Introduction
Like I did last year, I’m going to be following blogs and tweets, living vicariously through Feis Ile festival-goers. Feis Ile is the Festival of Malt and Music, taking place the last week of May each year on the island of Islay in Scotland. As long as I’m following along, I figure I might as well post my findings here, providing an index for others who might be interested. I’ll update this post periodically throughout each day of the festival.
Feis Ile resources
- Official Feis Ile website – Overview; festival and distillery programs; etc.
- Islay Weblog – Combination distillery and festival program for the week
- Spirit of Islay forum – Feis Ile 2010 thread
- Whisky Intelligence – Special Feis Ile bottlings announced by Diageo
- Feis Ile Facebook page
Day 1 (May 22, 2010) – Lagavulin open day
- WHISKYFUN by Serge – The first tasting report on a special festival bottling: Lagavulin. Sounds awesome!
- whiskysamples.eu – Available for purchase (3cl sample): Lagavulin 1994/2010 (52.7%, OB for Feis Isle 2010, 528 Bts., European Oak ex Sherry Cask)
- caskstrength.net via Twitter
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – Upon arriving on the island in the afternoon, they managed to secure the last two bottles of the Lagavulin festival bottling! Tasting notes provided in the comments.
- caskstrength.net – Day 1 recap. Teaming up with The Whisky Guy, what a day of tasting they had! Check out the exclusive Lagavulin bottlings they tried out…
Day 2 (May 23, 2010) – Bruichladdich open day
- WHISKYFUN by Serge – Following up on yesterday’s tasting notes, here’s the surrogate WF team thoughts on the new Lagavulin distillery only bottling. Update – This entry now includes notes for the Bruichladdich festival bottling.
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – An interesting read, with an honest look at some of the pluses and minuses of Bruichladdich. I suspect Tony and Michelle are not the only ones with an opinion like this. Between their tasting notes and the Whiskyfun notes above, I’m not in any real hurry to get my hands on the 6 year old Bruichladdich festival bottling.
- WhiskyCast – I just saw Mark Gillespie’s tweet about a special edition of WhiskyCast from Feis Ile. It looks like he might be doing a special episode each day of the festival. Check out episodes 254 and 255.
- whiskysamples.eu – The Lagavulin distillery-only bottling reviewed above by Whiskyfun is now available as a sample. As is the Bruichladdich Festival bottling. I also see that the Lagavulin Festival bottling is already sold out!
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – [Update] A late update from Tony and Michelle provides an inside look at the Laphroaig gathering on Sunday night.
- caskstrength.net – [Update x2] And here we have a late, late update from the team at caskstrength.net. An excellent post worth waiting for, however. Check out their reviews of three Laddies and a Port Charlotte. They liked the festival bottling more than the other reviewers, too, but perhaps there was some bias involved (something about having assisted in the bottling). 🙂
Day 3 (May 24, 2010) – Caol Ila open day
- WhiskyCast – Episode 256, recorded at the Caol Ila distillery, has been posted. Go check it out. Or, better yet, just subscribe to the podcast already. 🙂
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – While they were unable to get into the Caol Ila tasting master class, we get a nice description of the CI festival bottling. Sounds different, and intriguing…almost Laphroaig-like according to Tony.
- whiskysamples.eu – The Caol Ila festival bottling has been added. 7 euros for a 3cl sample: Caol Ila 1999/2010 (61.9%, OB, Feis Ile 2010, cask #205646)
- WHISKYFUN by Serge – Here’s the Whiskyfun review of the above CI festival bottling. Can’t wait to try my sample from whiskysamples! Also in the same post, check out the rave review of the Caol Ila Manager’s Choice. Lastly, a music recommendation for Hank Jones, an amazing Jazz pianist and class act who passed away last week. Definitely worth looking into, and cheers to Serge for including that recommendation.
- caskstrength.net – [Update Posted on the 25th] Read along as the guys fight through their hangovers and compare three Caol Ilas.
