World Whisky Day and Edinburgh’s Resident Expert!

Following on from my own family’s involvment in the making and culture of whisky in Scotland, which I mentioned in my last blog, I thought it might be interesting to share the fact that we have one of the world’s greatest (if not THE greatest!) whisky experts, based here in Edinburgh.
Blair Bowman is a whisky consultant whose reputation is rapidly spreading. He is the author of the bestselling Pocket Guide to Whisky (incorporating the WhiskyTubeMap) and Blair is keen to share his passion for whisky with the world, as he regularly hosts whisky training sessions and multi-sensory whisky tasting experiences around the globe.
Blair initiated World Whisky Day – the last such event took place in May 2018.
The relationship between the world of whisky and the humble (or sometimes not-so-humble!) quaich continues to be a close one. A family wedding in Edinburgh last Friday brought the role of the quaich in important ceremonial occasions to the forefront of my mind once more. My nephew David married his beautiful bride Lauren at the amazing “Caves” venue in Edinburgh’s Old Town. Both partners are Scottish, but now live in Melbourne Australia, where Dave runs a string of Biba hair salons.
The wedding ceremony’s spectacular venue featured a high stage, on which the happy couple took their vows and made public their commitment – this included toasting each other from one of our pewter and copper quaichs: definitely keeping it in the family! Must remember to look through our new baby and christening quaichs in due course – it’s good to be prepared, just in case!