About us and our shop

The Year 2023 at GET A BOTTLE - Continuity and Adaptation

Improvements and Innovations

Customer Feedback and Engagement

Now Also in English

Market Challenges

Outlook for 2024

Thanks to Our Customers

In conclusion, we would like to thank all our customers who have accompanied us on this exciting journey. Your loyalty and trust are the heart of GET A BOTTLE. We look forward to sharing our passion for whisky with you in 2024 as well.

Kristyna & Carsten, December 2023

The Second Year of GET A BOTTLE - from "About Me" to "About Us"

2022 was certainly the most interesting and at the same time the most stressful year in the still young history of GET A BOTTLE, characterized by challenges, some stumbling blocks, and many changes.

Luckily, the most significant change in the second year came right at the beginning, as since January 2022 I have had strong support from my girlfriend Kristyna in the company. The ability to divide the daily work and exchange ideas has brought many, hopefully positive, innovations to the shop. Here are some details:

The Design of Our Website

• Whiskies by Bottler
  Inspired by customer feedback, there is now an easy way in the menu to sort whiskies by bottler. So, if you are looking for specific whiskies from Signatory Vintage, Berry Bros. & Rudd, Gordon & MacPhail or other bottlers, you will easily find them here.

• Whisky Descriptions and Tasting Notes
  "What am I actually buying here and what will the whisky taste like?" We have made a great effort to include good descriptions and useful tasting notes for almost all bottlings on our product pages. Just click on any whisky and you will have all the important information at a glance.

• Whisky FAQ
  In this new section on the website, we provide answers to the most frequently asked questions about whisky. We have the answer to "What is whisky?", "How do I store whisky?", "How do you drink whisky?" and many more questions.

• Changed Design
  New banners, additional filtering options, a clearer menu navigation, and an improved product page. These are just a few of the visible changes that our shop underwent in 2022.

Now More Than 1,000 Whiskies on Offer

Despite all the innovations we have described above, the most obvious change in the shop is probably the significantly increased whisky range. While we started the year with about 500 different bottlings, we now offer more than 1,000 whiskies to choose from. We are particularly proud of our American range, which already includes more than 100 different bourbon and rye bottlings.

Whisky Blog

A very time-consuming innovation in 2022, which deserves a separate mention, is our Whisky Blog. Still manageable in terms of the number of articles, but still worth a look. On February 6, 2022, we published the first blog, in which we extensively informed about the current bottlings of the Chichibu Distillery.

After that, articles followed about the smokiness of whisky, a detailed introduction to the world of bourbon, and we answered the question of the correct spelling of whisky or whiskey.

Newsletter

52 weeks a year and 52 newsletter editions (okay, maybe there were 53 or 54). We now have our newsletter every Sunday for our registered customers. As always, we present our new products of the week and now exclusively share our offer of the week before it becomes visible to our other customers on the website. And the best part; for every new registration, there is a 5€ discount voucher.

Instagram

Photography is also one of our hobbies, and so we gave our Instagram account much more attention and affection in 2022 than in the previous year. Simply follow us on @getabottle, where we present interesting bottlings on our account several times a week and show you in our stories what we have in our glass.

Reduction of Shipping Costs

In the middle of the year, we decided to reduce the DHL shipping costs from 5.99€ to 4.99€ while still allowing free delivery from 100€. What initially sounds like no big change, is actually not so easy to achieve, as simultaneously sharply rising prices for packaging and shipping do not make it easier for us.

Outlook

An uncertain economic and geopolitical situation, a warehouse that is soon reaching its limits, and rising costs in all areas are just part of the grey clouds in the sky. 2023 will certainly not be easy and yet, or perhaps because of this, GET A BOTTLE is still as much fun as it was on the first day, and we are looking forward to the next exciting year together.

Many Thanks

The most important thing comes last. Many, many thanks to all customers who have placed their trust in us in 2022. Special thanks go to our regular customers, because even if it seems impossible, personal contacts with customers can be developed even with an online shop. Finally, we naturally promise that customer satisfaction will continue to be our top priority.

And very importantly! Please feel free to write us a message or call us if you need help choosing the right whisky. We are happy to assist personally in advising you.

Kristyna and Carsten, December 2022

GET A BOTTLE, Your Personal Whisky Shop - Time for an Update after About a Year.

With only about 30 different bottlings, I started my online whisky shop GET A BOTTLE in October 2020 full of enthusiasm and without any real expectations. Until then, I had given little thought to procurement, packaging, shipping, web design, accounting, online advertising, newsletters, customer inquiries, and many other things. I just knew that I wanted to share my passion for good whisky with you, and the rest would somehow work out.

