The STATE of SPEYSIDE
After the many disruptions caused by Covid throughout the last two years, tourists are beginning to return to one of Scotch whisky’s capitals as restrictions are finally lifted.
Though everything is not quite normal again – most distillery tours are still pretty restricted in scope – distilleries have begun thinking about how to move forward in 2022. Despite tour troubles, production largely continued as normal during the pandemic, and for many brands, sales of their products shot up as well.
The biggest sign of Speyside’s 2022 resurgence is that the region’s flagship whisky festival, the Spirit of Speyside, will be going ahead at the end of April with its plethora of tastings and events, after a delayed much smaller version was held in November of last year. Almost every Speyside distillery will showcase a variety of special tastings, events and unique whiskies for the return of this special occasion.
Since the last update on the state of Speyside in Whisky Magazine #178 (October 2021), here’s what’s been happening:
Aberlour
Unfortunately, the visitor centre’s shop for the Aberlour Distillery was broken into during the winter holidays, and thousands of pounds of whisky was stolen. It is similar to what happened at the Tullibardine Distillery during the summer of last year, amid a disturbing wider wave of Scotch whisky thefts that have been taking place around Scotland.
Beyond this, the distillery is not yet running distillery tours but is running tastings, and many
