It was a pleasure to be working at the quietly sophisticated Dalmahoy Hotel & Country club, just outside Edinburgh, over the weekend.

For those who haven’t visited, Dalmahoy is set in acres of mature woodland with two golf courses, leisure club and friendly dedicated staff. It is 20 minutes drive from Edinburgh city centre.

They have recently announced an extensive multi million pound room refurbishment.

On Friday, a large corporate group were in for their conference. We were tasked to bring an interesting Scottish drinks offering for their meeting breakout in the afternoon. During the 30 minute breakout session we offered a craft beer and Scottish gin tasting.

Scottish Craft Beer tasting

We were lucky to have Dr Chris on hand for Friday’s beer tasting.

He chose 3 craft Scottish beers:

• Chew Chew: Salted Caramel Milk Stout, by Fallen Brewing www.fallenbrewing.co.uk
• Drop Kick Me Jesus: Sour Pale Ale by Tempest Brewing www.tempestbrewco.com
• Seven Peaks IPA by Drygate Brewery www.drygate.com

Guests enjoyed the variety of craft beers on offer which opened up new flavour profiles to those used to a standard pint of lager!

Scottish Gin tasting experience

Our Gin Goddess, Timna, served up 3 of Scotland’s finest gins for the group who sampled the spirits and then tried the perfect serves with a selection of tonics.

The Scottish gins chosen were:

• Rock Rose
• The Botanist
• Edinburgh Seaside gin

The idea was to present three contrasting Scottish gins to the guests, allowing them to taste the key differences between the brands.

Edinburgh Seaside was the most coastal of the gins and was finished with a slice of lemon. The citrus notes from both the gin and the garnish balanced the slightly mineralic yet sweet notes that came from the spirit.

Rock Rose was deliciously savoury and floral. The herbaceous notes were enhanced by the rosemary garnish whilst the hint of lemon from the spirit made this a well-rounded gin and tonic.

To finish, we had the Botanist which was the driest of all the gins showcased. The key wood and earthy notes of the spirit accentuated the notes of pepper spice coming through on the palate. Garnished with a slice of pink grapefruit for the perfect serve,  this makes a crisp, dry and classic gin and tonic.

Just the Tonic:

This was our first time with Cushiedoos Premium tonic water on a tasting and it was great to have such positive feedback. Even the guests who don’t normally like tonic water, said they enjoyed the taste. This is testament to what it says on the bottle: “it’s good enough to drink on its own”.

The majority of people who say they do not like tonic water are usually referring to the bitter taste of quinine and this is one of the things which sets this tonic water apart from others; it uses no quinine at all! This makes this tonic less drying/sharp on the palate. Despite the fact that this also means the tonic tastes a little bit sweeter than others, it actually has no sweeteners or preservatives and has 24% less sugar than other leading tonic brands. Well worth a try if you are looking for a different Scottish gin accompaniment!

Pop up Cocktail Masterclass

In the evening, as a prelude to dinner, the corporate client was looking for an interactive cocktail masterclass. Guests learned the skills required to prepare themselves 3 cocktails 🍸during dinner.

We set our pop-up bar up in the room as a cocktail demonstration station. Mark, one of our mixologists, gave a cocktail demonstration assisted by members of the group.

There were 8 tables for dinner and we set up a cocktail station for each of the guests’ tables. Each of the tables had all the ingredients and equipment to make the cocktails for themselves.

Our Reel Time cocktail experts were on hand to showcase the best way to make the cocktails.  They then worked the room during dinner answering questions,  helping guests to create the best drinks.

The cocktails the guests prepared were:

• Tom Collins.
• Mojito
• Whisky Old Fashioned.

You can find out more about our pop up cocktail bar and cocktail experiences at Reel Time

Thanks to

• Dalmahoy
• Cushiedoos tonic
• Botanist Scottish gin
• Edinburgh gin Seaside edition
• Rock Rose Gin
• Fever tree tonic 

Scottish Conference Entertainment

Annual conference. Hosted 2018 by EICC, Edinburgh

BADFEST is the social event held for the annual conference of the British Association of Dermatologists. This year’s 2018 conference was hosted at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). The brief from the client was they wanted a fun and interactive festival-like atmosphere to encourage delegate networking in an informal way. We hosted two spaces in the EICC for the conference which accommodated 750 delegates overall. With people coming from all around the world, the client wanted to ensure that as well as being a networking event, delegates were able to enjoy a real Scottish experience.

Pipe Major Roderick Deans greeted the delegates with a traditional Scottish bagpipe reception.  This was a great way to introduce the guests to the Scottish theme of the evening. In the Strathblane Hall we had our 10-piece Tartanium band open the night with a 20-minute Scottish show. The Tartanium band mixes traditional and contemporary styles of Scottish music combining bagpipes with funked up basslines and incredible guitar solos. Adding to this spectacle, we had three Tartanium dancers perform a choreographed routine which combined traditional and contemporary steps to compliment the bands funky and cutting-edge sound.

Guests were then invited onto the dancefloor where they were taught some easy ceilidh dancing moves. With a 10-piece ceilidh band our guests got a taste of what a full Scottish Ceilidh is like and, also danced to traditional dances including the Dashing White Sergeant, Strip the Willow and Canadian Barn Dance.

Reel Time transformed the main foyer from a delegate registration area into various interactive Scottish experiences. Guests were given the opportunity to try indoor curling and a haggis shy . Indoor curling was a chance for the delegates to try something new and brought a competitive thrill to the evening. Guests were asked to slide their curling stones closest to the target on the mat for competing points. The haggis shy was a fun event involving throwing haggis like balls at targets to build up points. Guests got to meet the Heavy athletes that perform at Scotland’s Highland Games and speak to them about their sport. The athletes then let the guests try their hand at the indoor caber tossing experience.

To wash down the fantastic food served at the EICC we put on a whisky vs gin tasting. This meant the guests could try some fine Scottish spirits whilst also learning about the distillation and production of Scotland’s drinks. One of our bars served two Scottish artisan gins representing one of the largest booms in the Scottish drinks industry. We chose to take Rock Rose and The Botanist to let guests taste a sweeter herbaceous and citrus gin against a more peppery, floral and earthier gin. These were served to guests neat and then as a perfect serve with tonic and our recommended garnish. The second bar for the whisky tasting was our cask bar we had taken and built in the venue. The bar featured two Scottish Single Malt Whiskies showcasing the regional differences that exist in the whisky world. We had Auchentoshan American Oak as one of the drams on offer which is from Auchentoshan distillery located just to the west of Glasgow. It is the only distillery in Scotland to triple distil every drop of whisky it produces, which gives rise to a light, sweet, grassy character. When this spirit is matured in American ex-bourbon casks the resulting whisky is creamy, with vanilla and lemon notes and a striking oaky spice. We chose to contrast this with a peaty whisky from Islay, Laphroaig. Laphroaig is one of just seven distilleries in Scotland which still malts its own barley and it is this age-old production method which is said to give the whisky the unique medicinal, iodine-like aroma and flavour, alongside the unmistakable smokiness.

The event was a great success and the clients were thrilled with the whole experience. In a matter of hours the guests were able to experience traditional Scottish sport, music, culture and drinks all under one roof. The format of the evening, and activities provided, allowed the guests to interact and take part as they wished whilst giving them the freedom to network and engage with each other.

For more information on the Scottish activities that we provide for conferences, please see our conference page on the website or get in touch with the Reel Time Team for more inspiration.