DISTILLERY NEWS

As usual, it has been a busy few months here at Lindores. Even as we approach the end of February, we are still catching our breath from the Christmas chaos!

Over the festive period the front of house team were non-stop. We held a hugely successful Christmas market with 20+ local stall holders selling everything from beautifully crafted dog collars to some of those most delicious hot chocolate we’ve ever tried.

The market also marked the cumulation of our fundraising effort for the Kingdom Kids toy appeal. The community rallied together to collect hundreds of Christmas gifts for young people who would otherwise be going without. We also raised £1500 to donate on top through our raffle at the Christmas market. A huge thank you to everyone who donated and participated.

We were also thrilled to host the Newburgh Primary School Christmas party for the sixth year in a row! It’s always such a fun event, for kids and staff alike, although Helen did say that judging the dancing competition was one of the hardest decisions of her life!

Continuing the theme of community – we are delighted to announce that we will be holding the Fife Nativity Show this year in the Abbey ruin: it may be a long way off yet, but preparations are already underway!

All set up for Newburgh Primary School Christmas Party!
Just some of the toys kindly donated to the Kingdom Kids toy appeal. 
Santa’s little helper!
 

Moving away from Christmas – we also hosted a momentous meeting for the Newburgh Railway Campaign. It was incredibly well attended by the community (we almost ran out of chairs!) and our MP Wendy Chamberlain filled us with hope and anticipation for the project. Thanks to the hard work of Nigel Mullen and the whole campaign committee, it is looking ever more likely that soon a railway station will return to Newburgh, meaning that hopefully you will be able to visit us by train!

Train Station Campaign (Thanks to Kim Cessford – DC Thomson)
 
Our new Dog Wall of Fame

We were shut for a few weeks during February for a bit of a refurb – with Steph and all of the front of house and cleaning team working hard to make an even better visitor experience for you all. This included a big update and reorganization of our beloved dog wall. We will be choosing a dog of the month to be announced in each newsletter, so please do bring along your four-legged friends if you’re planning a visit – it’s always the highlight of our days!

And this month’s dog of the month is… Odie! A beautiful Wirehaired Vizla, who, along with being incredibly handsome, is also a wonderful therapy dog. He provides his services all over NHS Tayside and greets everyone with warmth, affection, and a very waggy tail!

 

We have already had plenty of events this year including a fantastic murder mystery themed Burns supper; plenty of bar nights with fish and chips, shawarma, and pizza to soak up the drams; and we are excited to host the annual Fife Whisky Festival dinner this Friday.

Our sales teams have been busy as ever – with UK Trade Manager, Murray and Export Manager, Elliot jetting all over to spread the good word of Lindores! Elliot spent a wonderful 10 days in Canada followed by a flying visit to the Netherlands, and our blender, Lorena, enjoyed trips to London, Denmark and Rome. From tastings to shows, everyone that Elliot and Lorena met were eager to learn more about the Lindores story, and of course, eager to taste our delicious drams.

Murray has been busy as usual, travelling all across the UK to host tastings both with our stockists and for private events. A particularly interesting invitation saw him host a tasting at the Morpeth Arms in London for the “Whisky Patrol” – a group of Ex-UK Counter Terrorism Squad members. Safe to say, they enjoyed the drams just as much as Murray enjoyed hearing their stories! He has also been across Scotland hosting tastings for whisky clubs such as the Glasgow Whisky Club at the Bon Accord bar, and the Drambusters at TB Watson’s in Dumfries.
 

Lorena in Denmark
Lorena in Rome
Denmark Visit
Whisky Patrol Tasting
Tasting at T.B.Watson
 

Front of House Supervisor and Cask Assistant, Matt, has also been on his travels. He had the privilege of being invited down to Carriages Restaurant in Ludlow to take up the role of Master of Ceremonies for their Burns dinner. He introduced the wines and whiskies and had a fantastic time – although as a secret Englishman, he couldn’t quite be trusted to address the haggis!

Matt is also excited to be taking enquiries about some new cask ownership opportunities. There are three 225L wine barriques on offer: A Vinsanto cask – A sweet dessert wine from Tuscany with a lovely sweet raisin flavour; a Rivesaltes Ambre cask – one of oldest casks at an average of 30 years old, a Vin Doux Naturel with a slight sweet, acidic and nutty character; and a Super Tuscan Bolgheri cask – whilst we are unable to give you the exact vineyard these are casks used to produce a world class red wine and are very rare to come by!

If any of these have piqued your interest then please do get in touch with Matt at matt@lindoresabbeydistillery.com or give us a call at 01337842547.
 

Burns Supper at Carriages in Ludlow
 
Aqua Vitae featuring on Love Your Weekend

 

Finally – we have had a couple of strokes with media fame in the past few months.

Firstly, you might have spotted us on Alan Titchmarsh’s “Love Your Weekend” last Sunday where our Aqua Vitae was presented by Becky Paskin to rave reviews from all of the show’s guests.

And, the very eagle-eyed amongst you, might also have spotted a nod to Lindores on the first ever UK series of the hit US gameshow “Jeopardy”. The show, hosted by Stephen Fry, included the following question…hopefully you all have no hesitation with the answer! 

 

Slàinte
 
Drew & Helen McKenzie Smith
Custodians of Lindores Abbey

 

Jeopardy!
 
Exciting News! We are thrilled to announce the release of Casks of Lindores II Sherry, the jewel in the crown of our beloved Limited Edition Casks of Lindores II series.

This release on the 20th March, marks the end of our acclaimed Casks of Lindores series, alongside our much-adored Bourbon and STR bottlings.

Hurry to our selected stockists to secure your bottle and be part of whisky history.

STOCKISTS
 
Also, every month we will be including a fun introduction to one of our staff members (including some very talented self-portraits!) First up is Steph, our Brand Home Manager.
 
Get To Know The Team:
Steph – Brand Home Manager (aka Master Of Puppets)

  1. What is your favourite…
    • Food – Spaghetti Bolognese
    • Colour – Black
    • Film – Pretty Woman
    • TV Show – Sons Of Anarchy
    • Animal – Deer
    • Crisp – Sensations Sweet Chilli
    • Book – Can’t Hurt Me, David Goggins
    • Smell – Coco Chanel / Cinnamon
    • Car – Land Rover
    • Country – Egypt

 

  1. Who in the world would you most like to share a dram with?
    • Meatloaf

 

  1. What was your dream job as a kid?
    • Firefighter

 

  1. Who’s your favourite dog on the Dog Wall?
    • Beethoven

 

  1. What’s your guilty pleasure?
    • Gardening

 

  1. Do you have a special talent or party trick?
    • Passive aggressive comments

 

  1. Tell me your best one-liner
    • “You’re not as green as you are cabbage looking”

 

  1. What’s your go-to karaoke song?
    • Shrek In The Swamp Karaoke Dance Party

 

  1. What’s one thing you’re looking forward to in the future?
    • Finishing 54 miles in 24 hours for the Cateran Yomp – and the sleep after!

 

  1. What’s at the top of your bucket list?
    • To be happy

 

  1. This or that…
    • Chocolate or crisps – crisps
    • Peated or unpeated – unpeated
    • Whisky or wine – whisky
    • Stay in or go out – go out
    • FJC or Vesper – FJC
    • Unlimited whisky or a million pounds – a million pounds!
    • Cats or dogs – dogs
    • Beach or mountains – mountains
    • MCDXCIV or Aqua Vitae – Aqua Vitae

 

  1. What’s your favourite dram that isn’t Lindores?
    • Tears of my employees…or vodka.
Steph’s Self Portrait