Whisky festivals are great. Not exactly a hot take but they can be looked down on by some. Surrounded by lots of like-minded people, with plenty of interesting and excellent whisky (and other options) to try, and numerous clever, witty and knowledge of people serving said drams. They allow whisky enthusiasts and novices the chance to try exclusive bottles, rare drams, and unusual and creative whiskies, alongside the more everyday options, whilst showcasing the best that the whisky industry has to offer.
Now I’m not some sort of whisky festival master, but the Whisky Fringe event held in Edinburgh is becoming a firm favourite of mine. Hosted by Royal Mile Whiskies over 3 days during the famous Festival Fringe, it allows some of the best, biggest and boldest whisky brands to show off their latest (and occasional unreleased) selections. This year’s event had 53 exhibitors across 3 spaces, with all regions of Scotland and multiple different countries taking up residence for the weekend.
We attended on Saturday and on one of the few sunny days we’ve been blessed with this “summer”, Mansfield Traquair was looking splendid in the Edinburgh sunshine. It almost feels a shame to have spent the day inside a beautiful church (the location is definitely one of the factors that makes the Whisky Fringe unique) but once you enter the door, get handed a programme, a nosing glass and a pen (not branded for my collection unfortunately), you soon get over the fact you’re indoors.
Now 4 hours of drinking exceptional whisky might sound like either a complete joy or a massive undertaking depending on your persuasion, but it has to be taken seriously. Many of the options available are cask strength and can be over 60% ABV, and the occasional measure can be liberal (not that I’m complaining), so not pacing yourself or not having plenty of water and food can lead to disaster. But take your time, mix up your options and drink plenty of H2O and you’re in for a belting time.
After all our hours tasting whisky, what did we like? Well to be honest, I’m not sure we had a bad dram all day. Sure one or two didn’t live up to expectations, but that happens. Now I’m lucky, my brother is far more in touch and up to speed with the options available, so I just followed him about like an excited puppy for most of the day and reaped the rewards. A subtle masterclass on his part was to save the peaty options for later in the afternoon when they made the biggest hit to our senses and the smack in the face (in the best way) delivered by the Ardbeg options certainly kicked us on for the day. Ardbeg is actually not a whisky I’m overly familiar with, but both options we had were first class and has my spiked my interest for further research (in the name of the blog of course). Their Ardbeg Experience set-up in the South Chapel was spot-on too, with the opportunity to learn more about the world of smoky whiskies available to those who wanted to take a bit of time to step aside from the hustle of the main hall.
His other masterclass was signing was up to the actual masterclass. For the first time, the event had “Two Glass Masterclasses” running across all 3 days where for a very reasonable add-on price, you got to try two additional whiskies and get to hear a bit more of their background in the North Chapel. We lucked out by deciding to attend the Interbev session where two 25-year-old whiskies, an Old Pulteney and a Balblair, set a very high standard. It was a shame that the volume and clarity of our host wasn’t a little better, but we got enough out of the short experience to be very pleased we made the decision to take 20 minutes to experience the masterclass.
This year also saw the inaugural inclusion of a dedicated American Whiskey Zone, a novel idea that seemed to be a hit given how the full the room was. I was a tad out of my comfort zone given my lack of knowledge of American whiskies, but after a very enlightening chat with the host from Uncle Nearest (the back story is one to go and read up on), I had an absolutely fantastic dram of their Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Whiskey. The other options looked top notch too, and we could have spent considerably more time just in that room.
But other exhibitors called and so answer we did. I’m not going to list all the ones we tried or visited but we had some top-notch chats from a wide range of knowledge people at almost every stall and plenty of great information about the whiskies on offer. At an event of this nature, with whisky selections of this calibre, it’s hard to go wrong.
It would be remiss of me however not to mention a couple of favourites. We had more than 1 visit to Glen Scotia and every dram was superb with the 21-year-old being a strong contender for the best of the day. The Kilchoman options were exceptional too and I enjoyed hearing more about their 100% Islay whisky. Decadent Drinks caught my eye immediately with their elaborate bottle designs, and the Ledaig 29 Whisky Sponge had far too much going on for me to not try it (being a Mull boy makes it hard to miss the colourful buildings of Tobermory whenever you see them) and I was suitably impressed.
And of course, what about the half time orange? The standout attribute of the Whisky Fringe is the ability to try a special, hand-picked whisky from a range of the exhibitors half way through the proceedings. I went for the Glenfarclas 30, a tremendous, and thoroughly popular, option. Again, hard to go wrong in this setting, but when you get it right, you come away very smug indeed. And I was certainly smug after that dram.
There we are, a short set of thoughts on the fantastic Whisky Fringe event in 2024. It is certainly a highlight in my whisky calendar, and if you haven’t been before, I could not recommend it more. There’s more than enough stalls and whisky to satisfy any taste or flavour profile preferences and there’s plenty of opportunity to get outside of your usual whisky selections. It’s also great to see a mix of established and new distilleries and independent bottlers, and to hear about new happenings across the industry. Here’s hoping I can get a ticket for 2025!
Sean black - Freelance writer 