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Finding Speyside’s Spirit

May 10, 2013 in Events, Reviews

Spirit of Speyside images

It was when I was in the village hall in Aberlour that I really grasped the true meaning of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.

Inside the traditional wood-floored, stained glass windowed hall, dozens of people of all ages gathered together for a ceilidh. White haired ladies and dapper elderly gentleman sat chatting to tourists from Brazil, Canada and America, while a wedding party – dressed up in their finest – created a buzz of happiness felt by all.

At my table, James Walker – the humble and inviting head of the Walker Shortbread family – spoke to me about his memories coming to the hall as a child to watch films with his fellow local school children, while beside me festival organiser Mary Hemsworth spoke to everyone about the success of the many days of events.

As the ceilidh band struck up a tune and the newlyweds (who’d decided to celebrate their wedding evening with the local community) stood to take their first dance, I marveled in the wonderful welcoming nature, the simplicity and friendliness, the true heart of a community that one doesn’t find just anywhere anymore.

This is Scotland to me. And this is Speyside.

Stills MortlachWhile the whisky we love gets its fair dues, it is the people, the beating heartbeat of the Speyside region that make the wonderful product. And it is at the festival of the same name that I had a moment to slow down and see just what makes it such an important spot.

By the time I took a second’s breather to realise all of this, it was already the final night of the festival for me. I’d been in Speyside for four days to take in the yearly event which sees hundreds of distillery tours, parties, ceilidhs and concerts take place in the heart of Scotland’s whisky making world. I’d attended the opening dinner of the festival at The Glenlivet; witnessed the re-opening of Tamdhu distillery and seen well-known TV and newspaper commentator Olly Smith talk about its new 10-year old whisky release; visited The Macallan, Aberlour and Mortlach; danced to the Treacherous Orchestra at Glenfiddich; eaten my way through plates of smoked salmon; and, tried more drams than I can remember.

Glenlivet QuaichBut on that final night, I saw why people keep coming back year after year to the region – it’s because it has a heart and soul that far surpasses just the whisky but which is instilled in each bottle.

Over the coming weeks, I will write about the distilleries and drams I visited and tried, the positives and negatives and the various characters that keep Speyside alive.

On the opening night, I was awarded the honour of International Whisky Ambassador of the Year for the festival in tandem with fellow blogger Keith Savage. I was completely blown away with shock by this honour. I don’t remember entirely what I said in thanks that evening but I know it went down the lines of being so proud to be able to talk about such a wonderful area not just because of the whisky but because of the people, because the region embodies a similar spirit to that which I grew up in Canada with.

I hope when you open your next bottle of Speyside whisky or if you get the chance to head up to the region to meet the people behind the spirit, you too get the chance to witness the conviviality of it all. I may be a Canadian, living in England, but there will always be a little part of me that feels Scottish. The festival simply cemented that for me.

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Spirit of Speyside Festival 2013

January 25, 2013 in Events

There’s less than a month to go until the five-day Spirit of Speyside festival takes over Scotland’s most active whisky producing region.

This year’s Festival will include a whopping 300 events, with 51 distilleries opening their doors to show visitors behind the scenes. The Glenlivet will host this year’s opening dinner on the 2 May at its distillery.

Festival organiser Mary Hemsworth – who’s come on board for her second year running – told me she feels people in the region are really “getting behind the festival and bringing new innovative events to the programme.”

New this year to the events calendar will be Tamdhu distillery tours and the Ardmore Distillery ‘Whisky Shots’ event, which blends photography with whisky tasting. This year’s whisky awards will also be going on the road, with the six finalist whiskies being taken throughout Speyside to where visitors will be so that people coming to the festival will have the chance to sample and vote for which whisky wins out. The awards will be announced on the 5 May at the Whisky Awards Lunch.

But it’s not only about visiting distilleries. Last year, I took part in a whisky masters quiz and hiked the ‘Smugglers’ trail’ at The Glenlivet and took an ancient train from Dufftown to Keith, learning about the history of the area. The festival was as much about celebrating the stunning surrounds in which the whisky is made as it was about the whisky itself.

Mary HemsworthMary told me she believes people should come to the festival because of “its uniqueness.”

“It’s the only festival of its kind in the world, set in beautiful scenery with 51 distilleries producing seven of the top 10 whiskies in the world. It’s a whisky lover’s paradise.

“It’s also a wonderful opportunity for visitors to see and experience exactly where their favourite drams come from. The people of Speyside make a huge difference too, by being welcoming, knowledgeable and friendly.”

