The team behind the annual Fife Whisky Festival have boosted the funds of a local charity by more than £4K.
The 2022 event raised £4,250 for Age Concern Cupar thanks to sales of a festival bottling organised by Daftmill Distillery and official festival retailer Luvians.
Fife Whisky Festival co-founders Karen Somerville and Justine Hazlehurst along with Vince Fusaro and Stuart Easton from Luvians presented a cheque to Anne Ronaldson, Manager of Age Concern Cupar, who was thrilled with the funds raised by the event.
She said: “This is a huge and very welcome donation which has come at exactly the right time for us as we tackle rising heating costs and the fact that our minibus needs repairs. “It will make a big difference to the services we are able to offer and we’re very grateful to everyone involved with the Fife Whisky Festival for their continued support which is much needed and much appreciated.”
Mrs Somerville said: “Since the very first whisky festival, we’ve been keen to raise money for Age Concern Cupar through a raffle and donations from our generous festival-goers. “This year we went a step further and were able to hand over our largest donation to date after Daftmill and Luvians kindly waived the profit on their festival bottles which were quickly snapped up by whisky lovers.”
Ms Hazlehurst added: “We are always keen to keep our charitable donations in Fife so they benefit the local community – which is what our festival is all about.”
Funds were raised through the sale of the Daftmill festival bottling after the distillery, based near Cupar, and Luvians, which has bottle shops in St Andrews and Cupar, waived their usual profits.
Whisky-lovers could choose to buy a bottle of the Daftmill single cask release with a pristine label for an extra £50 or the usual priced version with their name written across the label.
The profits from each bottle - plus the extra £50 donation for those with untouched labels – all went to Age Concern Cupar.
Daftmill Distillery co-founder Francis Cuthbert and Vince Fusaro, of Luvians, said: “We knew the festival bottling of Daftmill would be highly sought after and were delighted to have the chance to help our brilliant local charity, Age Concern, benefit from the enthusiasm festival-goers have for the whisky. “The sales on the day were fantastic and we are overwhelmed to have raised such a substantial donation for the charity and support the excellent work they do in the community.”
Fife Whisky Festival 2022 was attended by around 650 whisky connoisseurs and the organisers are now getting ready for the 2023 event next March.
Tickets have already sold out for the popular festival which takes place from March 3-5 at the Corn Exchange in Cupar.
The annual festival highlights the renaissance of whisky-making in Fife by bringing together the best whisky producers from the region and beyond.
It was launched by Mrs Somerville, Managing Director of award-winning Angels’ Share Glass, and Ms Hazlehurst, founder of Kask Whisky, in 2017 with the first event held in March 2018.
The 2023 festival will see more than 35 distilleries and independent bottlers from across Scotland showcasing their whisky at two tasting sessions on the Saturday.
The festival also features an Opening Dinner at Lindores Abbey Distillery and a tour of InchDairnie Distillery.
info@fifewhiskyfestival.com
