Clackmannanshire's Whisky Festival back bigger than before

This year's event was bigger and better than last year's, featuring over 30 different stalls and whisky vendors from around the world offering up free samples of their finest ranges.

Visitors could also sit in on expert masterclasses, learning all about how whisky is brewed and the importance of different casks on taste and colour.

Organisers Graham and Serena Lindsay were delighted at the response to the event which was twice the size of the 2022 festival.

Graham said: "We really ramped it up from last year. We had almost double the number of exhibitors that we had last year.

"Our busiest session had 280 people at it and feedback has been really positive. One of our aims was to bring a city-level event to Clackmannanshire and try to bring people to Alloa and see what is here."

Serena added: "Bringing the history and the local heritage into the festival was a way of really drawing people into it who are not necessarily whisky drinkers."

The organisers were keen to blend the whisky celebration with wellness, focusing on men's mental health through their chosen charity Neil's Hugs.

"That's where our charity partner Neil's Hugs come into things," Serena added. "We really wanted to push and drive their profile and give them a platform.

"Last year, we found it went really well and we had a lot of men visiting the stand so it's been great having them on board again."

A special treat for visitors this year was the masterclass events, where experts took guests through what makes each whisky special, allowing them to sample different drams to compare.

One of the masterclasses also featured a special guest in Sandy Bowie, the former manager of the old Carsebridge Distillery which closed in 1983.

Mr Bowie attended one of the masterclasses, which featured a BBC archive clip of Mr Bowie talking about the distillery, in what was a nice tribute to the whisky veteran.