I can attest to all of her points, having visited last year. The four days I spent in Speyside were some of my most memorable of the whisky year – I wrote about it here – and it was the openness, friendliness and great energy around the festival which made it so wonderful. Visits to Strathisla, Glenfarclas, Benromach and The Glenlivet distilleries made me feel so much more connected to this industry I love and I can’t recommend it enough.

Mary concurred: “There is a really great, can I use the word ‘spirit’ around the festival and I think this is really what I enjoyed the most.”

For more information on the festival and to get tickets, visit: www.spiritofspeyside.com

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The Queen of Victoria’s festivals

January 7, 2013 in Uncategorized

For Iain Hooey – one of the founders of the Victoria Whisky Festival – the business of putting on a big whisky show could not have gone better over the past seven years.

The festival held at the Hotel Grand Pacific in British Columbia, Canada is about to celebrate its eighth anniversary but it began as a bit of a pipe dream.

According to Iain, he and fellow founder Lawrence Graham – who runs the Whisky Intelligence site and is a Malt Maniac - decided to head to next-door province, Alberta, for a whisky tasting at the Willow Park liquor store in Calgary.

“After a plethora of drams Lawrence asked, ‘Can we put one of these on in Victoria?’” explained Iain, a retired police officer, in a recent phone interview. “So, in that haze, we said that we could put one on but would do it differently.”

After 14 months of planning and with all their ducks coming comfortably together in a row, Iain and Lawrence were able to proceed with the festival, selling 475 tickets that first year – a huge increase on the anticipated 75 tickets they had a goal of shifting.

So what has made the festival stand out since 2006?

Jim Murray at the 2012 festival.

According to Iain, it comes down to four key things they decided to put in place from the start.

The first is that, with Canada’s very strict laws on alcohol consumption, the team chose to offer every guest a ride home after the festival. They managed to pull this off by getting a car hire firm and volunteer drivers on board to ensure the safety of attendees – even those living 30 or 40km away from the venue.

The second decision that helped them stand out was when they decided they would make no profit on the event at all, instead, giving all proceeds to charity. When they were first planning the festival, Iain said they realised they could end up paying for much of the festival out of their own pockets. As it turned out, they still made enough for a charity donation. Last year, $27,000 (or, approximately £17,000) went to two nominated charities. To help run the festival, the charities provide volunteers to take tickets and ensure the smooth running of the show.

The third choice was to not charge drinks companies for tables, a decision which meant many major whisky brands – from BenRiach to Talisker and the Scotch Malt Whisky Society – decided to get involved from year one. Iain said he only asked them for four things: to show up, to have enough stock to cover the festival, to do an engaging masterclass and to stay at the hotel.

And the final option? They were going to stay involved through every process, including selling tickets by hand rather than through an online ticket distributor like Ticketmaster, with some being allocated to local whisky tasting groups.

“We knew whisky clubs would be supportive of the event and that following it, they would buy whisky. We also knew that their buzz would create more buzz and we could move forward with them working with us,” he added.

Sam Simmons, The Balvenie's Global Brand Ambassador.

What happened from there was a continual rise in interest from the local community, visitors from the US and overseas, media attention and support from global whisky brands.

It couldn’t have hurt that Jim Murray – who was a speaker from the first year onwards – also called it “the best organised whisky show in the world.”

“That was an accolade we weren’t looking for and weren’t expecting so we had smiles on for quite a while. We’re proud to say: ‘Look we’re not really big but we’re going to put on a good show,’” Iain added.

This year, there will be the third annual Canadian Whisky Awards – hosted by Davin de Kergommeaux – along with an evening dinner hosted by Cutty Sark and The Glenrothes, along with tastings from Glenmorangie, Springbank, Laphroaig, among many others. The consumer tasting – on Saturday, 19 January – runs in the evening.

The secret to the success, he said, has been bound up in the fact there is little desire to increase the number of attendees and make it an impersonal event. For the 2013 show – which runs from the 17-21 January – around 1,400 tickets have been sold for the consumer tasting on the Saturday night and all 34 masterclasses. This number of tickets is just right, he said, adding it is doable now because of the extensive help from others on the committee – such as Dr Jonathan Adams, who pulls off all the masterclasses in an orderly fashion within a six hour time window.

Canadian whisky on show at the 2012 festival.

