#46.3 The return of the smoke

Islay’s Juggernaut: Caol Ila

TL; DR: Back on Islay, we first visited Finlaggan, the site of the castle of the Lords of the Isles, in the middle of a loch: a charming place. We then drove to Caol Ila distillery for the first visit of the day. It’s the biggest on Islay, recently renovated, definitely worth visiting on a good day for the view from the tasting room.

(missed Part 2/Part 1?)

We rarely sleep past 8am in the campervan, but this was one of the rare occasions. A combination of cozy and nice temperature, and not too much light (also thanks to a truck protecting us from direct sunlight!). We felt well rested, and after a nip at the loos (public toilets were just on the other side of the very narrow street), we had breakfast. There wasn’t enough time to do anything else, so we jumped in the vans and managed to take the first available Caolin Ferry back to Islay.

Caol Ila distillery is very close to the Port Askaig pier, and we had over an hour before the tour. Instead of hanging around, together with Justine we decided to visit Finlaggan, less than 10 minutes up the road towards Bowmore, with the last bit on a single-track road.

Where the Lords of the Isles used to rule…Finlaggan

This is the historic seat of the Lords of the Isles, the ancient rulers of the area, before it was absorbed by the Scottish crown. It’s in the middle of Loch Finlaggan, just a few minutes walking from the visitor centre (still closed when we arrived). There used to be a castle/fortified house there, built over different centuries, but the ruins we can see today are from the 13^th century. It’s a very beautiful and quiet place, definitely worth a visit if you have some time to spare. While we were visiting the site, the visitor centre opened, but we didn’t have time to check it out: it was time to go visit Caol Ila distillery.

Yes, we’re in the right place.

It took just a few minutes to drive back from Finlaggan, after which we left Mr Vantastic in the new parking lot, next to the electric vehicles’ charging points. From there, we walked on a very nice wooden footbridge to enter the new visitor centre, from which you get some very nice views of the production site and the Paps of Jura (to note, for accessibility you can drive closer to the building). The visitor centre is “carved” inside a warehouse, of which they sacrificed a portion for visitors. It’s clearly new, with a typical Diageo’s style shop, not as nice as the Lagavulin one, but fortunately without that airport duty-free look as Talisker’s. At the bottom of the shop, there is a very long bar, and behind it, the “tasting room”: a few tables in front of a very large glass window with a magnificent view. On that day, the sunshine definitely made the experience memorable!

Can you spot the striding man?

As we walked in, they offered us a welcome dram: a choice between the blended malt Johnny Walker Islay Origin (a blend of Lagavulin and Caol Ila) and the Caol Ila 14y Four Corners of Scotland (the expression they brought in, together with Cardhu, Glenkinchie and Clynelish ones, to celebrate the “Johnny Walker”-ification of these distilleries). A few minutes later, we gathered at the tour starting point with our guide. Our guide was very new to the job (apparently ours was their second tour ever), so it wasn’t the most informative of the experiences: oh well, everyone needs to start somewhere (and we complemented the info with the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2024)!

We started in a room one floor below the visitor centre with a nosing experience of some aromas (as far as we remember, peat, supposed-sweet, sea and maritime spice?). It was followed by an 8-minute video about the history of the distillery and the crucial role it plays in DCL/Diageo’s blends, accompanied by animations on a relief map, with wee boats moving from Islay to the mainland and back. There was also a very informative wall display, with the parallel histories of Caol Ila and Johnny Walker. Overall, we felt this introductory part was a bit too long (slightly over half an hour), to the point that Gianluigi started doubting that there’d be a tour of production!

The ‘Four Corners’ part of the tour.

It was included indeed: we went down the stairs, crossed a courtyard to the distillery building, walking past the usual Johnny Walker statue and the old visitor centre (a small office on the ground floor). First, we visited the mill room, where a Porteus mill has been grinding malted barley since 1979, when the distillery was rebuilt. The husk/grit/flour split in the grist is the usual 20/70/10%, and the grist is then moved to the full Leuter mashtun for a slow mashing process to obtain a clear wort. They are equipped with eight wooden washbacks and two stainless steel ones, where fermentation lasts around 55-60 hours. This space, where mashtun and washbcks are, is very clean and tidy and looks very similar to other Diageo distilleries, including a table where all the processes are showcased “in miniature”.

A tidy distillery.

