Hundreds of whisky enthusiasts from 15 countries around the world logged into the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival’s first online event, taking place in early May.
Benriach’s World of Flavour was named top pick of the festival, with its Global Brand Ambassador, Stewart Buchanan, leading a tasting of their core range of whisky. He, in turn, also gave a sneak peek behind the scenes of Benriach’s new visitor center in Elgin, Scotland.
The virtual distillery tours were popular with the online visitors, with tours of Benromach and Tamdhu distilleries being the second and third most visited events. In addition to the main festival events, guests were invited to join virtual booths hosted by distillery managers, brand ambassadors, and whisky experts to chat with like-minded whisky lovers.
In all, the festival saw 2,877 visits to the 20 available booths, with guests using a total of 2,254 emojis and enjoying drams from 836 tasting kits.
James Campbell, chairman of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, said in a prepared statement, “This year’s Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival might have been very different from years gone by, but the distilleries rallied to create one of our most engaging and internationally visited events in our 21-year history.”
With guests from every corner of the globe from Australia to the Philippines, Canada, Germany, Mexico and across the UK, whisky lovers rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in the whisky industry.
“But nothing beats being together to celebrate the world’s largest producing whisky region,” Campbell said. “We have our fingers and toes crossed that we can welcome back whisky explorers in person to the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival November 3rd through the 8th, later this year. Subject to government guidelines, of course.”
Updates on the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival will be posted online at www.spiritofspeyside.com and across social media. Plans are under way for the 2022 festival as well, slated for April 27 to May 2, 2022.
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First launched in 1999, the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival’s annual celebration of Scotland’s national drink has developed into one of the largest events of its kind anywhere in the world. Campbell explained that the Festival is a mecca for the curious beginner and the whisky connoisseur alike. Over the past 20 years, festival events have taken place throughout Speyside, the biggest whisky producing region in Scotland, located in the Moray area in the Northeast of the country between Aberdeen and Inverness.
This year is the first year that the festival has adopted an online format.
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