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About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

The Circus – Compass Box Blended Whisky (49%)

By Michael Bendavid | May 29, 2016

The Circus – Compass Box Blended Whisky (49%)

Not very much is actually known about three of the four parts of the whisky that makes up The Circus. I thought that this was just a lack of information, but it seems that John Glaser decided to back off a bit from his frontal war with the SWA, as the accompanying sample, of the…

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Compass Box’s 15 Anniversary – With a Luxuriously Not Luxury Whisky!

By Michael Bendavid | October 25, 2015

Compass Box’s 15 Anniversary – With a Luxuriously Not Luxury Whisky!

Compass Box celebrated its 15th anniversary this past Friday, and what better way to congratulate John Glaser and the team than to review their newest offering? Compass Box is that innovative blending whisky company that decidedly didn’t go down the route to become an independent bottler, which given John Glaser’s fruitful relationship with Diageo would have…

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