Whisky Tourism - The Impact On A Scottish Island.

* This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post UK on 13/7/17. 

Whisky tourism is nothing new to Islay. It is home to eight distilleries that are known the world over and is relatively accessible for a Hebridean island. A two-hour ferry ride from the mainland or a short 30-minute hop from Glasgow by plane gets you there. But how does the island cope during the annual Feis Ile, a week that celebrates the island’s music, heritage and single malts?

Many malt fans see Islay as the ‘Mecca of whisky’ with large numbers visiting on their own personal pilgrimage. However, Feis Ile takes things to a very different level. Islay’s population of just over 3,000 almost trebles for a week as the whisky pilgrims flock there from all four corners of the globe to join the festivities. How does an island’s infrastructure cope with such a sudden influx?

Review - Ardbeg Kelpie

The Kelpie is this year's limited edition single malt from the cult Islay distillery of Ardbeg. Each year a special whisky is released annually to celebrate Ardbeg Day and the distillery's participation in the Feis Ile festival. The whisky is named Kelpie after the mythical shape shifting creature that legend says inhabits the sea near to the distillery and occasionally comes on to land to terrorise islanders.

Kelpie has been produced by Dr. Bill Lumsden - Ardbeg's Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation & Whisky Stocks - and some of the whisky included has been matured in rare Black Sea oak casks. The wood for these was sourced from the Adyghe Republic in Russia.  This has then been married with Ardbeg matured in traditional ex-bourbon barrels to create the final expression of Kelpie.

Review - The Feis Ile 2017 bottlings

For the last week, I have had the pleasure of being on Islay for my first taste of the annual Feis Ile festival. The festival is a celebration of the island's culture and music, but most importantly its whisky. Whisky is engrained in to Islay life and its distilleries are known the world over, mostly for their unique smoky and peaty flavours.

Every year at the festival each of the Islay's eight single malt distilleries have an open day. Part of this involves releasing a special limited edition bottling that are only available to those attending the distilleries during the festival.Demand is normally very high and sees whisky fans queuing up at distillery gates in the early hours of each morning to make sure they secure a bottle.