Isn’t this time of year just wonderful folks! Och aye, I just love it! Catching up with auld pals, spending quality time with the family, wolfing down all the mince pies and cracking open a fine dram by the fire. Mmmmmmm perfection! Now, there’s two sides to every coin and as much as I love the spirit of Christmas giving...

Loch Fyne Whiskies opened its doors in 1993 and quickly became a beloved fixture in the Royal Burgh of Inveraray, attracting drouthy visitors from far and wide in search of a special dram to quench their thirst. A quarter of a century later – though you’d swear I haven’t aged a day – and firmly established as a bit of...

Long time no see auld pals! I haven’t been doing too much writing lately what with the freezing cold winter here in Inveraray, but now that things have started to thaw a bit I thought I’d pick up the proverbial pen and get back to it! First up on my to do list: Campbeltown.

For peat’s sake! Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? The beautiful whisky mecca of Islay is home to eight operational distilleries, with another one in development at Ardnahoe, and the island is renowned for its peaty, smoky drams. While not all Islay drams fall into the smoky category, there is one that goes above and beyond...

Douro Valley: a sprawling majestic wilderness in the northern provinces of Portugal. Campbeltown: a fishing town on the Kintyre peninsula of Scotland. What do they have in common? Both are dedicated to the production of a quality beverage that can’t be produced anywhere else in the world. For Campbeltown we know, of course, of the great history of the Victorian...

We whisky folk are obsessed with being single. Sometimes single malt isn’t even enough, we need a single cask! Perhaps it’s a longing for the days of our youth. When I was a lad of 18 summers, before I met the future Mrs Hamish, I would run wild and free around Inveraray, dropping into the bar at the George whenever...

Ah it’s that wonderful time of year again! The birds are singing, the flowers are in bloom, that huge, mysterious fireball has been sighted in the sky over Scotland, and the shop is flooded with pilgrims on their way to the magical isle of Islay. The annual Islay Festival of Music and Malt got underway at the tail-end of last...

The Orkney single malt takes its name from the legendary creatures that would descend from the heavens on horseback to comb the battlefields for the bravest of the fallen warriors, taking the worthy few to enter Valhalla, the hall of Norse god, Odin.

I love nothing more than a wee courie up with a good book and a great dram. I have to admit that my 1999 New Year’s resolution to read more of ‘the classics’ hasn’t made as much progress as I’d hoped – War & Peace stands out as a major culprit – but I keep trying all the same. And...

We like to remind our Islay-loving customers that Inveraray is often described as the Gateway to Islay, and our Living Cask 1745 pays tribute to that title with an award-winning blend of Islay malts.