Fortuitous Stumblings - The Whisky Fringe

The Whisky Fringe is not a dodgy haircut you might give yourself after a wee bit too much of the water of life.

Edinburgh in August is host to one of the largest Arts Festivals in the world. The Whisky Fringe was part of it this year.

If you are interested in the background read on, if you'd rather go straight to the tasting notes, scroll down to Tastings.

Edinburgh's Festivals

Edinburgh in August does not have just one festival, but three major festivals: The Edinburgh International Festival, The Fringe Festival and The Book Festival, not to mention the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. This year alone there more than 50,000 individual performances.

In short, if you like anything to do with the Arts, Edinburgh is a great place to be come August. Edinburgh is a great city, come Festival time it's amazing.

The Edinburgh International Festival got going after the Second World War, when many of Europe's cities had been bombed out. From the outset it attracted performers and artists of outstanding quality and ability from all over the world.

Soon after it started, individual artists and smaller theatre companies started flocking to Edinburgh at Festival time. They found their own venues in pubs,clubs and church halls and put on shows in the hope of being noticed by the critics and money men who were also in Edinburgh at Festival time. This supplementary festival became known as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, because it took place on the margins or fringes of the main International Festival.

Today, 'The Fringe' is considerably bigger than the International Festival and many think it is the Edinburgh Festival. Many talented artists and entertainers, particularly in comedy were discovered in Edinburgh: Peter Cook and Dudley Moor, much of the Monty Python team, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Eddie Izzard to name but a few.

The Whisky Fringe

What has this got to do with whisky I hear you asking? Well a number of years ago Royal Mile Whiskies decided to get in on the act and in the best traditions of the Fringe, they hired a venue and put on a their own 'show', whisky related of course and they invited all the whisky producers they could think of to come and offer samples of their wares.

I went to a couple of Whisky Fringes back in the early days and then it seemed to disappear. Fringe events come and go, that's the norm, so I thought not much more about it apart from the occasional reverie - that Whisky Fringe, that was a good thing, I wonder whatever happened to it?

Anyway, I found myself walking down Broughton Street on a fine August afternoon and I see people milling about outside the Mansfield Church that was, and I'm going...hang on a minute that's where they used to have the Whisky Fringe..I wonder..so I went up and asked and indeed it was. So popular has it become that they no longer bother advertising, tickets sell out within minutes of going on sale.

I don't suppose there'd be any tickets left then? I asked with a mixture of hope and apprehension, adjusting myself to the notion of an unexpected afternoon of whisky drinking...

The Mansfield Church

A wee bit about the venue..

The Mansfield Church I have to say is a fine venue for whisky drinking. A Church?? I hear you say, aye, but a deconcecrated church.

The story I heard was that it was owned by a Christian sect who managed to convince themselves that the Lord was coming back next Tuesday. So, having no further need of material possessions, they sold the place for a tenner (ten pounds). It's a good story, I don't know if it is true or not. Anyway, it was abandoned and used as a store room for many years until it was saved, restored and given a new lease of life as a venue and center for Scotland's voluntary organisations.

In it's former life as a Kirk, it was decorated by Phoebe Anna Traquair. Here's some pictures from the interior.

She came back.

...'You're in luck' she said, 'we've had a couple of returns.' 

So in I go some what bemusedly and unexpectedly, my wallet thirty quid the lighter, tasting glass in hand, into what has been described as 'Scotland's Sistine Chapel', dedicated, for this afternoon at least, to celebrating another kind of spirit.

Tastings

The Whisky Fringe program states -

'Our intention has always been to broaden people's knowledge of whisky in a convivial and relaxed atmosphere.'

And also -

'..behave in a responsible manner. It only takes one numpty to ruin it for everyone. Don't be that numpty.' A 'numpty' is a good Scottish word for a turnip, generally used to describe an idiot.

With over 200 drams there to sample, the program recommends you to try 'no more than five or six', striking the right balance, as always with whisky drinking, is going to be part of the challenge.

