After the success of our Christmas Micro-festival, which shrunk a festival into the Micklegate Social and offered the variety of a larger festival in a trailblazing new format, we thought….
“What if, instead of Christmas, it was summer, and we were sipping great drams in a beautiful garden in the centre of York?”
So….on the 1st July over 40 attendees and exhibitors headed down to the amazing venue, York Medical Society, an oasis of history and tranquility – until we started trying the drams – for an afternoon of whisky, chat and cocktail making. We’re going to do some thank you’s but first another peak at that garden….
Our first thanks goes to Ethan…
From the University of York Whisky Society, who kindly volunteered to co-host the festival tasting table with us. The society were also kind enough to donate a bottle of Cragganmore 12 and Glen Turret Triple Wood to the table.
He did a blinding job of pouring all afternoon including converting his Dad from attendee into glass washer, so we of course made sure he went home with quite a few bottles for his dram cupboard!
👏 for The Fisherman’s Retreat
Hervey and his friend John brought a full selection of their limited edition bottlings, including the Limited Edition 12 from the Glasgow Distillery – finished in Sancerre and Oloroso casks was particularly interesting with a taste maturity that seemed beyond the 4yrs. If that wasn’t enough, attendees could also purchase a ‘Tipsy Porridge’ a stout made using their finished casks.
Check them out online for further info:
https://www.fishermansretreat.com/shop/
👏 for Whiskys.co.uk
We love to support the independents that offer that personal touch in whisky retailing so were delighted when Whiskys.co.uk agreed to be part of our Summer Festival last weekend.
They brought some interesting drams for attendees to taste, including a Benriach 10 Curiositas, and were keen to chat about their upcoming plans to expand what they offer and renovate their store.
Attendees were delighted to find out that there was a whisky merchant of interesting, old and rare drams right outside York, and several people enquired about their service of selling collection bottles.
Check out their tasting stock online, and then pay them a visit!
https://www.whiskys.co.uk
(See on Google Maps)
Cocktails anyone?
👏 for The Whisky Lounge
When we setup York Whisky Club last year, we were lucky that The Whisky Lounge, which started in York, host a range of great festivals including one in York in October, which we will also be appearing at – tickets are still available, check out the TWL website.
One of the drams we discovered last October at the festival, the Agitator Chestnut cask, made it into our Independents’ Day tasting, so we open to any suggestions Amanda from TWL might have for our 2nd micro-festival. Her suggestion was she popped down and taught people how to make delicious whisky-based cocktails. This went down an absolute storm, so we owe her much 🧡!
Check out their October York Whisky Festival (and get your tickets!)
https://thewhiskylounge.com/events/york-whisky-festival-2023
👏 for Great Donations!
We had 34 bottles on our festival tasting table (download full dram list) and whilst we certainly splashed the club plastic on some great drams like this year’s Laphroaig Cairdeas and some intriguing drams like the Ballechin 10 Year Old 2009 (cask 303) – Straight From The Cask, we were blown away by some of the great donations including:
- Deanston 15 Tequila Cask, donated by their distillery shop.
- A few bottles of Indri Trini, an Indian whisky hitting the UK market
- A veritable set of The One from The Lakes Distillery and the latest The Lakes Single Malt Whiskymaker’s Reserve No.6.
- Stauning Whisky gave us a Rye and their Smoke release, with one attendee saying it was the best Rye he’d ever tried.
- A rare Yorkshire Day 2020 gifted by Spirit of Yorkshire (worth £250 before we opened it!
As our official retailer for our micro-festival, if you are after any of the drams, please get in touch with Whiskys.co.uk!
We also think we really upped our giveaways this year and they included:
- A 2004 single cask Glen Ord bottled by Hunter Laing for their Old Malt Cask series kindly donated by Field and Fawcett
- A sample from the ‘The Legacy Collection’ by House of Hazelwood, a 37 Year Old Blended Grain Scotch Whisky and ‘The Next Chapter’, a 50 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky.
- A glass and rocks gift set and Mackmyra special edition from The Whisky Nest.