The real Spirit of the Speyside Whisky Festival
I was lucky enough to be hosting the opening gala dinner of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival last week. That officially gave me the best job of the night; the opportunity to ‘nose’ (and taste!) some of the finest whiskies in the world, and chalk it down as ‘a day in the office’. I was also in the privileged position of introducing the guest speaker for the evening, the Rothiemay lad and host of Radio 4’s Today programme for 21 years, Jim Naughtie.
Auchroisk Distillery fill room, beautifully transformed for the festival.
The venue was Authroisk Distillery near Mulben in Banffshire. The team there had spent the weekend transforming one of their whisky filling stores into a fairy-tale venue for the occasion. The traditional dunnage floor had been covered over with a beech dancefloor in anticipation of the following evening’s ceilidh, and the curtained ceiling and walls, twinkling with stars, kept the chill of the evening’s lambing snow firmly on the outside. The indoor trees and flowers, hung with candles, added an ethereal touch, but the best bit for me was the smell; the ‘angels’ share’ evaporating from the barrels resting on the other side of the curtain left us in no doubt that we were deep in whisky country.
I was back in the same location the following evening – again on hosting duties – for the less formal opening ceilidh. While I was shepherding some stragglers into the main hall I met Callum Fraser, the Distillery Manager at nearby Glenfarclas. Callum had a string of bottles under his arm; he was one of 14 distillery managers who were acting as table hosts, introducing guests to the different expressions of the drams they make, with generous measures the order of the night. The distillers moved tables between the courses of our rib-sticking supper in an educational (and very grown-up) version of musical chairs.
While we waited for a group of late-running German tourists to find their table, Callum told me the story of one of his distillery’s employees, and what his team have done to try and help. The story moved me, so I told it – with permission – before dinner, and I think it warrants a wider audience than just the 300 in the room.
Many industries talk of their teams of workers as ‘family’ but here was an example of it in action. James Combe has worked at several Speyside distilleries, but in October last year he was working as a mashman at Glenfarclas when he was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease. James was a keen mountain biker and had always nurtured a dream of cycling across America coast to coast; the diagnosis shattered that dream.
Picture: Eric Cormack.
But the distillery staff were determined he should still cross America. They priced up the cost of James, his wife and their two kids travelling from New York to Los Angeles by train, and set themselves a target of raising the £6000. The distillery owner John Grant pledged to match that sum with a donation to MND Scotland in James’ name.
And so the sponsored cycle was organised – about 40 miles in November (‘it felt a bloody long way’, said Callum) round all five of the distilleries James had worked at. Along the way the cyclists received refreshments and donations. Within three weeks James’ co-workers had raised £27,000.
Half of that sent James and his family across the States on a luxury holiday to remember over Christmas; the rest of it was gifted to them to help make James’ time at home more comfortable. John Grant rose above his £6000 promise and donated £20,000 to MND, making it the largest donation the charity received in 2015.
Yes, whisky is big business. It is a massively important component of the Scottish economy, and makes a lot of money for the owners of distilleries – and a lot for the Treasury too. But in spite of the numbers on the balance sheet, at the heart of each distillery is a family. Family sticks together; in good times and bad. And that, to me, is the true Spirit of Speyside.
Justice Centre fiasco
I was shocked and disappointed to hear the news on Monday morning that the deal had fallen through for the Scottish Courts to buy land at Burnett Road for a new Inverness Justice Centre. Shocked because I had assumed the deal had already gone through. Disappointed because it may put in jeopardy proposals to turn Inverness Castle into a bold new tourist attraction (function as yet to be determined) to enhance the experience of all visitors to the Highlands.
The reasons for Scottish Courts withdrawing their offer to purchase seem bizarre – did they not realise before now that the site was near a noisy railway, was potentially too small and enjoys little pedestrian access? Or is this just a tactic to get a reduction in the price?
Whatever the problem, this hiccup can’t be allowed to hold up development of Inverness Castle into a public resource which locals and visitors alike will be proud to use for generations to come. And perhaps it’s a blessing – can’t we now identify a larger brownfield site for the justice centre, and home the new prison there too?
This column first appeared in six SPP Group newspapers week ended 6th May 2016.
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