Whisky Lounge is back in Scotland this weekend

The Whisky Lounge returns to the capital for its seventh sell-out festival on Saturday, 15 June.

Taking place at the Assembly Rooms, it will celebrate the craft of the water of life, as well as the talented people behind our national drink.

Mark Watt from Scotland’s oldest independent bottler, Cadenhead’s, is headlining the event and a traditional cooper will be carrying out live demonstrations to showcase the age-old techniques used to create whisky casks on the day.

The Whisky Lounge festival will bring together over 30 exhibitors, and feature a series of masterclasses, blending workshops and Whisky Heaven, a relaxed club-style lounge where whisky gods – the experts – will be on hand to share some of their favourite malts from their collection with visitors to experience.

This year’s gods and self-confessed whisky geeks include:

· Mark Watt – a colourful connoisseur from Scotland’s oldest independent bottler, Cadenhead
· Annabel Meikle – director of Keepers of the Quaich
· Matt Chambers, co-founder of Whisky for Everyone blog and Brown Forman UK brand ambassador
· Bruce Farquhar, Dramfool
· Mark Thomson, Glenfiddich

Staged by husband and wife team, Eddie and Amanda Ludlow, founders of The Whisky Lounge, the festival’s fun style has proven especially popular with people new to whisky with 65 per cent of attendees to The Whisky Lounge events describing themselves as ‘newbies’.

Exhibitors include: Glenfiddich, Crabbie, Chivas Brothers , Bowmore, Hinch, Kilhoman, Lakes, Wemyss, Nikka, Eldorado Rum, Highland Park, Glenturret, Auchentoshan, Hawk Head, Elements of Islay, Laphroaig, Single Pot Still and others.

Visitors to the festival will have the chance to taste whiskies from as far afield as Taiwan, India and Japan, as well as from across Scotland.

Eddie said: ‘Edinburgh is one of our favourite cities to bring the festival to and our only venue in Scotland. Every year we see a mix of familiar faces coming back for more, as well as new ones too wanting to experiment and improve their knowledge and appreciation for whisky. This year in particular, we are looking forward to welcoming an increased number of fathers and daughters to the festival, which is great to see.

‘It doesn’t matter whether its groups of friends having an outing together or a Father’s Day treat, everyone is guaranteed a good time with lots of different interactive opportunities to speak to the distilleries and savour a diverse range of Scottish and international malts, blends and cocktails in a fun and relaxed environment.’

· The Whisky Lounge Festival, Saturday 15 June, Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Edinburgh EH2. Opening times: Session One: noon-4pm; Session Two: 5-9pm. Ticket price: Full session £40; Taster session (2-4pm) £20.