Ultimate Whisky Holiday Winners: Ash Durham

June 01, 2023

/ 3 mins

Imagine this: Your phone rings. You answer. You get the news. You’ve won a prize! But not just any prize. You just got a call from The Whisky Club telling you you’ve won a trip across the world on a once-in-a-lifetime whisky adventure. Well, many of our Members have received that phone call. And you never know when you’ll be next.

Today we’re having a chat with Member Ash Durham. We flew Ash and his mate Shaun to Scotland to visit Glendronach, Benriach and Glenglassaugh distillery. So, pour yourself a dram and let’s go on a whisky trip.

Over to you, Ash.

Favourite Club whisky?

There are so many up there, making this a difficult question to answer, but the standouts for me have been the BenRiach 2010 First-Fill American Oak and the Lagavulin Offerman Edition - I’m a very peat/smoky fan (so Benriach The Smoky Twelve is another favoured dram).

How long have you been a Member?

I joined back In February 2019 and haven’t missed many months in that time.

What did you win?

I won an all-expenses paid trip to Scotland for myself and a mate to tour the distilleries of Glenglassaugh, GlenDronach and Benriach, tasting their drams directly from the barrel with self-filled barrel-strength bottles from each.

Where were you when you found out you won?

I was at work and completely thought it was a prank call for a good number of minutes until the gent giving me the news convinced me it was real.

Have you ever won anything before?

Not at this level of magnitude - maybe a meat tray many years ago.

Who did you take with you?

My best mate, fellow whisky enjoyer and Club Member, Shaun.

What was the highlight of your trip?

That’s a really hard one to answer, as from the moment we landed, to the moment we flew out, the entire time in Scotland was incredible. Chauffeured around the majestic highland hills, staying in a fantastic whisky-loving hotel with a selection for days, and experiencing money-can’t-buy tours of some picturesque distilleries with mouth-watering samples of their finest drams - so hard to pick just one finer moment within that.

One jaw-dropping moment was walking into the BenRiach warehouse and seeing the sheer volume of barrels stored. And the smell as soon as you step foot in there is just to die for. As Stewart said (Stewart Buchanan, Global Brand Ambassador for Benriach, GlenDronach, and Glenglassaugh) as we were walking down one of the aisles, “if I could bottle the aroma, I would”. It was surreal seeing a barrel there that is older than I am - it’s aged better than me too!

Having a traditional Scottish lunch in the newly renovated Glenglassaugh offices, discussing the previous GlenDronach tour and just whisky in general with a man so knowledgeable on the subject, was also a bit of a pinch-yourself moment.

What’s your advice to your fellow Members?

Get involved - I won from a random pick on an Instagram post for the competition, asking for a comment of who I’d take and why we’d enjoy the trip. The Club generously run many competitions for Members to have experiences just like this - do yourself a favour and just get involved. Could be you next!