Scotland’s world-famous whisky show is coming to Melbourne. Fèis Ìle – pronounced as “fay-sh eel” – has partnered with The Whisky Show and will be hosted at Melbourne’s Stamford Plaza on Saturday, 4 June.
The Whisky Show’s David Ligoff, says, “It’s going to be the whisky event of the year and one no fan of Islay whiskies should miss!”
Since tickets went on sale last Thursday, 85 per cent have already been sold.
“Whisky drinkers who are already familiar with Fèis Ìle know just how truly special these festivals are. People from all over the world travel to Scotland for Fèis Ìle,” said Mr Ligoff.
“We partnered with Fèis Ìle because of their shared ethos for creating exceptional whisky festivals, and celebrating the island of Islay, and its heritage. Each year a number of our show attendees always ask if we can do a dedicated Whisky Show just for Scottish Islay distilleries, and we are thrilled to announce that day is finally here.”
The tiny Scottish island of Islay is fondly nicknamed “Whisky Island” due to its concentration of nine celebrated whisky producing distilleries.
The Scotch Whisky made on Islay is renowned for its smoky character derived from peat, considered a central characteristic of the Islay malts.
Since 1986, Fèis Ìle is a forum where an annual series of events are hosted at the distilleries and other locations on the island, celebrating whisky and culture with live music and dance performances, distillery open days and whisky tasting.
Florence Grey, Islay Festival Committee Chair on the announcement said “We’re absolutely delighted to be partnering with The Whisky Show in Australia to bring the message of the Islay Festival, its welcoming atmosphere, plus Islay’s delicious whisky to your event! Slàinte mhath to all!”
While the event will not have the music and dancing – for this year at least – all nine Islay distilleries will be showcased on the day, including Ardbeg, Ardnahoe, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Kilchoman, Lagavulin, and Laphroaig. To build on the festivities, other neighbouring whisky distilleries on smaller islands and Independent Bottlings of these distilleries have been invited to showcase their delicious whiskies for festival attendees. These include Highland Park, Jura, Ledaig, Carn Mor, North Star, Hunter Laing, and Elements of Islay.
Fèis Ìle 2022 – The Islay Festival will be limited to just 200 attendees across two sessions on Saturday, 4 June. Tickets are priced at $169 each and each attendee will receive a tasting glass on entry and a whisky show bag with water and snacks.
Tickets are available at thewhiskyshow.com.au and go officially on sale on Thursday 28 April, 2022.
Rare Whisky Popup Bar
The legends from Melbourne’s award winning whisky bar The Elysian will be running a dedicated pop-up whisky bar on site, pouring rare and hard to find Islay whiskies. 15ml pours start at $6. A selection of previous year releases and long sold out Fèis Ìle bottlings will be available to purchase at the bar