The still room is quite spectacular, with six stills aligned next to the glass windows. Of course, three of them are wash stills, for the first distillation (with descending lyne arms) and three are spirit stills, with straight lyne arms for the second distillation. After this, we went back to the warehouse/visitor centre, and we visited a part of the warehouse that is half-way between the two: many casks are still lying there, but the space is mainly used for other visits or tastings. There, we got to smell a few different casks from the bunghole.

The only spot where we could take a pitcure of the still room.

Finally, it was time for the tasting, in the area the back of the bar. We knew the drill, 3x15ml drams, drivers package ready to be filled with a small funnel, and a cocktail (the alcohol-free version for Gianluigi was based on a smoky tea, quite interesting, while for the others the base was Johnny Walker Black Label 12y). We got there a bit late, so by the time the tour was supposed to end, the guide had just finished to introduce the drams (and in fact, they left us to sip on our own). We started with the Caol Ila 12y, the distillery flagship: there is a reason why this distillery is called “Mr Consistent”, as even this widely available expression (watered down to 43% and probably chill-filtered) is a nice one. The next two were the two expressions only available at the distillery: the Distillery Exclusive and the Bottle-your-own (see below for specs). Both yummy, as usual, although they were way too pricey for what they are.

Failed attempt at capturing both tasting and amazing view in the background.

Caol Ila is by far the biggest distillery on Islay, with 6.5 million of alcohol litre per annum production, and because of this it tends to be one of the go-to peated expressions for independent bottlers, at much more reasonable prices. As a confirmation, the last three Feis Ile bottlings (2022, 2023 and 2024) were available at the shop, literally gathering dust. For example, the 2024 expression is a 13y sold at £185 – who would buy it considering that indies Caol Ila’s of similar age sell for about half that price?

Once Teresa and Edo finished their drams, we had to leave very quickly, as we didn’t have all the time we thought we’d have before the next visit, and we needed to get lunch too! Anyway, it was nice to finally get to see Caol Ila: probably, among Diageo’s whiskies, it is the one we drank the most throughout the years. Also, this was the only Diageo distillery we hadn’t visited yet (among the ones open to the public, plus Mortlach, Linkwood, Dailuaine and Auchroisk) – a six-year journey since we started with Oban in 2018. Of course, Brora is still missing – do you think they’ll will allow us in with a discount since we visited all the other ones???

Coming next, another of Islay’s classic: Bowmore! Until then, slainte!

Caol Ila Flavour Journey Tour

Price: £21.00 pp (July 2024)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: a welcome dram, choice between Johnny Walker 12y Islay Origin blended malt (42%) and Caol Ila 14y Four Corners of Scotland (53%), plus 3 drams at the end, Caol Ila 12y (43%), Distillery Exclusive (NAS, first and refill ex-bourbon and first fill re-charred California red wine, 57.4%) and Fill-your-own batch 2023/003 (10y, 1^st fill ex-bourbon cask, 55.1%)

Distillery Exclusives: Distillery Exclusive Caol Ila (NAS, 47.4%, £100) and Fill-your-own batch 2023/003 (10y, 55.1%, £130)

Target: tourists and beginners

Value for money: good

Highlights: the tasting room facing the sound of Islay and Jura

Recommended: only if you’re really keen, but we think there are better options on the island for a standard tour (the view makes it worth though)

Link: https://www.malts.com/en-gb/distilleries/caol-Ila

#45.2 Stepping over the (Highland) line!

Back in the Lowlands

TL; DR: After Glengoyne distillery, we headed down back to the Lowlands. First Dumbarton, then Auchentoshan. We had a very in-depth tour, which was great, and we could appreciate every bit of their unique triple distillation process. Worth the money, just a shame the drams were basic.

(missed Part 1?)

As we came out Glengoyne distillery, we definitely needed some food. Fortunately, we had a couple of sandwiches we got earlier at the Turnip the Beat cafe, quite delicious ones, which we devoured in the Glengoyne visitors parking lot (thus, already in the Lowlands). We soon left though, heading first towards Loch Lomond, and then south. We had a few hours to spare, so we went to Dumbarton, which we’d never visited before.

Distilleries in the past, houses today.

Dumbarton used to be home to the namesake grain distillery, and (on the same site) the Inverleven single malt distillery. Both distilleries started producing in 1938, Inverleven was then closed in 1991 and Dumbarton in 2002. Today there is a housing development on the site, which kept some of the red brick buildings. Other than that, the only remaining signs of this town whisky history are the massive warehouses on the road to Glasgow. We parked at the bottom of the Dumbarton Rock, a huge volcanic plug with a castle on top of it (you guessed it, the Dumbarton Castle). Unfortunately, the castle was closed due to illness (!!!), so we only took a short stroll in the garden below the rock, near the estuary of the river Leven, and then got a coffee and a light bite in town.

