Festival review - Whisky Fagmesse 2014
Every second year the local whisky club in Jæren, about 45 minutes drive south of Stavanger, arrange their Whisky Fagmesse (Whisky trade fair). On Saturday October 18 they opened the doors to the fifth festival, since they started back in 2006. I was there for the first time back in 2012, and I was determined to go back.
The venue they use for this festival is a bit unusual; it is a science farm - part of an agricultural museum. This means you will find old and new tractors, science experiments, and cross-sections of life size cows in between the whisky stands. Great fun!
The club arranging the festival, Jærens Ærverdige Forening for Uisge Beatha's fremme (Jærens Venerable Society for the promotion of Uisge Beatha), is one of the largest whisky clubs in Norway. They have 96 active members, and there's a five year long waiting list to be accepted as a member. The limit is set at 96, and they are not about to change that.
The whisky club are getting quite professional at arranging the festival, having done this five times now. They have several local sponsors that add to the whole experience, serving cheese, sandwiches and sushi. This is all included in the entrance fee, and the fee is quite reasonable as well.
The attendance was up quite a bit from last time, with about 450 tickets sold. On top of this they had at least 20 people form the club making sure everyone enjoyed the festival. They also had a great choir providing entertainment for a couple of sessions during the day. Including the choir, the people attending the stands and the club itself I am sure the total number of people there hit the 500 mark.
There were four masterclasses this year, all sold out:
- Wemyss Malts - Jacqueline Sutherland, Regional Sales Manager Wemyss Malts
- Benromach + Gordon & MacPhail - Dereck Hancock, Associate Director - Export Gordon & Macphail
- Ardnamurchan + Adelphi - Graeme Bowie, Distillery Manager at Ardnamurchan Distillery
- Jim Beam - Jonatan Østblom-Smedje, Edrington
I did not attend any of these masterclasses myself, as I wanted to prioritize exploring the stands, tasting whiskies and talking to new and old friends.
Here is a brief list of what I tried; reviews will be appearing as soon as I have the time to type them up:
- Bruichladdich 1992 19 YO Single Cask Micro Provenance Series bottled for the local whisky club in 2011, 52 %
- Jim Beam Rye, 40 %
- Adelphi Miltonduff 1981 32 YO, 53,1 %
- Jack Daniel's Single Barrel, 45 %
- Hazelburn 10 YO, 46 %
- Samaroli Rum 1999 Jamaica Blend, 45 %
- Lord Elcho, 40 %
- Lord Elcho 15 YO, 40 %
- Caol Ila 2001 12 YO G&M, 59,6 %
- Adelphi Highland Park 1986 26 YO, 44 %
Most of these were very good whiskies, but if you twist my arm and ask me to name the ones I scored the highest I would say the Miltonduff and the Caol Ila. The big positive surprises were Lord Elcho 15 YO, which was delicious, and the Jack Daniel's Single Barrel, a very smooth and rich experience.
It was a real treat to get to learn more about the new Ardnamurchan Distillery, and to taste their new make spirit. Thanks to Graeme Bowie, and to Daracha for bringing him along to the festival! If all goes to plan I will get to visit the distillery later this week, actually. Looking forward to that.
I have a proposal for improvement for next time this festival is held; they should print out a list / brochure with all the whiskies available to taste at the festival. This way it is a lot easier for the attendees to make notes of what they have tasted, what the price of the whiskies are at Vinmonopolet (the Norwegian state owned stores), and what the item numbers are. I heard others suggest the same improvement, and this is already being done at other Norwegian whisky festivals.
I really have only one slight complaint about the festival this year. The opening hours were from 1 pm till 6 pm, but several of the stands ran out of all their whisky already around 5 pm! That was a bit of a surprise, and I am not sure who was the most surprised; the club, the importers or the attendees. Luckily there were at least two stands that had more than enough whisky, and kept going till the doors closed. I am sure this is something that can easily be fixed for next time.
All in all another great festival, a lot more intimate and cozy than the huge spectacle I experienced in Stockholm. I am sure I will be back in two years. Until then, so long and thanks for all the whisky!
Sláinte! - Thomas
