Blair Castle welcomes the top tier of whisky world
Blair Castle was the scene of a magnificent banquet on Monday celebrating the spirit of Scotch whisky in sumptuous style.
Having been welcomed by the Atholl Highlanders, 240 guests from around the world came to be seated in the magnificent castle ballroom for the biennial gathering of the exclusive ‘Keepers of the Quaich’, a highly esteemed society for those at the pinnacle of the whisky world.
Keepers of the Quaich was founded by leading distillers and is an international society that recognises those that have shown outstanding commitment to the Scotch Whisky industry.
A select few are invited each year to be made Keepers of the Quaich, and for this they come to accept their medal at a ceremony at Blair Castle where the society has its headquarters.
The Keepers of the Quaich have a ceremonial Raising the Quaich in Blair Castle silver vessel measuring twenty four inches across and they also have their own tartan, based on a design of the 1700s.
The tartan features blue for water, gold for barley and brown for peat. Only Keepers of the Quaich earn the right to wear their tartan.
With guests put up at exclusive hotels like Fonab Castle, Killiecrankie and Gleneagles, the regular banquets held at Blair Castle bring significant revenue to Perthshire.