A pretty spot, a pity we couldn’t visit the castle.

The coffee break was longer than we thought, so we had to sprint to Auchentoshan distillery right away. We got there at the exact minute the tour was starting (although we’d called them to warn we could be late). Our guide was Anya, who started the tour with some history: the distillery was founded in 1817 (licensed in 1823), and the name means the “corner of the field”, referring to where the barley was initially harvested. As a matter of fact, there used to be a farm on site since the 1500s.

Just on time!

Moving to production, for the mashing they use 7 tons of barley sourced from the big maltsters (Baird, Simpson and Crisp), which goes into a semi-Lauter mashtun with the usual three waters at increasing temperature. Anya told us they’d just replaced a manual scale with an electronic one, but apparently the new scale needs recalibrating so often that the time savings are not substantial: not all trials go well, we guess. After mashing, the sugary wort is moved to one of the nine washbacks (four made of Oregon pine, five of stainless steel), for a 70h fermentation.

One of the peculiarities of Auchentoshan is their triple distillation, a practice that was once common in the Lowlands distilleries, but gradually disappeared. Now other distilleries we visited do some triple distilled runs at times (Benriach, Benromach, Sprinbgank/Hazelburn, Glengyle), but Auchentoshan remained the only one doing it regularly, before the very recent reopening of Rosebank distillery, in Falkirk. The wash still can hold 17,500 litres, the intermediate 8,200 litres and the spirit still 11,500 litres. Anya described the process well, but it was also good to have, right in front of the stills, a scheme describing everything in detail – it made it more intuitive. Being triple distilled, the spirit has a higher abv than usual: they take a cut between 82.6% and 80%, average 81%.

A really cool still room…

…with a really cool explainer.

After the still room, Anya walked us into the warehouse, where she explained the maturation process while letting us look at different cask types. Casking and blending don’t happen on site, but in Springburn, where the other Suntory facilities are located.

Always nice getting to see dampy warehouses.

Finally, we went back to the distillery for the tasting, in the same tasting room/bar where we had our tasting back in 2021, above the visitor centre entrance and shop. This time the tasting was not so good – we got a dram of the American Oak (40%, non-age statement, apparently mostly 6y, with some 5y, whisky) and of the 12y (40%), that is, the two most basic expressions. The wee mug they gave us to take home, instead of the usual gleincarn, was a very nice touch, though. We get that this was the entry level tour, but it wouldn’t have costed them much to replace the American Oak with another more ‘advanced’ expression: in the shop they have both Bartender’s Malt limited editions, batch 01 (47%) and 2 (50%), the Sauvignon Blanc cask finish (47%), the travel retail range and a couple of distillery exclusive bottlings (see below), so plenty of options (in theory). Fortunately, at the shop they gave us a wee taste of one of the distillery exclusives, a delicious 9y sherry matured whisky, from an Oloroso cask (59.7%).

At first, we were not sure whether it was a good idea to do the basic tour, but in the end Anya was a great host: very clear and precise when describing the production process of this very unique distillery, she really made our day, so we were happy that we’d decided to go for it. As we said, the dram selection could have been better (yes, in this respect we could have opted for a different ‘experience’), but this has nothing to do with the guide.

Stay tuned for more whisky action, some smoky stuff coming soon…Until then, slainte!

Auchentoshan Origin Tour

Price: £18.00 pp (June 2024)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: 2 drams, Auchentoshan American Oak (40%) and 12y (40%), plus a complimentary mini-mug

Distillery Exclusives: Auchentoshan hand-bottled distillery 9y Oloroso cask (59.7%, distilled 22/10/14, bottled 1/6/24, £90/30 for 70/20cl) and 22y Oloroso cask (56.2%, distilled 15/10/02, £250 for 70cl)

Target: tourists and casual drinkers

Value for money: good

Highlights: the triple distillation process showcase

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.auchentoshan.com/

#42.1 A weekend on Skye

From the vPub to Torabhaig

TL; DR: For our traditional wee February Highlands escape, this year we picked the isle of Skye. The first distillery we visited was Torabhaig – a beautiful location and an interesting tour, definitely a great start to the weekend!

