Spirit of Speyside flowing famously

The Famous Five have moved on – it’s not lashings of ginger beer any more but loads of whisky!

Scavengers taking part in a grown-up treasure hunt at the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival stand to win bottles of fine single malt valued at over £600.

The prizes in the Liquid Treasures event have now been revealed ahead of the event getting underway tomorrow (Thursday).

Bottles of fine single malt Scotch whisky have been donated by a group of distilleries known as The Famous Five – Glenfarclas, Tomintoul, Tamnavoulin, The Glenlivet and Cragganmore.

They have now been hidden in the landscape by members of Tomintoul and Glenlivet Development Trust.

The first bottle to find is the peaty-gold Glenfarclas 105 at 60% ABV - a cask strength rich whisky created by the Grant family.

On Friday the stash will be Tomintoul 21 years aged single malt - a rare bottle, at 40% ABV, crafted from a selection of the finest bourbon casks.

The treasure on Saturday will be Tamnavoulin 12 year old single malt. Due to the fact that it is now discontinued, it is a much sought-after dram.

The Glenlivet has launched a single cask edition - Auchbreck – for the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival and this will be waiting to be discovered on Sunday.

The hunt will end with a 21 year old Cragganmore, one of 5865 bottles distilled in 1989 and bottled in 2012 at a natural cask strength of 56% volume.

Mr Charlie Ironside, chairman of the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Development Trust, said: “There has been a lot of excitement in the lead-up to this event, and many people have been desperate to find out that the prizes are.

“We wanted to do something a little bit different to encourage people to come to this part of Speyside not only to enjoy the whisky but to enjoy the scenery too. This is the area where malt whisky production first started in Scotland, but we have much more to offer than drams.

“We have treasure hunters travelling from all corners of the globe to take part – Canada, Japan, Spain and Sweden are just some of the countries that will be represented. We wish everyone the very best of luck as they set out to strike liquid gold.”

Clues for the treasure hunt will be posted each day at the Festival hubs and transport.

They will also be posted on Twitter, and participants will be able to follow the latest news by using the hashtag #liquidtreasures.

The hunt can be followed at facebook.com/TomintoulGlenlivet and on Twitter @TGDevTrust

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival is one of the leading events for Year of Homecoming 2014 – a year-long celebration which showcases all that is great about Scotland. The Festival will also have the honour of kicking off Homecoming’s own Whisky Month in May.

Tickets for all events in the 2014 Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival programme can be bought via the website – www.spiritofspeyside.com The Festival is also active on social media – facebook.com/WhiskyFestival and @spirit_speyside on Twitter.

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