And the winner is ...

Last week, we launched a competition in conjunction with The Famous Grouse Experience.  The prize was a case (that's 6x70cl bottles) of Glenturret 10 years old single malt whisky.  The award winning Famous Grouse Experience is housed at the Glenturret distillery in the Highlands and the competition was part of the Experience's 10th anniversary celebrations which have been going on all Summer.

We decided to get you working for the prize, worth £180, and set the question of 'What is your best whisky related experience in the last 10 years?'.  We received some great answers and the final decision, which was taken between ourselves and a representative of The Famous Grouse Experience, was a difficult one.  However, one answer was the unanimous vote and that belonged to Steve Prentice from Taunton in Somerset.

Congratulations to Steve - we loved his answer, as was similar to our own experience of trying whisky for the first time.  His answer is below,

My wife and I got married a few years back, and decided to go to Scotland for our honeymoon. During the second week, we ventured up to Drumnadrochit/Loch Ness to stay in a cabin with marvellous views out over a forest. At this point I must tell you that I'd only ever drunk whisky out of my dad's drinks cabinet, and hated the stuff... I'm from the South West, strictly cider and ale only country!

Near the end of the holiday we went into the local village looking for a good meal and somewhere warm to relax for the night. We (luckily as it turns out) stumbled upon the Fiddler's Malt Whisky Bar. What an emporium! I was totally out of my depth and in awe of all the old looking bottles around the place, but I didn't have a clue what was what. We sat down and had a beautiful venison meal with some great local ales... but at the end of the meal I noticed various people taking whisky tastings.

With my interest aroused a little I decided that while in Scotland, what better time or place could there be than to try whisky properly. I asked them to go gentle on me and to select three well priced bottles to give me an idea of what I'd been missing. They talked me through trying their selections neat, and then adding a drop or two of water... it was a revelation! I left with a big smile on my face.

We went back the next night and did it all again, except this time I spent far too much money and came out with an even bigger smile on my face. I was already well and truly a 'peat head', although I hadn't quite realised it by then. On the long drive for home we stopped in Pitlochry, and on finding a great whisky shop there ended up taking 3-4 bottles home back to the West Country... and I've never looked back!

We hope that Steve enjoys his prize from Glenturret (especially as he will shortly have six bottles of it!) and when we contacted him he said,

"Thanks to the guys at WFE and the Famous Grouse Experience for such a great competition and prize! I'm chuffed to bits to win and to get to try a single malt that's new to me!"

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to write to us and enter - M&K.