Ah, what a great day in Edinburgh. Royal Mile Whiskies do the festival thing better than anyone else and it showed in the record time that the first day of their two day extravaganza sold out in: a whole eleven minutes! And no bloody wonder – they don’t mess about with anything other than tables full of whisky. That’s what we like to see. We don’t want pipers and coopers, we just want to try whisky and plenty of it!

A happy Fringer
I only attended the Sunday this year and as soon as I was in the door Ralfy grabbed me to take over the camera duties for his interview with Dave Broom in the Rum Chapel. Following that I had my first sample of the day which was a Foursquare 1998 vintage rum as recommended by Mr Broom. A belter it was too with tropical fruits followed by wood spice and a light dryness keeping the sweetness in check. One of the best rums I have ever tasted and I would happily recommend trying anything you can find from Foursquare. They also do a spiced rum that kicks the hell out of the usual suspects in that area.
But enough rum – let’s get on to the whisky! I’d heard a lot the day before about Duncan Taylor’s experiment with an octave cask and some Imperial whisky. They had a bottle of the before and after versions for us to try so I started at the ‘Before’. A pretty good start but I decided to leave the ‘After’ for…erm…after.

A relaxed atmosphere
I had spoken to Susan of Wemyss Malts on Wednesday at the Arran 14yo launch at Oran Mor on Glasgow and she had told me about their new gin which would be available to try over the weekend. Now, this is something that interests me right now due to another venture I’m involved in which will become apparent in the near future. Anyway, their gin is made from barley, and not grain, making it extremely drinkable without the usual tonic and ice. A sipping gin! Top marks to those guys and I reckon this will be a pretty good seller.
I then popped over to the Ardmorangie stand and tried some Sonnalta PX courtesy of my good friend Martin, with whom I always share some football banter. I’m a Celtic supporter and he’s a sheepshagging bastard. It’s all in good humour. The sheep don’t seem to mind anyway.

Berry Bros & Rudd Balmenach 1979
My attention was then turned to Ed on the Berry Bros. & Rudd stand. Now I have to confess to a bit of a love affair with Ed – no, not him personally but rather his wonderful bottlings which regular readers will see that I sometimes get samples of through the letterbox. They are, without a doubt, nothing less than superb. Not a bad one to be had. Today I tried his 1979 Balmenach and sure enough it was superb. Damn I love Ed. Don’t tell him, though.
Right, enough talking. Time for a half-time orange. How about a 1975 Miltonduff from my friend Ian Logan at Chivas? Sure! And what a cracker. I can’t say I’ve tried one before but this was a belter and I’m not just saying that because it’s the year I was born. Honest.
Back to the Wemyss stand for a malt this time. I was offered their 1990 Highland ‘Tropical Spice’ which I was told is a Dalmore. On the basis of this stellar dram I wonder why the owners can’t produce something this good themselves. Too much tinkering methinks! A new favourite. Yum!

Ashok and his Amrut Double Cask
Beside Wemyss I found Ashok manning his Amrut stand. I was warmly welcomed and offered a sample of his oldest whisky ever which is a seven and a half year old Double Cask bottling. You might find that amusing but it’s no laughing matter when you lose 60% of the whisky through evaporation by the time it gets to that ripe old age. You won’t be seeing a 10yo soon from them but on tasting this you don’t need to. This is easily the best Amrut I have tasted.

Big Peat and Big Jim!
After tasting the ‘After’ at the Duncan Taylor table and being unable to decide between that and the ‘Before’, I had a lovely old Caledonian Single Grain from Jan at Douglas Laing. At 42yo this was the oldest dram I had on the day and I really love these old grains. They stand up to any malt.
To Wemyss again for their ‘Sea Smoke’ Caol Ila ’84, Adelphi for a quick taste of their latest Breath of the Isles (always a great dram) and then I finished with a couple from Compass Box: Spice Tree (the new ‘legal’ one) and Lady Luck. Both delicious and a great end to the day. You’ll notice that I mostly stuck to the independent bottlers for the day which is partly because I have tried many of the distillery-own bottlings already and partly because they, for me anyway, are the ones putting out the more interesting drams. Nothing wrong with the normal bottlings at all, I just find a greater variety on the tables of the indie guys and I’m keen to support them when I can.
I took some notes on the event itself and how well it is run for my own festival in November and if it is even half as good as Whisky Fringe then I will be delighted. Fingers on the keyboard for next year’s tickets which will no doubt sell out even faster!

The Mansfield Traquair