March 18, 2015 · Team HG
In March 2015, we celebrate the second anniversary of the Whisky Festival Noord-Nederland. Over the past 10 years, quite a lot has changed without you, as a visitor, realizing it. New legislation, new guidelines for festivals, et cetera.
In recent years, the Whisky Festival Noord-Nederland has seen increasingly better attendance, often even nearly selling out. This results in a lot of crowds during the festival, and many people comment that it used to be so nice and quiet. And that was certainly true, but we are a volunteer-organized festival, and the costs naturally need to be covered. Unfortunately, we have not managed to keep the admission price the same for 10 years, and last year we had to implement a small increase in the price to continue covering the costs.
The exhibitors naturally serve standard whiskies to newcomers free of charge, but for the somewhat more expensive and special whiskies they more often ask for a small contribution, as they too are facing increased costs. The festival's opening hours have been adjusted at the explicit request of the government and the industry; serving times per session have been shortened by half an hour as part of "responsible drinking," but tasting is possible throughout the entire festival, rather than being unavailable for half an hour at the end, as is sometimes the case at other festivals.
The 10th edition of the Whisky Festival North Netherlands will once again be held in the Der Aa-kerk in the heart of Groningen, from March 27 to 29, 2015. In nine years, this non-profit festival, which is run entirely by volunteers from the board to the festival staff on the floor, has grown into a serious international festival with big names that receives international recognition.
For novice whisky discoverers, but also for experienced whisky tasters
In this anniversary year, the church will once again be filled with fine whiskies, making it a must for every whisky connoisseur. For beginners, we have special anniversary packages: a pleasantly priced combination of an entrance ticket and an educational yet highly accessible whisky tasting led by an experienced speaker. For more advanced visitors, we again have a number of very exclusive tastings available for individual booking. During the tasting, the speakers will surprise participants with their phenomenal whiskies, which they have selected especially for our anniversary.
And for the discerning whisky connoisseur, we have our now-famous VIP packages, this time in a special Jubilee edition, which makes it possible to participate in very exclusive sessions in small groups in the luxury of the special VIP lounge.
Many internationally renowned writers will be present, including Hans Offringa, Gordon Muir, Martine Nouet, and Charles MacLean. And especially for our anniversary, we have invited Mike Lord, owner of WhiskyShop Dufftown, Tatsuya Minagawa of The Highlander Inn, and Yumi Yoshikawa, brand ambassador of Chichibu; they will all lead exclusive tastings during each session.
The super special Lustrum Whisky Dinner will take place this year on March 26 at 19:00 hour in Bistro ‘t Gerecht in the heart of Groningen city centre, which was once again awarded the highly coveted Michelin “Bib Gourmand” for 2015. The top chef of Bistro ’t Gerecht will be collaborating with internationally renowned whisky chef Martine Nouet for us. Each dish will again be accompanied by its own magnificent whisky, which cannot be missing at an anniversary celebration like ours; especially for our anniversary, Douglas Laing will be providing the whiskies for the dinner this year.
On Saturday evening, March 28, a big party will be held upstairs after the church doors close, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the festival. Huis De Beurs will be given, where, thanks to a genuine big band, Stageband Jazz Orchestra, Hans Offringa's Whisky and Jazz theme will take on a new dimension. What Hans Offringa will pull out of the hat for this is still a surprise.
Admission to the party is €10.00 per person and can be purchased via the WFNN website be booked.
In the meantime, we have started the preparations for a very special year! So keep up with the developments on our site. www.wfnn.nl We hope to see you again in March 2015.
