#25.2 Highlands trip bonanza!

From Ardnamurchan crossing the sea to Tobermory

TL;DR: Second day of our trip, and for the first time, we visited a recently built distillery: Ardnamurchan! It was also the first distillery we visited openly talking about sustainability. In the afternoon, we took the ferry to Mull, had a stroll in Tobermory, and visited the local distillery, of course!

(missed Part 1?)

On the second day of our long weekend we woke up very rested, after a great sleep in the very quiet Ardnamurchan Bunkhouse. The weather was overcast, so we skipped a potential walk in the woods and went directly for breakfast at the Natural History Visitor Centre, which also had a gift shop and a tearoom with delicious food (well, at the time at least…as we write it is closed for the winter, but there is a sign of business on sale). Then, a few meters away, the Ardnamurchan distillery.

Ugly picture of the beautiful lighthouse.

The distillery was funded and built in 2013 by the independent bottler Adelphi. According to the very knowledgeable guide, the decision was prompted by increasing difficulties in sourcing whisky casks. They started distilling in 2014, similar to many others (Wolfburn, Kingsbarns, Ballindalloch, Annandale) in what we can now consider the first wave of new distilleries (well, if we exclude the handful built in the ‘00s, like Kilchoman, Glengyle, or Daftmill). We liked the distillery, it is a combination of modern and classic styles, with a couple of classic pagoda roofs, one for aesthetical purposes (it’s above the visitor centre) but not the other (mystery…). A particularly interesting detail is that they use vegetable biomass collected in the area to heat up their boiler and rely on heat exchanges, showing how the whole production process was set up with sustainability in mind. They also have warehouses on site, so after the production tour we could take a sneak peek at the maturing casks.

The only picture we took at the distillery.

The tour ended in a very cosy tasting room/bar, where we were given two drams: the Adelphi house main blended whisky (NAS, 40% abv), and the Ardnamurchan spirit, aged for a couple of years in octaves. Because these casks are very small, the wood/spirit contact is higher and thus maturation is faster than in bigger casks – definitely a good strategy to get an idea of the direction the spirit is taking. Considering the age, we were impressed by the spirit, although the price was above the amount we’d spend on a 2y spirit. Well, we caught up afterwards. Since the first release of Ardnamurchan single malt in September 2020, we had more than a few drams, including a bottle of AD/07.21:05 we shared with friends in Italy over Christmas 2021, which “evaporated” in just over three weeks.

We left the distillery towards Kilchoan. We looked around a bit before going to the pier, where we got on the ferry to the Isle of Mull! About 40 minutes later, we were in the village of Tobermory, which probably many of you will be familiar with because of the very picturesque row of coloured houses on the waterfront. Well, fame deserved, it really is a special place!

We drove straight up to the camping, where we had booked a pod for two nights. The camping was only 20-min walking from the harbour (and the distillery), so we could both enjoy our drams, finally! On the way to the distillery, we stopped quickly by a shop to get oatcakes … a move that will turn out to be very smart.

Can you tell we’re eating oatcakes? Yes, you probably can.

So, the Tobermory distillery was where the non-automatic booking system almost failed us (remember, this was back in 2019, now you can book online!). We had booked via email a tour with an extended tasting (4 drams each), however we were warned that tours were at risk of cancellation because of renovations. We checked in at the visitor centre, and the (a bit cranky) lady told us that there was no tour because of the renovations, and that someone should have told us before getting there. More worryingly, she said that there was no tasting, as the last one of the day had already started (indeed, we could hear the cheerful laughs coming from one of the tasting rooms). The tide turned when we showed her the email exchange, and it turned out that the person we had been in contact with (and that was supposed to tell us that there was no tour) was her! A bit of an awkward moment, but then she opened the door of a second tasting room, where she made space for us (apparently it was used as a storage room) and got eight bottles for the tasting: instead of both of us having the same set of four drams, she gave us a dram of eight expressions! Very well played, although, after a very quick description of the drams, she kind of disappeared…

The tasting consisted of three Tobermory single malts (unpeated) and five Ledaig-s (heavily peated). We started with the main flagship, Tobermory 12, to move on to an 11y distillery cask (ex-bourbon) and then to a 17y finished in Madeira casks, which was awesome. We also started the Ledaig series with the main expression, the Ledaig 10, followed by a 15y finished in ex-Rioja casks, and the 18y finished in ex-sherry casks, part of their core range and arguably one of the best drams ever. We finished off with a single cask expression, a 19y finished again in ex-Oloroso casks, and a 20y finished in ex-Moscatel wine casks. Being newbies at the time, we were mostly chasing big flavours, peat and strange finishes, so this combination of expressions literally blew our palates off! We came out of the tasting very happy, purchasing something for us and something to gift (and paying the tasting an extra fiver for some unknown reason, but we didn’t want to be bitchy about that).

