East Ayrshire Whisky Festival

Ayrshire supporting Ayrshire – People supporting People

East Ayrshire Whisky Society (EAWS) was established in June 2024 by Russell Wilson and Garry Mitchell. Sadly, Russell passed away in February 2026, and the membership of EAWS decided to organise a whisky festival celebrating Russell’s life. As part of our group ethos, we support local and national charities, and we wanted to do the same for the festival. With Russell’s family’s blessing, we will be supporting Ayrshire Cancer Support (ACS) with 50% of the festival proceeds, which we hope will play a modest part in helping finance some of the fantastic work ACS do supporting and empowering people across Ayrshire.

East Ayrshire Whisky Festival-2026 (EAWF-2026), will be held on Saturday 17th October at the Park Hotel, 2 Dundonald Place, Kilmarnock, KA1 1UR. We have secured event sponsorship from a host of local businesses for which we are extremely grateful.

Our event partner is the excellent Lochlea Distillery, Lochlea Farm, Kilmarnock, KA1 5NN
“In the heart of Ayrshire we grow our barley, distil our spirit and mature our whisky on the same land. A quietly modern Lowland single malt, shaped by the seasons: Our farm – Our distillery – Our Single Estate. We are proud to partner with EAWS for the inaugural EAWF-2026. At the festival we will be conducting a unique masterclass of five never before sampled whiskies, a brilliant opportunity to enjoy Lochlea whisky and support a wonderful cause.”

Our event retailer is one of Scotland’s top independent whisky retailers, Robbie’s Whisky Merchants (RWM), 3 Sandgate, Ayr KA7 1BG

Robin, Anna and the team bring significant industry experience in support of EAWF-2026 having been operating in the whisky industry for over 43 years. RWM is an award-winning retailer who has provided wonderful advice and guidance in the preparation of EAWF-2026. The team at RWM is really looking forward to a great day in support of a great cause.

Our event charity is Ayrshire Cancer Support, who provide support for anyone in Ayrshire affected by cancer. They are well known for their patient transport service and, in addition, provide specialist cancer support information, groups and courses, counselling, and complementary therapy for all cancer types, all stages and all ages. Ayrshire Cancer Support is extremely pleased to be working in collaboration with Lochlea Distillery, Robbie’s Whisky Merchants and East Ayrshire Whisky Society in delivering a brilliant whisky festival.

Buy you EAWF-2026
festival tickets via
the QR code opposite.