Crieff gathering held in the spirit of friendship
The Famous Grouse Experience at Glenturret Distillery has forged a partnership with distillers working inside the Arctic circle ... writes Melanie Bonn.
Hailing from the most northerly distillery in the world, the team from Norwegian-based distillery Aurora Spirit visited the Crieff tourist attraction to gain an insight into how to run a successful whisky visitor focal point and produce small batch whisky on site.
The visiting craft distillers produce whisky, gin, vodka and aquavit under the name Bivrost and, since first coming to the Famous Grouse Experience on a fact-finding mission, have been swapping skills, ideas and successes.
While Glenturret whisky is made entirely by hand, Aurora Spirit uses the latest technology.
Aurora Spirit is situated on a Fjord, on the site of an old underground NATO base that once tracked Russian submarines coming over the top of Norway.
The water for its whisky comes from glaciers and casks are stored in long tunnels drilled into the hillside and underground chambers.
Colin Houston, one of the founders of Aurora Spirit, who also grew up in Oban, explained why his team contacted the top Scottish attraction.
“The whisky industry has always been close to my heart and I had met with Lesley at The Famous Grouse Experience prior to Aurora Spirit’s