Flaviar Review – New Way to Discover Spirits

Cigar monthly clubs and beer monthly clubs have been there for ages. I’ve looked at some of those clubs in the past only to find a second-choice selection of smokes for a regular retail price (at best). But it seems like the subscription boxes trend revived the monthly clubs and brought them at the next level. Flaviar is one of the new actors in this field

Flaviar’s monthly tasting box contains three curated spirits (whisky, rum, gin, cognac…). The drinks are nicely presented and accompanied by tasting notes. Update: each tasting sample is 45ml, so there are 135ml total in the box. I found that one sample was enough to do two decent tasting shots (or three small tasting shots). Enjoyed one or several of the spirits? They are available by bottle in the shop (some items might require registration to see). I have already used a similar concept for wine and it went well – of course, everything depends on the selection. As you can see from the picture below, I did receive a box (disclaimer: free of charge) with 5 whisky samples from Flaviar. In fact I really liked all of them except perhaps the Amrut Indian whisky which was somewhat rough. The peaty Swiss Santis is very interesting, while Nikka and Glenmorangie are well-known brands that do not require a special introduction. If all their boxes are equally good, this might be a very good way to discover new stuff. I can also see it working really good as a gift.

Flaviar also developed an alternative to tasting notes called Flavour Spiral, which is a more visual way to discover a particular spirit’s flavor description. Too innovative? Time will tell.