TL;DR: After we (somehow) managed to dry up, the morning after we left the campervan in Kilchoan and hopped on a ferry to Tobermory. Some important business there: shower, lunch, and a visit to Tobermory distillery! That was so nice that we almost missed the return ferry…

(missed Part 1?)

We woke up on Saturday morning, almost dry. Before preparing breakfast, we drove to the Kilchoan ferry pier, as we didn’t want to take advantage of the Kilchoan Hotel lady’s kindness more than necessary. The original plan would have seen us taking the ferry to Mull, visiting the distillery, and then taking the return ferry to the mainland from Craignure to Oban. However, because we loved the peninsula so much, we changed the plan: we took the ferry on foot, and we would return back to Kilchoan with the last ferry of the day.

The weather was much better, still a bit cloudy but sunny at times, very windy. We had a nice breakfast outside, with the salty sea-breeze hitting us. Before the ferry, we managed to wash the dishes, tidy up the campervan, and prepare a backpack with a change of clothes and towels. This was because in Tobermory, near the aquarium, there are public showers. Unfortunately, this time of the year both campsites in Kilchoan and Tobermory are closed, and a third one in Kilchoan doesn’t have toilettes and showers (only for motorhomes, we guess?). Hence, a shower was really needed (FYI, there should be showers at the Kilchoan community centre too, but they do short hours: opened after we took the ferry to Mull, and closed before we were back).

The ferry crossing was fast, slightly more than half hour, after which we found ourselves walking on the Tobermory pier. At the aquarium, which was closed, showers were available indeed! But first we had to go back to the local Coop to get coins. What a feeling, to be clean again! Gianluigi even managed to wash his hair and dry himself up with the hairdryer: cosy! Before our distillery visit we had to get lunch though. We chose one of the restaurants on the pier, between the aquarium and the distillery, the MacGochans. Food was OK, although very abundant: we left over half pizza, which we brought with us. 

Finally, distillery time! We were very excited, we had visited Tobermory in summer 2019, but we couldn’t see production because renovation works were going on. Not this time though, and after a quick check-in, we were in one of the distillery’s courtyards. We chose the “alternative” Warehouse 1 experience: because there were renovations in the warehouse (apparently still now, at the time of writing), we’d get a distillery tour instead, before the tasting at the visitor centre. Our guide for the day was Robert, new in the whisky industry, and previously working as a shoe-maker. We liked his approach, a bit different from the usual one: he introduced himself and asked about us, to create a connection, so that during the tour he was “tailoring” the experience to make it more personal. A very nice touch. 

The distillery is one of the oldest, built in 1798, and they produce two main single malts: Tobermory (unpeated) and Ledaig (peated). Production used to be split 50/50, but the master distiller, Brendan McCarron, at an event we attended in December 2022 said that they are going to change it and focus mostly on the Ledaig side. As usual, we went through production like a grain of barley: milling (very old malt mill), mashing (very new mashtun), fermenting (wooden washbacks) and distilling (2 pairs of shiny stills).

All rooms were very narrow, reflecting the little space available to build the distillery. Robert pointed us to a building on the other side of the road, which used to be a warehouse, now flats (almost like being in Leith!). Nowadays, they have only little warehouse space on the island, and most stock is matured on mainland together with stocks from the other sister distilleries, Bunnahabhain and Deanston (both among our favourites). 

After a quick look at the courtyard, we headed back to the visitor centre and started the tasting of the selected distillery casks: first off, a couple of Tobermory’s, a 2012 ex-bourbon one and a sublime 1995 ex-Manzanilla (although it spent more or less half of its life in an ex-bourbon hogshead before). The Ledaig’s didn’t disappoint either, an ex-bourbon matured (also 2012) and a 2009 finished in a French red wine cask. There is something about Ledaig (and other peated malts) in red wine casks that we like a lot, and we loved this one very much (we took it over a similarly priced 19y ex-oloroso, which we tried a nip of). Like our 2019 visit, the tasting was great overall, and we just would have liked to have some more time to hang around and try more things (we still managed to try a lot, thanks Robert!).

Unfortunately, the time for the last ferry came (actually, we almost missed it), so we sailed back to the Ardnamurchan peninsula with our ransack: a bottled of Ledaig and half pizza. Only off-note of the evening, we realised that the time of sensible deals for Distell bottlings outside the core range is definitely gone, in particular for the distillery exclusives (and this is reinforced by some Deanston bottlings prices we saw floating around the web recently, like £50 for a 10y 20cl bottle!). A shame, but hey ho, we’ll pick something else. 

Back at the van, we picked up our (no more) wet shoes from under the vehicle, where we had placed them to dry, and left. We took advantage of the last hour or so of light (sunshine would be an overstatement) to visit the lighthouse. It is a magnificent place, that we loved at first sight. We could have just spent hours there, but the day was ending (painfully soon, but hey, it’s Scotland in February!), and it was not permitted to stay there for the night. On the way back we detoured to Sanna beach, but it was already dark to walk there, and all the potential spots for the night along the road were already busy. We then drove back to the spot facing McLean’s nose, for a nice sleep. 

In the morning, after breakfast we were soon on the road towards Edinburgh. The roads were very quiet, and the villages too: we didn’t find anything open to get a coffee, just the automatic machine at the little store in Strontian. Only then we realised: we have a moka, coffee, and a stove on the van! What a coupled of dum-dums! Back on the road, we drove to Corran, took the ferry, but instead of driving towards Glencoe, we turned left to Fort Williams, and we decided to take the road towards Spean Bridge. We stopped there for a quick meal, and then drove on the A86 towards Dalwhinnie. So, once we were there, why not a quick stop? Just enough time to go to the loo and get half dram of their distillery exclusive and bottled-your-own (overpriced both by the dram, £10 each, and by the bottle, respectively £90 for a non-age statement at 48% and £125 for a 12y cask strength, 53.6%), with the other half in the sample bottle for Teresa (she had picked the short straw this time) to enjoy at home. 

So, our first whisky adventure with the Mr. Vantastic was almost a success, bar the unwanted shower we got on the Friday. That taught us two things: check the weather more carefully (in particular in February on the Highlands), and be ready to change your plan quickly. Clearly, a steep learning curve. Slainte! 

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Tobermory (alternative) Warehouse 1 Experience

Price: £40.00 pp (February 2023)

Duration: 1hr (in theory!)

Tasting: 4 drams, 2 Tobermory’s (2012 ex-bourbon cask, 1995 ex-Manzanilla double matured) and 2 Ledaig’s (2012 ex-bourbon cask and 2009 ex-French wine cask)

Target: whisky enthusiasts and geeks

Value for money: good

Highlights: the drams were spectacular

Distillery Exclusives: the 4 mentioned above, plus other bottles from casks of previous tours

Recommended: yes

Link: https://tobermorydistillery.com/

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