The sample measure is about two sips, which I thought was a nice idea that could be adopted by some of the more touristy pubs, allowing people to sample a range of whiskies. Scottish drinking laws however, probably wouldn't allow it.

The crowd seems mostly made up of Scots. Meaty Scots I would call them on the whole, not the thin artistic types I've been seeing at other Festival events. I am a bit on the meaty side myself (although my soul, I like to think, is the thin artistic type).

Chivas Regal 25 year old

Chivas is not a whisky it would ever come to me to look for or ask for in a pub in Edinburgh. It's a blend and we tend not to go for blends. I remember it from a wedding I attended in Chile and indeed Wikipedia tells me -

'It is the market leading scotch whisky 12 years and above in Europe and Asia Pacific.'

Owned by Pernod, Chivas' home is the Strathisla Distillery in Speyside. The 25 year old is a limited edition blend of whiskies aged 25 years old or over. The price is around £165 ($300) a bottle, so I won't be buying a bottle any time soon.

In my own tasting notes, I describe it simply as a smooth Speyside. Chivas, if it is for sale in Scotland (I didn't have the courage to ask!) is not heavily marketed or promoted and I hadn't looked at the price tag.

I was just getting started, but it came across as just a descent Speyside.


The Feathery

The Feathery is again a malt blend, taking it's name from the early golf balls, which I believe were stuffed with feathers. The Feathery is produced by the Spencerfield Spirit Company which is a Fife based company and seems to be mostly a  blending and marketing operation (and nothing wrong with that) producing it's own label gins and whiskies.

I was drawn to their stand by their award winning 'Sheep Dip' brand, but somehow got swayed onto The Feathery. Sheep Dip along with Fettercairn were the two favorite drams of the shepherd on the farm where I grew up. On a cold April lambing afternoon, I'd occasionally get treated to a dram. For me, whisky memories don't come much better or whisky endorsements much higher.

My tasting notes for The Feathery - A blend, very smooth, orangey, almost a liqueur. I am hesitant to call it a woman's whisky, for men can be delicate souls too and vice versa, but perhaps a whisky for someone who doesn't like whisky; a gentle introductory whisky, or a whisky for the non whisky drinker.


Ledaig

Ledaig is a Single Malt produced by the Tobermory distillery on the island of Mull. The Tobermory Distillery, the only distillery on the island, produces a non peated malt, The Tobermory and a fairly heavily peated malt, The Ledaig.

Tasting Notes -

Sharp and peaty, quite soft on the nose, of gun rooms and wet dogs, sharp and earthy, gunpowder, think Lapsang Souchong.



Glenmorangie

I was drawn to the 12 year old Quinta Ruban which had a beautiful rich orangey colour. The whisky is matured for ten years in American white oak casks before being transferred to Port 'pipes' from the Quintas estate in Portugal. The trick is, the man said, to not allow the delicate flavours associated with Glenmorangie to be overwhelmed by the stronger flavours of the port.

Tasting notes - The nose is very delicate and definitely a 'whisky nose'. Actually difficult to find anything of the Port. Strong in the mouth (without added water). Orangey, spicey, peppery. Not that exited about it.

Compass Box

I am an old fan of Compass Box whiskies. The Asyla had been a discovery and one of my favorites at a previous Whisky Fringe.

The Whisky Fringe ticket at £30 includes a £10 voucher off a £40+ bottle of whisky. I eventually, after humming and hawing over four whiskies I didn't know, opted for a bottle of the Compass Box Spice Tree, which I am now quietly sipping of an evening at home.

Compass Box are a London based company (we won't hold that against them too much) that produce a range of blended whiskies. I had great chat with their representative Greg Glass.

Grain whiskies can be made from any grain, whereas malt whiskies must be made from malted barley. Additionally, Scottish malt whisky must be made in a pot still, whereas grain whisky can be made in a column still (a column still produces greater alcohol per volume, but a less flavourful spirit).

Traditionally, when all Scottish whiskies would have been peat dried, Scottish whisky, all Scottish malt whiskies, would have been peaty and heavy and would have been mixed, or blended, with grain whiskies to reduce that heavy flavour.

