THE LOCH NESS WHISKY FESTIVAL 2010

The inaugural Loch Ness Whisky Festival was held on the 14th and 15th of May 2010. The LNWF was held in conjunction with Fiddler's Malt Whisky Bar and the Loch Ness Whisky Parliament as a celebration of our Local Northern Highland Distilleries. As well as enjoying fantastic whiskies from some great distilleries we managed to raise a considerable amount for charity as well (guilt-free dramming!)

The weekend kicked off on Friday night with a choice of two Whisky Tasting Events. The choice was either a Balblair Masterclass hosted by John MacDonald, Master Distiller of the historic Balblair Distillery in Edderton on the Dornoch Firth or a Talisker Whisky Cruise on Loch Ness hosted by Mitch Bechard of Diageo.

Before both of the tastings sessions started drams of our special Loch Ness Whisky Festival Blend were taken from the Cask. This blend was based on Whyte and Mackay topped off with Single Malts from all Northern Highland Distilleries and a touch of Invergordon Grain Whisky married together in a 10 litre Port cask on loan from the MWP for Talisker.

John MacDonald's Balblair tasting was well attended by Members of the Whisky Parliament (including our MWP for Balblair ) and visitors to Loch Ness including Whisky Lovers from Frankfurt, Ontario and Newcastle. The World Wide Web had done its job and had spread the word of the LNWF. Expressions of Balblair tasted on the night were the 1997, 1990, 1989, 1979 & 1975 Distillery Bottling vintages. Also tasted on the night was a 1973 Gordon & Macphail Private Collection single cask release at 45%. Big John from Balblair was a wee bit apprehensive that the 1973 might blow his 1975 away as it was scored a high 91/100 by the Malt Maniacs .John needn't have worried because the very heavily-sherried G&M 1973 was found to be a wee bit over-cooked whereas the 1975 vintage was deemed to be perfectly balanced. All in all a great tasting and an excellent introduction to the historic Highland Distillery of Balblair . Thanks to Ferne and Erich of Red Hot Spirits for taking the time to visit. All money raised from the Balblair tasting went to the Macmillan Unit at Raigmore Hospital.

All 20 tickets for the Talisker RNLI Cruise were sold with Gordon from Castle Cruises and John from Deepscan Cruises picking up Mitch and all passengers for an evening Loch Ness cruise on a beautiful flat-calm loch. A demonstration by the Loch Ness RNLI Team , including our MWP for Lagavulin , involved “rescuing” the Talisker for the tasting and fetching some genuine Loch Ness water from the middle of Loch Ness. After the whisky was safely delivered to the two boats, which had been lashed together in the shadow of Urquhart Castle, the tasting began with New Make Talisker followed by 3 year old, 10 year old, 18 year old, 57 North then finishing with the 25 year old. Click here to read about the cruise. Press and Journal article RNLI Press Release

After both tastings were over the usual huge pot of Chef Tripneys Lamb Stovies was devoured by all. The LNWF Charity Auction raised more money for both the RNLI and the Macmillan Unit at Raigmore Hospital with the generous help of our Local Businesses and Distilleries. Lots from Glen Ord Distillery, Balblair Distillery, Talisker Distillery, Fiddler's Highland Restaurant and Cobbs Restaurant were sold with the star lot being a nights Bed and Breakfast at Mackays Hotel (thanks to the MWP for Clynelish) a Manager's Tour of Old Pulteney Distillery with a hand-filled signed Bottle from Wick's Historic Distillery.

