Kingsbarns Distillery was a hive of activity from early on Saturday, as the final preparations were put in place for our biggest Founders event yet, celebrating the release of the fifth and final Founders' Reserve bottle. Lights were being put in place, glasses were being polished, displays were being created and special whiskies were being gathered. The most exciting task was saved for last: cracking open Cask 001, to see, smell and taste how the liquid that filled that very first cask, back in March 2015, had transformed. A precious couple of bottles were filled, ready to be sampled by our Founder guests; one of the many planned highlights of the evening.
At 5 o'clock, the guests began to arrive, mix and mingle, many already familiar with the setting, many others taking the opportunity to visit us for the first time! Chef Julien's canapes were going down a treat, and before long, it was time to officially welcome everyone with a few speeches. Michael, never shy in front of a crowd, welcomed everyone and revealed what the rest of the evening had in store. Then the man who started it all, Doug Clement, was enticed onto the stage to tell his story, before Peter came up to get the crowd excited for their first taste of the new Founders Reserve - a much-anticipated 7-year old sherry release.
With that, the music (led by our talented harp-playing distiller, Kate) struck up again, and the guests were on the move, keen to explore the various stalls, displays and tastings that were set up throughout the building, hosted by distillery team members, who were all out in force, and seemed to be having as much fun as the guests themselves!
Cask 001 proved to be as popular as intended, with goodness knows how many photos taken, sipping from Cask 001 in the doocot! Other highlights were the displays in the still house, the mini stills running in the gin school, and the special collections of Wemyss Malts.
The evening flew by, and just as the clock was striking 8, Peter returned to the stage to give everyone a sneak preview of our next exciting release, Doocot. As we move forward on our journey, the time has come to retire our much loved and highly successful first bottling to come from our distillery, Dream to Dram. Doocot represents the next stage in our distillery’s journey. With time comes complexity, which means we are confident that this dram will go down a storm with our loyal Kingsbarns fans.
As part of our launch plans, Founders will receive exclusive access to our website to purchase Doocot within the first 24 hours of its release. A private link to shop this product will be delivered to our Founders' mailing list on the 2nd of March (a date to mark in your calendars!).
And then the guests were on their way, a little more rosy-faced than before, no doubt off to share some tales and forge some new friendships in nearby hostelries.
Thank you, to everyone who came along to join in our celebrations - we hope the evening will live long in your memories and that you come back and visit us soon.