'Generally blends today have a bad name and are coarser whiskies, but there is no reason why a blend can't equal in quality a Single Malt. It is to do with the ingredients used; use a rough whisky and you'll get a rough blend. Grain whiskies can add a lightness to a heavy malt, a hint of vanilla and of tropical fruits.'

Greg Glass - Compass Box

In all I tried three of Compass Box's whiskies.

Great King Street - Artist's Blend

I can't seem to find my notes on it, but I remember not being overly impressed. A nice bottle and at £22.50, one of the cheapest whiskies here, so perhaps not bad for the price.


The General

A feature of the Whisky Fringe is the 'Half Time Whistle', a whistle blows and the producers whip out one bottle of something really special. The General was Compass Box's special whisky, one of the few remaining bottles of a blend of two 'thirty years plus' single malts of unknown origin. It was lovely; a lovely long sweet nose of caramels and cigars, sweet and relaxing to swallow.

The Spice Tree

The Spice Tree was my take home bottle, so I've tasted it in a different way from any other whisky mentioned here. It is a blended malt whisky, non chill filtered and aged in virgin French oak. The casks, which are made to order, are composed of new French oak for the heads and used American oak for the bodies. The malts used are ' all Highland single malts, primarily from the village of Brora' (this would hint at Clynelish, which is not a whisky I know).

Tasting notes - Sweet liquoricy, spicy as you'd expect, but not unpleasantly so, oily, smooth. Not exceptional in flavour, but a pleasant relaxing dram.


At this point in the afternoon, I was reaching my limit; although it is only two sips per whisky, there's only so many you can or would want to taste in an afternoon. In the interests of research and balance, I decided to give a couple of the more peaty whiskies a go.

Talisker

Talisker is owned by Diageo. It is the only malt from the only distillery on the beautiful island of Skye, Highland home of my heart and a distillery I've actually visited (with my dear friend Dave Martin)...it's going to have to be pretty poor for me not to like it.

Talisker is 13-17 parts per million phenols from peat smoke, as compared to 50-60 ppm for Islay malts. 'Just peaty enough for some people', I am told. I try the Talisker Storm, which describes itself as a 'no age statement whisky'. I find it peaty yes, but still light and refreshing, so living up to the 'just peaty enough' description.

Laphroaig

Laphroaig seems to be owned these days, or at least stabled within, another large marketing concern called Maxxium UK ltd, a UK business based in Sterling.

At their stand I tried the Laphroaig Select where the man insisted, when I asked how old it was 'it's no aboot the age'. It is a triple wood aged whisky from Islay, finished in small sherry casks (so therefore more contact with the wood). It has a fruity nose and is surprisingly more woody than peaty, tastes of gunpowder/Lapsang Souchong. Quite dry, very nice, surprisingly refreshing.

Old Pultney 21 year old

To finish off, a dram of the Old Pultney 21 year old, an old favorite of mine. I bought myself a bottle for my birthday several years ago, having read in a newspaper that it had been rated the best whisky in the world. I like an evening dram, that's how I tend to rate and enjoy my whiskies. It didn't disappoint then and it doesn't disappoint now..it brought me peace. My favorite whisky to date.

Tasting notes - Soft and fruity nose, slight pepperyness  on the tongue - gives you a sense of peace and a warm after glow.


There was also a rather forlorn man in the corner trying to interest people in what were probably some fine Rye whiskies and a dapper, well mannered Japanese man with samples of Hakushu and Yamazaki whiskies. He was being harangued by two kilted Scottish numpties, but coping reasonably well with it. I might of tried one, but I can't remember.

For me that was enough for the day and it was time to get back out into the sunshine.

Ranking by taste

(1)   Old Pultney 21 year Old
(2)   The General from Compass Box
(3)   Spice Tree from Compass Box
(4)   Laphroaig Select ('It's no aboot the age!')
(5)   Talisker Storm
(6)   The Feathery
(7)   Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban
(8)   Chivas Regal 25 year old.
(9)   Ledaig
(10) Great King Street from Compass Box