Home   Lifestyle   Article

Doughnuts make the whisky world go round


By Matt MacPherson

Easier access to your trusted, local news. Subscribe to a digital package and support local news publishing.



Click here to sign up to our free newsletters!

Whisky can often be too serious. Yes, it’s a drink that should be respected but that doesn’t mean you need to analyse every little sip to the nth degree.

A way to make whisky more approachable is pairing it up with food – whether that be chocolate, cheese or, in this case, doughnuts!

I follow a tantalising Instagram account “whiskyanddonuts” (we’ll forgive them for the spelling) which, you guessed it, pairs up whisky with the best doughnuts around the world.

Whisky and doughnuts pairing session.
Whisky and doughnuts pairing session.

Johnny and Erica who run the account from California contacted our neighbours Perk Coffee & Doughnuts here in Inverness. For those who don’t know, Perk was set up by Nicole Mclennan, who helped get The Malt Room established and is now making irresistible fresh doughnuts and coffee every day.

It has proved a real hit with the locals – her team picked up the Inverness Business Improvement District independent new business of the year award 2019 after only having been open for six months.

The guys teamed up and put on a tasting together at the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival in Dufftown. Each of the 30 lucky guests sampled six specially made doughnuts alongside six drams of Johnny’s choosing.

I was one of the lucky guests and my favourite pairing was the “Old Fashioned” doughnut made from maraschino cherry, orange zest and angostura bitters paired up with Aberlour A’bunadah – a cask strength sherry cask bomb! It was genuinely like eating the best Old Fashioned cocktail you can imagine.

There were a few extras and I’m not ashamed to tell you that I had them for my breakfast the following morning.

The guests loved the experience and even though Johnny and Erica live across the pond we have already started planning the next one, so watch this space.

Oh, what about the maracas? Johnny brought them along to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and they were to be shaken if anyone was getting too serious!

  • Matt MacPherson is the owner and founder of The Malt Room in Inverness.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More