Day 4 (May 25, 2010) – Laphroaig open day
Note about whiskysamples.eu: You can order the samples from whiskysamples.eu as they come available and select “ToGo” as your shipping country. This will result in your only being charged for the samples themselves. At the end of the festival, send an email to them letting them know you’re ready to complete your order, and they’ll charge you once for shipping. [Also, they have a few samples of the 2009 Laphroaig festival bottling available]
- whiskysamples.eu – Available now: Laphroaig Cairdeas Master Edition for Feis Ile (57.3%). This is a vatting of 11 to 19 year old whiskies created by Master Blender Robert Hicks. I wish they’d ship this to Friends of Laphroaig in the U.S.!
- WHISKYFUN by Serge – What do Malt Maniacs do while they’re on Islay for the festival? Only have one of the coolest whisky tastings ever! Check out their thoughts on ALL 9 of the Port Ellen annual releases.
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – An update from Tony and Michelle on a couple of nice walks they discovered on day 3 of the festival. [Bookmarking for future reference when I get a chance to go there]
- WhiskyCast – Episode 257 has been posted for Laphroaig day at Feis Ile. See what’s up with Distillery Manager John Campbell and Master Blender Robert Hicks.
- Late update: Two new posts on Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog. First, coverage of the Whisky Tasting Ceilidh on Monday night. Second, we get a Day 4 overview from the Laphroaig distillery.
Day 5 (May 26, 2010) Bowmore open day
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – Titled “Bowmore (err…lagavulin)”, we get some info on what was being offered at Bowmore, but Tony and Michelle actually headed off to Lagavulin for a tour. And what a tour it was (tastings right out of the casks)! Not only do I HAVE to go to Islay some day, but a Laga tour will definitely need to be part of the itinerary.
- whiskysamples.eu – I don’t see any Bowmore posted yet, but you can now order a sample of Laphroaig 10 CS Batch 002 for €3.00.
- WHISKYFUN by Serge – Not a review of Bowmore whisky, but an amusing article on Islay sausage. Make sure you click the “Lucky” link at the bottom of the post.
- WHISKYFUN by Serge (Update) – A review of two non-festival Bowmore bottlings from the festival. But most impressive is the insider exclusive on a new distillery to be built next year. Get the scoop on the Auchenbowie distillery!
Day 6 (May 27, 2010) Jura/Kilchoman open day
- caskstrength.net had to leave the festival early, but they provide a post with an overview of (and commentary on) the festival bottlings, including a preview of the Ardbeg bottling coming this Saturday.
- Jura Picture of the Day – The Jura Pic of the Day web site provided a teaser for those planning to attend their open day today.
- WHISKYFUN by Serge – An update to the May 27th post, with tasting notes on the Kilchoman Feis Ile bottle. Finally – A pure bourbon cask release (no finishing), and I can’t get it. Doh!
- Isle of Jura (official web site) – Their Feis Ile page has been updated with a virtual tasting session of three vintage limited edition Jura whiskies. Also, if you’re a Diurach, the three winners of signed bottles are announced in the video.
- Richard Paterson – I guess “The Nose” is helping folks at the festival pick out casks to be used in a distillery-only Jura bottling. Now that would be cool!
- WhiskyCast – It’s a two episode day, covering both Kilchoman and Jura. Talk about full festival coverage!
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog [Update] – Two new posts for Day 6, covering a trip to Kilchoman and a couple of walks in the area.
Day 7 (May 28, 2010) Bunnahabhain open day
Note: New Tony and Michelle links added to Day 6.
- whiskysamples.eu – The Kilchoman single cask Feis Ile release has been posted. This was a very limited festival release of 258 bottles.
- whiskysamples.eu – The Bunnahabhain festival bottling, an 18 year old, is also now posted.
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – Reports from the festival seem to be dying down. The whiskyfun crew has abandoned the island. Fortunately, Tony and Michelle are continuing with their great coverage.
Day 8 (May 29, 2010) Ardbeg open day
- Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – They didn’t get the Ardbeg festival bottling, but it turns out it “only” cost £125. Half of what people had been saying it would cost. Somebody won a 4.5 liter Rollercoaster bottle. Cool!
More to come…
Cheers, Jeff
Scotch Hobbyist's Blog 