Raise your glasses, it’s Whisky Month in May

Date : 28/04/2014

With whisky tourism contributing £30m to Scotland’s tourism industry annually, it’s worth getting up to speed with what’s happening during Whisky Month and investigating whether you can improve your customers’ experience by understanding more about whisky events, tours and trails, its heritage and how to enjoy it.

Whisky Month is part of the Year of Homecoming 2014 and there’s a host of special events taking place across Scotland designed for everyone from the novice to the aficionado. They include:

• Festivals – the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival, The Home of Whisky Festival in Perthshire, Highland Perthshire Whisky Festival in Pitlochry, Islay Festival of Malt and Music, Glasgow’s Homecoming Whisky Festival, Spirit of Stirling, and The Angel’s Craft at the Eden Brewery in Fife
• Food – food and whisky combine at events at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh, the Loch Fyne Food Fair at Cairndow and the Gordon Castle Highland Games
• Performance – there are whisky-themed theatre productions, storytelling events and talks taking place at theatres and distilleries across Scotland
• Wildlife – The Orkney Whisky Wild Side, an appreciation Highland Park, the whisky and the environment which shapes it.

You can get full details of all the Whisky Month events taking place this May on the VisitScotland website.

It’s World Whisky Day on 17 May. People across Scotland and the world will be invited to enjoy a dram and supporters can sign up to host their own events.

Could you host a whisky tasting or offer customers a free whisky? Perhaps you could host some live music or offer a special whisky-themed menu?

Find out more at www.worldwhiskyday.com

Whisky tourism contributed £30 million to the Scottish tourism industry in 2011 and in 2010 around 1.3 million people visited the 52 whisky visitor centres and distilleries open to the public. (Source: Scotch Whisky Association).

The Scottish Visitor Survey, commissioned by VisitScotland and conducted over 2011 and 2012, found that 20 percent of visitors surveyed visited a whisky distillery.

So, even if you’re not directly involved in the whisky industry or close to a distillery, it’s a fair bet that your customers enjoy a dram.

Do you have information to hand about whisky trails, tours, tastings and other whisky-related events? Do you stock a variety of local or speciality malts?

Would your customers appreciate finding information about whisky visitor centres and distilleries on your website? Could you link to whisky-related events?

Being able to talk knowledgeably about whisky and how to enjoy it can really add to your customers’ experience. You and your front of house team could take a tour of a local distillery to learn more about your local malt, find out how it’s made and how to drink it. 

Visit www.scotlandwhisky.com for comprehensive information about whisky distilleries, tours, festivals, hotels, bars and shops, plus a useful online guide to whisky tasting.

There’s a complete list of all Scotland’s distilleries on Wikipedia.

Go to VisitScotland for details about the Speyside Malt Whisky Trail.

The Bowmore distillery has a handy online step-by-step tasting guide.