In the last few years, we started a new small “tradition”: a trip to the Highlands, visiting some distilleries, in February. This not only comes after the dreaded dry (past years) or half-dry and half-moderated (this year) January, but it is also a great time to go because of the low season, unlike the summer months when a mass of tourists is swarming this beautiful region. Everything is quieter and more relaxed, the way we like it, probably not coincidentally the same way we started to truly enjoy whisky. There are downsides too of course, but we’ll come to these later.

In 2022, we did a daytrip to Pitlochry, to which we attached an in-depth tour at Blair Athol distillery. Last year, we went to the West Highlands, to a spot that has a place in our hearts: the Ardnamurchan peninsula. The trip included a short visit to Tobermory too (we’ll let you guess which distillery we visited). This year, the original choice was Islay, but in addition to the fact that there were no campings open or “official” spots to stay with the campervan (speaking of off-season downsides), one of the four distilleries we haven’t visited yet was closed (Caol Ila), so we decided to postpone. The other choice was another banger of a place that has been on our wish list for a long time: Skye! We’ve been there in the summer 2020, but because it was pandemic time, we couldn’t visit any distillery.

Driving west again.

And what a drive!

As usual, we planned to leave in the late afternoon evening, so to be ready to get to the first distillery in the late morning the day after. However, a couple of weeks before the trip we had a very pleasant surprise: Roy, from the Aqvavitae YouTube channel, asked us if we could be part of that week vPub. It was a 6 Nations themed blind challenge, where we would sip six drams, one from each nation. It goes without saying, we would participate as the Italy representatives. It was a super fun night, we truly enjoyed the blind tasting, and we found some very interesting new drams (the Armorik 10 in particular, a proper dram). To be able to attend the online event, we booked a B&B near Fort William, as many campsites are closed in February (another downsides of off-season) and the couple that were open had mixed reviews on the WiFi quality, something we couldn’t risk. In the morning, we had a huge breakfast, after which we were ready for a nice day of whisky visits!

This was fun!

The first distillery we hit was Torabhaig, after a spectacular drive on the A87. We arrived there 10-15 minutes in advance, so we could take some pictures (not many, as the weather was quite dire at that point). The distillery is in a very nice spot, very isolated, in the south of the island. The building was completed in January 2017, from restoring the ruins of an 1820s farmstead that in turn used stones from the nearby Caisteal Chamuis. The castle also gives the name to a blended malt sold by the independent distiller Mossburn, owner of the distillery.

A distillery with a castle in the background.

The guide for the day was Lesley, who turned out to be very precise and on-point, making the basic tour very enjoyable also for whisky enthusiasts like us (the fancier tours were not available at the time, another off-season downside). Their production capacity is of about half-million litres of alcohol per annum, and their barley intake is about 28 tonnes every 10 days. It comes from Crisp on the Moray coast, and is usually 77ppm.

Yes, the weather wasn’t great…

After milling, mashing takes place in a copper-closed mashtun, with the usual three waters increasing in temperature. They do up to three mashes/day for a total of 17/week, after which the liquid goes into one of the eight 10,000-litre washbacks (although they fill it up to 8,000), where fermentation lasts about 72 hours. They have one pair of stills (probably the size of the B-listed building wouldn’t allow more), 8,000 and 5,000 litres for respectively the wash and the spirit still. They are called Sir Ian and Lady Noble, from the couple who conceived the distillery project in the first place. From the spirit still they take a cut around 70% abv on average, and a peculiarity is that, similarly to distilleries characterised by a waxy spirit, they mix feints and low wines in the same receiving tank. Very interestingly, for two weeks a year, the two distillers are free to experiment, and these batches will make future releases.

Random picture of a piece of peat because we couldn’t take any in the production area.

After the production tour (where photos were not allowed), we went to the tasting room – no warehouse visit as on site they don’t keep many casks because of limited space. We tried the newmake and the Allt Gleann, their second released single malt (ex-bourbon casks, 46%). Their first bottling, released in 2020, disappeared in a typical “pandemic frenzy”. Since then, they also released a cask strength version of the Allt Gleann (61.1%, mainly ex-bourbon) and, about a month after we visited, the last of the Legacy Series, the sherried Cnoc Na Moine (46%), which we haven’t tried yet.

The dram we tasted.

After the tour, we went back to the shop to try a tiny sip of the Mossburn 12y, and then we had a coffee and a tasty cake at their cafè, before leaving towards our next stop. At the cafè they also sell some of their other whiskies by the dram, in particular the Mossburn range. Overall, we really liked the experience (and great value for money) and this distillery, not just because it’s truly beautiful. The whisky still tastes a bit young in general (well, the few we tried at least), but we can see great things coming from them.

