With the announcement of Scotland going into Level 0, we realised we couldn’t hold out any longer and we would update you on the plans for this years Dornoch Whisky Festival – or, as it is currently known as, the ‘Not Quite the Dornoch Whisky Festival’, as once again, sadly, it will not quite be what we know and love.

The Dornoch Whisky Festival will still happen with some of its outstanding events that surround the main event, however, the Grand Tasting itself will not be going ahead.

This has been something that had been in the pipeline since long before last year’s event had to be stripped back as much as it did. It was something we had hoped we would be able to bring back with a bang and over the last few months, we have ummed and ahhed about where we stand for this year’s event. We were so excited to bring you that something special after only being able to put on a few parts of the Dornoch Whisky Festival, but we have come to the difficult decision to not hold the Grand Tasting again this year.

The ongoing Covid-19 situation has of course been the determining factor of this and although we are delighted to see things move back to normal; to see our friends, families, and other loved ones, to visit distilleries, whisky shops, and to travel again in general; the sheer uncertainty that the pandemic has left us with and the all too real possibility that we may have the rug pulled out from under our feet has ultimately made our decision for us. As we are sure you are aware, it is not just a case of deciding it is safe enough to do, but it is the logistics that come into play and the repercussions of what may happen if things don’t go to plan.

It’s not all doom and gloom though! We will do our absolute best to make this year as good as it possibly can be, and you can expect a wonderful array of events from the businesses that make up the Dornoch Whisky Festival, with some familiar faces hosting tastings and some Zoom events for those of you who can’t make it to Dornoch.

We hope you understand our decision and please know this was not an easy one to make – we really had hoped that this year could go ahead as we planned. 

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please just get in touch here.