America's Largest Whisky Celebration
Welcome to the WhiskyFest San Francisco updates page! We look forward to seeing you at the second annual WhiskyFest on Friday, October 10th where you'll have the opportunity to taste more whiskies and meet more whisky experts in attendance than any other whisky event in the country. It's a fantastic event for knowledgeable whisky enthusiasts and a priceless experience for those just getting into whisky.

Exhibitors
The interest from the whisky industry has been overwhelming. There will be more than 80 exhibiting companies/brands in the Yerba Buena Ballroom at the San Francisco Marriott (4th and Market). That's an incredible line-up of whiskies for you to try. For the list of what will be available for sampling, go to our Whisky List page. The detailed list of what will be poured at each table will be posted later this month.

Special Whisky Experts
In addition to the array of whiskies and other products, we expect numerous distillery managers, master blenders and other industry leaders to be in attendance at WhiskyFest. Check back in a few weeks and we'll let you know who will be there the night of the show.

Speakers
There will also be a wonderful variety of speakers who will be hosting whisky seminars adjacent to the ballroom during WhiskyFest. Click here to see who will be speaking.

A Truly Special Offering
In addition to an amazing list of whiskies being poured the night of WhiskyFest (click here for list), Malt Advocate magazine has teamed up with The Macallan, The Glenlivet, and Glenfarclas to offer attendees a once-in-a-lifetime taste of very rare whiskies for a small charitable donation. Whiskies at these three designated charity tables can be tasted for a small donation and 100% of the proceeds go to the Food Runners of San Francisco (foodrunners.org).
Buy your charity table ticket here.

First, current and past Master Distillers and Managing Directors of The Macallan Distillery will each create one unique bottle of Macallan. Current Master Distiller Bob Dalgarno, past Master Distillers Frank Newlands and Sandy Curle, along with former Managing Director Willie Phillips all will be participating. They will each use their talents to create one bottle of Macallan whisky to their liking and specification. Each will be bottle #1 of only 1, never to be reproduced or replicated ever again. As Ken Grier, Marketing Director for Macallan described, "This is like Led Zeppelin reforming for one concert. We have never done anything like this before."

Secondly, for everyone who simply can't afford to purchase a bottle of The Family Casks spanning 43 vintage from 1952 to 1994, Glenfarclas is donating one bottle from each decade to our charity table. WhiskyFest San Francisco attendees will be able to taste a wee dram a Glenfarclas whisky from one of five different decades and will include bottlings from 1955, 1968, 1974, 1989 and 1994. This is an extra special treat for those of us in the U.S. given that The Family Casks whiskies were never sold in the U.S.

And lastly, all of The Glenlivet Cellar Collection whiskies imported to the U.S. will be available in the charity section. The Glenlivet Cellar Collection whiskies are rare, old, extremely limited and quite expensive vintage releases carefully chosen from the Glenlivet warehouses. They are selected one vintage at a time. One is released every couple of years. All have been quite good. Some, like the 1959 vintage, have been absolutely amazing!

Five vintages have been released over the past decade: 1959, 1964, 1972, 1983, and the just-released 1969 Vintage. All will be at WhiskyFest San Francisco.

Whiskies at the charity tables are half ounce pours and can be purchased for one charity ticket (cost $20 donation) except the following: all Macallans, 1955 Glenfarclas, 1959 and 1964 Glenlivet which require two charity tickets ($40 donation).You can order your charity tickets here or at the Malt Advocate table during WhiskyFest.

Tickets
The cost for the event ticket is $110 all inclusive except charity whiskies mentioned above. This ticket provides access to the Main tasting ballroom and all seminars. You'll receive a commemorative Glencairn Scottish nosing glass as well as an informative event program. A gourmet buffet will be available all evening and there will be plenty of water, coffee and soda to quench your thirst.

Love tasting events but hate the crowds? Then consider ordering a VIP ticket to WhiskyFest. This ticket ($150) gets you into the Ballroom one hour before general admission giving you plenty of access to the distillery managers and master blenders. You'll also receive a canvas WhiskyFest tote bag when you check in at registration.

An even better deal? Are you a Malt Advocate Whisky Society member? If so, you receive a VIP ticket at the general admission price, a savings of $40! Want to learn more about becoming a Malt Advocate Whisky Society member?
Click here.