But it also means that getting hands on tickets can be tricky – when they go on sale in November, people start lining up at the ticket sales point (local specialty drinks shop, The Strath) at 4am and all tickets are sold within two and a half hours of the shop opening. A growing number of those people buying tickets – or receiving them – are women, added Iain, who said there were only around 6-10 female attendees in the first year, with that number growing to around 20% today.

For Iain, the festival has gone from strength to strength and is something he likely couldn’t have imagined getting involved in  twenty years ago. Back then, he was only keen to collect rather than drink it because he had a feeling it would rise in value one day. This has meant his collection now includes rare gems from a 1962 Macallan to a 1964 Tomatin and a 1963 Longmorn. It took him ten years to really get a taste for whisky.

But after the fateful road trip with Lawrence, there is no looking back. The Victoria Whisky Festival is most certainly a proud bastion for whisky in Canada and I wish all of those going the best of enjoyment!

Photography courtesy of Jen Steele Photography. For more information on the Victoria Whisky Festival, visit: www.victoriawhiskyfestival.com

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The Whisky Lounge: Celebrating 10 years

October 4, 2012 in Uncategorized

Over the past few years, interest in whisky across the globe has truly blossomed. While the drink used to be seen as an older gentleman’s tipple, it now features in the coolest bars across the globe and has a wealth of younger ambassadors in the form of bloggers, celebrities and, well, whisky brands’ own ambassadors.

When Eddie Ludlow founded whisky tasting and events company, The Whisky Lounge, 10 years ago, however, the whisky scene was not as solidified as it is now. Back in 2002, Eddie was a whisky fan working for Oddbins who had a passion for the dramming side of life. He started the company – with the mission of ‘Bringing Whisky to the People’ – having no idea how well it would take off.

Now, on the verge of the company’s 10th anniversary festival in York happening on the 13 October, I spoke to Eddie about his years in the business, what has surprised him most and what he envisions for the future of the company.

And, if you’ve not yet had the pleasure of coming across this great whisky championing company, then check out their site here for more information about upcoming events near you or this piece I wrote on The Whisky Lounge back in the spring when I was working with the team for their London show.

Eddie and Amanda Ludlow

Wow! 10 years. How does that feel?

Not like 10 years! It feels great to look back at what we have achieved and all of the people who have started their whisky journey with us.

Looking back to 2002, what were some of the early goals for the business?

Ten years ago I still worked for Oddbins and didn’t really have any long-term ambitions for a whisky tasting/festival business. It was only really when I met Amanda [Eddie's wife] and she pointed out that there might be something more than a hobby in what I was doing. The early goals I suppose were to present tastings and events in a fun and informal setting and to try some great whiskies along the way. Not much has changed really!

Do you think the increasing interest in whisky in the popular domain has helped accelerate things?

It definitely has in the last few years. When I started, whisky was not nearly as cool as it is now and I like to think we were championing its cause when it was far more difficult to do so. It has also helped counter-act some of the effects of the recession, although I am looking forward to when that comes to an end. Perhaps when I’m first sampling some Kilchoman 10 year old…

What moments stand out for you as favourites since you started the business?

Actually this weekend provided me with a real highlight – not that there haven’t been loads. I finally got to see through one of my long-held ambitions of putting together our ‘Whisky School‘. Our first was this last weekend in Newcastle and it was fantastic. We are rolling them out across the UK from January and I am very excited!

My first whisky festivals in new areas are always exciting and nerve-racking and of course another highlight was becoming a judge on the IWSC spirit panel.

And, general acceptance by the whisky industry as a whole has also been a big one. Without them (as well as the lovely customers of course) we simply wouldn’t have a workable business model.

The Whisky Lounge team at the recent London festival

What’s the most difficult part about running The Whisky Lounge?

Money. But isn’t that always the case?

Other than that, it is difficult to juggle all of the intricate aspects of putting on events where you have exhibitors and lots of customers. To keep everyone happy and make the whole operation appear (reasonably) smooth is a challenge. Plus I’m not getting any younger (I’m 40 this year) and the physical stresses of these days are starting to take their toll!

What has been the biggest surprise in terms of operating the business?

That we still are doing so! Even when we started full-time in 2008 I had so many doubts and actually was tempted to give up on several occasions. Again, Amanda stepped in and really kept me going until she finally joined the business full-time herself last year.

 

Crowds at a Whisky Lounge festival

Where do you see the business moving over the next couple of years?

I’d like to go somewhere hot. We’ve talked about guesting in the South of France and Australia but whether these are realistic plans or not is another matter.

