Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Amber Lights: Treasure trove of tininess sheds light on whisky lovers’ life in miniature

Post Thumbnail

Stumbling across a box of miniatures nudged Brian Townsend to recall the perils facing the hospitality industry in Scotland.

More than almost any other sector, hospitality in Scotland has been severely hit by the coronavirus crisis and, understandably, there are fears that countless pubs, restaurants, cafes and hotels will not survive, along with many other tourist attractions obliged by the pandemic to shut their doors.

I was reminded of this by a chance find the other day – a long-forgotten box of whisky miniatures I unearthed during a minor and early spring clean.

All had languished there for years, their labels all brown and sometimes almost illegible from age. Some I had bought myself on the spot, some were given to me and some came as a collection put together by another great whisky fan.

Many whisky lovers collect miniatures.

What struck me was the amazing range of locations in Scotland – and further afield – which offered, and hopefully will again offer, whisky miniatures as souvenirs.

They came from distilleries, hotels, castles, institutions, towns, villages and islands.
Most were from well-known distilleries, alphabetically from Aberfeldy to Tullibardine. Some even carried dates, the earliest being 1969, or 52 years ago.

House of Commons

Others came from castles and great houses such as Scone, Linlithgow, Blair, Cawdor, and also the House of Commons and Harrods.

Hotels in Pitlochry, Ballater, Oban and elsewhere were the origins of others. Many were from locations, from the famous to the obscure – Culloden to John O’Groats, Uist to Newton Stewart, but mainly from St Andrews.

Many had animal connections, from the familiar – Famous Grouse, Pig’s Nose and Sheep Dip – to such oddities as Puffin’s Pleasure, Ram’s Dram, Ptarmigan, Pheasant Plucker and the Glorious 12th.

Several were named after or linked to Nessie, including the quirky Monster’s Choice.
There were even a few miniatures from Ireland, a Welsh whisky called Prince of Wales and a few from India.

Finally, long-vanished brands such as White Heather, a blend based on Aberlour, popular in the 1960s but discontinued in the 1980s.

A trip down Memory Lane.


Read more on drinks…