Feis Ile Whisky
For one week a year, Islay stops for the rest of the world. Distillery doors swing open, corks pop, and the island's whisky family celebrates itself with bottlings no one else can get. |
About Fèis Île
Fèis Île - roughly pronounced "faysh EE-luh" and simply meaning "the Islay Festival" in Gaelic - has become the whisky world's answer to a pilgrimage. For one week every spring, the island's nine distilleries throw their doors wide open with open days, tours, concerts and local markets. But what really pulls whisky people from across the world to this small island off Scotland's west coast are the exclusive Fèis Île bottlings, released by the distilleries only during festival week - often in such limited numbers that they sell out before the festival itself is even over.
History & Background
Fèis Île did not start out as a whisky festival. The first edition ran in 1986 as a local cultural celebration with walks, talks, ceilidhs and music - whisky was, at the time, just a small part of a programme that stretched across several weeks. It was only around the year 2000 that the distilleries became properly involved in the planning and began introducing their own open days and special festival bottlings. Since then, Fèis Île has grown from local tradition into a fixed date on the international whisky calendar.
Production & Style
Because Fèis Île bottlings come from nine different distilleries on Islay itself, the style is anything but uniform. Here, the heavy, medicinal peat smoke of Ardbeg and Laphroaig meets the gentler, maritime notes of Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich. What the releases share is that they are often single-cask bottlings or specially selected batches that the distilleries do not sell outside festival week.
Signature Style
Peated, Maritime, Exclusive
The range spans smoked seaweed and black pepper through to honey and salted caramel, depending on which distillery the bottling comes from - but every Fèis Île release shares a raw, unfiltered Islay character.
Facts
| Festival | Fèis Île |
| Pronounced | Faysh EE-luh |
| Established | 1986 |
| Region | Islay |
| Country | Scotland |
| Number of distilleries | 9 |
| Official website | feisile.co.uk |
Collector Appeal
Fèis Île bottlings rank among the most sought-after on the auction market, precisely because the runs are small and never repeated. Bottles from past festival years steadily climb in value, particularly from the most in-demand distilleries such as Ardbeg and Bowmore.
Did You Know?
In its early years, Fèis Île ran across three weekends and two full weeks - a very different length from today's ten-day festival.
Like Fèis Île? You should also try:
Kilchoman Whisky, Bruichladdich Whisky and Signatory Vintage Whisky.