Summerton Whisky Festival – Virtual

Happy Whisky Wednesday!

However, this post will be slightly different from other posts and I will admit that this will be a slightly longer post than normal.

Today’s post is on The Summerton Whisky Festival

About The Summerton Whisky Festival

The Summerton Whisky Festival is organised by The Summerton Whisky Club and every year a whisky festival takes place down in the centre of London.

The Summerton Whisky Club was founded in 2018 and their aim is to deliver exceptional whiskies from around the world to your door.

Now, I am not actually an official member of this Whisky Club but I was keen to take part in it.

Due to the lockdown, the festival down London was cancelled, however, after scouting on the Internet I found the Summerton Virtual Whisky Festival which I had to sign up to.

Signing Up

The event was published through Eventbrite and the cost of this Virtual festival just came to £30.00s, I thought what a bargain!

I mean I didn’t know what to expect because it was all going to be virtual, on the other hand, I was really looking forward to it!

The countdown clock began!

Delivery Arrives

Now, I don’t know if any of my followers are the same as me but I love it when you have a special delivery on order.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received my pack, there were loads of treats inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Virtual Set-Up

At a normal whisky, beer or any type of festival you have to travel to the event, preferably by Public Transport!

Like me and you, the first thing you will want to do is visualise where you are and take in the complete atmosphere of the people you will meet at the event.

The most important reason though is to sample a variety of different products, from drink to food!

A virtual set-up though is totally different, it has that strange vibe because it’s literally you in the room, there are no people to mingle with, the only piece of equipment you have is a laptop and your samples.

This was my set-up on the day, it did feel extremely weird at first but as the event went on I did get used to it all.

12pm

Kick-off time commenced and we were all greeted by Dan Humphrey who was the main presenter of the event and he just made a brief explanation on how the event would run.

The programme was all split into different parts including:

• Whisky Sampling
• Whisky Talks by Ian Wisniewski – Who in my mind was very knowledgeable and was keen to express how whisky should be served
• Cocktail Making – This is something new to me, I’ve never made a Cocktail before but Isobel has insisted that I should make one for her one day, I best get learning haha
• Live Music – You can’t hold a drinking event without any form of music entertainment, I was happily singing away on some of the songs.

Whisky Time

1st – Ex Bourbon – 51.8% ABV – The Bimber Distillery – This Whisky was only provided to the first 750 who signed up to the event, I was pleased when I found out that I had a sample in my pack!

Anyway, I’ve actually done a post on this whisky which you can read by clicking on Ex-Bourbon above!

This whisky was golden in colour, there were pleasant fruity aromas with hints of caramel and vanilla.

The tasting was a succulent orange with a fiery spicy kick at this point I had to add some whisky water just so that the kick could be diluted, the whisky became much sweeter.

Rating – 4/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the whisky of the day I was very happy with it indeed!

2nd – Island Hopper – Scalasaig – 43.0% ABV – Even though on the bottle it had a picture on the bottle of a boat, Scalasaig is actually named after a village in Colonsay in Scotland.

The appearance was a deep brown colour and the aromas were absolutely tremendous, it was heavily peated and sherried.

A fine peppery and smoky taste which led to a malty bacon aftertaste, it was also slightly wooded on the aftertaste as well.

Rating – 5/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was an amazing whisky, I fell in love with it straight away, the aromas just made it drinkable, it was perfect and very appealing.

3rd – Campbeltown – Glen Scotia – 52.8% ABV – Glen Scotia is one of the many leading brands of single malt scotch whiskies.

Campbeltown is an amber coloured whisky which is heavily peated, just like the Island Hopper.

Hints of fresh raspberries on the palate with a mixture of spices.

The aftertaste was completely sweet and fruity, it was a summer drink, a terrific tipple to indulge in after a warm sunny day.

Rating 4/5

 

That’s 3 whiskies so far and all of them have been amazing.

4th – The One – Lakes Distillery – 46.6% ABV – The Lakes Distillery is a new distillery that I’ve come across, it’s called The Lakes because it’s situated in the heart of The Lake District, what a beautiful place to put a distillery, I would love to have a trip out there when it’s safe.

