We truly love the traditional Scottish music sessions in the WHISKI bar and this is one feature that we are committed to continuing. Currently we have two sessions on Tuesdays and Sundays – both of which are free. Kicking off at 9:30PM the FOOTSTOMPING begins and here is a taste of what to expect – this was from Sunday’s session and we hope you can make it down one night to get the toes tapping !

Naked Grouse

From Wednesday 14th October ‘09 we are offering our customers a very limited edition blend, The Naked Grouse at a special price.

The Naked Grouse is a new and innovative premium blended whisky which is not yet available in the shops – containing two of the world’s finest malts :

– The Macallan and
-  Highland Park

which are then matured in first-fill sherry casks, the most expensive in the world. The result is a rich, smooth and sweet tasting whisky with hints of spice, black cherries, dried fruits, vanilla and cocoa. The Naked Grouse tastes fantastic both on its own over ice or is cocktails.

We will have special cocktails on offer aswell as some impromptu tastings for customers. Scheduled sampling sessions are planned for the following days – if you are in WHISKI, you can have a try :

Wed 21st Oct from 9:15PM to 11.00PM
Wed 28th Oct from 9:15PM to 11.00PM
Wed  4th Nov from 9:15PM to 11:00PM

Come in a try it – we would love your feedback on this innovative new product…

Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight

Its that time of year again and Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight is nearly here when we celebrate the very best Scotland has to offer. We play our part on both Wednesdays  of this event (9th and 16th September 2009) with WHISKI Wednesday’s where we offer all of our customers a complimentary nip of Scotch malt whisky (this year it is Singleton malt whisky) with every main meal purchased after 5PM.

We specialise in locally sourced Scottish food and all of our food is prepared fresh on the premises each day and we will have some extra tempting Scottish dishes on offer during this celebration of our delicious food and drink. 

So we hope to see you in WHISKI and that you enjoy sampling our national drink, whisky – made only here in Scotland – a single malt scotch whisky is a taste to savour.

Singleton of Dufftown

Today we had two seperate filmcrews in the WHISKI Bar filming – yes, we are so getting used to this now ! First off was The Travel Channel US for a new pilot called the Gambler and yes, WHISKI featuring so cant wait to see this when it airs in the USA.

Second and at the same time was Japanese travel channel filming all about Edinburgh and the Festival – WHISKI a highlight so this will be great for us also.

We have many US and Japanese visitors to the bar and they enjoy trying the whiskies and sampling our fresh Scottsih food, with Haggis always a big temptation.

Long may the filming continue, Chris proudly had his kilt on today so hopefully a few clips of him in there – Chris has been in so many TV programmes about the WHISKI bar he is a minor celebrity now !

Glenkinchie

As part of our Edinburgh Festival celebrations we have a special promotion on Glenkinchie malt whisky – our house malt here at WHISKI and as they say “the Edinburgh Malt, distilled here just outside of Edinburgh”.

Buy any two drams of Glenkinchie at the same time and receive a FREE Glenkinchie whisky glass to take home. Offer is availble all of August and whilst stocks last so if you want to taste our soft fruity malt, try it at WHISKI this month and get to take home the Glenkinchie branded glass.

Nose: Freshly aromatic: grassy, spicy and lemon-grassy.
Palate: Soft, spicy: cinnamon and, ginger. Beautiful balance of sweetness and dryness.
Finish: Fragrant spicy dryness.

Little People, Big World

US TV series “Little People, Big World” were in the Whiski bar on Friday 10th July 2009, filming the stars of the show, twins Zach & Jeremy in the WHISKI bar trying the Haggis.

Little People, Big World is a reality TV show aired in the US on the Discovery channel that follows the Roloff family where twins Zach and Jeremy are unusual in that one twin Jeremy is normal sized and his brother Zach is a little person just under 4ft tall.

At the WHISKI bar, we dont just serve any old Haggis – no, it has to be the ultimate MacSweens Haggis – a true award winner and we promise you will taste the difference!

Zach and Jeremy certainly enjoyed their visit to WHISKI  and were a pleasure to have – we hope they enjoy the rest of their time in Scotland and look forward to seeing the episode.

More information on Little People, Big World here:
http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/lpbw/lpbw.html

Oasis at WHISKI

Oasis at WHISKI

Oasis with a Haggis

What a day – Oasis have just left the WHISKI bar and they are playing tomorrow (Wed 17th June 2009) with Kasabian at Murrayfield Stadium and to have a few drinks before the big day – where did they choose – yes, you guessed it – the WHISKI Bar !

Didn’t even notice them for an hour or so and then our manager called to say they were in and from seeing them on TV you think they are pretty cool – well, they were COOL and LOVELY  and CHATTY and BRILLIANT with everyone. It soon became obvious they were there and Liam Gallagher was happy to have his photo taken and sign autographs for all that asked but I am glad to say they were generally left in peace to chillout and have a few beers.

Must be hard being famous and Edinburgh’s Style guru Lavinia Brooks from StyleGuideScotland who has kindly emailed me her photo also, asked him if they were heading anywhere else and they said no they just wanted to chill out at the WHISKI bar as it was “cool” and much better than all the other bars in town ! Well, we can only agree with that Liam !

Liam and Noel – you and all the others in Oasis are welcome back anytime, you were a joy.

WHISKI is now on Twitter, follow us here http://twitter.com/whiskibar and so far really liking it, it is quick and easy to update and I do prefer it to facebook. We created a facebook group for the bar a few months ago but the only way to communicate to our members is by emailing them and I just felt uneasy doing this every time we had something to say and I thought they would get a bit hacked off with loads of emails! With Twiter however you can update every day and if your followers are interested then they can see what you have said so all in all, I like it better as it seems less intrusive.

We are delighted to have been awarded the highest level of GOLD status in the 2009 Whisky Magazine’s – Great Whisky Bars of the World, part of the Icons of Whisky series of awards. The Whisky Magazine is a “must read” for us here at WHISKI and this recognition of GOLD status is just fantastic for us and the staff here at the bar.

Whisky Bars of the WorldWhisky Bars of the World - WHISKI

Whisky Bars of the World

Ardbeg

ardbeg whisky tasting

Ardbeg Whisky tasting

It was a very special evening when Rachel Barrie, master blender from Glenmorangie hosted the Ardbeg Whisky Tasting on 7th May 2009 at the WHISKI Bar. 25 people attended the tasting which coincided with the launch of Ardbeg Supernova and the line up was outstanding :

Ardbeg 10 Yr Old – the 1st non chill filtered malt in the Ardbeg range

Ardbeg Renaissance – The conclusion of the Very Young, Still Young and Almost There series – Peaty maturity

Ardbeg Blasda – peated to an average of just 8 ppm compared to the more usual 24 ppm. Blasda is perfectly balanced, light, sweet and delicious

Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist 1990 (” the beatsie”) – creamy smoky flavour with hints of fennel and pine nuts

Ardbeg Uigedail – an earthy whisky with a bit of spice, a marraige of Ardbeg from bourbon barrel a and sherry butt which gives a sweet and smoky finish to this malt at 54.2%

Ardbeg Supernova – peated to an astonishing level of over 100 parts per million (ppm)

So, what was the favourite, well they were all outstanding but the highest marks on the night went to Ardbeg Uigedail - well done.