Festival organisers will bring a taste of the event to your home this April.
Scotland’s biggest whisky festival, the Spirit of Speyside, will go virtual this April after announcing it has had to push the full event back to November in a bid to ensure it can go ahead in 2021.
Bringing together some of the region’s most loved distilleries, the festival organisers are hopeful that the event, which would have been celebrating its 21st year in April, will be able to go ahead in person on November 3-8, providing it is safe for everyone to travel at that time, based on Scottish Government advice.
Instead of celebrating in person from April 28 to May 3, festivalgoers will find a series of online events to participate in, with a full programme set to be announced in the coming weeks.
Events confirmed so far include a tour of one of Scotland’s newest distilleries, Dalmunach Distillery, from master distiller, Alan Winchester, an exploration of Benriach’s World of Flavour and new portfolio with global brand ambassador Stewart Buchanan, and a whistle stop virtual tasting tour of malt whisky country with The Malt Whisky Trail.
The decision to postpone original plans for the 2021 festival reflects the
quickly-evolving situation as a result of the new variant of the Covid-19 virus and current recommendations from the Scottish Government to restrict public gatherings and travel as a preventative measure.
James Campbell, chairman at The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, said: “Given whisky lovers won’t be able to come to Speyside for our annual festival this April, we
have decided to take the festival to them until it is safe for visitors to return to malt whisky country hopefully later in the year.
“We can’t wait to welcome new and returning visitors from the UK and further afield to this beautiful part of the world. In the meantime, we hope that our online programme of events in April will lift everyone’s spirits and give people a taste of what to expect from the festival in November. We will then revert back to our traditional date in 2022.”
The full programme of virtual events will be listed on www.spiritofspeyside.com and will be available for preview on March 11, 2021.
Tickets will go on sale online on March 16, 2021.
