The eastern parts of the Dutch province Gelderland is known as the “Achterhoek” which translates easiest as a back-corner or, as we learned from our Scottish friends in Fife, a Neuk – which means something entirely different translated back to Dutch. The Achterhoek is a rural place with patches of forests, but mostly flat open…
#EpicIslayTrip
October 2014. A group of our friends – most of which had never been to Scotland or even a distillery, had agreed to be shown a handful of distilleries and follow our lead to our beloved Scotland. Success of our trip was great, we popped some Scotland-cherries and it did not take long before the…
De keuken in met whisky
Fine dining is often paired with fine wine, where whisky is mostly overlooked or not even brought up because “the high alcohol percentage of whisky would kill the dish”. Accepting these prejudices as a challenge, the Whisky Couple – Hans and Becky Offringa, joined forces with the Gastronomic Couple – Jonnie and Thérèse Boer, to…
Whisky van de Lage Landen
Traveling through the world of whisky, mainly in and around the promised land – Scotland, WhiskySpeller has also visited a handful of distilleries in our home country the Netherlands, and our southern neighbours in Belgium. While still putting together our list of distilleries to visit next, we received an invitation to a book launch mid-June…
Still Stories – From Kentucky to Kilbeggan
Still Stories – From Kentucky to Kilbeggan was first published in 2014 as a semi-sequel to The Road to Craigellachie. Written in the same style but with the big difference that where The Road had two timelines over a span over 30 years woven together, Still Stories covers the 10 years period after the Road…
The Viking Legends
“Hello. My name is Highland, and I am a Viking.” Alas, we, are not Vikings. We have sold a small piece of our soul to the Orkney Islands, but we shall never be as Viking as Highland Park, the Orcadian whisky who have never hidden their rich Nordic heritage from the islands North from Scotland,…
Dungeons & Eagles
In our search for the next passionate Dutch distiller, we travel to the picturesque municipality of Doesburg, where medieval monastery “Het Arsenaal” has been converted to house several small businesses. Where a Grand Café, small cinema, game store, wine merchant and whisky specialist already had found their home, a micro distillery has joined inside their…
Release the Kelpie!
Fèis Ìle, the annual festival of malt and music on the isle of Islay, where each of the distilleries have one day of festivities surrounded by arts and crafts workshops, whisky tastings, local (sea)food vendors and pop-up restaurants, community driven ceilidhs and performances from a variety of artists. Most, if not all distilleries also release…
The Foam Party
The last couple of months we have been busy filling our days with work, trying (and failing) to avoid the flu epidemic(s), study, look for a new job, read, assess and review books (which feels close to studying), taste liquors and make notes on them, setup and create pictures, visit families who, apparently, need attention…
Little Black Hill – Knockando Distillery
During the heydays of the Scottish Whisky industry in the end of the nineteenth century, dreamer, gambler and entrepreneur John Tytler Thompson decided to build a new distillery on the banks of the river Spey. He commissioned acclaimed architect and engineer Charles Doig to build him a modern distillery, the first Speyside distillery to be…
Whisky Weekend Twente
Whisky Weekend Twente 2017, what a great festival this was. Old familiars, well known acquaintances and new, yet to explore friendships and drams. A great atmosphere, created in the vip lounges of the local football stadium in Almelo, which was for the fourth time converted into a cozy whisky gathering of mostly local whisky enthusiasts….
The Road to Craigellachie
The Road to Craigellachie starts with Hans sipping his first whisky in 1974 and falling in love with the spirit put in front of him. From this moment on, Hans’ adventures into the world of whisky starts with his first trip to the UK after his studies, not exactly knowing what to do next and…
WhiskySpeller 