Images: FREE TO USE - Captions: Stuart Cassells with Dougie the Piper; Stuart Cassell pictured with guests Julia & Nikolas
Video for Use: https://www.facebook.com/TheFamousGrouseExperience/videos/10154473771056202/  

News Release:

Scotland's Oldest Distillery has all the Ingredients for the Best Scottish Welcome

With the start of the Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight kicking off this weekend, Scotland's oldest distillery has already proven that a dram, some tasty Scottish shortbread and bagpipes are the perfect ingredients for the #BestScottishWelcome ever.

A stunt team, organised by The Famous Grouse Experience at Glenturret, Scotland's oldest distillery, descended on Edinburgh Airport last Friday armed with all of the quality ingredients to make visitors to the capital city feel welcome. The stunt has already gone viral online reaching over 65,000 people via social media shares on Facebook and Twitter.

Headed up by former Red Hot Chilli Pipers frontman Stuart Cassells, and supported by current Chilli Piper "Dougie the Piper", a random selection of visitors from across the globe were greeted at Edinburgh Airport arrivals. The visitors were then piped to a waiting taxi by Dougie and treated to an in-taxi whisky and shortbread tasting experience before being dropped off at their final destination in Edinburgh.

Julia & Nikolas from Sweden were the first couple to get the ultimate Scottish welcome, prompting staff at the airport to enquire if they were famous. 

Stuart Cassells, General Manager of The Famous Grouse Experience commented:

"We've been celebrating our continued five-star accreditation from VisitScotland and we felt it was worth marking it with something a little different. Amazingly there's nothing on the internet about the best Scottish welcome so we thought it was about time there was. We were delighted that Julia & Nikolas were up for the experience, and our second couple was Wilfred & Helga from Germany who had flown into Scotland to visit the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Hopefully we've helped make their visits, and those of the other couples we greeted on the day, to Scotland as memorable as a visit can be."

The Famous Grouse Experience team recorded the stunt on video and intends to release the definitive guide to the Best Scottish Welcome on YouTube later this month. Charlie Smith, marketing director with VisitScotland, even joined in the fun on Twitter suggesting they could meet him off the plan on Monday at 10.10am.

The Crieff-based distillery and current reigning Visitor Experience of the Year with the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions, The Famous Grouse Experience, has again been awarded five stars after a recent VisitScotland assessment which found Scotland's oldest working distillery to be ‘exceptional'.

The five-star rating has been re-awarded after two years of investment at the traditional distillery, which prides itself on being the only place in Scotland to still produce malt whisky using the traditional hand mashing process. In 2014, a £250,000 refurbishment of key visitor areas was given the Royal seal of approval after it was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. In early 2015, The Famous Grouse Experience achieved its prestigious WorldHost status, a globally recognised training programme for outstanding customer service.

Stuart commented:

"As one of the closest distilleries to Edinburgh, and the most visited distillery in Scotland, The Famous Grouse Experience at Glenturret in Crieff is a popular destination for travelers to the city and we hope that we have shown them today that Scotland loves them and they are most welcome." 

For more information on The Famous Grouse Experience visitwww.thefamousgrouseexperience.com 

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For further information on this news release, please contact Tricia Fox, Volpa, 01738 658187, Email:t.fox@volpa.co.uk

About Glenturret Distillery and The Famous Grouse Experience 

• The Famous Grouse Experience is located at Scotland's oldest working distillery - Glenturret. Originally established as a single malt distillery in 1775, today The Famous Grouse Experience is the most visited distillery in Scotland (welcoming an average of 100,000 visitors every year). 

• The distillery was fully refurbished in 2014 and was recently awarded Best Visitor Experience at the recent Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions Awards, and scooped three Icons of Whisky Awards for Whisky Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year, Distillery Manager of the Year and a Highly Commended for Whisky Visitor Attraction of the Year.  

• Last year it announced the opening of a new café & restaurant on site, Wilde Thyme at Glenturret, a partnership with award-winning Comrie based luxury caterers Wilde Thyme offering the very best in locally sourced Scottish produce and dishes that give diners an authentic and delicious taste of Perthshire.   

• The distillery offers the opportunity to learn how a single malt is made in the traditional way, as well as learning how some of the Glenturret single malt is then blended along with other grain and malt whiskies to create The Famous Grouse, the No. 1 whisky in the UK.  

• Opening Hours 10am-6pm (Nov-Feb 10am-5pm)  

• Visitor and café restaurant Opening Hours 10am-6pm.

• For more information please visit www.thefamousgrouseexperience.com or call 01764 656565 

Tour Experiences 

• Distillery Experience: (1 hour) Runs hourly. Includes one exceptional distillery tour, and a taste of two fine whiskies. £10 adult, £9 concession (seniors/students/under 18s). 

• Tasting Experience: (1 1/4 hours) Runs hourly. Includes one exceptional distillery tour, a taste of five fine whiskies and a souvenir nosing glass to keep. £20 Famous Tasting, £30 Finest Tasting, Over 18s only. 

• Warehouse Experience: (1½ hours) Includes one exceptional distillery tour, a taste of four fine whiskies and a magical peek at hundreds of sleeping casks in our very special warehouse. £40, Over 18s only, Pre-booking recommended. 

• Blending Experience: (2 1/2 hours) Includes one exceptional distillery tour, a tasting of four fine whiskies inside our exclusive bonded warehouse and a unique opportunity to master the art of blending your own whisky, complete with complimentary 100ml bottle and certificate. £60, Over 18s only, Pre-booking recommended. 

• Stillman Experience: (Full day) Available Tue, Wed, Thu. Includes one exceptional experience with unrivalled access to the unique world of whisky production. Spend the day side by side with our Stillman and our Drammolier™, learn the art of blending, and toast one fine day with a dram from your complimentary bottle of The Glenturret Highland Single Malt. £250, Over 18s only, Pre-booking essential.