Our 21st year passed by in a blur of wonderful whisky and events. At Whisky Galore we have always enjoyed the clarity that reflection on the year and whiskies gone by gives us, and the perspective it provides for the year and whiskies to come. We are looking forward to what the next 21 years will bring.
We hosted two whisky tours, one in April, when Alex Bruce MQ of Adelphi and Ardnamurchan joined us for a six centre tour which sold out in a couple of days and was a huge hit. Ardnamurchan is truly on the map now and folk are totally besotted with it and Adelphi of course is in high demand as ever.
Then in the Spring, Ciara Hepburn from GlenAllachie came out for a five centre tour and again, this sold out in days. The GlenAllachie again has found a ready market and the Meikle Tòir was in huge demand and quite rightly so, a masterpiece from Bill Walker MQ.
A huge number of formal tastings were conducted by Whisky Galore in 2024 of which almost half were outside Christchurch, with events held in Invercargill, Queenstown, Dunedin, Geraldine, Methven, Blenheim, Nelson, Wellington, Martinborough, Hastings, Rotorua, Hamilton, Taranaki and Auckland, I hope I’ve not missed one.
We had a great reception with some of our single cask bottlings, such as the Bunnahabhain and Daftmill, which proved exceptionally popular and the Kilchoman range this year is in great demand. We are looking forward to a new year of old favourites and new and exciting releases.
So we are into 2025 and what will it bring? Well, DramFest is at the end of February, and the team and I are already on calls and planning trips to source and look to what is interesting, and what will spin all our wheels in whisky terms as the year progresses. We already have some star drops arriving for DramFest and others we are looking to for the shelves as the months progress.
At a tasting at the start of the year in 2015 when Single Malt Scotch was looking in shortish supply I was asked the question when will that come right. My prediction was in 2025/26 and I think (unusually) I might be right, the new distillers of the 2012’s to 15 are coming of age, the established had upped their production 10 to 20 years ago and we are about to benefit from a very large choice from the ever increasing Loch of Whisky, and yes there are folk out there making outstanding drams, really outstanding and lots of them.
So our cups so to speak are about to runneth over!
Thank you for your continued passion, support and interest in the “Nectar” and all the best for a cracking year of drams in 2025.
Slainte,
Michael.