TL; DR: After a long pause we are back with some report of our recent whisky festivals between the end of 2025 and 2026: Dornoch, Funky Booze, Fife and Independent Spirits. All different from one another, but all great occasions to taste a few good drams with good people around! 

Well, that was a long break, wasn’t it? Our last post was over a month ago, but we hope that you had great drams to keep you company in our absence! This was the longest pause we took from the blog since we started blabbering about whisky and distillery tours back in August 2021. But it was for a good reason, as March was a very busy month for both of us, especially on the whisky side. We attended two whisky festivals, which we’ll talk about in this post, we visited two distilleries, and we did a very special thing that we’ll write about in a few weeks here on the blog: definitely a reason to stay tuned!

So, to get cracking with today’s topic: whisky festivals! As we wrote in other posts, we weren’t right into this from the beginning of our whisky journey. For people like us, who started really appreciating whisky during trips off to quiet and isolated places, the idea of getting into a noisy room full of jolly people was not so alluring. It didn’t take us long to change our minds: these events can be full of energy and enthusiasm, and on top of the great drams you have a chance to try, the banter with friends and acquaintances is the real deal! We still haven’t approached any of the big ones, like the Glasgow Whisky Festival or the Whisky Show in London, but we might go soon. The largest one we’ve been so far is probably the nearby Whisky Fringe (what a venue)!

A festival we finally made it to last year was the Dornoch Whisky Festival, back in October 2025. It got to the tenth edition and, at least since we learned about it in 2022, it has been held every year towards the end of October. In previous years it was a bit too close to the Dramathon, so never an option for us, but last year we decided to ditch running, and go to this festival instead. The festival is held in a marquee in the gardens of the Dornoch Castle Hotel.

While the Grand Tasting is the main event (two sessions, both on the Saturday), the whole weekend is full of tastings and other events, at various locations in Dornoch. We arrived on the Friday evening, after a nice but overpriced tour at Glenglassaugh, and the first event we attended was the Ardnamurchan dinner at the Castle Hotel: 4 courses accompanied by drams, selected by Ardnamurchan/Adelphi’s Carl. The dinner was exquisite, and the choice of drams impeccable, including two soon-to-be-released expressions (the 10-year-old and the Heritage Barley). We stayed in the Dornoch Campsite that is barely 10 minutes from the main festival venue on foot. Thus, after a big breakfast, the next morning we went to the Castle Hotel for the Grand Tasting. The marquee was a bit open, but it wasn’t unbearably cold, and definitely not too crowded, which gave us time for better chit-chats with the exhibitors. Most of them were small independent companies, although we were surprised to find Clynelish too. The lovely ladies at their stand told us they try to go to as many local events as possible, which is remarkable considering the size of the company they work for. The 18-year-old Special Release was one of the best drams of the day, just a shame the too salty price tag (£180). Other stunners were an 11y Mannochmore from Lady of the Glen (single bourbon cask), and the White Peak (soon to be released) Wireworks Chevalier Barley. After the session, we took a break and went to Cocoa Mountain for a delicious chocolate. In the evening we attended a busy whisky bingo, which was a lot of fun!

A much younger festival is the Funky Booze, at its second edition only. It is organised by our friend Francesco (Spirit of the Glen), and we volunteered at both editions, in 2024 and this year (2026). It is held in the Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh’s Old Town, and the big difference to other festivals is a funk music band playing. It is a great addition to the atmosphere, and very welcomed by the punters (except a few “grumpies” who didn’t read the description and then complained because the music was “too loud” …pish!). It’s organised in two sessions with some masterclasses, and while smaller, a lot of great producers (not just whisky) and independent bottlers attend the festival. Nice and buzzing! Location and concept are great, this festival has great potential to attract a different than usual whisky crowd.

Then it came the unmissable Fife Whisky Festival, held in Cupar and wonderfully organised by Justine (Kask Whisky) and Karen, usually in early March (but this year was on the 28^th of February). It was our 5^th edition in a row, you can tell we like it! This year we skipped the opening dinner on the Friday evening at Lindores Distillery and took the train to Cupar on the Saturday morning. As usual, it was great to see so many distilleries and indies from all over Scotland and beyond.

We were volunteering, but we had time for drams, mostly towards the end. The Tri Carragh Lochindaal 16 (from Bruichladdich distillery) was a great treat, and the first Aberargie release was also very interesting! This year the Sunday events were organised by the producers, so the choice was plentiful: tours at Inchdairnie and Aberargie, blending session at Kingsbarn, and warehouse tasting with Fib’s Whisky or Lady of the Glen. We did the latter, as last year we liked it a lot, and again it didn’t disappoint: the Aultmore finished in a rum cask and the Finglassie (peated Inchdairnie) in a refill Madeira cask were exceptional!

The last one we attended was only a couple of weeks ago, again a new one at its second edition: the Independent Spirits Festival. Being held just round the corner from us, at the magnificent Leith Theatre, it’s a no-brainer for us. It is mainly organised by David Stirk, with Roy from the Aquavitae Youtube channel also heavily involved: because of this, a lot of our barfly pals attended, so it felt like a great party! Last year it was preceded by the screening of a 4-episode documentary about independent bottlers, filmed by Greg Swartz and the crew behind The Water of Life documentary. This year was the same, but the theme was from Field to Flavour, focusing on the farm distilleries that grow their own barley (or some of it), like Bruichladdich and Kilchoman on Islay, Arbikie in the East Highlands, Daftmill in Fife and Spirit of Yorkshire (guess where…). It was followed by a Q&A banter-y session with Francis from Daftmill and Joe from Spirit of Yorkshire (that we’d met there as well).

After a pause that gave us enough time for a quick stop at Pala and Peter’s Food Hub to fill our stomachs, it was time to go back to the festival. Again, mostly small producers and independent bottlers, some of which we’d never heard of yet (despite our efforts to keep up to date with things!). We had a great time, but the best part was to hang out with our friends and acquaintances, both in front and behind the stands, so much so that we finally didn’t even make it to the Signatory nor the Gordon & MacPhail stands…hopefully next time.

Two well established whisky festivals, Dornoch and Fife, and two newbies with a great potential. Overall, we think we probably hit our sweet spot with these four – not overwhelmingly big or crowded so that you can still chat to exhibitors without too much stress, and with relatively more focus on independent producers and bottlers, which gives the opportunity to taste unique, weird (in both good and bad ways), or hard to find drams. Basically, whisky enthusiasts’ heavens. Four festivals every year (plus sometimes the Whisky Fringe) feels like enough, but at some point we might branch out and explore other events – there are so many, we’re spoiled for choice! Where to go next?

Stay tuned for some distillery adventures! Until then, slàinte!

PS: from this post onward we’ll share them on Substack too! Our profile is very new, check it out at https://substack.com/@drammingaround

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Whisky Festivals

https://dornochwhiskyfestival.com/

https://www.instagram.com/funkyboozespiritfest/

https://www.fifewhiskyfestival.com/

https://www.independentspirits.co.uk/

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