Diageo's festival offerings

Preparations continue unabated on Islay for the annual whisky festival, the Fèis Ìle festival. One would like to say "a local celebration," but the erstwhile music and whiskey festival, first held in 1986, has long since lost the mark of localness. Today, lovers of Scotch malt whisky - in its smokiest version - are drawn to Islay from absolutely all over the world. This year, it is estimated that up to 10,000 festival-goers will visit this small island off the west coast of Scotland. This means that there will be more than three times as many newcomers there as permanent residents. It is hardly surprising, after all, to see such interest in the. For the past two years, due to the pandemic, the festivals were held only in the virtual space, via online links.

We have already mentioned the special offer prepared by Bunnahabhain, we have written about this year's special edition of Ardbeg. It's time for the biggest player not only on the island of Islay, but in the entire Scottish distilling industry, Diageo. The corporation owns two distilleries on Islay, Lagavulin and Caol Ila, and will soon be joined by a third, the just reactivated Port Ellen. The latter, whose cult status was already established decades ago, fell victim to the overproduction crisis of the early 1980s., and was closed by its then owner, Distillers Company Limited, in 1983.

In honor of the upcoming holiday, Diageo has prepared one special edition from each of its two distilleries currently operating on the island. They are:

Lagavulin Fèis Ìle 2022 12yo, whisky initially matured in bourbon refill casks and finished in fresh American oak barrels. The whisky was bottled in its natural form, without cold filtration and without dilution (57.7%). The edition is limited to 6,336 bottles, each priced at £165.

Caol Ila Fèis Ìle 2022 15yo, whisky matured in bourbon refill casks and finished in fresh American oak barrels. Like Lagavulin, it was bottled in its natural form, without filtration or dilution (55.2%). In the case of Caol Ila, the edition is limited to 3,702 bottles, and the purchase of one is also a £165 expense.

Caol Ila distillery has double reason to celebrate this year. In addition to the fact that - like every distillery on Islay - it has waited three years for the crowds of Scotch whisky lovers to return to the festival, it has more to offer this year than just a new limited edition festival whisky. The distillery was part of Diageo's massive multi-million pound project, in which huge sums of money have been invested in the tourism infrastructure of four Scottish distilleries, and a state-of-the-art exhibition, a museum of sorts, has been launched dedicated to the Johnnie Walker brand in Edinburgh. The investment was completed relatively recently, so festival visitors will be among the first to enjoy the distillery's new, greatly expanded offerings.

Both of the aforementioned whiskies will be available both from the distillery's stores and through the malts website.com from May 28 (Lagavulin) and May 30 (Caol Ila). Festival whiskies from Islay have already appeared many times in the House of Whisky Online, so it is worth keeping up to date with our offerings Caol Ila i Lagavulin, not to miss the appearance of these editions and with us. Or, in anticipation of festival editions, look for something available that will either expand the collection or become a companion for such ordinary, everyday tastings at home.


[11.05.2022 / photo: Diageo]