The Whisky Schools are, for me, probably the most important development for us. They will give us even greater legitimation and credibility and offer a huge amount of personal satisfaction too.

What aspect of the business do you enjoy most?

The festivals are great in that you get a huge amount of people and exhibitors offering thanks and congratulations, which is lovely. But I have to admit I love more intimate settings and the opportunity to convey my feelings for whisky to a tight group. Tasting great whisky is a given these days – we are spoiled in that respect.

Why would you recommend someone come to a Whisky Lounge event?

Why wouldn’t I?! Speak to (almost!) anybody who has been to one of our events. What seals it for me is that we have so many regular, returning customers who all enjoy what we do. We like to think of ourselves as inclusive, rather than exclusive, and we genuinely want everyone to enjoy whisky in the same way we do.

What will you be doing specially to celebrate the 10th anniversary? Will there be any additional perks for attendees to this year’s show?

I am doing a special Scotland vs The World class – which was one of the first tastings I did all those years ago. We sold our first 100 tickets at the 2002 price of £12.50 – crazy I know!

We have also bottled a York 800 blended malt whisky especially for the festival, which also coincided with York’s 800 years celebrations.

Eddie at a tasting featuring what he terms "hard to beat".

Name one standout dram that you’ve found over the years? What was it so amazing?

Ouch. Knew that was coming but it’s still difficult. It could be any number!

I guess in terms of being blown away unexpectedly it would be the first Yoichi 15 year old I tried that I bought for a tasting nearly 10 years ago. I thought at the time that surely Japanese whisky had no right to be so good!

Other than that the trio of Springbank 21yo, Talisker 20yo and Ardbeg Provenance was pretty hard to beat.

Your motto is: Bringing Whisky to the People. Do you feel you’ve achieved that over 10 years?

I like to think so. I don’t believe whenever we set out on the journey that we thought it would last as long as it has and actually grow into a national business. The people have had the whisky brought to them on literally hundreds of occasions and are still voting with their feet. Long may that continue!

Tickets to the 10th anniversary York Whisky Festival on the 13 October at The Park Inn Hotel are £25 and can be purchased here.

 

 

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Amanda Ludlow speaks to Miss Whisky

August 20, 2012 in Uncategorized, Whisky Women

 

 

New on Miss Whisky, I speak to Amanda Ludlow, the co-founder of whisky event and tasting company The Whisky Lounge about the dram that changed her into a whisky lover, her thoughts on the industry and her proudest whisky achievements.

To read the full piece, head here.

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Balblair: Capturing a Moment in Time

July 24, 2012 in Uncategorized

Every once in a while, I find myself utterly entranced by a whisky. For a magical moment, the room around me goes still, my chattering brain slows and I sit silently in wonderment. It’s rare but, when it happens, it can transport me far away – such is the power of a truly amazing dram.

And so, it was while I sat in the time capsule room at the Balblair distillery that I found myself floating off to a warm meadow in the middle of summer. In my hand sat the brand’s new release, the 1969 vintage.

But it was so much more than whisky in a glass. In it, I found myself listening to the tip-toeing of meadow deer, feeling the gentle depth of summer sunshine heating my cheeks, smelling the bristly, dusty notes of animals and drying wheat. Another sip reminded me of eating liquid honey sticks, the gentle waves of sweetness undulating over my tongue. Then bursts of butter melted on white bread, pain aux apricots and orange bitters created a summer brunch in my mouth before everything finished on a flourish of smoked salmon.

I sat, mesmerised, for a good 15 minutes. When finally I came to, I realised my distillery visiting compatriots had left the room and the table was being set, the staff moving delicately around my hypnotised frame.

It’s those moments that I note down, that I associate with the power of the delicate beauty of this subtle drink.

I had come up to Balblair that morning. An overnight train with 10 journalists ensured there was much whisky drunk before we’d even set foot at the distillery; a breakfast of bacon rolls, paracetamol and drams meant I was soon back in the swing of things.

Balblair is one of those places that make you smile for its loveliness. It’s in its own sphere, hidden on the shores of the Dornoch Firth. It’s so beautiful that director Ken Loach decided to set part of his latest film, The Angels’ Share, there. If you didn’t catch it in cinema, definitely watch the DVD. There’s a reason it won the Jury Award at Cannes this year.

Owned by InterBev subsidiary Inver House Distillers since 1996, Balblair turned the industry standard of age statements on its head in 2001 when it began to only sell vintages. These are named by the year they were made, not by the fact they are 12, 15 or 21 years old. The company tries to release at least one new vintage every year, but says it rules itself by the idea of ‘vintages timed to perfection’ meaning the whisky tells them when it’s ready, not the other way around and doesn’t come out of that cask until master distiller John MacDonald declares it to be done aging.