Torabhaig Regular Tour

Price: £12.00 pp (February 2024)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: newmake and a dram, Torabhaig Allt Gleann (46%, ex-bourbon casks, peated)

Target: everyone

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the building and the scenery

Recommended: yes

Link: https://torabhaig.com/

#39.4 The Highlander Trip

A quiz, a tasting and a distillery visit

TL; DR: Saturday was a “rest” day, after three distillery visits (actually five in two days!). However, we still had some whisky activities scheduled: a whisky-themed quiz and a tasting at the Carnegie Whisky Cellars. It was a great day, and it was followed by a visit (re-visit for us) at Clynelish on the Sunday.

(missed Part 3/Part 2/Part 1?)

On Saturday we woke up not that rested: Teresa’s cough was getting worse, the humidity inside Mr. Vantastic not helping. Gianluigi wasn’t at his 100% either, with a bit of hangover hanging there. In normal conditions we would have got a warm drink and a good breakfast right away, but unfortunately Dornoch is a bit of a ghost town before 9-10, so we couldn’t find an open cafè nearby, nor open public restrooms. Eventually, the latter opened (thankfully). A few minutes later we met Justine, and took a walk to the beach with her.

Such a beautiful morning in Dornoch.

It was a very sunny day, not that cold, and Gianluigi even dipped his feet in the North Sea waters. We walked back to the village, where we could take a quick shower at our friends AirBnB. As a “thank you” Gianluigi went to the Harry Gow Bakery and got yummy morning rolls for everyone! Teresa felt adventurous and tried the macaroni pie – better than expected, although not sure she’ll have it again.

It wasn’t that cold…He says.

There were no distillery visits scheduled for the day, it was like a rest day, but we’d have had an early evening tasting at the Carnegie Whisky Cellars shop, and a very fun activity was waiting for us before then: a whisky quiz! It was our friend Charlie, a whisky enthusiast more seasoned than us, to organise it. As a location, we went to the Dornoch Castle Whisky bar. Space was a bit narrow, so we were all around the same long table and with little chance to mix: we ended up in the same team, the Home Office (because of our working from home patterns, but also as a political mockery). We had a lot of fun, but we didn’t win: we tried to gamble our last round for a high reward, but we didn’t make it to the top. Afterwards, we went to the Cocoa Mountain to get a warm (and yummy) chocolate. Unfortunately, Teresa kept getting worse, so we decided to get a hotel for the night instead of sleeping in the campervan. Because this was a last-minute decision, we had to scramble back, and we ended up being late for the tasting…d’oh! Fortunately, our pals were all very understanding.

An amazing whisky tasting is about to start.

The Carnegie Whisky Cellars is a shop on the main street in Dornoch, on the same block as the castle. It is run by Michael, the manager, who started there in 2016, and by his assistant David. Beside the shop, there is a very nice room with low ceiling (ehm, the cellar?), and a long table around which we had the tasting. It was a very good one, Michael’s knowledge was impressive, and the choice of drams hit the spot. The lineup started with an old Haig blend, followed by a delicious Thompson Brothers Teaninich (bottled for the shop), a single cask 21y Braveal, a cask strength Campbeltown blended malt Gauldrons (probably mostly Glen Scotia), and two cask samples, one from a local distillery (don’t know if we can disclose it, but it wasn’t Dornoch) and another one from a Campbeltown distillery. While Gianluigi enjoyed his drams, Teresa mostly saved them as she wasn’t feeling well, so after the tasting she went back to the hotel to rest. She revisited the tasting recently, and she loved it as well! Gianluigi instead joined the others for a very nice dinner at Greens (just next to the shop), followed by drams at the Dornoch Castle Whisky bar, and a final pint at the Coach House, before joining Teresa back at the hotel.

The back of an old Haig bottle…What a statement!

In the morning we were both feeling much better, and as soon as we could we had our breakfast (Scottish full, of course) at the hotel, where we said goodbye to our pals Fiona and Mike, who left soon after. We met with the rest of the gang in the main square, but we didn’t join them on the minibus: we were both working the day after, so the plan was to drive back to Leith straight after the visit at Clynelish distillery.

