Greetings Society Members, at last I have had time to sit down and compose the next
newsletter. Things have been a bit hectic here, not helped by the fact that I am going on
holiday for two weeks and am getting a bit excited!!!
Tours - this year saw a first for Springbank/Glengyle distilleries with 85, mostly Danish,
visitors from a ship taking part in a Premier Tour. They were split into 3 groups with each
group having a different starting point for their walking tour, incorporating a tour of both
Springbank and Glengyle distilleries and a tasting by Frank and Gavin in one of the
warehouses. Following their tour the group enjoyed a buffet lunch in the malt barn,
prepared by a very nervous Donald, although he need not have worried as everyone
thoroughly enjoyed the lunch and the unique experience. He assured us afterwards that
he is quite prepared to repeat this if asked.
OPEN DAY
Another successful day with a change of format for a few things this year. Frank kick
started the day by welcoming everyone to the Open Day and hoped all our visitors would
spend a pleasant day with us.
Jenny started off the events with a Springbank tasting and food pairing in the Tasting
room, using local produce as her accompaniments. This was followed by Ranald
masterclass, who held his, again seated class, at Glengyle Distillery in the filling store.
Everyone got to taste whiskies from the first six casks which were filled at the distillery
when it opened in 2004 - bourbon, Demerara rum, port, fino sherry, oloroso sherry and
madeira wine. They were also given a control sample of each of those drinks and had to
try and work out which whisky had come from which cask type. Only five people managed
to get them all correct and Ranald very generously gave them a sample bottle from one of
the casks as a prize!
Next in line was the Springbank Masterclass with Frank and Gavin in the malt barn. This
year they had set up a seated area for their Masterclass, with Gavin taking samples
directly from casks, this was indeed a very popular class with almost full capacity!
While the Masterclasses were in progress we had Campbeltown Brass Band sitting in the
sweltering heat of the car park playing their hearts out. They are always very willing to
come along and cheer us up with their rousing music.
Grant
barn. Grant had prepared a power point presentation, and I hope they were all paying
attention as he had spent some time in the preparation!! He had also asked “Pop” to
come along and regauge a cask during the Masterclass which I am sure everyone enjoyed
seeing. I hear he also had a wee surprise cask for everyone to taste which I am sure
went down very well.
All in all a great day for the “teachers” of the masterclasses and I am sure a fabulous day
for the pupils.
Also on offer were free distillery tours which again were very popular - the guides of the
day were Jim and Lea who were kept very busy - I don
lunch break.
Our popular local violinist Frank Rochford made an appearance in the afternoon to
entertain us with some lively music, as did one of our Society Members, Peter Ferguson
with the bagpipes.
The marquee was very busy, keeping Lisa and Julie on their toes all day selling from the
two single casks, the poor girls had to keep running in and out as our credit card machine
was playing up, but they must have been enjoying themselves as they just refused to take
a break. They were assisted by Ian and Robert who were the men of the moment, filling
from the all important single casks, labeling and capsuling the bottles to keep the girls
stocked up.
On Masterclass ticket sales were the girls from the J & A Mitchell office, Fiona, Jenna and
Michelle who took it in turns to man the ticket sales, while still manning the office.
This year we had fourteen local craft stalls, ranging from hand made cards, hand made
candles, wood turning, jewellery, hand made chutney, bath time cafe soaps, wood carving,
so a wide variety of stalls for everyone to browse. We also had food from Ifferdale Lamb,
Auntie Mo, MacMillan Smokehouse and Mull of Kintyre cheese.
In the afternoon Donald was offering afternoon tea and coffee and cream cakes in the
Tasting room for those who needed a wee walk and a quiet sit down - again a popular
venue.
At the distillery we also had tastings in the warehouse, hosted by Melanie, a new member
of the sales team. She had a very busy day and was indeed “thrown into the deep end”
but coped remarkably well.
Linda and Catherine were also very busy handing out free tastings of our CV Range, the
new Kilkerran WIP and of course the Open Day single cask bottles. They had a steady
flow of visitors all day giving their valued opinions on our new products.
Both John and Charlie were on hand all day to do any running about that was needed,
fetching and carrying tables and chairs and any other tasks set for them. Willing helpers
indeed.
In the evening there was a BBQ ruled over by Donald who shouted at anyone and
everyone, bossing us all about as usual. In the marquee we had a spirit bar set up and of
course Fyne Ales, who had been there all day, gladly stayed on until the very end.
Music was supplied by the Juvenile Pipe Band, a very popular choice, followed by music
from local artistes Dave Bissett and Davie Robertson who played and sang till the end. A
spooks tour was also on the cards this year, with Lea, Catrona, Ian, Derek and Amanda
throwing themselves into scaring the life out of us (assisted by Kenneth and Rhys). We
also had a group of young local dancers “Foot Notes”, performing Thriller as you emerged
from the dark warehouse into the sunshine. A very popular tour this year, demand being
so high they had to repeat it six times!!
A big thank you is due to every single member of staff who made the Open Day run
smoothly. They are all very willing to help wherever they can and just make things so
easy, a great “family” to work with.
We could not have asked for a better day for the Open Day this year, the sun shone from
morning till night and we all went home, eventually, exhausted but very happy that it had
been such a fun day.
Roll on next year!!!!!!!
ʼsʼs Masterclass was the last one of the day, at full capacity, again seated in the maltʼt even know if they had time for a
Open Day Bottles
We do have some Open Day Bottles for sale in the shop. There are a very few of the
Longrow and a few cases of the Springbank. The price is £50 per bottle, so if you would
like to buy any of these single cask bottles, please contact the shop direct as I won
here to answer your emails. The shop number is 01586 551710 ext 1.
ʼt be
Golf Competition
Not to be outdone by the Open Day, Friday the 25th saw our second Golf Open, this year
at Machrihanish, with the sun shining again from early morning. The entry for this year
had increased, a good sign, and hopefully will increase in popularity as the years go on.
The winning team were Olof Lundin, A Bengtson, B Edshage and L Regner, Second were
Don Greaves, F Greaves, A Reed and M Robertson and Third Finlay Wylie, John Biggins,
Angus Brown and Ross Robertson. A “special” prize was given to the team Ailsa De
Haas, J McIntyre and J McGeachy. The Longest Drive was won by Nathan Long and
Nearest the Pin by Ken Greig. I am pleased to say that last year
defend their title but sad to say they did not pick up any prizes this year.
The golf was followed by lunch in the Machrihanish Club House which I am assured they
all enjoyed.ʼs winners did come to
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