Master distiller Iain McAlister and legendary moustachioed whisky expert Charlie MacLean are pouring samples of Glen Scotia whisky they have just drawn from casks in a high-ceilinged dunnage warehouse, its walls blackened by nearly two centuries of whisky fungus. For the gathered whisky enthusiasts, this is a moment of reverence, a communion, where a high priest of whisky incants, ‘28-year-old oloroso cask’ and the worshiper replies, ‘Don’t mind if I do. Sláinte.’

Except that McAlister and MacLean’s considered tasting notes are hard to hear through the absolute banging rave-trad tune – sounding like The KLF with bagpipes – coming from a band called Heron Valley, onstage in the courtyard outside. This is what happens on a distillery day at a whisky festival. You can fully indulge your whisky nerdery one minute (last year saw Michael Henry, master blender of the Loch Lomond Group that owns Glen Scotia, deconstructing the character of Victoriana, the expression that aims to replicate whisky of the 19^thcentury) and the next, sing along to Rhythm & Booze’s Chuck Berry covers, played on a slide guitar with a whisky bottle.

The Campbeltown Festival takes place this year from 20-25 May, overlapping with the Fèis Ìle across the water on Islay. Taking place at the end of the Kintyre Peninsula, it’s a remote spot (Loganair flys there from Glasgow, or it’s a three-hour drive north alongside Loch Lomond, before dipping south again). But when you get there, it’s a much more compact and manageable festival than its more famous neighbour’s.

As a walking tour of the Wee Toon led by assistant distillery manager Hector McMurchy demonstrates, Campbeltown has experienced a rollercoaster. There are currently three distilleries here – Glen Scotia, Springbank and Glengyle (bottled as Kilkerran). At one stage in the 19^th century there were something between 20 and 30 distilleries (accounts differ) in the town and McMurchy points out their locations – often all that remains is a forlorn wall next to a Co-op. However, three more are under construction or in planning, there are two independent bottlers (Watt and Cadenhead’s) and, judging by once-abandoned shops and houses getting the gentrification treatment, Campbeltown is on the up.

While collectors won’t miss dropping in to Springbank to buy something from “the cage” – bottles drawn straight from casks, with handwritten labels – Glen Scotia has the best entertainment. In 2024, the whisky deep-dives are hosted by drinks authors Dave Broom, Becky Paskin and Millie Milliken – respectively exploring the relationship of sherry and whisky, discussing blending with Michael Henry, and analysing new-make spirit in the on-site lab with Iain McAlister. However, these masterclasses (costing between £30 and £60) sold out almost as quickly as Taylor Swift tickets, so this might be a trip best planned for 2025 (with tickets going on sale in March).

In the meantime, perhaps, enjoy the festival remotely. One of the biggest attractions of these festivals is the range of special bottlings (there is even a £150 dinner the night before Glen Scotia Day, which includes a bottle of a limited edition created just for that meal!). The official Campbeltown Malts Festival Edition for 2024 can be purchased online. It is a 9YO unpeated single malt matured in first-fill bourbon barrels before being finished in fino sherry casks for six months. The result is described as ‘a charmingly unconventional dram’, with vibrant citrus and white orchard fruit, and oak spice from the dry sherry finish. It also has the subtle but distinctive maritime note many Glen Scotias do.

On the bottle is a QR code that leads you to an audiovisual project that is also an essential element of Glen Scotia. The distillery is very good at exploring interpretations of its whisky beyond the usual tasting notes. For example, it has a close relationship with painter Alice Angus, who captures not only flavour but a location’s sights and sounds in action paintings and, in her more conventional landscapes and portraits, by using very localised materials, such as new-make spirit and whisky mould, to create colours.

The QR code on the 2024 bottle leads to a piece of music created by leading folk singer-songwriter Jenny Sturgeon, Dean Honer (of late ’90s electronic pop bands I Monster and All Seeing I) and drinks broadcaster and part-time synth wizard Neil Ridley. The track underpinning the song Copper Heart was created by Honer and Ridley using cutting-edge technology to record 360-degree sound in and around the distillery – everything from the copper stills cooling and casks being filled, to waves lapping on the shore nearby. Over that, the voice of Sturgeon (whose award-winning album The Living Mountain is worth seeking out) is as hauntingly beautiful as the coastline of Kintyre.

Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malts Festival 2024 Edition, £65, glenscotia.com/products; for further information on the festival, visit glenscotia.com/pages/whisky-festival