A year by the Spey
The world was already changing rapidly as our April 2020 edition landed in readers’ mailboxes. That issue’s Scotch Whisky Magazine supplement, which was dedicated to Speyside, began with a focus on the world’s largest whisky festival, the six-day extravaganza that is the Spirit of Speyside, which had been due to begin just a few weeks later. By the time readers began turning the pages, however, the show was cancelled and the whole industry reeling. For a business that thrives not just on our consumption of its fine spirits, but also on the vast distillery tourism sector and in-person engagement with consumers at events, the cancellation of the festival right at the start of the pandemic was an unsettling bellwether of things to come.
Gone were the tourists, from the whisky geeks to the poor, dragged-along spouses. Quiet were the tour guides with their oft-repeated, but still amusing tales. Shut were the doors of these most famous of distilleries – as for how long, nobody knew. Similar questions hung over production, bottling and many long-planned whisky launches. Uncertainty was surely there in the early days of the pandemic, but, in true north-east style, the teams at distilleries both small and large dug in. They changed their model for reaching consumers, brought the experience to our homes and adopted a ‘digital first’ approach to communicating with whisky lovers far and wide.
The last year has had its distractions for us all, though, so one would be forgiven for missing some of the releases, innovations and experiences that landed during the pandemic. Now that things are opening up and there’s more opportunity to meet with our whisky buddies, here is a round-up
