West Coast Whisky Trail

The Whisky Coast

Spirit of the West

Visitors from Near and Far Get a Taste of the West 

Photo & News Release 18.05.09

Visitors travelled from near and far at the weekend to the Spirit of the West whisky, food & culture festival.  The festival took place at Inveraray Castle and was a major event in the Homecoming Scotland 2009 Whisky Month programme.

The event, presented by The Whisky Coast, welcomed visitors from as far as Australia, USA, Canada and Japan and as near as neighbouring towns of Oban and Dunoon.  With only a few showery spells on Saturday, the sun shone for the majority of the event. 

The Food & Drink marquee quickly filled up as celebrity chef Nick Nairn demonstrated the art of cooking local Scottish meats and produce with west coast whiskies.  Shirley Spear from the well acclaimed The Three Chimneys restaurant in Skye joined Nick at 2pm for a highly entertaining double act.  The award winning Food from Argyll group, a collaboration of high quality food producers provided an array of mouth watering produce that satisfied hungry festival revellers, from locally sourced mussels to a good bowl of haggis, neeps & tatties.  The food producers included Loch Fyne Oysters, Bumble Puddings, Barbreck Farm, Inverloch Cheeses, Kingross Herbs, Eden Stovies, Winston Churchill Venison, Eat Bute/Taste of Bute, Henshelwood Fine Foods, Arran Dairies, Crystal’s Shortbread & Loch Fyne Ales. 

Scottish culture was in abundance with a line up of music, dance & drama.  Historical whisky trails & re-enactments from the local award winning The Walking Theatre Company told the story of whisky in its smuggling days.  The Red Hot Chilli Pipers did not disappoint as they kick started the event with a bagrocking opener.  This was followed by pipes & drums tribal group Clann an Drumma, the Lochgoihead Fiddle Workshop, Islay’s Norma Munro, whisky folk singer Robin Laing & the Taynuilt Gaelic Choir who entertained across the weekend.  The event was closed by the Inveraray Pipe Band who marched through the festival grounds with a show stopping performance, having just achieved Grade 2 at the Scottish Piping Championships the day before.  The Royal Society of Scottish Dance  presented the Homecoming Dance.  Family entertainment kept those of all ages amused.  The giant Scotsman, Big Rory and his big dog Ochie got up to no good with their mischievous games that entertained adults and children alike.  

Lovers of the amber nectar drew their attention to the range of whisky masterclasses that took place across the weekend, each run by whisky industry celebrities in their own right. The Dram Room proved to be the one of the most popular marquees as 16 world famous whisky distilleries from the west coast of Scotland united in showcasing a spectacular range of whiskies.   

The team behind Spirit of the West, The Whisky Coast, which is a collaboration of 16 whisky distilleries, 20 first class hotels and restaurants along the scenic west coast, marked their two year birthday last month and the festival has raised even more awareness of the region and the popularity of whisky tourism. 

Nicky Murphy, Project Manager for The Whisky Coast and Event Manager for Spirit of the West said: “We are delighted to have celebrated Scotland’s west coast culture with people from all over the country and the world. A huge thanks to all those involved in making the event a memorable experience.  Our thanks also go to those who travelled from near and far to celebrate with us such a remarkable part of the world.”

…ends…

Inveraray Marketing Group

 

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