And thought to pass on a couple of quick impressions...
The Whisky Visitors Centre on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh is well worth the trip... you've got to take the ride!
The Port Charlotte Hotel on Islay is wonderful, by far the best (hotel) experience of the trip.
The Tours from Bruichladdich, Ardbeg, Aberlour and Edradour are well worth seeing (in that order) ... though none of the others we saw was disappointing these four stood out.
I only brought my duty free allowance home... sadly the Provence of Ontario adds 60% to the cost of any Bottle above the duty free allowance (then they add duty and 15% Tax!) A Bottle I can buy here for $129 (38.99 Pounds at Oddbins) would come to $156 if I brought it home. (As an aside Some Whiskys are Cheaper in Alberta than Scotland, fortunately there is no duty charged when you move Whisky around in Canada)
I was not thrilled by the Lagavoulin 25, at cask strength it is (for me) too sharp to drink straight though I don't have that issue with most other cask strength offerings, When water is added it looses some of the character I was hoping for.. Certainly not bad but definitely not worth half again as much as Ardbegs Lord of the Isles .. though if I was able to bring more than the Duty free back I might have thought again.