Interview: Bill Eburn on His YouTube Channel, Whiskey Dictionary

Happy (early) birthday, YouTube. To celebrate the site’s 20th anniversary, we present: The InsideHook Guide to YouTube, a series of creator profiles, channel recommendations and deep dives about the viral, controversial, unstoppable video-sharing giant.

Today, I want to talk about Whiskey Dic. No, not the bedroom issue. This is about Bill Eburn’s popular and engaging brown spirits YouTube channel, The Whiskey Dictionary. Eburn presents whiskey in a straightforward manner that’s both informative and opinionated without getting too hyperbolic either way. He’s the type of person with whom you’d want to have a dram or two, and he represents a good-natured and no-frills approach to the spirit.

He also wears (and sells) merch with the phrase “Whiskey Dic.” And another one that says “OnlyDrams,” because why not. “I love the T-shirts,” he admits. “The most popular is probably my WhiskeyDic logo — or maybe the ‘Coffee Black, Whiskey Neat.’”

Whiskey can be fun. Whiskey can be informative. And that’s why the Whiskey Dictionary is a mainstay of my YouTube whiskey consumption.

Eburn’s foray into the spirits world began pretty simply. “A friend of mine took me on a tour around the world of whiskey,” he tells InsideHook. “He laid out a sampling of bourbon, rye, Irish whiskey, whisky from Speyside and Islay Scotch. That’s when I realized there was a world beyond just Johnnie Walker Black and Jack Daniel’s.”

The YouTube Guide to Whiskey

It’s thankfully so much more than old dudes discussing their favorite bottles

Unfortunately, his newfound interest was not necessarily a big topic on YouTube. He started looking for whiskey videos around 2014 but was unimpressed with the offerings. “Many of them were producing 20 to 30-minute videos and it was mostly tasting notes,” he says. “I thought I could add more to it by going into the history of the brands, talking about the various expressions, and simplifying the rating from a 1-10 system to four easy-to-understand ratings: ignore it, try it, buy it or stock it.”

In other words, this is the whiskey site for people of all knowledge levels. Eburn can explain Islay Scotch in three minutes but also break down a single new release from Redbreast for 11 minutes. He also answers viewer questions, does a bit on Wild Turkey Pumpkin Spice (not a real thing) and explains and critiques newer concepts like whiskey NFTs. All perfect for whiskey newbies or nerds alike — and speaking of the latter, Eburn and a few of his whiskey friends combine their passion for booze and Dungeons & Dragons with another YouTube channel called Dungeons & Drams.

“When I joined YouTube there were probably a half dozen other channels doing what I was looking to do,” he says. “Ralfy being the main one, but also the Scotch Test Dummies, and podcasts such as WhiskyCast. My channel growth was hard fought, but I became one of the top channels for a number of years. Also, when I started, TikTok didn’t exist. My choices were really YouTube or Vimeo.”

At over 63,000 subscribers, Eburn’s channel may not have some of the numbers of the most popular drinking channels (which tend not to limit their focus to whiskey), but few YouTubers have the sheer volume of material — at press time, Eburn has created 745 videos over nine years. He also offers a paid membership (which gets you early access to videos), participates in barrel picks (yes, those are called Whisky Dic Picks) and has the aforementioned shop of branded barware and merch.

Many [whiskey YouTubers] were producing 20 to 30-minute videos and it was mostly tasting notes. I thought I could add more to it.
– Bill Eburn, host of The Whiskey Dictionary

Admittedly, the Whiskey Dictionary is a pretty static site when it comes to video production, which is not something I’m usually a fan of, as you’ll note in my other whiskey YouTube picks. I’d normally love to see more distillery tours, a travelog or two, or just some visual flair. But here, I see the presentation as a strength and a form of consistency — Eburn found his style, people liked it, so he kept at it without adding a lot of bells and whistles.

“For years I filmed out of my kitchen,” Eburn explains. “I’d need to bring my camera, lights, microphone, etc., up and down the stairs in order to film. During the pandemic, I built a studio in my basement and I’ve been here ever since. It’s been so nice to just have everything ready to go whenever I want to film.”

As noted, there’s a lot of content to consume on the Whiskey Dictionary, so I cheated: I asked Bill about his favorite whisky of all-time. It’s a surprise, and a distillery and a release I’m not familiar with: AnCnoc 18. Yes, he did a video about it. And yes, Bill will teach you how to pronounce that distillery. It turns out he and I have something in common: an initial distrust of sherry-forward whiskies.

“That whisky is probably not as fantastic as I remember it,” he admits. “But it was the first time I realized just how good a sherried Scotch could be.”

For thousands of viewers, it may have been their first time, too.