SPIRIT OF SPEYSIDE WHISKY AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Chivas Brothers scored a double win at this year’s Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Awards.  Aberlour A’bunadh picked up the prize in the ’12 Years Old and Under’ category and The Glenlivet 18 Year Old came first in the ’13 to 20 Year Old’ class.  The ‘Over 20 Year Old’ category was won by Glenfiddich 30 Year Old.</p> <p>The Awards took place at the Knockando Distillery on the opening night of the Festival (Thursday, 28th April) and were presented by Festival Chairman Jim Royan.  Now in their seventh year, the Awards are firmly established as one of the most prestigious annual whisky competitions, and still remain the only malt whisky awards to be judged by the consumer at the final stages.

The criteria for the Whisky Awards are that all entrants should be single Speyside malts, proprietary bottlings only and must be ‘generally’ and ‘commercially’ available.  Fifty-two malt whiskies were entered into the competition earlier in the year, and the winners progressed through two rounds of blind tastings.Global Brand Director for Malts at Chivas Brothers, Neil Macdonald, commented: “To win two ‘best of the best’ awards at this esteemed awards ceremony is exceptionally flattering and really highlights the popularity of our malts with whisky lovers around the world.  What is great about the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Awards is that ‘real’ consumers decide the winners – and ultimately these are the people who are buying and enjoying our whiskies.” Jim Royan said:  “The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival attracts thousands of whisky enthusiasts from around the world each year who come to taste our whiskies, visit our distilleries and spend time talking about and learning about their favourite brands with other like-minded connoisseurs and experts. 

Speyside is known internationally for its wealth of quality malt whisky, and the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Awards gives us the opportunity to highlight some of the very best malts on offer in the whisky capital of the world.”

Notes:

– The dates for next year’s Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival are Thursday, 3rd-Monday, 7th May.  www.spiritofspeyside.com
– Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival receives funding from EventScotland and is also financially supported by many other private and public partners
– EventScotland is the national events agency.  EventScotland is working to make Scotland one of the world’s leading event destinations. By developing an exciting portfolio of sporting and cultural events EventScotland is helping to raise Scotland’s international profile and boost the economy by attracting more visitors.  For further information about EventScotland, its funding programmes and latest event news visit www.EventScotland.org
– The Year of Active Scotland is a Scottish Government initiative being delivered by EventScotland and VisitScotland which began on the 1st January 2011. For more information go to www.eventscotland.org/activescotland
– A series of focus years running from 2010 to 2013 will ensure co-ordinated national activity that will spotlight some of Scotland’s great assets as we journey towards 2014.  The four focus years are centred on domestic and international tourism and the development of the events industry in Scotland. These focus years will celebrate our reputation as a land food and drink, as an active nation, as a place of culture and creativity and as a place of natural beauty.
– EventScotland in partnership with Volunteer Development Scotland is delivering Event Team Scotland, a new web – based portal which matches volunteers across Scotland with exciting sporting and cultural events.  For more information please visit www.eventteamscotland.com
– Further media information and photographs from Caroline Keith at theKeithconsultancy on 01463 811000 or 07734 543923