Why now might be the best time ever to plan an Islay whisky adventure I first started going to Islay in the early 2000s. Back then, it felt properly disconnected. No mobile phone signal worth speaking of, WiFi was definitely not a thing, and the whole island had that wonderful sense that you had genuinely left the mainland behind. You did not so much arrive on Islay as slowly detach from the rest of the world. For fans, that was part of the magic. Islay has always felt different. More remote....

There are whisky festivals, and then there is the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival. For a few glorious days each year, Speyside becomes the centre of the whisky universe. Distilleries open their doors, rare drams appear, whisky fans descend from all over the world, and the whole region becomes one big celebration of Scotch whisky, local stories, good people and questionable hydration choices. For CopperCairn and Not Another Whisky Podcast, Spirit of Speyside 2026 was our biggest festival...

Stories from the Malt Whisky Capital of the World When I bring guests into Dufftown, I usually start in the same place: standing beside the clock tower in the middle of the town. We stop for a moment and look around. To them, it looks like a quiet Speyside village. A few shops, a couple of pubs, and a great wee coffee shop (shout out to Beinn Books !). The hills rise up around it, creating a picturesque backdrop. But then I explain that almost everything they’re looking at exists for one...