This Saturday, the 12th Annual Whiskies of the World Expo takes over The San Francisco Belle (a Hornblower Yacht that thankfully stays docked during the event). It's a high-rolling soiree (general admission will set you back $110), featuring grand tastings of hundreds of whiskies from around the world, a full buffet dinner, mixology booths, and complimentary cigar-puffing on top of the yacht's deck. 

Sensory chemists have described whiskey and scotches as "some of the most complex spirits on earth," so novices, brush up on your tasting tactics with these tips from Liquor.com. Also, learn how to spell variations of the spirit, a topic that's generated much chatter over the years. According to Noah Rothbaum, editor-in-chief of Liquor.com and author of The Business of Spirits, here's how it goes: "As a general rule, for whiskey produced in America and Ireland, the word is spelled with an 'e.' But for whisky from Scotland, Japan and Canada, leave out the vowel." See the full list of spirits (both whiskey and whisky) being poured at the Expo here. 

And if you want to score free tickets to the action, make sure you're signed up for our newsletters (you can do so on our homepage). We'll pick a subscriber at random this Wednesday to win a pair of tickets.