The one is amber in colour and provides a strong sulfuric aroma which I didn’t like sadly.

However, through sampling, there was a superb tangy and honey taste which I loved so much, this taste made things slightly smoother for my palate.

The aftertaste was remarkably herby and peppery, the sweet tastes had vanished and been turned into an unsatisfying aftertaste.

At this point, I decided to add water and this worsened the whisky, it made it harshly fiery, this whisky wasn’t for me sadly, I was disappointed!

Rating – 2/5

 

This wasn’t the One after all sadly, I was happy before tasting, but my mood changed, on the plus side though there were still plenty of other whiskies to sample.

5th – Hinch – The Time Collection – 43% ABV – This was halfway point of the festival now and it was time for the next sample which was an Irish Whiskey.

Hinch is a golden coloured whiskey with a sweet and caramel aroma, it was absolutely divine and beautiful.

On the palate, it was slightly herby and the whiskey had a surprisingly bitter finish.

I also decided to try some water with this whiskey and this brought a new flavour of black pepper along with the herby finish, this was a perfect pairing.

Rating 4/5

This whiskey was extremely moreish, the bitter finish was appetising.

At this point into the festival, I completely forgot to carry on taking pictures!

6th – Single Malt – Lambay Whiskey – 40% ABV – This was the second Irish Whiskey to feature in the event.

Amber in colour with fruity flavourings, delicious tropical fruits on the palate with a pineapple and orange after taste.

Rating – 4/5

7th

Small Batch – Lambay Whiskey – 40% ABV – The final Irish Whiskey of the event!

Golden amber in colour with a cherry aroma which was pleasingly exquisite.

The taste was a remarkable caramel and honey and to finish there was a wonderful hint of ginger.

All in all, not a bad whiskey!

Rating 3/5

7th EFVA – Mackmyra Distillery – 46.3% ABV – This was the penultimate distillery and I was starting to feel slightly tipsy at this point, luckily water helps.

A golden whisky with a fruity aroma, the fruitiness then carries on into the tasting which then is replaced by caramel and honey on the finish.

Rating 4/5

8th Fjallmark – Mackmyra – 42.0% ABV – This whisky was the 2nd dram from the Mackmyra Distillery after this there were only sadly two whiskies left to taste.

The same as EFVA this whisky was golden in colour and there were some pleasant flavours of caramel and syrup.

The taste was completely different to the aromas, the whisky has become a lot more fruiter, it felt like the recipe has magically changed.

The aftertaste though reverts back to the existing aromas which were caramel, syrup and also a hint of honey.

Rating – 2/5

There was too much going on in this whisky, too many different combinations of flavours, this didn’t appeal to me, it was all too confusing!

9th – Northland – Wolfburn Distillery – 46% ABV – This was the second to last whisky to the end of the event.

Northland is amber in colour with a strong aroma of sulfur, on the palate, there was honey and caramel which felt exactly the same as the Fjallmark.

The aftertaste was frantically peated with a herby and spicy finish!

Rating – 3/5

Again this whisky was too overpowering with flavours, the spiciness at the end didn’t really help.

10th – The Final Whisky

Movren – The Wolfburn Distillery – 46% ABV – This was the final whisky and like most things, you always want it to end on a high.

A golden and amber coloured whisky with a sweet sulfur aroma.

The tasting was excellent with caramel and honey, however, the aftertaste let the whole whisky down again it was too spicy and had flavours of chilli, not nice at all.

Rating 2/5

Summary of Festival

As I mentioned at the start of this post it was going to be a long one and I have tried to make it as concise as possible.

On the other hand, I just wanted to say what a fantastic Virtual Whisky Festival this was, it was amazing and was organised very well.

Majority of the whiskies were good, but there were some that weren’t that brilliant.

However, there is an overall winner and my recommendation to all of you is that the Island Hopper by The Scalasaig in my mind was the best whisky of the event.

If you have ever tried the Island Hopper, please let me know what you thought to it!

Now, that I’ve done one virtual festival, I would love to do another event like this again, it’s different but the value of money was amazing.

Cheers to that!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this reading this post, I’ll look forward to any comments you have, but for now, Stay Safe and Take Care.

The Cask Connoisseur