There are lots of great distilleries in the highlands! A perfect activity for any trip to Scotland! 🥃🤗

I guess nowadays, everyone has experience doing things virtually! It was good that they could send out all the tasting packs in advance so people could taste along with the experts! And in the end, it really was so informative!

Hey Becky 😉 😉 😉

This was an incredibly innovative way to teach you about all the different maturities and the characteristics the casks lend to the whiskies. So interesting to smell and taste!

I’m glad the pronunciation guides are helpful!! 😉 I am a very audio-driven person, so I’m always like wait. what? please phonetically say it slower for me. hahaha 😀

Well, let’s just say, I started my whisky journey with an incredibly bad day, when wine really couldn’t cut it. And now, it no longer carries those same sentiments. Now, good day or bad, the selection of what kind of whisky to have is kind of fun in itself. 🙂

Mmmm.. no more “farmyard fresh” new make spirit for me thanks 😉

Cheers, Kemi! Oh man, I haven’t even written about the chocolate whisky truffles, which don’t have a liquid center, but have that incredible smoky, peaty, Islay whisky flavor! I think that might be up your alley 😉

Hi Philip! Thank you so much for replying to Becky’s comment regarding St. Augustine’s port-finished bourbon. It’s always phenomenal to have an expert chime in on our amateur whisky musings. 🙂 I’ll be honest that I don’t know my bourbons very well, having started my whiskey journey with single malt scotches. I do love your description of St. Augustine’s PF bourbon, as darker, sweeter, and more robust. That’s my kinda spirit! I’ll have to see if I can find it here in Scotland, and test it out. 🙂 Slainte Philip!

Becky, Thanks for the reference to St. Augustine Distillery’s Port Finished Bourbon. Because our spirit is a bourbon and I believe most of what the Kilchoman tastings would be of locally made/distilled whisky at Feis Ile, since their whisky is made from malted barley and finished in different barrels, it will be less sweet (since there is not corn in the mashbill) and the color of the whiskey will my much lighter. Our Port Finished Bourbon is made from New Make whiskey (corn/wheat/barley mashbill) aged in #3 char new American oak 53g barrels, aged for 3-4 years and then finished in Port Wine Barrels from our local neighbor San Sebastian Winery (we do a regular barrel exchange with them). As a result, our PF bourbon is going to be (likely) a lot darker, sweeter and robust than the lighter whiskies of this lovely festival. Any questions, feel free to e mail me at philip@staugustinedistillery.com – Philip McDaniel, Co-Founder/CEO. St Augustine Distillery, St. Augustine, Florida USA