It’s that cosy time of year, right between Christmas and Hogmanay, where you can snuggle down and take stock of the year so far – maybe work out some new year’s resolutions, or perhaps just pick your favourite moments from the year gone by.
Here are some of our favourite moments from 2017 from Scotch whisky’s Edinburgh home…
A visit from Claive Vidiz
In March 2017, we were excited to arrange an incredibly special visit from Claive Vidiz, the original collector of the World’s Largest Collection of Scotch Whisky, which is housed here at the Scotch Whisky Experience. Those of you who have visited us or taken a whisky tour will know that this incredible collection started as a gift of just six bottles of single malt given to Mr Vidiz when a Scottish acquaintance visited him in his native Brazil. It was fantastic to welcome Claive Vidiz back to Scotland to see the bottles in their Scottish home.
Meet the Blenders
Our annual Meet the Blenders event saw Master Blenders and Distillers from across the world join us for an exclusive evening of dramming and Q&A sessions with some avid whisky enthusiasts. An interesting, and often insightful evening was had by all.
The launch of our new tour areas
We were excited to welcome Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop and Chief Executive of Visit Scotland Malcolm Roughhead to enjoy our newly redesigned whisky tour and celebrate its official launch in 2017. The new tour elements are our Sense of Scotland room – a panoramic exploration of the whisky regions of Scotland – and our replica 1870s Blenders Room, complete with magical moving ‘holodrams’ and a succinct explanation of the blending process from our resident ghost Douglas McIntyre.
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is always a highlight of our year. Taking place at Edinburgh Castle just seconds’ walk from our front door, we welcome hundreds of guests throughout August for whisky tastings and dinners that are in keeping with the quintessentially Scottish experience of attending the Tattoo. An event that’s on many people’s bucket lists, an Amber Restaurant dining package with tickets to the Tattoo books up well in advance, but you can find your tickets here.
A Festive Taste of Scotland
We had a great time working with the team from Amber Restaurant to put together a Festive Taste of Scotland menu – a spin on our classic Taste of Scotland menu but with a Christmassy twist. Starting with a delicious winter whisky cocktail, there were three courses of delicious Scottish produce cooked to perfection, finishing with a mince pie and a dram of Dalwhinnie Winter’s Gold Highland whisky. Take a look at the Amber Restaurant menu here. We even shared the recipe for Butterscotch Pudding with Drambuie Cream here and you can take a look at our video of how to make this festive whisky ginger cocktail!
What’s been your favourite moment of 2017? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even LinkedIn, using the hashtag #MyMoment2017, we would love to hear from you!