Online whisky festival is toast of charity

DRAM lovers missing the annual Fife Whisky Festival took part in an online tasting which raised £1,000 for Age Concern Cupar.

The “Fae Fife” online tasting involved 40 whisky fans from across the country who sampled 10 nips from local distilleries.

Festival co-founder Karen Somerville said: “When we realised we wouldn’t be able to have our usual 700-strong crowd gather for the festival we decided to host the next best thing – a tasting from Fife distilleries.

“We always raise money for Age Concern Cupar at the festival with a raffle and we didn’t want them to miss out this year, especially when they need funding more than ever.

“The distilleries and our festival retailer, Luvians, kindly provided the whisky for us and we were limited to just 25 tickets, which meant we sold out in about three minutes!

“It was a great night and everyone had fun.”

Anne Ronaldson, manager of Age Concern Cupar, said: “We’re closed now, but are looking forward to welcoming people back for activities when we can, so this donation will make a big difference to us.”

Murray Stevenson, UK sales manager and brand ambassador at Lindores Abbey Distillery in Newburgh, said: “It’s a real honour to be part of an event showcasing the thriving industry of Fife whisky distilling which has gone from strength to strength during the past decade.”

The tasting session began with Lindores Abbey and Lady of the Glen, an independent bottler from Dalgety Bay.

They were followed by Kingsbarns’ Peter Holroyd with a live tour, before Francis Cuthbert presented a single cask whisky from Daftmill by Cupar.

A single malt from Eden Mill in St Andrews was followed by a taste of last year’s festival bottling of a 22-year-old Cameronbridge.

The finale featured four tasting samples from InchDairnie in Glenrothes and a presentation from distiller Scott Sneddon.