Icons of Whisky 2009 Awards Dinner - Sep 11th

Linda and I spent a very enjoyable evening as a guest of Whisky Magazine at the Auchentoshan Distillery for this years icons of Whisky Awards Dinner.

We were once again nominated for the Retailer of the Year with Multiple Outlets and Online Retailer of the Year and might I say we were in some fine company indeed

We had just earlier that day won a Gold Award for our Ben Nevis 1996 and a Bronze Award for our Braes of Glenlivet 18 years old, so I can console myself that we did not win the Retailer of the Year award....THIS year anyway ;-)   You can read all about our achievements in the Independent Bottlers Awards 2009 by clicking here

On arrival we were permitted some time to mingle in the Auchentoshan Bar to chat with our friends in the industry (new and old). A rare treat indeed was getting to sample the Auchentoshan Summer Gold Real Ale. Not available in the shops (yet?) this limited release ale is a light and fruity golden ale with a honey nose and a smooth hop finish. A rare ale, born out of the mash used to create Auchentoshan single malt whisky and hand bottled at the distillery. We really couldn't pin anyone down to say that this was going to be made available commercially but i certainly hope it is as it would be a fine addition to our range of Scottish Ales which you can view here Click the images for a larger view

We had a lovely time at the dinner sitting with Joe Morley from Paragraph Publishing, Donald Colville of Diageo and Susan Colville of Wemyss Malts (you'll soon see Wemyss Malts products in our online range I'm sure)

The meal was very enjoyable with each course carefully paired with a whisky from Central/Western Scotland

Starter: Wester Ross smoked salmon with prawn mousseline & oatcakes. This was brilliantly paired with the Longrow C.V. Its smoky essence perfectly enhanced the salmon we were all enjoying

Main course: Roast Sirloin of organic highland beef, shallot and rosemary jus, chateaux potatoes and vegetable lozenges. The succulent beef was paired with a Springbank 15 year old which has a much richer sherry influence that the Springbank 10 year old

Dessert (always my favourite): Chocolate and whisky marmalade tart with clotted cream. This was paired with an Auchentoshan Three Woods. An absolutely glorious dram and it was a perfect whisky to finish on considering our surroundings

When i first heard the order that we were being served these whiskies I did not think that it was not the best order - peaty Longrow, oily Springbank, triple distilled Auchentoshan. Given the choice I would have drunk them all in reverse order but fortunately when paired with the various courses it actually worked quite well

After dinner it was onto the awards which were presented as follows:

Whisky Distiller of the Year: Springbank Distillers
Whisky Ambassador of the Year: Gerry Tosh from Highland Park
Young Whisky Ambassador of the Year: our good friend Peter Currie from Springbank
Whisky Brand Innovator of the Year: The Edrington Group (Macallan, Highland Park, Famous Grouse)
Whisky Visitor Attraction of the Year: Auchentoshan Distillery (coincidence that this was chosen to be the venue for this evening?)

Distiller of the Year

Ambassador of the Year

Young Ambassador

Innovator of the Year

Attraction of the Year

Just click the photos for an enlarged view

We congratulate all this years winners and look forward to next year when we hope to add our name to the Icons of Whisky 2010 winners

Kind regards

Fraser Gilchrist

Robert Graham Ltd Est 1874
10-14 West Nile Street, Glasgow ,G1 2PP Phone: +44 (0)141 248 7283
194a Rose Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AZ - Phone: +44 (0) 131 226 1874
254 Canongate, Edinburgh, EH8 8AA Phone: +44(0) 131 556 2791