WHAT AN AMAZING DAY!
We’re always exploring how we can make our Summer Festival better and after several years in our previous ye-olde venue with exhibitors in different rooms, we decided to unite everyone for the 2026 festival on the 27th June in a single, open space with a raised area for our charity auction.
We also ticked off an important milestone with our first ever club festival bottling courtesy of Woodrow’s of Edinburgh (more below) and we had – what many said – was our best ever lineup:
Distilleries:
- Bunnahabhain
- Deanston Distillery
- Titanic Distillers
- Tobermory Distillery / Ledaig
- White Peak Distillery
Independent Bottlers:
Whisky writer / Retailer:
Festival Cousin
EVERYONE’S A WINNER!
Before we get to the exhibitors a BIG THANKS 🙏 to all the attendees who gave generously through the donate-during-checkout – Sam was the lucky winner of a Spirit of Yorkshire tasting set – or who chipped a few extra pounds to try Dream Drams like the Bruichladdich Octomore OBA Redux (54.2%, RRP £325); or who bid during our traditional end-of-festival auction of the tasting table and exhibitor donations.
In total, we raised a total of £2,294.64 for St Leonard’s Hospice which they and we are delighted about.
If you couldn’t attend and wish to donate, jump to our JustGiving page.
Apart from the warm and fuzzies of raising money for charity, we love putting on the festival for all the amazing whisky we get to try alongside attendees but it also always tickles us to get feedback like:
“I just wanted to thank you both for organising such an enjoyable event yesterday. It was the first event we have been to and it certainly won’t be the last. Everybody was really friendly and we tasted some magnificent drams.”
EXHIBITORS
WOODROWS OF EDINBURGH
“It’s no pish” is the Woodrow’s slogan and our first club bottling – especially for the festival – was “Definitely no BS” – a tea-spooned Balvenie which can’t be called ‘Burnside’ for various legal reasons.
It was a great experience being ‘the men from Yorkshire who say yes’ and trying cask samples to select this 11yr Balvenie from a set, especially one that has experienced the independent bottler magic of a trip from a refill hogshead to finishing time in a 2nd Fill ex Caol Ila European Oak Oloroso Bloodtub.
The angels liked it as much as we did, so only 28 bottles were available. £10 from each bottle went to St Leonard’s Hospice so a worthy dram in more than one way!
A BIG THANKS 🙏 to Savannah, Dan and Woody for this and many more great drams poured at the festival – as well as the festival bottling, treats like a 17yr old Glentauchers went down well and we got to try The Jane Street Collection, which showcases many flavours of Scotch at a great price for the quality.
BUNNAHABHAIN
This year we wanted to bring more of Scotland to York and Bunnahabhain were definitely on our hit list. A Bunnahabhain 15 Year Old White Port Cask Finish ‘An Cuan Garbh’ was a Feis Ile 2026 Release and definitely …
✅ Ticked our request list
15-year-old unpeated Islay single malt finished in White Port casks from Portugal’s Douro Valley. Bottled at 51.6% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural colour, this limited release of 7,571 bottles combines coastal maturation with sweet wine cask influence.
(Now sold out but the sister release – Fino Sherry – is still available)
DEANSTON
When you put on a whisky festival, you want the sold out treats.
A HUGE THANKS 🙏 to Rob from Deanston for bringing us this tinge of citrus on a Deanston classic flavour which the internet had already wiped off the electronic shelves.
Worth the wait? Definitely! Can you buy it? No.
But attendees to our 4th Summer Festival got to try this great highland whisky.
TITANIC DISTILLERS
A big part of the York Whisky Club ethos is trying whisk(e)y we’ve not come across before, so we invited Belfast-based Titanic, made in the same shipyard as the famous ship for a first time visit to York.
They are still in the journey to releasing their first edition but demonstrating to the world their capability through blends and independent bottling.
And making a good go of it – the single grain whisky (pictured) is superb and hands-down beats a £5k-a-bottle grain whisky from the 1950’s we tried a few year’s ago.
TOBERMORY / LEDAIG
Tequila, it makes you happy?
Well, some tequila cask whisky can be a room splitter.
Rob from Tobermory / Ledaig said:
“Trust me, you’ll like this.”
And we did!