Soon after (the tasting was at 4pm!) we went for an early but delicious dinner at Cafe Fish. We were outside the restaurant afterwards, enjoying the later afternoon sun, when a seagull landed on an apparently abandoned plate, grabbed something and left. When the unfortunate lady returned (nope, not abandoned), we had to break the news to her: she almost threw up and the waitress had to take her plate away, looking not too happy about that. After this “funny” scene, we slowly headed back to the camping (the return was uphill, d’oh!) to find another of the Highlands’ curses, after single track roads: MIDGIES! Gianluigi, as usual, got bitten a lot, Teresa much less…at the time it was surprising, after the n-th time, not so much.

We spent the following day visiting Mull. We left the camping mid-morning, drove towards Dervaig, Calgary and then along the west coast all the way to Fionnphort. We stopped a few times to admire the incredible landscapes, for a sneak at The Inn at Port nan Gael (delicious local mussels!), and another time to avoid driving over an incautious lamb. At Fionnphort, we crossed the sea to Iona, where after a quick stroll we visited the rest of the island running, trying to stay on a path along the perimeter. Unfortunately, at some point we ended up in a peat bog, but we were still able to return to Baile Mór, where we took the ferry again back to Mull.

We then crossed the island eastward, to Craignure, and we returned to the camping in Tobermory, amazed by the incredible visit we had! Mull is definitely one of those must-go-back places!

Stay with us for the last day and the other distilleries. Until then, slainte!

Distillery Links

Ardnamurchan: https://www.adelphidistillery.com/
Tobermory: https://tobermorydistillery.com/

#25.1 Highlands trip bonanza!

From Edinburgh to the West Highlands, via Dalwhinnie and Ben Nevis

TL;DR: During our first big whisky road trip on the Highlands in mid-July 2019, we bagged seven distilleries in four days. First off, Dalwhinnie (OK, albeit a bit touristy) and Ben Nevis (if only we knew…). And amazing Scottish landscapes, of course.

For this story, we go back to 2019, early Summer. We were fresh members of the SMWS, and definitely eager to learn more about whisky, in particular eager to visit more distilleries. The perfect occasion was a mid-July weekend, when Teresa could enjoy a Glasgow bank holiday. Prompted by all the people telling us how beautiful Mull is (true story), we aimed towards that direction, central and west Highlands. From this, we started defining our route while poking distilleries.

A thing to note, it is unbelievable how in only three and a half years the whisky tourism landscape has changed. Many of the distilleries didn’t have an online booking system at the time, so we had to contact them via email or phone. That made us (well, Gianluigi mostly) a bit uneasy: will everything go as scheduled or will our bookings be lost in translation? We’ll see how mostly everything worked out fine, in the end, except for one.

This is the only picture we took at the distillery.

On Friday morning, we drove up north from Edinburgh, as the first visit was at Dalwhinnie. Built in 1825, the distillery is actually visible from the A9, the main highway from Edinburgh to Inverness, past Pitlochry but before Aviemore. The village giving the name to the distillery is one of the coldest in Scotland, as it is very far away from the sea and one of the highest as well. As a matter of fact, the distillery is often referred to as the highest in Scotland, although the highest is actually Braeval (by 2m, Wikipedia says). The buildings are very beautiful and somehow symmetric, including two pagoda roofs above the former malting floor. Being very close to the river Spey, it falls within the area where distilleries can pick their region between Highlands or Speyside, albeit Dalwhinnie usually goes for the former. It is owned by Diageo, and its two main expressions (Dalwhinnie 15y and Winter’s Gold) are very prevalent. The whisky is considered to be light and floral, and it is very hard to find expressions released by independent bottlers.

