Glasgow’s Whisky Festival #5 17th May 2014

Glasgow’s 5th Annual Whisky Festival, organised by the Glasgow Whisky Club, was held at The Arches in Glasgow on Saturday 17th May 2014 from 1pm-5pm. This was our second time attending this event, so hopefully this time we were a little more relaxed and selective with our drams.

We sampled the following during the course of the event:

Adelphi Distillery (Stand 8)

Adelphi Selection Bunnahabhain 1989 24yo 47.2%

Adelphi Selection Mortlach 1987 26yo 56.8%

Adelphi Selection Miltonduff 1981 32yo 53.1%

Berry Bros & Rudd (Stand 4)

Berry’s Arran 1997 Marsala Cask 16yo 46%

Berry’s Caperdonich 1995 18yo

Carn Mor [Morrison & Mackay] (Stand 20)

Old Perth Blend Malt Number 3 Release

Celebration of the Cask Glen Grant 1992 22yo 55.7% (Bourbon cask matured)

Diageo (Arch 3)

Auchroisk 30yo

Cragganmore Distillers Edition 2000 Port Wood Finish

The Singleton of Dufftown Sunray

Glendronach (Stand 23)

Glendronach 21yo Parliament

Glenglassaugh (Stand 23)

Glenglassaugh 1978 35yo Port Finish

Glengoyne (Stand 15)

Glengoyne 21yo

Glengoyne 25yo

Gordon & MacPhail (Stand 24/25)

Amrut Fusion

Connoisseurs Choice Strathmill 1999 14yo 46%

Hunter Laing (Stand 22)

Old Malt Cask Caol Ila 1996 17yo

Old Malt Cask Laphroaig 2000 14yo

Sovereign Port Dundas 1978 36yo

Isle of Arran (Stand 14)

Arran Amarone Cask Finish

Kilchoman (Stand 14)

100% Islay 4th Edition

Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Arch 4)

SMWS #7.96 Subtle quality in a lady’s handbag

55.1% ABV Longmorn 1992 21yo refill ex-bourbon barrel 229 bottles

SMWS #26.96 Le Trou Normand

61.4% Clynelish 2003 10yo First fill Bourbon Barrel 233 Bottles

SMWS #29.154 Camping with M*A*S*H

49.8% Laphroaig 1990 23yo Peated refill ex-bourbon hogshead 253 bottles

SMWS #44.59 Lime marinated grilled chicken

51.4% ABV Craigellachie 1989 23yo lightly peated refill ex-bourbon hogshead 267 bottles

SMWS #64.51 Tuck-time in a stately home

55.8% Mannochmore 1990 23yo refill ex-bourbon barrel 187 bottles

SMWS #76.103 An ‘Old Fashioned’ in a traditional barber shop

52.9% ABV Mortlach 1987 26yo refill ex-bourbon hogshead 279 bottles

SMWS #93.57 Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of this!

58.3% Glen Scotia 1992 21yo refill ex-sherry butt 407 bottles

Springbank (Stand 17)

Hazelburn 12yo

Longrow 18yo

Springbank 16yo Madeira Wood 56% (Society Bottling)

New Zealand Whisky Company (Stand 24/25)

Milford 15yo

South Island 21yo

Some of the highlights of the festival (for us): Chatting to Erik (The Whisky Kiwi) and trying possibly the last examples of Milford ever to be imported to the UK. Catching up with Chris and Tiger from the EWB, and helping them help us empty all the SMWS bottles at the end! Chatting to Annabel (The Whisky Belle) about whisky, Oystercatchers and other bird life. Meeting and having a good old chinwag with The Whisky Corner couple Stewart and Kirsty while demolishing drams of the Adelphi Bunnahabhain 24yo (which we had all independently picked as our dram of choice – obviously a foursome of great taste we make!). Meeting Johanne (The Whisky Lassie) who was on a tour of Scotland from Canada! plus Steffan (Macdeffe) and generally being quite merry by about this stage and taking whisky selfies.

As for the whisky, the stand-out examples from the show have to be the two 1978 bottlings, one from Glenglassaugh was just stunning and the second a grain whisky from Port Dundas which was interesting to say the least. The Springbank society bottling and all the Adelphi & Berry Bros & Rudd bottlings we tried also went down very very well and were serious contenders for damaging our wallets.

As usual a great day was had by all!