Sweden, Edinburgh and to the slopes

Hello everyone,

March feels like it's just flown by, but it might be because I spent almost two weeks abroad, first in Sweden and then in the French Alps. The trip to Sweden was a wee holiday to show my parents-in-law Stockholm and also to visit my parents in the countryside. I did manage to sneak a little taste of some of the new additions to my dad’s whisky cabinet and was really happy to find a bottle of Agitator Chestnut Cask which is seriously tasty! If you're ever in Sweden do try to find some whisky from Agitator to try.

 Once we got back to Edinburgh I attended an event by the company Caskshare who have a really interesting way of working with whisky. If you fancy adding some interesting single cask whiskies to your shelves, but can't afford a whole cask then this might be something for you. With Caskshare you buy a "share" of a cask which equals a bottle and they have some good stuff. During the event we got to try the Collective Series consisting of two whiskies from Agitator (the Swedish one I just mentioned), Daluiaine and a Port Charlotte from Bruichladdich. For the labels they had also collaborated with various artists who had created some stunning artwork. Caskshare said they're hosting an upcoming charity auction when posters of the artwork will be up for grabs.

 I also managed to squeeze in a little staycation in St Andrews at the lovely hotel, Rusacks and I managed to find and try a sample of the whisky that has been the most requested on my Instagram - The Sassenach. The Sassenach is a whisky bottled by Scottish Outlander actor Sam Heughan, it's a blended whisky which has received great reviews and also seems to have invited a whole new group into the world of whisky, finding their way through the introduction of Sam's whisky. It was in the shop Luvians in St Andrews where they had samples of the whisky and I was thrilled to finally get to try it. It had a nice sweet and fruit character with more spice and a thicker texture than I had anticipated. It felt fresh, although the spice was dominant on the palate surrounded by notes of wood, apricot and sweet barley.

Another highlight of this month was my trip to the French Alps. I used to work as a tour guide/resort manager in Switzerland a couple of winters ago and also did a couple of summers in Austria so the mountains almost feels like a second home. I also had the pleasure of hosting a whisky tasting and picked Glencadam American Oak, Aberlour 16 and Brenne Estate Cask as a lineup and as I had been asked to avoid heated whisky I focused on cask variety instead. I also made sure to bring some Larkfire Wild Water to make sure the guests had good quality water if they wanted to add it to their drams - which almost everyone did. The chalet chef enjoyed a little preview taste the evening before and put together some stunning canapés paired with each dram. There was one with smoked salmon, one with goats cheese and one with crispy pork belly and they all went down a treat. I thoroughly enjoy a whisky tasting with paired foods!

To finish the month, Edinburgh Whisky was launching their new whiskies and hosted an event at Bonnie & Wild Market. Initially, they are releasing a Speyside single malt (Speyside Distillery), a Highland single malt (Tomatin) and an Islay single malt (Bunnahabahain). My favourite of the evening was the Islay as it had such a nice rounded smoke.

There seem to be a lot of exciting new releases lined up for this spring and I'm lucky enough to be working with several of them so can't wait to bring the bottles out for a good photography session.

 Hope you will all have a nice Easter when it comes around!