We checked in quickly for one of the standard tours, with a very nice lady who, however, was keen to clarify that she didn’t like whisky (which sounded a bit weird). Honestly speaking, we don’t remember it as a memorable tour, although we do remember the relaxed atmosphere created by the very friendly staff. It looked like a nice work environment. Probably, being in a such visible spot, the distillery suffers from being excessively geared towards mass tourism. The drams (the aforementioned two, plus a sip of the Game of Thrones House Stark release, suspiciously similar to the Winter’s Gold…) were OK but they didn’t prompt us to purchase. So, after a homemade lamb-chop sandwich eaten in the parking lot, we hit the road towards our next stop.

Fewer distillery pictures, more landscapes.

From Dalwhinnie, instead of going back to the A9, we drove westward following Loch Laggan and passing by the village of Spean Bridge: the landscape is truly amazing over there (well…as in most parts of Scotland). We arrived at our destination in the afternoon, just in time for the tour: Ben Nevis distillery, in Fort William. After the nice tour, Gianluigi had only one dram and Teresa four (well, she saved some for the evening). The distillery looked a bit decadent: the decor in the visitor centre reminded us of an early 90s ski resort, giving us almost a nostalgic feeling. At the time we didn’t know that the distillery is owned by the Japanese Nikka, who use Ben Nevis in some of their popular blends (did someone say “Nikka from the Barrel”?? We didn’t…).

And this is the only picture we took here.

For us, this was a totally new experience as, unlike Dalwhinnie, we had never heard about Ben Nevis before booking the visit. The whisky was a great surprise too. While we weren’t too fond of the Nevis Dew Special reserve blend (the one with the red label), we loved both the blended malt Glencoe 8y (cask strength, now long gone unfortunately) and the single malt Ben Nevis 10y. In our understanding, we missed the cask strength version for just a few weeks, and the Mac Donald Traditional Ben Nevis wasn’t available. Being naïve in the whisky world, we bought the slightly cheaper Glencoe (at the time around 25-28 quid) instead of the Ben Nevis 10y (at the time 35-38 quid), but in hindsight, we should have got both…and a couple of bottles of each too: back at the distillery in 2021, we found out that the release of Ben Nevis 10y would cost us 50 quid, and that the Glencoe was discontinued!

After Ben Nevis, our trip continued towards one of the most westerly points of mainland Scotland: the never enough celebrated Ardnamurchan peninsula! And with that, we also discovered a very typical Highlands feature: single-track roads! Unavoidable, we guess, and now we are kind of used to them…but let’s say that the first time we weren’t so happy about it. We stayed in a self-catering accommodation very close to the Ardnamurchan distillery, and after dinner, thanks to still very long days, we managed to visit the lighthouse: such an amazing spot!

We guess by now you know about our plans for the day after, so stay with us until next week, Slainte!

Distillery Links

Dalwhinnie: https://www.malts.com/en-gb/distilleries/dalwhinnie
Ben Nevis: https://www.bennevisdistillery.com/

#24.2 Dramming in Dublin

Back to Dublin after the storm: the Dublin Liberties Distillery

TL;DR: A much awaited reunion with two friends became a perfect opportunity for Teresa to visit another fairly new distillery in Dublin: The Dublin Liberties. But before then, we explored Irish whiskey from home.

(missed Part 1?)

Soon after our weekend in Dublin in 2020, we found ourselves stuck at home, unfortunately not baking much. However, during this unfortunate period, we started digging a bit more into Irish whiskey (well, into all things whisky to be fair). We got our first bottle of Redbreast 12, and in spite of the 40% ABV, we loved every drop of it. We also got a big Irish whiskey tasting for the Belfast Whiskey 2020. There were supposed to be a bit more than a dozen dram, finally they were 19 (it took ages to finish them all…) and among many forgettable drams, we found some quite nice ones (Dingle Single Malt, Sliabh Liam Dark Silkie, Dunville Three Crowns). Later that year, an Irish whiskey tasting was organised by Justine and Connor for the Edinburgh Whisky Group, and this time we found another true gem: Powers John Lane 12y, now one of our favourites. And we didn’t replace the bottle, but Jameson Black Barrel was an easy sipper for a while (we’d be very curious to try the cask strength version).

Oh yes, we like you… who would have said an Irish dram would be so tropical?!?

