Whisky Day Cracow – VII Edition

I can’t think of a better way to spend World Whisky Day than to enjoy a few wee drams at the 7th edition of ‘Whisky Day Cracow‘, on Saturday 17th May, from 1:00 pm-10:00 pm at Fort Kleparz.  

Slàinte mhath – Good Health  (phonetic:: Slawn-chuh va)

Information from organisers
On 17th May, 2025, the historic buildings of the Kleparz Forts in Kraków will once again host Whisky Day Cracow, the largest World Whisky Day celebration in Poland.

The previous edition gathered guests from Poland and abroad in one place and turned out to be a huge success, showing at the same time that a group of whisky lovers can create an event here in Kraków to equal whisky day events across the globe.

So come along on 17th May to Forty Kleparz in Krakow, where from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. you will have the opportunity to taste whisky from all over the world.

To mark World Whisky Day, the organisers of Whisky Day Cracow, share the same ethos as its creator – Blair Bowman – who believed that the only thing you need on this day is a bottle of whisky that you can share with friends.

In this way, people who are just starting their whisky adventure will be able to get to know new flavours and aromas and gain knowledge from the experts present on site.

Acquaintances, friends, music and – whisky of course! All this in an interesting historic venue, Forty Kleparz Kraków.

Is there anything more you need to plan a May weekend in Krakow? Probably not, so bring your friends with you and spend this day together with a glass in your hand.

Cracow Whisky Day 2025
   Saturday 17th May
   1.00pm – 10.00pm
   Klub Forty Kleparz
   Whisky Day Tickets – 189 zł

Ticket includes

• Festival Glass
• Voucher worth 20zł for use at festival stands
• Coupon for a free cocktail
• mineral water
• festival guide

A few places are left for whisky ‘masterclasses’.

You can find out more at:
   www.whiskydaycracow.pl
  Whisky Day Cracow Instagram
   Whisky Day Cracow – FB event
   Whisky Day Cracow Facebook

Whisky Day Cracow 2024
Not sure what to expect?  Watch a video from last years event.

Whisky – whats in a name?
Uisge beatha (phoentic – Ooshkih beh-ha) is the Scottish Gaelic term for ‘water of life’ with uisge simply meaning water and beatha meaning life. It is a straightforward translation of the Latin ‘aqua vitae’.

Over time and through common use in Scotland, uisge beatha was shortened and ‘uisge’ became known as ‘whisky’.

Whisky Facts
For the earliest known mention of whisky, we need to go back to 1494, towards the end of the Middle Ages, when distilling was first mentioned in Scottish tax records.

• Devils & Angels – ‘The Angel’s Share’ is the small amount of whisky which evaporates during the aging process., but what about Devil’s Cut!?

  Devil’s Cut is the spirit that goes so deep into the wood of the cask that it never comes out. The amount of liquid disappearing into the cask ‘staves’ varies depending on the length of the maturation and the condition of the oak.

• A Quaich is a traditional Scottish drinking cup – a symbol of trust.

  Quaich comes from the Gaelic word cuach, simply meaning a cup. It was commonly used for the enjoyment of whisky and brandy. The story goes that Highlanders used to drink their drams from a scallop shell, which may have inspired the current shape.
  

  The handles on the quaich have since become a symbol of trust. The clan chief would hand it over to another clansman as a sign of friendship and trust. They’d have to hold the cup with both hands, making it impossible to handle their weapons while drinking. It is said that the clansmen began using glass-bottomed quaichs out of fear of being chibbed.

  The glass would allow them to see their rivals while drinking. The heads of the clan would drink from it first before it was shared with the rest of the clan.

  The quaich is now referred to as the ‘cup of friendship’, making the whole drinking ceremony a popular part of weddings, christenings and other celebrations. The cup gets passed on between the bride’s and groom’s immediate family members and, in some cases, between the whole wedding party.

• A wee dram – a small (or not so small!) glass of whisky.
• There are actually FIVE different styles of Scotch whisky (Blended/ Blended Malt / Single Malt / Single Grain and Blended Grain). Currently, Blended whisky still dominates the landscape, accounting for 85% of global sales with Single Malt making up the majority of the rest.
• How many brands of whisky are there? A lot, the ‘romantic’ slightly exaggerated answer – “more than there are stars in the sky”
• The oldest bottles of whisky were discovered at Blair Castle, and were distilled in 1833 – more than 200 years old. The 24 bottles sold at auction for 385,630 in 2023.
  
