Tag Archives: Haggis

What is the Best Single Malt to Go with Haggis?

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Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2018 Wrap-up #1

Over a dozen festivals we at The Whisky Shop Dufftown, courtesy of our guests at Spirit of Speyside Whisky festival, have been trying to answer this life-affirming question.  Each year we pitch 3 new contenders against the reigning champion from the previous festival to see which one wins and goes forward to the next contest.

Haggis, neeps and tatties

The winner is decided upon by guests attending our haggis and whisky tasting who vote for their favourite in a blind tasting.  We have collated the votes from all of the tastings we held.  Counted them.  Checked them again.  And ensured there was no outside influence.

We can now formally announce the results:

4th - Ben Nevis 10 Years Old (4)

3rd - Glenfarclas 10 Years Old (1)

2nd - Glen Scotia 15 Years Old (3)

1st - Tomintoul 15 Years Old Port Wood Finish (2)

  • The number in brackets denotes the place of the whisky in the order of the tasting.

Glen Scotia 15 had been the winner in many many beautiful tastings previously and was pipped this year by Tomintoul 15 by just 1 vote!

62 people took part and we thank them for their kind support.

The Whisky Shop Dufftown Autumn Festival - The Best Malt for Haggis

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At this year's Whisky Shop Dufftown Autumn Festival we have been continuing our search for the best single malt to go with Haggis.  Neepies and Tatties were also provided as these are expected but it is the Haggis we are focusing,

The champion from The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2014, Aberlour 15 Select Cask went up against three new challengers: Singelton Tailfire, Glendronach 18 Port and An Cnoc Flaughter.

For the first time ever we have had a dead heat, both Glendronach 18 Tawny Port and Aberlour 15 Select Cask where clear outright winners.  These 2 whiskies will go in to the next competition at The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2015.

Glendronach 18 Port

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aberlour 15 Select Cask Reserve

The Whisky Shop Dufftown Food and Whisky Pairings

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Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2012 Blog 2

During the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival this year we ran a cafe & bar at the venue for our tastings.  Not only did this serve much needed sustenance to festival guests but also helped us continue our experiments with food and whisky pairings.  We looked at bacon rolls with 4 whiskies and Haggis with a different 4 whiskies.  Guests were treated to the way the whisky and food combinations change the flavours of both, emphasising some flavours in the food and the whisky and also creating new ones!


We were delighted by the number of people who chose to take part and the fabulously positive response to our whisky and food tastings. Some guests had not done this kind of thing before and where blown away by the whisky and food experience.

Bacon

Brave breakfast festival guests were asked to sample a bacon roll with 4 different whiskies and faced with the challenge of choosing their favourite.  The whiskies chosen by Mike Lord were all distillery bottlings: Cragganmore 12, Glen Elgin 12, Singleton of Dufftown 12 and Benromach 10.  The bacon was unsmoked and guests were asked not add sauce – this is serious stuff.  The clear winner was Cragganmore 12.  This was a treat for those that tried the tasting and a great way to start the festival day.

Bacon Roll and a Dram

Cragganmore 12 Years Old

Haggis

During the lunch time period we switched our attention to Haggis, Neeps and Tatties.  (For those of you wondering neeps are swedes and tatties are potatoes.)  The focus was on pairing the Haggis with Clynelish 14 (as suggested by the Classic Malts website), An Cnoc 12, Aberlour 16 and Benriach 10.  Whisky and Haggis is a particularly good combination with the spices in the Haggis working well with the whiskies.  Again there was a clear favourite – Aberlour 16.

Aberlour 16 Years Old

Haggis, neeps and tatties

It’s Down to You

With each whisky and food combination there was not one pairing that some people did not vote for as their favourite.  This shows again that there are no hard and fast rules with whisky and the only way to find your favourite is to try it for yourself.

Special Thanks

We would like to thank the Dufftown Lodge and their wives and friends for running the cafe and serving spectacular food during the festival.  Particular thanks go to Yvonne Smart whose help, cooking and good humour were the backbone of the cafe operation.

Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2012

The Autumn Speyside Festival

For anyone coming to the Autumn Speyside Festival and wishing to attend our events at The WSD Autumn Festival 2012 then it is more than likely than tickets for our events will only be available from our website.  There will be no change for the Spirit of Speyside Festival 2013.