Hi everyone,
About a month ago, I said I was going to do a tour of Scotland, concentrating mainly on the distilleries. Well, my companion and I returned home a couple of days ago, and here are a few notes on our experiences. As promised. Oh, and actually, we did not limit ourselves to distilleries - we did some castles, coastal and mountain walks, wildlife watching (esp. in the north-west and on the isles), went to Highland Games, and a rather extensive tour of Edinburgh. Oh, and our tourist gas cartridges were confiscated at the Edinburgh airport virtually a day before the recent fuss...
Anyway, most distilleries we went to were in the middle of the silent season, so their Visitor Centres were either closed altogether and major renovation was in progress (including pot stills hidden under hideous scaffoldings), or there were no tours. Not to mention those with no visitor facilities. Those, we just saw from outside. Highlights of the tour include:
- Ardbeg - as expected. Been there before, never been disappointed. Fantastic tour and tasting - you get to choose from the 10yo, Uigedail, Still Young, Serendipity (memory fails if there was anything else to choose from; there might be). I went for the Still Young, and was far from impressed. Luckily, my companion (a total whisky novice) wisely chose the
- Bruichladdich. An interesting and informative tour, good guide. You get to visit the warehouse in which they also store other whiskies for Murray McDavid, so there's not only Bruichladdich lying around. Also, I was lucky to talk to Jim McEwan himself, and went on an extensive and exclusive tour of that particular warehouse with him! A few pointers here: never mention FWP to Jim; the quadruple distilled Perilous Whisky (86% in the cask) actually tastes extremely interesting and promising - lodas and loads of fruit, you don't even mind the exorbitant ABV; the warehouse stores a number of interesting whiskies from various distilleries (I got to taste Glen Scotia, Mortlach and Highland Park) finished in all sorts of fancy casks (mainly wine), all of which are truly delicious. Also, if you do a regular tour, at the end of it you get to choose your complimentary dram from several whiskies, including Rocks, Infinity, 15yo, and a few more, but there memory failed completely ;-)
- Kilchoman. Actually, it was hard to find it, as there was no signposting at a crucial turning, so we nearly landed ourselves in the sea at first (there's a nice beach, actuall), but the brakes test result was positive. The guides told us there was a signpost with a huge arrow ready to be placed in the crucial spot, only waiting for someone to take the hassle of going there and mounting it. Anyway, at Kilchoman, we got to see all 158 (!) casks of spirit that they had managed to make prior to our arrival, got to taste their new-make, which tasted like an extract from a well-smoked oily mackerel - disgusting actuall, I do hope maturing will improve it - and the recently burned down kiln furnace...
- The snag about visiting Islay is that most distilleries do tours twice a day, and it's usually at more or less the same time. Which means that if you're staying on Islay for only a day, you will be able to do two or three tours at best. Always plan at least a couple or three days on Islay. As I'd been on Islay several time before, I gave Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Bowmore a miss this time. Just took a few pictures from the outside, and went on. Didn't manage to get a tour of Bunnahabhain or Caol Ila either.
- Sprinbank. By far the most interesting distillery tour ever. To be beaten only by Ardbeg - if you're lucky to have one of the Thomsons as your guide. Otherwise, Springbank rulez ;-) You get to see the malting floor being used (actually, I had a chance to try my hand at raking the malted barley!), the kiln, the rest of the distillery, including warehouses. And the guide is more than knowledgeable. At the end of the tour you are presented with a complementary mini bottle of Springbank whisky - bottling for visitors - rather than a dram. Which is most welcome if you happen to be a driver.
- Glenlivet. A knowledgeable guide, interesting (albeit crowded) tour, a choice of three different drams to choose from at the end - a 12yo, 18yo and
- Glen Grant. Despite making the kind of whisky they make ;-) their tour is also very good. And it's free! Also, there are so few visitors, that we had an exclusive tour with just the two of us and the guide. At the end, the Major Grant's room, there is a funny video presentation, and you get a taste of either the NAS or 10yo. And just in case you're a novice, the guide will whisper to you confidentionally "The 10yo is the better one." The gardens are worth a visit too.
- Strathisla. Although we got to Keith at the wrong time, before the VC was opened, we were most impressed by th elook of the distillery. It is reputed to be the prettiest Scotch whisky distillery, but any photo of it you might have seen does not do it justice. It's truly remarkable and charming. However, the notice board says you will be given a complimentary dram of... Chivas Regal :-( Apparently - so my Scottish friends tell me - if you ask for it, you will get Strathisla.
- Glenmorangie. An intersting tour, good guide, nice selection of drams to choose from at the end of your tour.
- Finally, Edradour. Never ceases to impress me. Although drowned in crowds of tourists, it is a charming place to see. And a good dram - before the tour begins. Well stocked shop (Signatory stuff) and a tasting bar complement it all perfectly. The tour and a dram are free, but you will have to pay if you want a more extensive tasting at the bar.
- Oh, I would forget Glenfiddich. The tour is now different from what it used to be. You get to see the bigger still house (they've got two), meander round virtually hundreds of washbacks, and you do oget into one of the warehouses - a novelty at Glenfiddich. Overall, the tour is more interesting than it used to be, although the guide makes sure you notice she had done at least fifty tours before you, and she's bored to death. Also, you no longer get to see the bottling hall, which has been moved away from Glenfiddich. As I understand it, they now do only occassional special bottlings at the plant.
The disappointments included most of the "biggies" and more - Cragganmore, Oban, Talisker, Dalwhinnie, Glenkinchie, Pulteney, Dalmore, Macallan, and a few others. They either offer you boring, standard tours, where you're just ushered through the plant by most disinterested guide, or they are in the middle of their silent season and don't bother to open their VC's or even write a notice saying sorry we are closed. They charge you exorbitant 5 pounds (compared to 2.50 or no charge at all in more interessting and more devoted places). The Macallan I chose to boycott myself. Prior to my trip, I wrote an email to them asking, among others, if I would be allowed to take pictures inside the distillery. The reply took my breath away: "Photography is not allowed inside the distillery buildings unfortunately, unless 5 million pounds public liability insurance can be produced, and gas atmospheric testing will have to be carried out prior to your visit." I just gave them the finger. The Speyside Cooperage was another disappointment. All you get there - in return for your 4 pounds - is a glamourised video about cask making, and then you're sent to their viewing gallery, and see very little semblance of what's going on there to the video. I mean, they are just making casks, so what else could you expect, as my friend pointed out, but for the sake of the tourists (quite a few of them), they could make a bigger effort there. Also, you're told there will be a tasting at the end of the tour. You get to their shop, produce your receipt and get... virtually a thimbleful of crappy wine. At Pulteney - silent season again - the person in charge of the VC was three quarters of an hour late (we got there first thing in the morning), and wouldn't be bothered with tourists.
To end on a more positive note, we got to a few distilleries which were in the middle of their silent season, but their VC were open, we got a taste of their whiskies, _and_ the persons in charge made an effort to compensate for our disappointment with there being no proper tours. These include notably the Clynelish/Brora, where we were taken to the Brora stillhouse (Clynelish being renovated at the time) and got a taste of Clynelish 14yo, and Glendronach, where a sort of a tour was arranged for us - despite the distillery being closed - and a dram was had as well. Same goes for Jura.
Hope I haven't missed any of the most notable highlights of our tour. There were many other distilleries which we visited - either doing a tour or just seeing it from outside - but these were probably not worth mentioning as you just got what you expected - nothing more, nothing less.
Gosh, it did turn out to be quite a _long_ post. Sorry for that.
Cheers, Rajmund