Glenlair Feastival 2025: The Sequel
As we start a new year, I seem to be reminiscing over last year's first ever Glenlair Feastival. It was the first music festival of its kind in Galloway, held right here at Glenlair Steading where we fill and refill, wrap and post, sip and sample in our Demijohn store.
My usually serene and well-paced office turned upside down and inside out into a brilliantly hectic day. It seems like the right time to muse over the highs of Glenlair Feastival 2024, especially as the plans for the second Glenlair Feastival 2025 are bubbling away, ready to erupt in all its glory on Saturday 16th August 2025.
This is my short story about that one day, Saturday 17th August 2024.
After many months of planning and days of eager preparation, I had counted down the minutes to welcome you all in for a day of delicious food, endless cocktails and fantastic live music. We were ready.
To my surprise, my very first customers were actually my Demijohn mentor and his partner, Kacper and Sally. If you had the pleasure of visiting the Glenlair Steading Store, or perhaps received a thank you card in your order etched with one of their names, you may recall this fantastic couple.
This time last year, Kacper was leaving Demijohn to embark on a career path in the mental health sector, whilst I was just climbing aboard the Demijohn ship. I am typically at ease before events like this, right up until the very first customer when a little bubble of excitement creeps up in anticipation.
However, you can imagine my ease when it was two fellow Demijohnnies that made their entrance. Especially as Kacper taught me the Demijohn way, a mutual understanding of what craziness to come was virtually guaranteed. They came clinking with refills (of course!) and after a little catchup, I was keen to welcome the oncoming friendly faces.
To put it plainly, we could not have done Glenlair Feastival 2024 without you all, our customers.
The highlight of my time at Demijohn has always been the genuine interactions and even more genuine people behind those experiences, so I wanted to take a moment to thank you for first of all attending and for your friendliness. That is, if you could attend this one of course!
Whether you caught us during a moment of brief ease where we could chitchat for longer, or during the craziness of twelve plus shoppers in the indoor space, thank you!
There are over seventy fantastic and unique drinks and foods to try when you visit Demijohn, so we really do appreciate that you may not get to the sample everything you may like. However, you are more than encouraged to visit us whenever our shop is open.
Another favourite of mine is the reactions when sampling from one of our many Demijohns. My personal go-to drink is the Toffee Whisky Liqueur, so when I meet a fellow sweet-toothed friend, their reaction is just as mine was to the delicious caramelly and smoky drink.
On the foodie side? It has to be Black Garlic Balsamic Vinegar. If you know, you know. Beloved by many, this versatile vinegar is a staple in our kitchen. I often bring different Demijohn ingredients back for my boyfriend to chef-up with at home, this particular balsamic is one that we can’t seem to keep for very long. Thank goodness for refills aye?
So, if you have not had a go at trying this vinegar, I am sorry to say but you are missing out, that can be easily resolved, however. You know where to find us!
Refills, refills, refills. Practically a history lesson in the 20 years of Demijohn, which this event was also put together to celebrate. Part of me wonders how many different Demijohn bottles Angus and Frances must have dotted around the estate over the twenty years in business, or how many Demijohn bottles have been lost to the backs of people’s cupboards, longing to be refilled with delicious drops of Spiced Rum Liqueur or maybe some light and fresh Kabbadates Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Well, I was very pleased with the many refills we got this day. It’s always fun seeing which bottles people are drawn to and which they have held onto, awaiting the perfect time to refill. Some are unfortunately never to be made again, so, cherish your Ying and Yang and Heart bottles as they are few and far between. Here’s an inside secret though… some old-time favourites will be making a comeback. Don’t let the Fergusons know that I told you!
Cocktails and mocktails were aplenty this day, thankfully we had a great team of Ferguson family and friends to keep the good times rolling and delicious drinks pouring. We also had the famous Demijohn Cocktail Bar at one of the entryways to the shop, meaning you could sneak a peak into the shop that sparkled behind while waiting for your delicious drink.
From Fruity Highlanders to Raspberry Fresh Mocktails and more, the best part about our drinks is that you can finish your glass and gather the ingredients to take home with you then and there. Whether you choose to gift them to someone or to keep to yourself is up to you, a cheeky message on your bottles like ‘To me, love from me' will do.
