Far from the fringe

This year was a bumper year for Cask 88, with more events and the greatest variety of whiskies, tastings, guests, venues and experience than we have ever held for the Fringe before.

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At the heart of this year’s festivities was one of our favourite venues, our very own Victorian police box,“Cask 88 presents: The World’s Smallest Whisky Shop”. Sat in prime position on the iconic Princes Street, we not only opened our wee doors for our annual series of whisky tastings, showcasing our ever popular“Unfiltered” single cask whisky bottlings, but also to a whole host of guests, entertainers and experiences. 

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Variety is one of the key qualities that makes the Edinburgh Fringe Festival the world’s largest performance arts festival and we were determined to embrace that variety with the events we had the pleasure of running this year. We were thrilled with all of our guest hosts and performers, here is a selection of some of our favourites from 2023.

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Box Fresh

A modern twist on the shoe-shine stand; Box Fresh Glasgow provided their impeccable service to our guests’ footwear whilst they were treated to a complimentary tasting of our award-winning limited edition single cask bottlings and some exclusive cask samples.

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BoxFresh Glasgow are the UK’s original premium sneaker cleaning and restoration company who use the finest products and techniques from around the world to restore your favourite footwear. Their clients include Scottish and English Premiership footballers, stars of screen and stage, musicians and even Olympic medalists.

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Holyrood Takeover

Fora few days we swapped out our mature single malt whiskies for a taste of the future from one of our favourite distilleries in Scotland. Based right here in the heart of Edinburgh, Holyrood Distillery are at the forefront of spirit experimentation and have perfected many styles of spirit. As they wait patiently for their spirit to mature into Scotch whisky they have released a number of new-make spirit expressions that already dazzle the senses and offer a tantalising glimpse into the future.

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These were exceedingly popular with our guests and we are thrilled that Holyrood will be back at “The World’s Smallest Whisky Shop” in October to showcase their very first mature single malt Scotch whisky release. We can’t wait to welcome them back and get a taste of their premier mature bottling. 

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Whisky Poetry 

Cask88 is known for having a romantic and poetic attitude to Scotch whisky, we deeply love the spirit and adore telling the stories behind each and every single cask. It only made sense then that we invited the exceedingly talented Richard Brooke to come bring his trusty typewriter to help our guests better connect with their whisky, and themselves, as they taste it. 

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Our guests took a seat at The World’s Smallest Whisky Shop and, after a quick discussion with Richard, were treated to a free tasting of our exclusive single cask Scotch whiskies whilst their very own bespoke poem was typed for them.  

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It is safe to say this will definitely not be the last time we collaborate with Richard.

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Annandale Takeover 

We were thrilled that the incredible team at Annandale Distillery came to takeover The World’s Smallest Whisky Shop for a few days to share their glorious single malt whiskies and spirits with our guests and give them a chance to buy a bottle or two of their very own. Our guests loved taking a deep dive into their amazing and historic story and their simply divine drams.

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As well as the smorgasbord of guests and experiences we had at The World’sSmallest Whisky Shop we were very proud to host scores of guests for in-depth tastings at our famous, invitation only, whisky library. 

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We are looking forward already to the exciting and new ideas we've had for events near year. Make sure you're in Edinburgh for another unmissable Fringe Festival in 2024.

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