The day of our visit, John was on hand to take us around the distillery. We were also joined by acclaimed whisky writer and personality, Charlie Mclean, who also appears in the film as a whisky expert. Despite the rainy day, I was keen to wander around the site and learn just what the distillery – which has been on its current site since 1894 – had to offer.


The water for the whisky comes from 4.5 miles away, and is gravity fed to the site. The distillery did floor maltings up until 1975, but now has its malt delivered from Cawdor in Nairn.

Inside, amongst the heady smell of yeasty brew, one finds six wooden washbacks made from Oregon pine, all of which were replaced as new in 2001. To the mash, John said he adds 21 litres of liquid distiller’s yeast that bubbles and spits for a 50 hour fermentation period. Finally, in the still room one finds stocky, wide copper stills that do a three and a half hour distillation.

Balblair has eight warehouses on its site, in which sit a beautiful selection of 26,000 casks, 97% of which are first or second fill bourbon, the other 3% of which are sherry casks made from ex-European and American wood. It’s, most certainly, an alluring sight.

Since John was faced with lots of questions from us nosy journalists, it was refreshing to see him answer our ramblings in a relaxed and honest manner. He is obviously passionate about what he does (which most master distillers tend to be) but he comes with a genuine love of it that would be hard to fake.

When asked how he felt about the company’s reliance on vintages, he said: “It’s not marketing BS. There’s no way I’d put my nose or name out there for something that wasn’t a good whisky. I’m not a good liar.”

Fair play, I thought.

But visiting the site wasn’t the only part of the day. There was also the additional opportunity to do my own hand bottling (!) which visitors can also participate in. I am now the VERY proud owner of bottle number 3 of a 1992 vintage from cask number 74.

After all of the enjoyment of visiting the site, it was time to try some of the whiskies. The company’s current standards (2001, 1989 and 1978) are to be replaced by new vintages from 2002, 1978 and 1969, all of which I review here.

It was a wonderful distillery visit and one that will live in my memory for a long time. Perhaps appropriately, I later learned that from the distillery one can see the Clach Biorach, an ancient standing stone that was “used to mark arrival and passage of special moments in time”. Trying the 1969 vintage was, most definitely, a special moment in my whisky tasting repertoire and made all the more magical by the surrounding significance of history that is a part of this place.

 

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The haunted Isle of Jura

June 20, 2012 in Uncategorized

“Now, I’d just like to say, I’m not here to disturb you and I’ll try to be as quiet as I can,” I muttered. “If you’d like to talk, that’s fine but please don’t stalk up and spook me.”

As I finished my speech, I looked around the vast, white washed, brightly-lit room to see if anyone else was there. But all I heard was silence. I breathed a deep sigh of relief – for that second at least.

So it was that I found myself talking to the empty air in my room at Jura Lodge, the large living space attached to the distillery. I had heard tales of a ghost that walks the halls, a fact so well known even Jill from the Whyte & Mackay press team refused to sleep in the lodge, preferring the hopefully less haunted interior of the next door hotel.

But this is what the Isle of Jura is all about – stories and legends. With its rough hewn hills, gracefully rising purple Paps and misty, murky nearby waters, Jura makes you want to believe in ghosts and dark superstitions. Just  not when you’re off to sleep.

I was there for the recent Islay festival, which next-door Jura plays a part in with its own ‘Jura Day’. The 37-mile long island has only 200 residents, leaving fair enough space for wandering ghouls and plenty of legends. One says the Kinghts of the Templar are buried in the local graveyard, a belief which seems plausible when one views the faded tomb slabs laying in the grass, still showing the remains of an intricately carved sword. Then there’s the tale of George Orwell nearly drowning in the Correyvrecken whirlpool when he was on the island to write his most famous book, 1984. Or, the story of the Jura Prophecy – legend has it that the mean and cruel landowners of the time, the Campbells, tried to raise taxes on an already suffering population. When they refused to pay, the family destroyed all of their houses. A wise woman is said to have cursed the family with the idea that the last Campbell would leave with all of his possessions in a cart pulled by a white horse and be blind in one eye, which is just what happened to Charles Campbell in 1938.

