Explore & Enjoy Irish Whiskey with Rubrik
Take advantage of a year's membership to the Stories & Sips Whiskey Club from your friends at Rubrik.
We believe that Irish whiskey brings people together and when that happens stories are told, sips are shared and friendships are made. The Stories & Sips Whiskey Club exists to bring people together from across the United States with a shared love of Ireland and Irish whiskey via great whiskey experiences, unique whiskey releases and remarkable cask programs.
How it works
Stories & Sips Whiskey Club is a membership-based club consisting of educational content, entry to online tasting events, meet-the-makers events, in-person events and the chance to purchase exclusive club bottlings, shares in cask programs and whiskey tasting and sampler kits. Rubrik is offering you the chance to take advantage of a 12-month membership (no future obligation to renew membership). It's simply a thank you for being a great partner to Rubrik.
As a member, you are under no obligation to purchase bottlings, cask shares or tasting kits, but of course we think it's more fun if you do! You will still be able to participate in all our virtual events and learn directly from the people who make your favorite Irish whiskey.
Upcoming Club Events
More events being added weekly. keep checking back.
Exclusive Club Bottlings
Members have the opportunity to purchase unique, exclusive bottlings of Irish whiskey multiple times a year. These won’t be available anywhere else and true to everything we’ll do, each club bottling will involve experiences for members at every step along the way.
Through associated distillery and brand events, we'll go behind the scenes of every bottling to get closer to the process, the people and the places associated with each unique release.
Club Cask Programs
As a club member you have the opportunity to participate in club cask programs multiple times a year. We'll purchase casks from interesting distilleries in Ireland and maybe even a few with deep Irish connections elsewhere that you as members can buy shares of.
Maybe you just want one or two bottles at the end of a cask’s maturation period or maybe you want a few more than that. Either way you’ll get to be part of experiences throughout the cask’s maturation whether that’s the ability to visit the distillery, take a tour and see the cask, take part in online events during its maturation or hear from the distiller who’ll share its progress.
Each group cask opportunity will bring different experiences and opportunities for members to come together for a bit of craic.
Quarterly Tasting Events
Each quarter you will have the option to secure a tasting pack of three unique Irish whiskeys (3 x 50ml samples) that will be shipped straight to your door in time for an exclusive tasting event with the maker of the whiskeys. All you pay is the shipping! Your Tasting Pack may include whiskeys from different distilleries or they may be different expressions from the same company – we’ll work with distilleries to source exclusive samples as well as those already in the market so you have a chance to try new whiskeys before investing in a full bottle.
Meet The Makers
Each month as a member you’ll be invited to join a private “Meet the Makers” event online. This is a chance to turn on your video and open your microphone and ask questions of those who make the whiskey you enjoy. We’ll invite interesting people doing interesting things at distilleries and brands of all sizes and it’s a chance to hear up close about the finer details of the whiskey making process and perhaps even get advance word of an upcoming release or project. These will be small, initimate, personal events to help you get closer to the people of Irish whiskey. Don’t get too close though, you might frighten them.
The Stillhouse
As a member you’ll get access to new behind-the-scenes distillery videos, articles, interviews and features each month that help advance your whiskey knowledge and even plan your trip to Ireland. This will lives in a members area on our website we call The Stillhouse. Want more info on a certain topic or whiskey? As a member you’ll get to decide what we feature and compile. We’ll start off small and the goal is for us to grow and grow with entertaining, engaging content to deepen your knowledge and interest in Irish whiskey.
You have questions, of course.
How much will Tasting Packs be?
Each Quarterly Tasting Event will have an allocated number of Tasting Packs (3 x 50ml bottles of Irish whiskey). This number will vary depending on the whiskey and distillery but we will endeavor to have as many packs available as are requested.
These packs will be brought you at cost price meaning they are not marked up or priced for profit. The costs will depend on the variable freight and shipping costs from Ireland, packaging costs and the delivery charges within the United States. Currently FedEx charges $20 minimum for legally compliant shipment of even a single miniature bottle of whiskey within the United States. It is our hope that we can bring you a Tasting Pack for not much more than the shipping and packaging cost ($20-$30).
This cost can be reduced significantly if the Tasting Pack can be picked up in person. We will ship from California and will permit the picking up of packages from our location in Folsom, CA. In the future we may be able to have additional pick-up locations.
Do I have to purchase Tasting Packs to participate in Quarterly Tastings?
No, not at all. Perhaps you already have these bottles on hand or you'd like to sit in and learn without the whiskeys. As a member you can join all Tasting Events, with or without the whiskeys.
Where can you ship Tasting Packs and any Club or Cask bottlings?
Fortunately we can ship to most states. As state laws evolve that number will change. Currently we are not able to ship spirits to Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Utah. This list is subject to change at any time and we will share as soon as a state updates their requirements.
You can reside in one of the above states and still participate in all our online and in-person events.
What happens if you can no longer ship to my state and I've already paid for an item?
We'll do our best to help get you your item within our legal capabilities. Failing that we will give you a full refund on any item purchased that cannot be delivered to you.
How much will exclusive whiskey bottlings cost?
We won't know the exact price until we finalize shipping and freight costs, angels share, etc for each release. We expect most bottlings to be under $100 though we may also have much lower and much higher options for those who wish to participate. Most important to us is that we bring you unique, extraordinary whiskeys as cost-effectively as possible.
How much will it be to participate in Club Cask Programs?
In an effort to bring down the cost of Cask Program participation, the Club will purchase entire whiskey casks from distilleries and divide up the cask into a number of shares. The number of shares will vary depending on the size of the cask. Each share will be redeemable (post-maturation) for one bottle of the mature cask. In some cases the price paid for a share will include all charges and fees up to the point of handing you your bottle(s). In other cases, there may be separate shipping/bottling charges. This will ALWAYS be made extremely clear PRIOR to the sale of Cask shares. We will be fully transparent and share all available information at all times.
1 share of one Cask Program might cost you $40 while another might cost you $80. Again, we'll make all this clear prior to the opening of each Cask Program.
How often will you add new content to The Stillhouse section of the website?
We add weekly content to our website that keeps you up to date on the newest whiskey releases as well as featuring original content from our great whiskey writers and video producers.
I have other questions you haven't answered here
Great, we love questions. Send them to us on our contact page and we'll get you a speedy answer. If it's a good enough question we might even add it to our list of FAQs here! Imagine the the thrill...