A Week in Whisky: Inverness, The Cairn, and more

Peter Ranscombe ponders another week in whisky with a smile and a wink…

NEWS this week of the National Whisky Festival of Scotland reaching the Highlands for the first time.

The event will roll into Eden Court in Inverness on 2 July.

“Geographically, Inverness is ideally situated for the National Whisky Festival of Scotland, sitting right between the exceptional Speyside and Highland whisky regions,” explained co-organiser Gareth Croll.

The festival began as part of Celtic Connections back in 2015, and so this year’s event in Invershneckie will also feature live music.

‘Top’ of his class

First-year apprentice mason Hugh MacKay joined distillery manager Mhairi Winters for the topping out ceremony aloft The Cairn distillery near Grantown-on-Spey.

Elgin-based whisky bottler Gordon & MacPhail’s second distillery is due to open later this year.

A bottle from its first distillery – Benromach at Forres – was used for the ceremony.

The distillery is going to have a crackin’ view across the River Spey towards the Cairngorms.

That’s good, Charlotte

Bruichladdich distillery’s Port Charlotte range has gone naked.

The heavily-peated Islay single malt has shed its outer packaging “to save carbon emissions, weight, and waste”.

Bruichladdich, which was bought by French drinks giant Rémy Cointreau back in 2012, plans to remove the outer layers from all its core range.

“We’ve become accustomed to thinking that single malt Scotch must come with outer packaging as standard, while premium gins, vodkas and mezcals are readily bought without additional packaging,” pointed out distillery chief executive Douglas Taylor.

Hammer time

From whisky to whiskeeeeeeey, and if you’re going to hold a bourbon auction then 4 July seems like a good date.

Whisky Hammer’s “The Spirit of America Whiskey Auction” will take place on Independence Day.

Brands on sale include Old Forester, Stitzel-Weller, EH Taylor, and Willett Family Estate.

Other wonderfully evocative names going under the hammer include “The Boss Hog” and “Pappy Van Winkle”.

Don’t forget to check out Mark Littler’s excellent analysis of the latest whisky auctions in his column.

And finally…

Members of staff from Pernod Ricard – the French owner of Chivas Brothers, Scotland’s second-largest whisky distiller – rolled up their sleeves yesterday to help their local communities.

Activities in Scotland included planting trees in the Cairngorms, removing lodgepole pine seedlings from the sand dunes at Findhorn, and improving habitats with Frog Life and RSPB Scotland.

Nine projects north of the Border received more than 3,200 hours of input from the teams.

In total, 18,500 employees across the UK took part.

That’s all for this week, but catch more news and reviews on Scottish Field’s whisky pages.

Plus, don’t miss Blair Bowman’s whisky column in the July issue of Scottish Field magazine.