Ledaig Castaway combines rum and tequila casked coastal whisky for a dram we really enjoyed which was VERY sippable at 61.1% (£65)
In the distillery words:
“Smoky, Spicy and Vibrant: A dynamic marriage of exotic sweetness and island smoke, inspired by our Hebridean island home. This is classic Ledaig with a twist – a bold combination of Caribbean rum sweetness and Mexican agave character, travellers from warmer worlds that lend unexpected richness to our bold, peated spirit.”
WHITE PEAK DISTILLERY
We’ve loved lots of the Wire Works releases – and we enjoyed a revisit to the Port cask of this Derbyshire distillery – but no festival is complete without an exciting new release and attendees got to try the brand new Wire Works Calvados Arrivée (49.2%, £71)
Your hosts thought this tasted like “liquid apple pie” with the light peat combining in a perfect summer way with the fruit from the Calvados.
In their words:
“Calvados Arrivée is a dual maturation of our lightly-peated spirit, initially aged in ex-bourbon barrels,and finished in first fill Calvados casks for 3 years. Calvados is an apple brandy specifically produced in northern France. These particular casks held Calvados for a whole decade.
A sweet, fruity, and elegant single malt whisky, bursting with fresh apple and vanilla custard notes, presenting our trademark rich mouthfeel, and a gentle lingering wisp of smoke.”
ONE CASK AT A TIME
Does the sound of a whisky distilled at Glen Garioch in the Highlands in 2011, followed by 15 years in a single ex-bourbon cask for “a warm, patisserie-led Chronograph of baked apple, vanilla cream and gentle spice” sound good to you? (52.1%, £125)
We’d already tried some of their single cask treats in the run-up to the festival such as their 15yr Jura – a great one for Oloroso fans (54.4%, £150) and an Ardmore that spent 16yrs in a single ex-Laphroaig cask (56.9%, £135) that took a lot of ‘sampling’ in its pre-festival review (just to be sure).
Part of the joy of a festival is trying gift or collection bottles before purchasing to ‘know’ that they are right for your investment. Your whisky club hosts are currently hoping relatives are thinking Auchentoshan 1998 when Christmas arrives!
Distilled at Auchentoshan in the Lowlands of Scotland in 1998 and matured for 26 years in a single oak cask, a fresh, fruit-led Pendulum release with a peppery finish. 146 bottles, 59.5% (£375)
THE WHISKY EXCHANGE
Second time caller to our Summer Festival, Billy Abbott returned with treats from their new range – ‘The Zodiac Series’. Nothing fishy about the one pictured (Pisces), a 10yr old Glenglassaugh from an Oloroso Hogshead bottled at 55.4%
In their words:
“A fruity and softly spicy whisky from Glenglassaugh, bottled for The Zodiac Series and exclusively available from The Whisky Exchange. This maritime-tinged whisky from Glenglassaugh, sat right on the coast at Portsoy, was our first choice to represent Pisces in The Zodiac Series. Hints of sea spray are joined by balanced dried fruit and spice, as well as Glenglassaugh’s classic soft fruitiness.”
WHISKY INDY LOVE
We love to support our festival cousins and Karl and his uncle brought teaser treats from their festival.
No idea what Neil is praying to receive but we definitely hope to find out when we do a club trip on Saturday 19th September to the Indy Whisky Festival in Newcastle.
FINAL BIG THANKS!
AMAZING VOLUNTEERS!
Checking people in, serving great drams, coordinating exhibitors is a challenging juggle so BIG THANKS to …
ETHAN
GEORGIA
NAT
.. for helping all day!
SPIRIT OF YORKSHIRE
When they found out we were raising money for St Leonard’s Hospice, Spirit of Yorkshire generously gifted not only one bottle for auction but also one for the tasting table for attendees to try. The bottle in question was their 10th anniversary release, celebrating their 10yrs of whisky production in Yorkshire.
The bottle run is 2016, and it contains:
“A marriage of ex-Bourbon and ex-Madeira casks from our earliest days through to 2023. Including from Cask 001, filled 14th June 2016.”
We tried it pre-festival (for research purposes) – and it’s a tasty dram; the Filey Bay backbone with added sweetness and an ABV of 49.9% which we reckon will please everyone.
RRP is £90 and if you buy at the distillery, you get a chance to sign their anniversary cask which is a lovely touch – if you pop down, you can see we have already scribbled our approval!