Father’s Day Round-Up
Father's Day: Miss Whisky's Recommendations
GalleryA dram raised to 2013 and a look to 2014!
2013 was one busy year! Miss Whisky looks back at the past 12 months.
The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show 2013
The Whisky Exchange Show 2013: filled with dramtastic opportunities!
The Balvenie Fete: celebrating craftspeople & craft whisky
*Update: Tickets are NOW available for events at the Balvenie Fete. The Miss Whisky session takes place on 15 June at 3pm. Details can be found here and tickets can be bought here.*
When I was a kid, my local community hall hosted something called “Stitch ‘n Bitch” for anyone who was keen on a bit of sewing and gossip. Each year, the group would create a big quilt to raffle off and raise funds for the community, with us kids helping to add our bit of style design when possible.
While it wasn’t monumental – things like this were hosted in many small Canadian towns and I’m sure, English ones too – the coming together of community to create something crafty was, in its small way, a chance to build community spirit and put in public the handiwork that many people would otherwise have kept behind closed doors in the home.
I have always appreciated people who are skilled at creating handmade items. My father had a workshop on our farm and created beautiful woodwork jewelry boxes, cabinets, and more; I use a chopping board in my kitchen that he made back in the early ’90s which is still going strong.
Equally, it’s hard to not admit that times are, of course, changing and have been for a while. We are seeing less and less craft-work as our consumer appetites are satiated with imported clothes, furnishings and electronics. I’m no exception of course. I happily gobble these things up as easily as the next person.
But, I am also very appreciative of well-made items that take individual skill and time due to my childhood exposure to this world. And that’s why I’m a big fan of The Balvenie [...]
Karen Walker
Karen Walker, Marketing Director of Scottish Brands at International Beverage.
Spirit of Speyside Festival 2013
The Glenlivet is one of many Speyside distilleries participating in this year's Spirit of Speyside festival.
Sláinte to the new year!
No matter how many new years I see come into being, I still cannot help but get a wee bit misty-eyed whenever it happens. Like a good single malt, it melts my heart…
And so, I begin this new year with a whole lot of excited butterflies flitting around in my belly about the new whiskies I hope to try and events I hope to cover, and a heart of thanks to all those who have helped me get this site started and supported me these past months.
You see, the whisky industry is made up of one of the most welcoming groups of people I have come across in a long time. Maybe, in fact, ever. Since I started muttering back in March at a women’s only whisky tasting at the Albannach Bar & Restaurant to people like Cat Spencer (from the Albannach) and Penderyn’s Gillian Macdonald about my plans to start this site, to when I headed out to meet people trying to do something different (such as the chaps from Connsr who organised the Pure Festival and Mark Thomson who heads up the Dramatic Whisky tastings or restaurants such as Benares which are trying to show the scope of whisky’s food and drink matching possibilities), to when I tried some incredible drams at this year’s TWE Whisky Fest, I have only met incredibly inviting and kind people who have helped me on my way. You’ve shared contacts, put me on the right track to finding great profile subjects, taught me a load more about whisky I didn’t yet know and read my work.
So, to all of you I say a big thank you. I cannot wait to keep learning about this ever-changing, ever-exciting [...]