To spice it up a bit we were very pleased to have Ninefold Rum Distillery creating fantastic cocktails from their elite selection of rums. The perfect companion to our Demijohn Bar for those who fancied something on the stronger side. Plus, it is always great having Kit and his roster of rums to demonstrate some more truly exceptional craftsmanship.
Fun fact: Ninefold Distillery are the great minds behind our popular Navy Strength Scottish White Rum, beautifully smooth, this drink is definitely one for those who love to add an extra layer of depth of flavour to their drinks. Did you know? Kit turned their old Dairy into a bustling distillery, that kind of smart thinking brings me onto our next highlight.
Glen Urr Ice Cream was the perfect sweet treat to balance out the savoury flavours we will get into later. Glen Urr Ice Cream provided our patrons with delicious homemade and 100% natural dairy ice cream from award winning Ayrshire cows.
I gravitated towards the caramel ice cream (shocker) which was just an absolute dream. There is a reason this ice cream is renowned around Dumfries and Galloway, and I am here to testify to that with one word: YUM. We are happy to say that Glen Urr Ice Cream will be making a return to the next Glenlair Feastival, I doubt I will be able to hold out until then, however.
Now, it is not very often I have a dessert before my main, but whichever order I got to experience this fantastic line-up in, I did not mind one bit. We were brimming with excitement when we laid our eyes on the Passing Place Pizza’s food truck. PINK. I am a certified girlie girl while also being a huge pizza fan, so, my fate was sealed. I knew I would love what they had to offer.
This was not just any pizza however, this was woodfired pizza. What a fantastic idea! Hamish and Sam turned a little horse box into a portable kitchen to feed brilliantly aromatic and freshly made pizzas to the masses. I personally indulged in the pizza titled ‘Three Little Pigs (The Porky One)’, what entailed was a wonderful union of classic tomato sauce, mozzarella, ham, pancetta and peperoni slices. The smoky flavour was out of this world. Just one quick glance informs me dinnertime is just a few hours away, perhaps a collection from Garlieston isn’t too far from Glenlair…
What made Glenlair Feastival extra special was the entertainment. Sometimes at work I will pop the radio on and bob along to whatever the powers that be have chosen for me. I am sorry to say but they have no match on live music at your doorstep. Angus and Frances hired out a fantastic sound system that successfully brought the good tunes from one end of the steading right to my happy ears.
The incredibly fun group, The Aberlady Sessions, brought us an energy that just vibrated the place. Covering immensely popular tunes that I couldn’t help but hum along to while filling bottles was a more than welcome switch up. The Tatties Ankles were outstanding! They came through with bubbling energy that only folk music can stir up, I felt like the penguin from Happy Feet the way my foot was tapping along.
There’s also something about the quick beat to folk that just makes you hurry along faster when you’re busy working apparently. Then, there was the thoroughly talented Marcus Thompson. What a voice, I am not sure what was smoother, his voice or the drinks you went home with!
The music was sweet to my ears and a cherry on top to a bustling day landed in my lap: Gower Cottage Brownies. These brownies were baked with love to the perfectly rich and fudgy consistency that can only be curated when made by hands, the epitome of the 'why not?' indulgence that Glenlair Feastival brought to my work's doorstep.
Why not dance along to the fabulously energetic tunes? Why not grab the larger bottle of liqueur you eyed up since your last Demijohn encounter? Why not go for the little block of chocolatey exquisiteness that everyone had been raving about? It seemed silly to begin resisting pure joy after a day that had exploded with fun and flavour. One more reason to smile definitely did not hurt.
I blinked, and the day was gone. Personally, I had not had the pleasure of working at one of Demijohn’s many stores that dotted around the country just a few years ago, let’s take a moment to sigh over the struggle that was the pandemic. However, I think I truly got a feel for what those stores in Edinburgh, Glasgow and more must have felt like during a big rush. The aspect that makes this Demijohn store extra special is that we get to host unique and wonderful events like Glenlair Feastival, and I get to meet many people whose paths I may have never crossed without it.
So, if this all sounds like a bit of you, let’s do it again – but better! Mark your calendars for Saturday 16th August 2025 for Glenlair Feastival 2025: The Sequel! It’s going to be another electrifying day of good food, drinks, music and even better people.
Thank you for reading, we hope to see you at Glenlair Feastival 2025.
Yasemin Saribal
