ROME -- When I agreed to visit the Spirit of Scotland: Rome Whisky Festival I assumed I would find a group of tweed wearing, bagpipe playing, lost-looking Scots, left over from the Six Nations match against Italy.  Instead, I arrived to an austere looking building named Salone delle Fontane in the EUR area where, despite Italian organisational skills leading to some initial confusion on arrival, I bought some tokens and headed on in.

 The Italians who filled the hall gave off an excitement that was palpable even to a sceptical Scot and, despite the jeans, seemed to know the difference between a Glenfiddich and a Famous Grouse.  I quickly sought out the first of the brands I had been meaning to try for a while, The Balvenie, and got a free taster - it wasn’t bad at all.  The companies displaying at this event understand just how much whisky is a drink on the rise in Italy and therefore were keen to display their finest wares.

 A little later on I decided to make my way through to a second room, in which I discovered an array of drinks and tastes that could offer something a bit different for someone, such as myself, who appreciates a good whisky but can’t necessarily tell you all that much about each different note in a malt.  In this adjoining room I found a selection of Glaswegian beers from Jaw Brew I would definitely recommend for anyone interested in branching out from the norm or for someone who is not keen on “beery” beer, such as the friend I took along, who told me she normally couldn’t even stand the smell, though was pleasantly surprised by the samples of Weiss Beer and ‘Glide’ that we tried. 

 After several whisky tasters we decided we needed to take it easy for a bit so moved on to a couple of whisky-based cocktails from fantastic speakeasy Jerry Thomas, whilst enjoying the atmospheric swing band playing nearby.  Other than the main whisky event, there were various Scottish wares on offer, such as oysters and a stand for Belhaven Best, as well as a lone Australian sitting in the corner who told us he just enjoyed painting whisky bottles as that way he still had a memento even once he brought himself to finish a bottle – his stuff was rather good and for any whisky art fans you can find him at watercolourwhisky.com.

 Yet it was not entirely Scottish, with Italian cigars and a fair number of Japanese whiskies also having their own stands.  I’d heard rumours of the Japanese prowess for whisky distillation, but I can say that the Scot in me was pleased to discover that I preferred that from my homeland, with some interesting Aberlour stuff of varying maturities and processes.

 Other highlights for me included the Darnley’s View spiced gin, meeting a man with a ‘Whisky Bible’ in his pocket, and the Ardbeg steamed whisky - though I must admit this was rather better to look at than to actually sample, as most of the steam escaped pretty quickly, and when you’re more of a fan of sipping away slowly on a good Scotch, it loses some of the enjoyment, though it did bring out the smoky flavours particularly well.

 All in all it was something a little different and, though the arrivals process could have been better organised, the event itself ran smoothly.  Personally, with a name like ‘Spirit of Scotland’, although there was a fair amount of liquid spirit on offer, it would have been nice to make this a slightly more cultural event with just a touch more tartan, or even some quiet background pipe music.  Unfortunately we can’t have everything, and to appeal to Italians this event was classy and sophisticated and really did show some of the best whisky Scotland, amongst others, has to offer.  The best bit: I got a tasting glass to take away with me too!

 spiritofscotland.it / info@spiritofscotland.it

 ch