So, one bit at a time, we started navigating the world of Irish Whiskey, although to be honest we are still confused and a bit annoyed about one thing: sourcing. Well, not the sourcing in itself, which we have no problem whatsoever with, but the fact that many of the new distilleries don’t make it clear on the label when their spirit is sourced from another distillery (at the other end of the spectrum, an excellent example of transparency was the Raasay “While We Wait” expression, very clear indeed!).

It is with this background knowledge that I (Teresa) went to Dublin for the third time in less than three years. Only a good reason could bring me back to a nice, but still quite expensive city.

No, that’s not the reason I went back to Dublin, but could have been.

The reason was indeed really good, a reunion with two old friends back in August 2022. The plan was very simple: just a chilled-out weekend to enjoy the city, good food and, most of all, some time together, with not much sightseeing involved. My two friends are not much, or better, not at all into whiskey (yes, I have friends that don’t like it!), so any whiskey-related activity was also out of question. Nonetheless, the evening we spent in Temple Bar and its surroundings, I couldn’t resist the “Irish whiskey calling”, so I had a Redbreast 12y and a Yellow Spot. Both quite pricey (from memory between 12 and 15 euros for a 25ml dram), most likely because we were in a very touristy area (so my fault, really).

The two days went really fast and, after a morning in sunny Howth, it was already time for my two friends to head towards the airport. Not for me, because my flight back to Edinburgh was late in the evening, so I still had a few hours to spend in the city…That called for a distillery visit, of course! It was still very sunny, so I decided to walk to my destination, the Dublin Liberties distillery, where I had booked the last tour of the day (just in time!). At first, I wasn’t even sure I was in the right place, the neighbourhood looked very residential to me, and indeed I was already angry at myself for giving Gianluigi more evidence to laugh at my lack of orientation skills, but then I saw a small sign…I was at the distillery, phew!

Arrived at the distillery, such a relief!

While waiting for the tour to start, I browsed the shop: whiskey of course (but again no checked luggage, so I didn’t really pay attention to the bottles on display), the usual merchandise, but also a good selection of whisky books.

The tour started in a small room where the guide gave a brief introduction and made us (i.e. myself and three Americans) watch a video about the troubled history of the Liberties neighbourhood, including the famous 1875 whiskey fire. Such a young distillery (it started producing in 2019) doesn’t have much of its own history, so I found it quite clever to devote the first part of the tour to the roots of Irish whiskey in general. And all this while sipping a dram of Honeycomb liqueur (if memory serves me well), a bit sweet for my taste but nice touch!

Another nice touch was the information about where barley is malted (Cork), and about the location of the warehouses (Wexford) – in most tours you normally get this level of detail only if you ask. We then moved to production – mashtun, stainless still washbacks and of course the still room, where I found out that the distillery has a capacity of 700,000 litres of alcohol per year. Not huge, but still more than I expected. Unfortunately my more geeky questions (like about the cut) weren’t answered, which made me realise that knowledge of whisky production wasn’t really the strength of our young guide. She was still entertaining, so overall an enjoyable tour.

Finally, the tasting, which happened in the beautiful bar in a relaxed atmosphere. The two drams were two whiskeys, most likely sourced from other Irish distilleries (I didn’t ask), the Dubliner (3yr, 40%) and the Devil Oak (single malt, 5y, 46%, a bit confusing that they have also a blend with the same name, more prevalent). Probably because of the young age, none of them was particularly memorable, but I was surprised by how the Dubliner was very drinkable.

Back at the shop, out of guilt for my ignorance, I bought an Irish whiskey guide and made my way to the airport, where I found the perfect souvenir: a bottle of Yellow Spot, at a price (60€) that was almost too good to be true, compared with the 70-80 pounds we usually see it in Scottish shops.

Overall, nice to keep our exploration of Irish whiskey going. Until next time, Sláinte!

The Dublin Liberties Distillery Tour

Price: 18 euros (weekend tour, August 2022, 16 euros on weekdays)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: 3 drams, Dubliner Honeycomb Whiskey Liqueur (30%), Dubliners Blended Whiskey 3y (40%, likely sourced but not 100% sure), The Liberties Oak Devil Single Malt 5y (46%, NCF, NC, sourced)

Target: Anyone, but geared towards tourists and novices

Value for money: Good

Highlights: The history of Liberties covered in depth and the friendly staff

Recommended: Yes if you’re a tourist or you’re bagging distilleries, no if you’re an expert

Link: https://thedld.com/