  • Some 22 million casks lie maturing in warehouses in Scotland waiting to be discovered – that is around 12bn 70cl bottles.
  • The Diageo Blackgrange Bond in Cambus, near Alloa, Scotland, is the largest bonded warehouse complex in Europe, with over 40 bonded warehouses – around 80,000m2.  It holds approximately 10 million casks of Scotch whisky. Planning consent has just been given to a further five 2,000 sq m warehouses, each larger than a Tesco superstore

Editors Note:-  I used to live next to the Cambus Distillery and Blackgrange bonded warehouses. I  would walk my dog around the perimeter, and look through the fence, where thousands of empty whisky barrels stacked outside the warehouses.. The full ones were inside!

In my previous career, my beat covered the distillery and bonded warehouses.  I’d occasionally be called upon to attend incidents within the warehouses – where literally millions of barrels were stacked floor to ceiling, an amazing sight. – the smell was glorious with a potent smell of the whisky ‘sleeping’ in the barrels.

• To be called Scotch Whisky, the spirit must mature in oak casks in Scotland for at least 3 years
• There are currently 151 operating Scotch Whisky distilleries across Scotland (May 2024)
• At least 35 new malt and grain distilleries have opened since 2000
• With a value of £4.91 billion, Scotch whisky exports accounted for over 20 per cent of all UK food and drink exports in 2019.
• Scotland has almost four casks of whisky per citizen.
• Some 42 bottles of whisky are exported from Scotland every second.
• A 30-year-old cask of Macallan set a new world record in 2019 for the most expensive whisky cask ever sold at auction. It fetched a whopping £430,275.
• The co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson, demanded whisky on his deathbed but was refused it.
• John ‘Johnnie’ Walker was a grocer in Kilmarnock, Scotland in the mid-1800s who specialised in blending tea before he decided to start blending whisky.
• Charles Joughin, the baker on-board the doomed Titanic, trod water for three hours before being rescued. He claimed he hadn’t succumbed to the cold due to the amount of whisky he had drunk prior to the accident, while the ship was sinking.
• Jameson’s Irish Whiskey was founded by a Scot from Alloa, a small town close to my Scottish home, where I worked for over 20 years..We (Jameson’s Irish Whisky) were founded by that man, John Jameson. Born in Alloa in Scotland in 1740, he came to Dublin in the late 1770s. Four of his sons followed him into distilling in Ireland, setting up a family dynasty that was to last for generations.  Read More -Wee County founder of Jamesons whiskey (Alloa Advertiser)
• Kennetpans Distillery (just along the road from Alloa, now a farm shop where I used to buy my fruit & veg) was the world’s first commercial distillery, and in it”s time, the largest in Scotland.
  

  “Kennetpans is not a lost distillery, it is a lost legend – ‘The Ground Zero of the whisky industry’.”

What is Scotch Whisky?
Scotch Whisky is a distilled spirit made in Scotland from cereals, water and yeast.

Which spelling is correct – whisky or whiskey?
Production and maturations of whisk(e)y is governed by law, not the word. Scotch Whisky and Irish Whiskey are often distinguished in spelling.  American whisky is usually spelt with an ‘e’, while English, Welsh, Japanese and most other world whiskies are not.

Is there a “correct” way to drink Scotch Whisky?  (YES! – Not with Cola 😉 ) 
First, Scotch Whisky should always be consumed responsibly.

There is no “right” way to drink Scotch Whisky – you can enjoy it in whatever way you want. In Scotland and across the United Kingdom, people often choose to enjoy Scotch Whisky with just a little water. But Scotch is a global drink and there are many examples of new and exciting ways to enjoy Scotch Whisky. In Spain they mix it with cola. In Japan Scotch is enjoyed with lots of water and ice, and in China with cold green tea.  Visit our tasting toolkit to learn more.

What is the alcoholic strength of Scotch Whisky?
When distilled it is usually reduced for filling into casks at a strength of 63.5% of alcohol by volume. By law the minimum bottling strength is 40% alcohol by volume.

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Cracow Whisky Day