Harrow Whisky Festival‘s organizers have spent 7 years doing things their own way and flying under the radar. I only heard this festival existed (and in my own neighbourhood) because one evening I saw two men on the train with Whisky Exchange bags and struck up a conversation with them. They told me about the festival and that I had to follow the hotel on social media and wait. So I did. When tickets went live I had to telephone them to purchase our tickets at a very reasonable £24 per person – no online buying at all.

Then there came the wait.

As the show drew near there was nothing online about it. No distillery list, no social posts, nothing much at all. The last real review of the show I could find was from the first ever one in 2016 and it goes without saying a lot may have changed since then.

So when we rocked up to the show on a typical grey January day we had no idea what we were in for. There had been only a couple of posts from the evening session and distillers banquet the night before. What we found were two rooms full of whiskies from smaller distilleries and bottlers with a very peaceful atmosphere doused in the early 20th century aesthetics of Grim’s Dyke. The two rooms did fill up quickly and get crowded but not loud and aside from one stand that had some very high-end bottlings there was little queueing or waiting for samples. 

The show was dominated by English products followed by Scottish products with only a couple of stands having anything that was produced outside the British Isles. Studying the history of the show on the website reveals this is intentional and unlikely to change going forward. The selection within this category was satisfying and diverse for an event so small. All the distilleries present brought a range of products, some to the point that the flip tables looked like they were going to collapse under the weight of it all. Several independent bottlers like Boutique-y Whiskey, Bartels Rawlings and High Fern vastly broadened the selection too.

The bar was set high for each stand’s event presence but highlights for me were Retribution Distilling and That Boutique-y Whisky Company. Retribution don’t have a whisky ready yet but they had a range of six new makes on offer along with their composite grains for you to smell or even nibble. As someone who appreciates a good new make it was great to have multiple to compare and contrast along with detailed guidance from Richard, the founder of Retribution. Boutique-y Whisky meanwhile had their new core range on show. After tasting our way through it, the Global Brand Ambassador, Dave, produced a laptop from beneath the counter with a wheel of fortune on the screen. I spun it and he produced the bottle it landed on.

Australian malt spirit was not on my bingo card for things I’d be trying at Harrow (or any show for that matter). It was rich with young smoke and punched higher than the abv but as someone who can’t get enough of peat it hit the right spot at the end of a show in January. The roulette is a memorable way to surprise guests and a twist on the typical “under the table” offerings at shows. I would love to see more of these game-y bonuses sneak into shows.

What’s nice about smaller shows like Harrow Whisky Festival is you can visit every stand and have a dram or two in a single session if you wanted to. We visited nearly every stand with a second trip round in the latter half of the show to try any heavily peated ones we’d left until last. All the stands made great effort to not only chat to a whisky nerd like me but also my friend who was very new to it all. At all these smaller shows the magic doesn’t come in the flair of stands or the rarity of the bottles but in the quality of the stories told and the education provided. Harrow provides this in spades above and beyond many other shows where samples are just poured because folks are rushed off their feet or distracted by another conversation.

Unfortunately the show commits the most boring of whisky show sins – not having enough spittoons. There were two, one in each room meaning I had to move around a lot and even lost my spot on busier stands just to moderate my drink intake. You can read why I care so much about this here. The show has no food except what’s on offer to buy at the Library Bar at hotel prices so make sure to eat before you attend. The retail side was a nice change from the norm. At Harrow there is no retail partner, and each exhibitor handles their own sales. It’s always good to know your cash is going direct to the person making/bottling the product. I came away with a bottle of Henstone Single Malt and Cooper King New Make after trying both at the show.

For me, Harrow is a show I’ll attend every year, but that’s because it’s an easy trip for me. Being set in a lovely hotel with a banquet option too means dedicated enthusiasts can make a weekend of it if they wanted, but this isn’t one to throw money at otherwise.

The ambassadors at the show told me that the show being less well advertised is intentional and that the show is attended by a dedicated local community of enthusiasts. If this low-key approach is still working for them, who am I to judge? The formal setting and dress code made the show feel much of a luxury experience for the same cost as a few pints in a pub nearby.

 The show seemed welcoming to the newcomers I met and Harrow are offering specialist newcomer tickets for 2025 priced at £18. You frankly won’t get a better offer than that in the whisky events world right now so if you’re reading this and the festival is local to you – book it – and say hello to me when you get there!