The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival – A Brief History

As a whisky enthusiast, May has to be my all-time favourite month of the year. Not only is it light until gone 9pm, it’s also much warmer, things are turning greener, and people generally seem happier. The main reason why May is may favourite month, however, is because there are so many whisky celebrations to look forward to.

May sees World Whisky Day taking place on the third Saturday of the month, along with Islay’s Feis Ile whisky festival, and the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival as well.

Now, if you’re familiar with the blogs here at Great Drams, you’ll know that I recently covered Feis Ile, along with World Whisky Day. Well, now it’s time to cover The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.

What is the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival?

Taking place each year in May, usually around the first weekend in May, The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival is one of the largest whisky festivals in the world.

The festival lasts six days and consists of a number of different events across Speyside – one of Scotland’s largest and most significant whisky-producing regions.

Having first began in 1999, the festival has gone from strength to strength and now features well over 500 events stretching across the Moray/Speyside area. Here, lucky visitors will be able to visit a number of Speyside’s most iconic distilleries, including Glenlivet, The Macallan, and Glenfiddich. During these visits there will be ample drams and samples on offer, guided tours, tasting sessions, and more besides.

Along with the distillery visits/tours, the festival also features a number of other events, including live music, craft fairs, art shows and exhibitions, fine dining, food and drink, markets, dance, storytelling, and a plethora of other historical and cultural activities that celebrate the gorgeous region of Speyside, and its rich and storied history with whisky.

Photo Credits: Spirit of Speyside

From Humble Beginnings

It’s hard to believe that the festival is now more than two and half decades old, as each time you visit it feels like an annual tradition that’s been taking place for hundreds of years.

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival doesn’t have as much of a history as Feis Ile over on Islay, but nevertheless, it’s still a very prominent whisky celebration that has grown into one of the largest in the world, from very humble beginnings.

The festival was initially created to celebrate not only the amazing whisky produced in Speyside, but the gorgeous region itself. Speyside is home to around 51 working distilleries as of this writing, producing over 60% of Scotland’s single malt. The festival organisers wanted to celebrate that and offer an insight into whisky production in the region, and what it means, not only for Scotland, but the whisky business in general.

As the years have passed by, the festival has gone from strength to strength and is now considered one of the premier whisky festivals in the world. It’s one which many-a-whisky aficionado such as myself, counts down to with eager anticipation. Here, thousands of people, not just from the UK, but from all over the globe, visit each year to celebrate all that Speyside, Scotland, and single malt whisky have to offer.

Considering that many of Speyside’s distilleries are well over a century old, on top of the Speyside Whisky Trail proving so popular amongst tourists and whisky drinkers alike, it’s hardly surprising to see the festival doing so well, and we here at Great Drams love that.

This year, the festival begins on the 30^th of April and runs through until the 5^th of May. We hope to see you all there for what will surely be another fantastic whisky festival.

If you’d like to learn more about your favourite whiskies, or simply treat yourself to a dram or two in the process, head on over to GreatDrams.com and take a look at what we have to offer.

With an impressive selection of limited-edition, rare, and award-winning whisky, as well as heaps of whisky info on our blog, it’s the perfect spot for any whisky lovers out there.

Tags: the spirit of speyside whisky festival

Greg

My name is Greg, and I’m a brand strategy consultant, writer, speaker, host and judge specialising in premium spirits. My mission is to experience, share and inspire with everything great about whisky, whiskey, gin, beer and fine dining through my writing, my brand building and my whisky tastings.