Scots could well be drowning their sorrows with whisky from Oamaru this week, after suffering two humbling test match defeats against New Zealand opponents in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Although the Scotland rugby team was expected to lose the rugby test against the All Blacks, a more damaging blow to the nation's pride was delivered a few hours earlier at the inaugural Whisky Test match, which took place in sight of Murrayfield Stadium and pitched some of the country's recognisable brands against whisky from the New Zealand Whisky Collection.
Three of the collection's whiskies, which were distilled at the now defunct Willowbank Distillery in Dunedin and matured in Oamaru, were sampled in a series of blind tastings by a Scottish panel of judges.
New Zealand Whisky Co Oamaru maturation store manager Debbie Preston said the result, which saw the collection's Dunedin DoubleWood draw with Johnnie Walker Black Label, and its South Island Single Malt and New Zealand's 1990 Cask Strength whiskies beat a Glenfiddich single malt and Ardbeg Uigeadail, respectively, was a "stunning upset".
"I can hardly believe it. To defeat the Scots, in Scotland, with a Scottish judging panel doesn't get any better."
The Whisky Test match series, which will also feature similar competition against English and Welsh whiskies, was organised to coincide with the start of exports of whisky from Oamaru to Scotland, and organiser Chris Hoban, from EdinburghWhiskyBlog, said the result had been a "real David versus Goliath story".
