Auchentoshan Distillery Whisky Festival Saturday 29th August 2009

Auchentoshan Distillery Whisky Festival Saturday 29th August 2009.

We all gathered at Jim’s hoose, the two Whisky Boys, Jim and Nicola, together with Jim’s wife Jacqueline and our new American Ambassador Bruce. All of us proudly sporting the “Whisky Boy” polo  shirts. Unfortunately Dougie could not attend this festival as he was already in attendance, down in the Borders, for the Folk and Jazz festival being held at the wonderful Bladnoch Distillery (see his report).

Laura Duncan, (account executive with DADA. Glasgow) very kindly invited the Whisky Boys as guests along to the festival together with an invite to the Whiskies of the World with Dr Koichi Inatomi.

On arrival at Auchentoshan we parked the Whisky Boys chariot, in the large and full car park and made our way down to the busy Distillery. It was fabulous to see such an enthusiastic attendance at this event and there was a real buzz of excitement. The festival was supported by an extensive array of stallholders with a wide spectrum of merchandise including farmers market, soaps, smoked food items, cheeses, handicrafts and high quality hot food vendors, not to mention music and displays of the coopers art – not forgetting the children entertainment was provided for the little ones.

It was great to be able to have the freedom to wonder through the warehouse areas looking at admiring all the various casks and the aromatic smells that exude for the storage of fine Malt Whisky that no doubt appear on the Whisky Boys tasting blogs.

While on our way to investigate, purely for scientific purposes, the beer tent, we bumped into Celine from the Arran Distillery (see Drouthy Neighbours report), who like us was thoroughly enjoying the day. We all had a taste of the special beers, brewed for this festival and carried on our way to the main marquee where there was tastings of Auchentoshan and Bowmore Whiskies plus cocktail demonstrations by Mixology. This marquee was full and overflowing and obviously were finding this event exceptionally entertaining.

From this event we headed down to the main shop and moved upstairs to the Kilpatrick suite where there is a large bar that was providing coffee (for those who were not sampling the amber nectar) and a selection of Auchentoshan/Bowmore’s finest.

At this point it may be helpful if you read Jacqueline’s interpretation of the day (The Day Suntory Lost its Whisky) as this will provide a slightly different perspective on the event. From the Kilpatrick suite we moved into the Blenders room where Dr Inatomi was providing a historical overview of Suntory with an opportunity to taste the Suntory range including the fabulous Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky aged 18 years. It was agreed that the Suntory Whiskies were a real surprise and we could not believe that quality and flavours this range provided. The session was completed by a generous portion of sushi which was served with an iced whisky with water – again we could not believe how the flavours complimented the food – this has really made us think, perhaps the wine industry could be in trouble !!!!

Our overview of the day was that this festival had been well thought out, allowing the general public and Whisky lovers to have an insight into the day to day running of the distillery, an opportunity to taste the product, see how Whisky can be used in different ways in a family friendly environment, thus educating all ages.

Everyone in the Whisky Boys group had a fabulous and entertaining day, the professionalism and organisation by Auchentoshan was outstanding. We would like to extend our congratulations to the Auchentoshan team for a very successful day.

We would also like to thank Laura Duncan from DADA, and Hannah Fisher (brands assistant Morrison Bowmore) for their invites and enjoyed our informative chat at the Auchentoshan bar.

The Whisky Boys have etched in stone that this is a must visit festival each year.

Check out the rest of the Whisky Boys site to read our tasting notes on Auchentoshan and Bowmore Single Malts.

Cheers to all from the Whisky Boys.