The First Year in Review

• November 7, 2020 Although the shop was already live since mid-October, it took some time until the long-awaited first order came in on November 7, 2020. Two bottles of Fettercairn 16 Years, my first customer, and the joy was immense.

• January 2021 The boring brown packaging tape was replaced by my own tape with “GET A BOTTLE” lettering. You see a package, sealed with a white tape and thick, black lettering? The likelihood that it contains one or more good bottles of whisky is not to be underestimated. Keep your eyes open. 

• February 2021 This was followed by the acquisition of a shipping scale. Previously, I had only used an analog kitchen scale for shipping. However, this only worked up to 3kg and made weighing orders of several bottles a real challenge. 

• May 2021 A shipping label printer with shop connection was used for the first time. I really don't know why I waited so long to make this purchase, as up to this point I had to laboriously enter all shipping addresses by hand and create a QR code for each package, which then had to be scanned and printed at the post office. It's a wonder that not a single order was mixed up. Let's hope it stays that way. 

• July 2021 The first newsletter was sent. In the beginning, it was very irregular, but now there is a newsletter every Monday with the offer of the week, new products, and other highlights for you. If you are not yet registered for the newsletter, you should definitely change that.

• October 2021 The switch to DHL GoGreen marked the start of sustainable and climate-neutral shipping for all packages. More on this in a subsequent section.

Today
Now, about twelve months later, you will find on my website a selection of over 500 different whiskies from around the world. In addition to great Single Malt Scotch Whiskies, we now also have many whiskies from Ireland, Japan, and the USA, as well as interesting bottlings from Germany, Sweden, Australia, and other parts of the world, waiting to be discovered by you.

Climate-neutral Shipping
Since October 2021, I have been shipping all packages climate-neutrally with DHL GoGreen. This is done without additional costs to my customers. Look out for the “GoGreen” logo on your shipping label. In addition to climate-neutral shipping, I also try to reuse as much existing packaging material as possible, whether it's filler material or shipping boxes, from the beginning of the shop. Therefore, please accept if a package looks somewhat used on the outside. This has no impact on the safety of the package's content, and the whisky itself does not taste any different. It is another, albeit small, step towards sustainability.

Problems and Complaints
With every single order, I put in a lot of effort to pack it correctly and safely. And even though 99% of customers receive their desired goods in the best condition, there are of course exceptions. Fortunately, in the first year, only a single order was broken in transit and only a handful of other problems had to be dealt with by me. We have always found a satisfactory solution with my customers. Any real complaints? There have been none so far, and that pleases me the most, because in addition to the ambitious endeavor to offer you the "best" whisky selection in Germany one day, customer satisfaction is my top priority.

Outlook for the Second Year
What will the second year bring? I hope that my range continues to grow, my prices remain attractive, my customers continue to be satisfied, and that new whisky enthusiasts will stop by my shop.

Some things, however, will not change. I will still process every order myself, personally respond to every chat and email, and you will reach me directly at the other end of the line with every phone call. And even though I can no longer taste all the bottlings from my range myself, I will continue to try to offer you the most interesting whiskies from the best distilleries in the future.

Thank You
Now all that remains is to say a heartfelt thank you. Thank you to all the customers who trusted me in the first year. A special thanks to those who took the time to contact me before, during, or after the order. The positive feedback via email, chat, and even direct phone calls always provide new motivation. Many thanks also to my parents, who have actively supported me despite their well-deserved retirement. And last but not least: Thank you to everyone who has shown interest in my story and my shop and has made it this far.

I am looking forward to the second year of GET A BOTTLE

Carsten Obliers, November 2021

Thank you for your interest in my story.

I'll keep it short: A whisky enthusiast has become a whisky online shop owner.

After my own whisky collection grew significantly over the years and I have tried different countries, regions, and taste profiles, it's now time to share my passion for whisky with you.

A large part of the whiskies that I offer here are in my own collection and/or have been tasted by me personally. It's not about providing the largest possible selection, nor about offering only the fastest-selling products. Instead, I want to give you the opportunity to purchase good whiskies at fair prices. Additionally, I would like to show and offer you some rare bottles that you can't find in every shop.

Furthermore, every email is answered personally by me, every order is processed by myself, and every package is taken to the post office by me. Ok... My parents also sometimes make the trip to the post office (thanks for your help).

Carsten Obliers, October 2020