaders in whisky retail, such as UK-based The Whisky Exchange, have transitioned towards,” said Oliver.

"The Whisky List is now one of Australia’s fastest growing whisky companies."

All the details concerning the 2024 Whisky Show Season can be found here.