This was the second time there for us, with the first in May 2021 right after the lockdown. While we really like the whisky, the distillery visit was a bit of a bummer: too expensive and too focused on Johnnie Walker (you can read about it here). Fortunately, things changed since then, they have various experiences, and we chose the Production Tour and Premium Tasting, more suited to whisky enthusiasts (£30). The others are the Flavour Journey (sounds very Johnnie Walker-esque, £19), the Express Tasting (£15) and the Premium Tasting (£65).

Dramming around with friends.

The guide for the tour was Shirley, and she was way more knowledgeable than the guide we had in 2021 (to be fair, we are now more knowledgeable too). The tour scheme was the usual, although it was a lot richer in information. They get their malt from Glen Ord maltings, unless Talisker is in high demand, in which case they get it from Buckie. The mill (as usual, Porteus) is the only piece of equipment they didn’t refurbish in 2016, and they set the usual 20/70/10 split in the grist (husk/grit/flour). With the mashing (common to many Diageo distillery, two waters: raising the first one from 62°C to 84°C) they aim for a very clear wort, which then undergoes about 80-85 hours of fermentation.

They recently changed yeast strain, they now use Lalamond. They only do unpeated whisky, but for their neighbour distillery Brora, the peat comes from near Montrose. The stills are a copy of the original 1960s ones, replaced in 2016, and they are fired with steam produced with oil and gas. Similar to our previous tour, however, we couldn’t visit the warehouse (it’s in the Brora area…). Anyway, most of the whisky is shipped away in tankers.

Dramming around with friends nr. 2

The tasting was supposed to be 3 drams, but because we were a big group, Justine managed to negotiate an extra one (yay!). We had the tasting in the bar upstairs, with a magnificent view down towards the sea. Today it was Teresa’s time to enjoy her drams, Gianluigi behind the wheel. We started with the Clynelish 14y (the flagship!), followed by the Distillers Edition, finished in Oloroso Seco for 6 months (we had a bottle of this). It was followed by the Distillery Exclusive, a non-age statement, full ex-bourbon matured whisky bottled at 48% – no mention or colouring or chill-filtering, but given the colour, we think it is unlikely they used caramel colourant. It was good, but not £105 good (this was batch 2, batch 1 in 2021 was ***only*** £90). Finally, we tried the Four Corners of Scotland, a bottling they made to celebrate four iconic distilleries (together with Caol Ila, Cardhu and Glenkinchie) for making Johnnie Walker. Again, quite good but at over £200, insanely priced. A shame these prices, but hey ho, life goes on.

An unexpected photo bomber!

Anyway, we were happy with this distillery visit, much happier than after the first time. Nonetheless, excluding Friday’s tour de force, the real highlights of the couple of days were the whisky quiz (thanks Charlie) and the tasting at the Carnegie Whisky Cellars. Some very good memories to bring home, which is where we headed afterwards, not before a stop in Inverness.

Stay tuned, and until next time, Slainte!

Clynelish Production Tour and Premium Tasting

Price: £30.00 pp (November 2023)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 3 (+1) drams, Clynelish 14y (46%), Distillers Edition (vintage 2006, bottled 2021, 46%, Oloroso finish), Distillery Exclusive (NAS, 48%), Four Corners of Scotland 16y (49.3%)

Distillery exclusive: NAS (48%), mostly ex-bourbon cask

Target: everyone

Value for money: good, definitely better value than the flavour journey we did in 2021

Highlights: the bar/tasting room and the view from it

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.malts.com/en-gb/distilleries/clynelish

#39.1 The Highlander Trip

A craft distillery in the castle backyard

TL; DR: After visiting Campbeltown and Speyside, this time the Edinburgh Whisky Group travelled to the Highlands, main base Dornoch. No better way to kick off the trip with a visit to the local distillery!

During the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns, one thing that helped us maintain some sort of mental health was the great whisky community we found online, and in particular the Edinburgh Whisky Group founded by Justine on Facebook. A hard core of us kept in touch even after things eased off, and towards the end of 2021, when travels were allowed again and distilleries slowly reopened, we organised a trip all together, the Campbeltown Jolly! It was a success, so we repeated it about a year later with the Speycation.

For the third year, in 2023, after some thinking and discarding some options like a day trip in Pitlochry (Edradour still closed and too many of us had already visited Blair Athol) and a weekend on Islay (too complicated and probably expensive), the selected destination was the Highlands, with the brilliant name Highlander, who wants to dram forever? (our pal Charlie even made a logo to print on t-shirts). We were going to be based in Dornoch, and the trip combined distillery visits, whisky tastings, and a very fun whisky-themed quiz (Charlie was on top of this too!).

