Review / Caol Ila 13 years old Fèis Ìle 2023 Edition

This whisky is the annual limited edition bottling for the Fèis Ìle festival from the Islay distillery of Caol Ila. The Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2023 Edition is released at 13 years old and has been matured in ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry seasoned casks. These casks were selected by Sam Hale, the Distillery Manager at Caol Ila, and his warehouse team. It is bottled at the natural cask strength of 60.4% ABV and will cost £185. The new whisky will only be available at the distillery visitor centre until sold out. It was released to celebrate the Caol Ila open day on Monday, May 29. The exact number of bottles was not revealed in the press release.

Review / Lagavulin 14 years old Fèis Ìle 2023 Edition

This new limited edition single malt whisky is this year's bottling for the annual Fèis Ìle festival for the Islay distillery of Lagavulin. The Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2023 Edition is bottled at 14 years of age and has been matured in American oak and European oak barrels before a finishing period in ex-Armagnac casks, which were sourced from France. This is the first ever expression of Lagavulin with such a finish. The casks were hand selected by Jordan Paisley, the Distillery Manager of Lagavulin. It is bottled at the natural cask strength of 58.4% ABV and will retail for £220. The Lagavulin 14 years old Fèis Ìle 2023 Edition is on sale from today at the distillery to celebrate their open day. 

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (May 5, 2023)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. 

Review / Ardbeg Ardcore (Ardbeg Day Edition)

This new whisky is the annual Ardbeg Day bottling for the Feis Ile festival on the famous whisky island of Islay. The 2022 offering is named Ardcore and has been inspired by punk rock music. The whisky has been produced using rare black malt, which is a first for Ardbeg, and takes the spirit in a dark, fiery and feisty direction. Ardbeg Ardcore has been developed by Dr. Bill Lumsden, the Head of Distilling & Whisky Creation at Ardbeg. The whisky was officially released on Ardbeg Day (June 4), which traditionally brings the Feis Ile festivities to an end. There will be two versions of Ardcore - a cask strength version for Ardbeg Committee members (50.1% ABV) and this Ardbeg Day Edition at 46% ABV. 

Review / Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition

The third day of the annual Fèis Ìle festival is always Caol Ila Day. Each year the event takes place on the famous whisky island of Islay. Each distillery on the island hosts a special day and release a limited edition whisky to celebrate.The Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition is bottled at 15 years old. It has also been matured in re-fill American oak ex-bourbon hogsheads and finished in virgin American oak barrels. 

There are just 3,072 bottles and these are released at the natural cask strength of 55.2% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. It is on sale from Caol Ila Day (today, May 30) onwards. As Caol Ila is currently closed for major refurbishment, Caol Ila Day events will be held at the nearby Islay House instead. Bottles will be on sale there on a first come first served basis, at Lagavulin distillery and via www.malts.com. A bottle will cost £165.

Review / Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition

Today is Lagavulin Day, the opening event at the annual Fèis Ìle festival on the famous whisky island of Islay. Each distillery on the island hosts a special day and release a limited edition whisky to celebrate. Lagavulin is always the first which makes this even more exciting. The Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2022 Edition features casks selected by the distillery team including new Distillery Manager, Jordan Paisley. 

The whisky was initially matured in re-fill American oak ex-bourbon hogsheads, before being finished in virgin American oak barrels. It has been released at 12 years of age and there are just 6,336 bottles in the batch. It has been bottled at the natural cask strength of 57.7% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour.

Inbox / The Week's Whisky News (May 6, 2022)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday. Within Inbox we aim to write a few lines detailing each press release/piece of news/PR event that we have received and provide links, where possible, for you to find out further information. 

Fèis Ìle 2018 - The Anticipation

Watch out Islay, here we come ...

The annual Fèis Ìle is upon us again. The world descends on the famous whisky producing Hebredian island of Islay for a week of events, whisky and music. Matt is amongst them and will be reporting back at various points during the week.

________

This will be my fourth visit to Islay and my second to the Fèis Ìle. I am lucky in that the world of whisky takes me on numerous trips to numerous distilleries, but few compare to Islay. The island is a true Mecca for whisky lovers and they visit in their thousands for this one week of malt and music.

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 - 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.