This last tale is, of course, what inspired the distillery to create its whisky called Prophecy. But its history goes back further than when that tale came to pass. Indeed, Jura has been officially in operation since 1810, though there was a distillery on the island going back futher. A ceasing of production took place from 1901 to 1920 due to a dispute with those aforementioned Campbells who owned the land. It reopend but soon had issues when all the men went off to fight in the second world war. Decline continued until 1960 when local landowners got together to help rebuild it. It now produces 2.3 million litres per year.

During Jura day, myself and the Whisky Exchange’s Billy Abbot (aka: @cowfish) took a tour of the distillery with distiller Willie Cochrane, then headed to the tasting rooms to meet with master distiller Willie Tait and finally learn about casks and wood from Whyte & Mackay master blender Richard Paterson. It was entertaining and informative, and we tried a range of the whiskies.

My favourite part of the day was going into the warehouse, which oozed with the scents of a woodshop, cool dampness and sour wafts of whisky. “It’s one of the best smells in the world,” exclaimed Billy, and I wholeheartedly agreed.

There Tait took us through Elixir and a 1996 vintage. I found the Elixir rich with a nose of candied pineapple, sticky pine sap, cinnamon bark and Werther’s Original. On the palate, it blossomed with a nutty walnut rind, orange spice, and hay flavours. The 1996 bottling, meanwhile, instantly brought back childhood memories of Easter, with scents of muddy spring grass, the community hall and rubber soled shoes. Hints of oak florboards, fresh wood polish, liquid sugar, mangos and Chardonnay all resonated on my tongue and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

That evening, we dined in the lodge. All night, I had one ear listening out for extraneous sounds of creaking floorboards or whispered hauntings. Like the film, The Woman in Black, Jura lodge got right under my skin. And while I didn’t see any sign of the ghostly lady, I am still glad I gave her my hellos, just in case!

 

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Discovering the spirited Speyside

May 9, 2012 in Uncategorized

It was to be the first time I’d driven on UK roads and the first big whisky festival I had ever attended. As such, leading up to this year’s Spirit of Speyside whisky festival – which occurred from the 3-7 May – I was filled with both dread (at the idea of negotiating small, Scottish B-roads) and overwhelming excitement (at the ‘oh so much whisky’ element).

Upon returning from the fest, I am proud to say I discovered I love driving and contained my whisky hysteria internally so I didn’t frighten any of the hundreds of tourists present.

Over the four days, my little Toyota (which I named Dottie) and I zoom-zoomed our way between Grantown on Spey, Dufftown, Forres and further taking in as much as possible. And while I thought four days would be a lot, it turned out to be merely a fraction of the time I would need to learn about the incredible amount of whisky goodness that sits in the beautiful region of Speyside, which is home to half of Scotland’s distilleries. And, given the festival hosts over 200 events, it was impossible to do it all.


I will say, it is a fantastic event. Despite it being spread out across a rather large area full of winding roads, attendees seemed happy to “go the extra mile” to learn all about this most famous of Scottish trades. I met people from Canada, the US, Germany, Holland, South Africa and China – and they were but a mere fraction of the people who (I’m sure) came to celebrate the fantastic distilling tradition of the region. I hiked hills, learned about smugglers, drank Macallan 1946, splashed around at the seaside, danced to a Scottish boyband, took a steam train to Strathisla (home of Chivas Brothers), wandered around Benromach, laughed over family tales at Glenfarclas and realised I am really, horrendously bad at quizzes.

Over the coming days, I shall be posting up individual pieces, but in the interim, I encourage you to consider heading up to the fest. It is a one-off experience and unlike anything else I’ve attended in the whisky space. The next festival – a smaller version – happens in the autumn from 27 September to 1 October so take a look at their site to find out more. And, until then, I hope you get the chance to try some great Speyside malts because they are truly something we Brits should be proud of.

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Mary Hemsworth speaks to Miss Whisky!

April 14, 2012 in Uncategorized

Mary Hemsworth is the Festival Manager for the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, where she has been responsible for organising more than 300 events happening from the 2-8 May all around Speyside. She speaks to Miss Whisky about her introduction to whisky, her excitement about the festival and what she will be doing once it’s all concluded! Read the full piece here.

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Penny Ellis speaks to Miss Whisky

March 30, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

 

In my latest Whisky Women profile, I speak to Penny Ellis, a director of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, which runs from the 2-8 May this year. She is also owner, along with her husband Gavin, of the Knockomie Hotel located in Findhorn in Speyside, where she actively promotes whisky to all guests in the Malt Library, which features more than 80 single malts. To read the full profile, go here.

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