We’re kicking off 2025 with a reliable CUWAS favourite – our Crazy Cask tasting! Albeit, in a different venue, and at a different time for this first tasting of term – please note the address and time change.

The kind of cask a whisky ages or matures in can have a huge influence on its final flavour profile. In this tasting, we’ll introduce you to some of the more unusual and exciting options on the market. A whisky finished in a mezcal cask? Could be. Cherry wood? Yes please!

Basically, anything goes as long as it’s not sherry or bourbon. This is always one of the most interesting tastings of the year, so we hope you can join us to broaden your whisky horizons!

Date: Friday 31st January 2025
Time: 7.30pm – 10:30pm
Venue: Studio (upstairs), NCI Centre, 1 Holland Street, CB4 3DL.
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Important Information
Refund requests must be made more than 48 hours in advance of the tasting to be guaranteed. Any requests made with less notice will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Buying your ticket early helps us plan for the right numbers and reduces the chance of us having to cancel. If we have to cancel or reduce the scale of an event, due to ticket-sale forecasting, we may have to refund some or all tickets.

 As everyone knows, Christmas comes early in Cambridge thanks to the semi-official celebration of ‘Bridgemas’ on November 25th. In recent years we at CUWAS have marked this occasion with our own ‘Bridgemas’ tasting, and this year we are expanding to include the less official and slightly made-up ‘Camsgiving’. Expect whisky (and whiskey) with some traditional festive flavours like chocolate, orange, and baking spices, and also some themed nibbles so we can all try our hands at food pairings. Just don’t get your hopes up for a turkey dinner!

Date: Friday 22nd November 2024
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Venue: Main Hall, St Andrews Hall, St Andrews Road, CB4 1DH.
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Important Information
Refund requests must be made more than 48 hours in advance of the tasting to be guaranteed. Any requests made with less notice will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Buying your ticket early helps us plan for the right numbers and reduces the chance of us having to cancel. If we have to cancel or reduce the scale of an event, due to ticket-sale forecasting, we may have to refund some or all tickets.

There is a fair amount of food on his Instagram, and he does have a second just for the coffee he’s drunk, but what Billy Abbott really knows about is whisky. He started blogging in 2009 and 2 years later he left his computer programming job behind to start work full-time at The Whisky Exchange where he shares his love of whisky in words, reviews and presentations. Outside of that, he’s an author, event host, awards judge, and his alcohol interests extend around the world and beyond whisky.

He has presented tastings for us before and always brings a fantastic selection of whiskies, rivalled only by the anecdotes and insider tales he can share. This time the brief we have given him is ‘International’, and he’s sure to bring along a line-up of excellent whiskies – including some bottles that are exclusive to The Whisky Exchange.

Date: Friday 8th November 2024
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Venue: Main Hall, St Andrews Hall, St Andrews Road, CB4 1DH.
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Important Information
Refund requests must be made more than 48 hours in advance of the tasting to be guaranteed. Any requests made with less notice will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Buying your ticket early helps us plan for the right numbers and reduces the chance of us having to cancel. If we have to cancel or reduce the scale of an event, due to ticket-sale forecasting, we may have to refund some or all tickets.

In what is fast becoming a CUWAS tradition, we begin Michaelmas Term with two tours of Scotland, tasting two bottles from each of the country’s (main) whisky regions to showcase just how much variety exists in the modern whisky market. To get the full experience, we highly recommend you attend both tastings so you can try the full spectrum of Scotch whisky! 

For this second tasting, we will be sampling a lineup of six excellent whiskies from the Speyside, Campbeltown, and Island regions.

Date: Friday 25th October 2024
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Venue: Main Hall, St Andrews Hall, St Andrews Road, CB4 1DH.
(open Google maps in new tab)

Important Information
Refund requests must be made more than 48 hours in advance of the tasting to be guaranteed. Any requests made with less notice will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Buying your ticket early helps us plan for the right numbers and reduces the chance of us having to cancel. If we have to cancel or reduce the scale of an event, due to ticket-sale forecasting, we may have to refund some or all tickets.

In what is fast becoming a CUWAS tradition, we begin Michaelmas Term with two tours of Scotland, tasting two bottles from each of the country’s (main) whisky regions to showcase just how much variety exists in the modern whisky market. To get the full experience, we highly recommend you attend both tastings so you can try the full spectrum of Scotch whisky!

In this first tasting, we aim to get the year off to a flying start by ‘visiting’ the Highlands, Lowlands, and Islay.

Date: Friday 11th October 2024
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Venue: Main Hall, St Andrews Hall, St Andrews Road, CB4 1DH.
(open Google maps in new tab)

Important Information
Refund requests must be made more than 48 hours in advance of the tasting to be guaranteed. Any requests made with less notice will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Buying your ticket early helps us plan for the right numbers and reduces the chance of us having to cancel. If we have to cancel or reduce the scale of an event, due to ticket-sale forecasting, we may have to refund some or all tickets.

September means the start of autumn, the end of one academic year and the beginning of a new one… and this year, a CUWAS presidential debate (of sorts)!

In a first for the society, the final summer tasting at the end of our 10th year will feature a (whisky) battle of the outgoing president and incoming president. Will you prefer the whisky picks of Zoë, who favours fruity, sweeter variations? Or those of Dan, who tends towards the hefty, more unusual incarnations of the spirit?

Join us to witness the debate, in whisky form, as the two presidents go head-to-head across three categories to round out one year and welcome the next!

Date: Friday 13th September 2024
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Venue: Main Hall, St Andrews Hall, St Andrews Road, CB4 1DH

Important Information
Refund requests must be made more than 48 hours in advance of the tasting to be guaranteed. Any requests made with less notice will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Buying your ticket early helps us plan for the right numbers and reduces the chance of us having to cancel. If we have to cancel or reduce the scale of an event, due to ticket-sale forecasting, we may have to refund some or all tickets.

Every year the UN publishes its ‘World Happiness Report’, and Scandinavian countries (or the Nordic countries to be more exact) consistently come in the top 10. Why might this be? Easy access to smoked fish? High levels of social welfare? Hygge? Or maybe it’s the plethora of excellent and exciting whisky distilleries that have popped up over the past few decades?

We at CUWAS are pretty sure it’s the fourth option! Expect a wide range of delicious whiskies from Nordic climes at this special summer tasting as we aim to bring a little bit of this Scandinavian happiness to Cambridge.

Date: Friday 30th August 2024
Time: 8pm – 11pm
Venue: Main Hall, St Andrews Hall, St Andrews Road, CB4 1DH

Important Information
Refund requests must be made more than 48 hours in advance of the tasting to be guaranteed. Any requests made with less notice will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Buying your ticket early helps us plan for the right numbers and reduces the chance of us having to cancel. If we have to cancel or reduce the scale of an event, due to ticket-sale forecasting, we may have to refund some or all tickets.