SPIRIT OF THE SPEY ~ Feel it on the River; Taste it in the Whisky; Hold
it in your Heart
Filming with the BBC and ‘Whisky Awards’ dram-tastings for
‘starters’, my main involvement for the remainder of the Speyside Whisky Festival
(@spirit_speyside @dram2013) was in the introduction of Festival visitors to
the ‘True Spirit of the Spey’ ~ facilitating open canoe journeys from either Carron
or ideally, if time allowed, Knockando to Craigellachie with, at the journeys’
end, a full whisky tasting in my tipi ~ now standing proudly, as if it had
always been there, nested beside Mr. Telford Bridge by Craigellachie
After a cosy night in the tipi, as the day dawned I had
enjoyed a chilly dip in Spey waters and al fresco breakfast. Just as I finished
off sorting out canoe-kit for the Journey and arranging whisky expressions for
the end-of-trip tastings, my clients began to arrive.
As I expected my group members were from abroad ~ a charming
young couple from Minnesota visiting the Festival as part of their honeymoon and
the others were lovely chaps from the Netherlands ~ a country, which as well as
producing many tulips from Amsterdam, appears to cultivate a huge number of
home-grown malt-whisky aficionados.
It was a fine morning and, because none of the group had
anything planned for the afternoon, it was decided we would travel upstream to
and launch at Knockando Station ~ first named Dalbeallie Station before it
became Knockando in 1925. Now, with freshly painted platform buildings and
signal box, plus newly installed station signs proudly display the station’s
name in modern times ~ ‘Tamdhu’.
When we arrived to launch our canoes at Knockando Estate’s
Station Pool, the station area was a hive of activity. Vans, lorries parked and
After a short
session of ‘land-drills’ in terms of stroke practice, my intrepid paddlers set
off downstream, having to immediately avoided
With their new found skills my team managed to give Archie a
wide berth and move past under the watchful eye of the long since (sadly)
redundant Knockando distillery pagoda. Round the bend at Craigsteel ~ another
boat anchored in ghillie Davie Anderson’s Long Pool. Once again my rising stars
glide skilfully by, causing no alarm to ghillie or client.
A few squeals were heard coming from the honeymooner’s canoe
as they moved swiftly over and sometimes through the turbulent but fun waves of
the rapid know as ‘Millionaires’ (... no, I don’t know!).
In years gone by I would bring to the attention of my
paddling clients the ghostly, imposing shape of the brick-built Imperial
Distillery looming high above us river-left. However, the spooky building,
which would have served well as an ‘end of the world’ movie location is not
longer with us ~ demolished over the winter period just past. The corner
‘watch-towers’ have gone. Only the stone-built bonded warehouses remain
standing, making way for the new, state-of-the-art distillery soon to be built
by Chivas Bros.
After picnic lunch
and a wee dram by picturesque Carron Bridge, we were once again on the water,
heading past Aberlour, onward to the tipi, keeping safe our range of whiskies
to be sampled ~ including the Speyside Whisky Festival Award Winning Balvenie,
Doublewood 17 y.o. After their exertions on the water, the tasting session was
great enjoyed by intrepid paddlers on Day 1 of my 3 river-days of the Festival.
Although as a pre-curser to the ‘main-event’, my filming with
the BBC and attending Whisky Awards over the previous day and a half, the ‘Formal’
Festival is kicked off by a grand opening dinner ~ this year held on evening of
May 2nd in The Glenlivet distillery.
Situated in the heartland of whisky distilling, steeped in
folklore of illicit stills and whisky smuggling, Glenlivet is one of those
places which would remain as a hidden quite Scottish backwater were it was not
for its iconic status world-wide as a distillery producing fine malt whiskies. (The
Glenlivet 25 y.o. being awarded high praise at this year’s Speyside Festival.)
Attended by many of the Festival guests, local dignitaries
along with many well kent faces from within the industry, it never ceases to
amaze me how a working distillery ~ in effect an industrial production unit ~
can be transformed into a plush banqueting venue. The Festival Directors, The
Glenlivet management and Opening Dinner partners are to be congratulated on
their fantastic work in producing such a wonderful evening of delicious
cuisine, fine wines and great drams.
(To be continued.)
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