On our way to Dornoch we took the chance to visit two Speyisde distilleries (Ballindalloch and Dunphail, both definitely worth a visit!), but then we met up with the rest of the troops directly in Dornoch. For us one big issue was the lack of an open campsite in Dornoch or in the vicinity (we had to contact Visit Dornoch to ask where we could park our campervan without causing any trouble). Unfortunately, this is the issue when visiting the Highlands in the off season, as we’d already found earlier in the year when we went to Ardnamurchan in February. On the one hand, it’s really great to be able to appreciate incredible places and landscapes in peace and without the (sometimes) swarm of summer tourists, but on the other hand many services including campsites (despite the easier maintenance) are closed, making it challenging, at times.

Things you can do while in Dornoch – the Historylinks museum.

After a fun evening with the others at the Eagle Hotel (also restaurant and pub), we woke up In the morning not that rested, because of a cold we’d caught a couple of days before the trip: campervan + cold, not a great combination. We had to catch up, however, because it was going to be a long day: not one, not two, but three distillery visits, yay! We fixed ourselves a nice breakfast in the campervan, and it was soon time for the first visit: the very local Dornoch Distillery, founded by the Thompson brothers Phil and Simon in 2016.

Yep, that’s the whole distillery!

At the moment the distillery is just behind the Dornoch Castle Hotel (at the time of writing also property of Phil and Simon, who took it over from their parents), and near the Historylinks museum. It is a shed that used to be a fire station, more or less same size as the Stirling distillery, but without the bar…Intriguing! So small, that we had to divide the group in two, we were in the second shift. When it was our time to go, Phil Thompson let us inside: everything is very carefully placed to give the operators enough space to move.

One of the six wee washbacks.

There are a 300kg stainless steel semi-lauter mashtun, six (!!) wooden fermenter vessels and two beautiful copper pot stills from Portugal (1,000-litre and 600-litre). There is also a 2,000-litre iStill, which is used as the wash container before distillation, or for gin production (here Phil stressed out how long it does take to clean it after gin to avoid any trace of gin going into the newmake spirit for whisky…A care that we wish other craft distillers would have as well!).

Not the classic stills.

At the moment they are using an ancient variety of barley called Marie Otter, which according to them provides less yield but more flavour compared to other varieties because of the higher protein content. Fermentation lasts seven days, with liquid yeast (it used to be brewer’s yeast), and they leave the top open to allow natural yeasts to play their part as well. The stills are electrically heated, although they use steam coils to pre-heat for a more efficient process. Their capacity is a little more than a hogshead (so north of 150-ish liters) per week, and when we were there, the abv at the end of the last distillation’s heart collection was 66.9%.

In case you were still doubting this is a craft operation. It definitely is!

Probably one of the most geeky distillery visits so far, Phil’s knowledge of and passion for whisky making are impressive. His patience is impressive too, we asked so many questions! Overall, it was very interesting to see how their vision of traditional whisky making translated into practice. Also, we were very happy to have had the chance to visit the distillery shed before the big changes ahead. Indeed, the Thompson brothers have been recently granted permission to build a new distillery nearby, which will improve their capacity and include a visitor centre and a shop. This is a very exciting development, and given their flavour-forward thinking in each step of production, we can only imagine what they will be able to do with an improved capacity!

On the way to the shop.

Done with the visit, we moved to the shop, which is about 8 minutes walking north from the distillery. The shop is closed on weekends, and because we were leaving on the Sunday, if we wanted to get something from them now it was the time. We were lucky to find one of the last bottles of their recent Canadian Single Grain matured in in Sherry casks, for a Christmas gift, while for us we bought a “secret” Highland we’d tried before, very delicious in our opinion. The distillery it comes from would have been the next one on this trip.

Stay tuned to hear about it, and until next week, Slainte!

Bespoke Dornoch Distillery Visit
Link: https://www.thompsonbrosdistillers.com/

#38.1 Warming up for the Highlands, in Speyside

The Ballindalloch Distillery

TL; DR: On our way to the Northern Highlands, we couldn’t help but stop in Speyside for a couple of visits. First off, a distillery we’d driven past several times but yet to visit: Ballindalloch. Bonus, when we visited they’d just released their first few bottlings!

