About Us

The Los Angeles Whisk(e)y Society® was established in 2006 by Adam Herz and nine friends brought together by an intense interest in whiskey. Since then, the Society has grown and become known worldwide. Originally recognized for our independent tasting notes and unique ratings system (since adopted by other spirits reviewers and websites), we're now often noted for our exposés on dubious activities within the whiskey community and our skill in identifying counterfeits.

LAWS® remains a private club. Our members include top whiskey experts, influencers, authors, industry professionals, and "regular" people with a passion for rare spirits. Our concern is in keeping whiskey fun, fair, and honest. To that end, we guard our independence and integrity. No advertising is accepted for this site.

Membership is highly selective and extremely limited. Those wishing to apply should have a very strong background in whiskey appreciation and history.

VINTAGE LIQUOR VALUE AND SELLING INFORMATION

 
Our visitors are often looking for information on bottle values and selling whiskey on the secondary market. See our specialized FAQ for a ton of detailed information.

We do buy old and collectible spirits, please contact us.  If you work with estate sales in California or elsewhere, we can facilitate a legal sale and purchase of the whiskey and other spirits in an estate.

WHISKEY TASTING, RATINGS, AND REVIEWS

The bulk of our repeat visitors use the site as a reference guide for whiskey ratings and reviews. New entries are added on an ongoing but random basis. We occasionally publish full-length articles, and we recommend reading them -- they're usually something important that whiskey enthusiasts need to know about, or something we think is very interesting or entertaining.

RARE WHISKEY AUTHENTICATION

The Los Angeles Whisk(e)y Society is proud to be at the forefront of US whiskey verification expertise. We specialize the identification and authentication of rare whiskey. We have ongoing relationships with many whiskey auction houses and have consulted with/for almost all the major US auction houses, as well as countless private individuals and estates. We've inspected and appraised collections from San Francisco to Singapore, worth hundreds to millions. We've even helped train the specialists at some of the major auctioneers in how to estimate bottle values in their auctions, identify fakes, date labels, and so forth.

For more information, see Rare Whiskey Authentication.

COLLECTION EVALUATIONS

The Los Angeles Whiskey Society conducts valuations and appraisals of high-end liquor collections for estate planning, tax, insurance and other purposes. Big Four accounting firms, storied auction houses, top collectors, heirs and beneficiaries have all relied on our assessments.

If you have a collection that requires unique and special attention, please see Whiskey Collection Valuations and Appraisals. You must meet the requirements detailed on that page. 

WHAT'S WITH THE "(E)" AND YOUR NAME?
See Whiskey Basics.