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Highland
Gathering
Yvonne McGregor
, Tayside Branch S cretary
After a year of researching and planning, February 2017
saw 64 IPA friends gather at the Duke of Gordon Hotel,
Kingussie in the Scottish Highlands for the Tayside
Branch Ceilidh Weekend. It was a truly International
Event with Members from Sweden, Germany, Ireland
and the four countries of the UK.
21
Members from the IPA Whiskey Forum
were in attendance,
this was the largest gathering of the Forum Members. David
and I hosted them in our apartment on the Friday evening
prior to dinner. It was a great opportunity for the Members to put faces to
names they ‘speak’ to on Face book on a regular basis. There was Whiskey
and Whisky aplenty to sample, including Swedish, German, Irish, Northern
Irish and Scottish.
David had donated bottles of IPA Whisky and Botanist Gin for a Lucky Dip
Draw which took place after dinner on Friday. The winners were Jackie
Muller and Isla Robertson, both from Scotland. £410 was raised for our
chosen charity, the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA).
One of our guests, Owe Nordin, from Sweden, celebrated his birthday and
very generously gave everyone a bracelet to exchange for a drink at the bar.
A very kind and expensive gesture. I later presented Owe with an engraved
Quaich and miniature whisky, from the Branch, for his birthday and the
support he has given our Friendship Weekends.
The evening entertainment saw several of us up dancing and a lot of
rekindling of old friendships and making new ones. A few of the IPA Whiskey
Forum Members burned the midnight oil over a few drams.
Saturday morning saw 39 of us visit a wee gem of a distillery, the Speyside,
which only produces Malt whisky. It is nestled in the foothills of the
Cairngorm Mountains and was originally a barley mill, it uses the millrace as
a source of water for the distillation and also to turn the waterwheel, which
is a feature in the Reception Room. The building where the 2 Stills are
housed was a labour of love, built by one stonemason using locally sourced
stone, over a period of 20 years. The distillery featured as the fictional
Lagganmore Distillery in the TV Series “Monarch of the Glen.”
The Members of the IPA Whiskey Forum thought they had died and gone
to heaven. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the tour and tasting delivered by
Sandy and Andy, the Manager and Stillman. They are the only employees
who produce the whisky. In allowing others to enjoy the whisky I must say a
big thank you to the drivers, Shirley Wright, Jackie Westwood and others who
assisted me in the shuttle service.
Saturday afternoon in Ghillies Bar saw our friends from across the Irish Sea
sporting green rugby shirts sitting on one side and the Scottish contingent
on the other side. There was also a group of ‘neutrals’ who stayed fairly
quiet as we sat and watched Scotland v Ireland in the Six Nations Rugby.
What a Game and the best team won with the Irish turning Green with envy
as the skills of the Scottish Team.
The timing couldn’t have been better, as when the final whistle blew at the
Rugby our Wine or Whisky Tasting began. Four bottles of Malt Whisky and
Five bottles of wine were available for sampling. During the tastings, Pete
Connolly announced that there were Two IPA Whiskey Forum Challenge Coins
available for a Silent Auction, the proceeds were to go to the IPA Charity, the
POLICE WORLD
Vol 62 No. 2, 2017
Article
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