The second day of the LNWF saw several MWPs and guests meet at Fiddler's Malt Whisky Bar for the LNWPs first Distillery Visit. Nigel from Shore Excursions picked us up and whisked us off to Glen Ord Distillery for a very special tasting of one of our Local Hero Whiskies. On arrival our group was met by some Swedes who had read about the LNWF and decided to join us for our Tasting. After a guided tour of the distillery and warehouses our group was offered the 12 year old Singleton of Glen Ord before we got stuck into four other Glen Ord expressions . The first up was an old round bottle of 12 year old from the 1990's with what we reckoned had a larger proportion of bourbon casks to sherry than the current bottling offering a sweeter, lighter style of whisky. This was followed by an 18 Year Old Singleton of Glen Ord offering a richer spicier version of the standard 12 Year Old Singleton of Glen Ord . The 18 year old is strictly for the Asian Market and took a wee bit of searching to provide for our tasting. Next up was a 1980's Dewar's bottling of Glenordie (how many names does one whisky need?) 12 years old like most standard expressions but bottled at a strange 43.5% this dram had a light amber appearance but its nose was the odd one out with an unmistakable sherriness about it. There was no sherry involved in our last Glen Ord which was the just-released Manager's Choice Glen Ord which was one of 204 bottles drawn from an American oak bourbon cask at that magic age of 12 years. After some discussion the two winners on the day were the Singleton of Glen Ord 18 year old and the Manager's Choice dram with it gaining the most votes and being the expression that most people wanted another of due to its pure Glen Ordiness. Unfortunately the Glen Ord Manager, Eric Walker whose choice we were drinking was not present due to a certain football match in Glasgow (more of that later!). Once again back in the Shore Excursions Minivan and back to Fiddler's for the start of an afternoon of food and whisky.

Meanwhile Douglas Campbell the manager of Tomatin was hosting a Loch Ness cruise after an invitation to “have a dram with a local”. The local in question was Gordon Menzies of Castle Cruises and the star of a Tomatin advertising campaign. An example of which is on permanent display at Dalcross Airport. A full boat left Temple Pier and once again drams were taken in the shadow of Urquhart Castle with a bright clear day making the whisky even more enjoyable.

With the Glen Ord party arriving back and the Tomatin cruise finishing it was time for the Whisky to flow.

The Loch Ness Whisky Festival's afternoon of Whisky officially kicked off with the Parliament's Official Piper at 2 O'clock. The doors were opened and attendants were treated to Drams from all of our Northern Highland Distilleries, from Ben Nevis in the South, Abhainn Dearg in the West, Old Pulteney in the North and Tomatin in the East as well as Talisker , Glen Ord , Dalmore , Teaninich, Glenmorangie , Balblair & Clynelish . Mitch from Diageo had some Talisker, Glen Ord and Clynelish on the Diageo table including one of my favourite drams, the Clynelish Distiller's Edition . Looking forward to the Parliamentary Outing to Brora soon! On the next table along, Douglas Campbell, Tomatin's Master Distiller was on hand to pour some 12, 15 and 18 year old Tomatin as well as some of their new 1997 single cask bottling . On Fiddler's Bar were bottles of Old Pulteney and Balblair including the 17 year old Pulteney and the 1989 Balblair , delicious. Also on our bar was a Cask Sample from Lewis's Abhainn Dearg Distillery, only 3 months old but already plenty of character. Unfortunately no Annabel but Cory from Glenmorangie who drove all the way from Edinburgh and did us proud with a fine selection of Tain's Single Malt with Astar, Lasanta, The Original, Quinta Ruban and a bottle of the delicious Signet on offer. Hats off to Dalmore who provided John Vance to dispense Mr Richard Paterson's wonderful Elixir from Alness. 12 and 15 year old expressions where on offer with the Dalmore Mckenzie being tasted by John and some of the MWPs in attendance.

Big dishes of Lamb Casserole & Fisherman's Pie were available all afternoon to soak up the Drams. After the Final Drams were poured it was time to un-veil Fiddler's New Local Heroes Whisky Shelf which displays Whiskies from all of our Northern Highland Distilleries. Finally it was time to make the draw for the mixed box of Highland Malts which was won by our MWP for Glen Ord.

The 1 st Loch Ness Whisky Festival finished at 5 O'clock with all attending agreeing that it was indeed a very fine afternoon of Whisky. Here's to 2011.