Within a few square miles of north-eastern Scotland, centred round the River Spey, lie more than 40 distilleries, almost half of all the country’s entire complement of malt whisky-making facilities. The region includes such great names as The Glenlivet, The Macallan, Glen Grant and Glenfiddich, and has been at the very heart of commercial Scotch whisky production since the second half of the 19th century, though its distilling heritage dates back much further.
Best-selling whisky writer Gavin D Smith – author and co-author of more than 20 whisky-related books and a veteran of Speyside experiences dating back three decades – recently joined up with the Society’s Suzanne Redmond on her first visit to this distilling mecca.
Here they recall their road trip and present a range of precious and exclusive drams reflecting the region’s stylistic diversity and reputation for sheer quality, including some distillery-exclusive bottlings never previously available to those who have not made the pilgrimage to their places of production.
This is an opportunity to meet Gavin and have your taste buds tickled by some of Scotland’s finest drams. Who knows, he may even buy you a Guinness afterwards…
Doors open: 7:30pm (please wait in the bar before this time so we can set up the room) Tasting begins: 8:00pm sharp
Whiskeys Tasted
GlenGrant 12 Travel Retail abv 48%
Gordon MacPhail Imperial 1995 abv 43%
Aberlour 17 Distillery bottling abv 50.2%
Glenfiddich 12 abv 58.4%
Coopers Choice abv 46%
Tamdhu 58.8%
