Matt Bailey

The last two years has been something of a real fog. Time became meaningless, days melted into weeks, months into years, and that event you went to was suddenly not “the other month” but now closer to “that thing years ago”.

That’s certainly the case for me when I realised the Festival Casks were coming up again in 2022, and I thought to myself, “Wow, how that brings back memories of hosting the annual casks the other month in …. in… oh wait that was 2019!”. Back in May 2019, I hosted what would become an absolute career highlight for me in hosting the full festival tasting for guests at Islay House in Islay, something for which I’m eternally grateful for the UK team to have that faith in me to pull off!

“The festival spirit, even through a global pandemic, has been boiling under the surface, and members are keen to get back into it.”

And pull it off we did. It somehow all came together amidst all the madness. Stock was misplaced, glassware was in limbo, the venue ran out of napkins, the dining room was under construction, and the lower floor bathrooms had scheduled plumbing maintenance on the same day as their biggest whisky fair of the year. Timing! But in the end, it all came together: guests had glassware, whisky in said glassware, and a tremendous lineup that I’ll remember hosting forever. I won’t remember how much of it tasted however as I had the most ferocious head cold I’ve ever had and couldn’t smell a damned thing. Elsewhere in the surrounds of Islay House was the Highland games taking place with a bit of archery, stone put, tug-o-war, and a piper to add to the atmosphere and celebration. I can safely now say that my self-estimation of my archery skills has dramatically shifted since that day, and I can’t hit the broadside of a barn, let alone anywhere on the target. We could, however, host a whisky tasting, a nice look at the festival spirits we’d arranged for that year, and manage the mad rush we saw for casks out of our little tent on the day. The festival is so much more than the whisky. It’s the spirit of the place, a celebration of the regions of whisky production, the faces and places that are involved, the people who get around it, and of course that thrill of securing that rare and special release. You then get to take It home, share it with friends, and re-live that festival feeling over and over. For a long while, the festival fever used to just extend to the Spirit of Speyside and the iconic Feis Ile. Both are celebrations of the spirit from their respective regions and the music that went along with it, but in the last five years we’ve seen the Highland Whisky Festival, Campbeltown Malts Festival, and now Lowland Spirit 2022. As each festival carefully considers the dates it runs so as to not overlap or sabotage another one, you can literally spend your entire month of May in Scotland and travel around the festivals tasting through the local food, spirit, and enjoying the events that the SMWS and others host.

The festival spirit, even through a global pandemic, has been boiling under the surface, and members are keen to get back into it. These special offerings and casks that have been picked out by our spirits team and expert tasting panel are designed to celebrate each festival, each whisky region of Scotland, and share some incredible spirit around with some experiences to match. So for 2022 that’s exactly what we’re going to do: release all six festival releases and host special tastings, dinners, and experiences around Australia to match. We’re not needing to pick and choose which casks to get either: we’re getting them all. But that’s only really achievable by doing things quite different this year…

So where can you taste these various festival casks?

Various Partner Bars (check our socials)

Our festival virtual tasting with all 6 x releases for a very special evening

A selection of events expertly hosted by the SMWS around the country

For our May Outturn, we’ll be celebrating these festivals with the full release of every festival cask on offer this year, however, they aren’t single cask bottlings. Members who’ve been with the SMWS for a year or more may recall last year’s release of ‘Small Batch 8 Sweet, Smoked Salmon Jerky’. It was a 7 year old small batch of hand-picked casks all vatted together from distillery 10, meaning it was still a single malt whisky, just not a single cask. Not only was this a clear member favourite in the lineup, it also went on to win some rather prestigious awards later in the year across Europe and the USA. It was, by all accounts from members and panelists, the absolute gem in the lineup. For 2022 we’re taking that approach entirely. We’re showcasing a selection of festival casks, carefully and skilfully ‘vatted’ together by our spirits team with Euan Campbell and Kai Ivalo creating some truly harmonious bottlings, and we’ve picked up a very generous portion of each creation to share around this month to Aussie members.

It should also be worth noting we also have a tremendous selection of other goodies outside the festival Outturn on the site now, and in this Outturn. We’ll be releasing each festival’s offering by ballot, and staggered across the month at the same time as the rest of the SMWS worldwide, however, we do ask for your patience for your ordered bottles to arrive, as we won’t be able to ship these casks until around mid-July. Cheers, and happy festival season!

Matt Bailey ~ SMWS National Ambassador