Australia’s largest online whisky retailer, The Whisky List, has announced the acquisition of leading whisky event company The Whisky Show.

The Whiskey Show welcomes more than 6000 Australians each year to sample hundreds of whiskies at its festivals across the country.

Founded by David Ligoff and Larry Aronson in 2012, The Whisky Show is a favourite for local and international exhibiting distillers, brands and attendees.

Prior to the inception of the first The Whisky Show, Ligoff and Aronson worked together co-founding Australia’s first whisky specialist retail store, World of Whisky. The Show has travelled to all parts of Australia, serving tens of thousands of whisky samples to over 55,000 whisky drinkers in the last decade.

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

“We’ve been working in close partnership with The Whisky Show for several years now, initially with the development of The Whisky Show App, facilitating the rollout of virtual shows and events during COVID-19 lockdowns, and assisting the running of their pop-up bottle shop at each Show.

“It was a natural fit for us to unite forces in this next phase of both of our company’s growth.”

The Whisky Show Australia will continue as a standalone brand. The deal includes The Whisky Show’s co-founder David Ligoff joining The Whisky List full time in the newly formed leadership role as Director 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 Maruda.

Maruda said the The Whisky List’s strategic acquisition of The Whisky Show aligned with the company’s consumer-centric approach of catering to evolving consumer expectations, as well as capitalising on the robust growth of the liquor
sector in e-commerce, and increasing demand for premium in-person whisky experiences.

“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,” he added.

“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.”

Ligoff said: “We’re immensely proud of what The Whisky Show brand has accomplished. For over a decade over 55,000 Australians have discovered new whiskies and made new friends at our festivals.

“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.

“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.”

Larry Aronson, who joined The Whisky List in 2021 to lead its import and distribution division, said he was excited to
once again work with Ligoff.

“David and I had an absolute blast together in the past, introducing new whisky brands into the Australian market. Having The Whisky Show join with The Whisky List feels like family reuniting, whilst enhancing our ability to build brands and maximise value to our customers and exhibitors.”

Big year ahead for The Whisky Show

The Whisky Show runs its popular whisky festivals in capital cities across Australia. In 2022 and 2023 it introduced a series of niche whisky festivals.

Returning for its third year is the cult-favourite Feis Ile – The Islay Festival will be held on June 1st 2024, which will see favourite Scottish distilleries from Islay return to Melbourne to replicate the world’s most popular whisky festival down under.

Held in partnership with the Feis Ile committee, the Melbourne event is the only official sister festival held at the same time for those who cannot make the annual pilgrimage to Islay, Scotland.

Another niche festival is The American Whiskey Show, which is the largest whiskey festival in Australia dedicated to Bourbon, Rye, American Single Malt and Canadian Whiskeys.

The USA Show will be returning to Sydney for its third year running and will be hosted in Melbourne for the first time this year.

The Whisky Show events will also be held in Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Perth and Brisbane.