Important things first: happy New Year! We hope you are well rested after the Christmas and New Year holidays, and had plenty of good drams. We absolutely did – our (Italian) Christmas dram was a very tasty Glen Moray 18y (47.3%) grabbed at the airport, while as a last dram of 2023 and first dram of 2024 we chose the delicious Kilchoman 100% Islay 10^th Edition (bottled in 2020, 50%). We are looking forward to another year of tasty drams to share with you, lovely lot!

Back to 2023, one of our last whisky trips was in early November, with the mighty Edinburgh Whisky Group, organised by the mightier Justine from Kask Whisky. After the Campbeltown Jolly (2021) and the Speycation (2022), it was time for the Highlands: Who Wants to Dram Forever? “Highlands” is quite a broad whisky region (both in terms of area and flavour), we chose the North, and we were based in Dornoch. Of course, to get there you need to take the A9 (unless you go for some insane detour), and the A9 does run kind of close to Speyside as well…so why not doing a quick detour on the way there?

A long drive to Ballindalloch, but here we are!

And it goes without saying, we detoured indeedy. We decided to visit two distilleries, both quite new, starting with Ballindalloch. We’d driven past the this distillery many many times during our multiple Speyside holidays, and once we even stopped for lunch at the cafe just behind it. The distillery was founded in 2014 by the Macpherson-Grant family, who owns the entire estate with the castle (where they’ve been living since 1546!), pastures and barley fields. Before becoming a distillery in 2011, the building was a run-down farm originally built in 1848.

At the time of our visit, they offered various tours (now they changed a bit), but the only one available on the day we’d be there (Thursday) was quite pricey (£75pp), as it included old drams from Cragganmore casks (a distillery to which the family is linked). We asked if we could do the simpler (and cheaper, £20pp) tour they were offering on Wednesdays (now it is offered most days), which included a taste of their two distillery-exclusive single malts. To our big surprise they agreed, in our experience (not only in visiting distilleries), this kind of flexibility has been rarely seen: kudos to them! Just FYI, on Thursdays they also offer an in-depth all-day experience for £275, learning from the manager and the staff.

How an old steading can become a beautiful distillery.

The trip there was uneventful, under a grey sky, and fortunately we didn’t find any road closures due to rain along our route. At the distillery, we were welcomed by Evan, who later told us he was already working for the family but in their fishing range and had very recently switched to the distillery for the off-season. Being in an old stead building, the distillery follows a square layout: the side of the visitor centre entrance is occupied by a lounge (where the tasting took place) and offices, while the remainder is mostly for production.

After a brief introduction, we moved to the milling room, equipped with a modern mill. They process about 1 ton of malted barley every day, which after milling is moved to their semi-lauter mashtun, where one mash is done every day from Monday to Friday.

Every piece of equipment is clearly sized to fit into the building: as the latter is a listed building (and thus can’t be reshaped or expanded) and because of the barley provenance, expansion beyond their current production (100,000 litres of alcohol per year) is not under consideration. As a matter of fact, the barley comes from the family estate, which produces about 350 ton/year, just over their requirement for whisky production (a bit over 300), and it is sent away for malting (the only stage not happening at the distillery).

Gianluigi nosing the wash, a tradition 🙂

We kept walking along the buildings, and next we found the four wooden (Oregon pine) washbacks, where fermentation lasts between 92 or 140 hours (fermention over the weekend is longer, of course). Next, right in the corner, the two stills, a 5,000-litre wash-still and a 3,600-litre spirit still, connected to two wormtubs located outside the building, each one with 70m of copper tubes inside. From the second distillation, they take a cut between 75% and 68% abv. They cask everything on site, and the casks are stored in a warehouse in the courtyard. Surprisingly, their (wee) bottling line is on site too!

Creativity at play when space is limited.

Finally, we went back to the lounge/tasting room for our drams. We were lucky as they’d released they first single malts just a few months before, and we could try their second batch of distillery exclusives: both cask strength and single cask, one matured in an ex-bourbon barrel and the other in an ex-sherry butt. They are both approximately 7.5 years of age (see below for more details) and very tasty for their age, not too sweet and with the robust and thick spirit character clearly coming through.

At the shop, they also had their first small batch bottling, called Seven Springs Collection, Edition #1: a vatting of five ex-bourbon casks (1203 bottles in total, cask strength at 60.2%abv). Evan kindly gave us a sip, tasty but a bit up in price (£150.00).

You can guess who’s had drams and who’s driving.

Overall we really liked this distillery. It looks like they paced themselves and took their time to do things, including releasing their first whisky, which was indeed more robust and tastier compared to others from fairly new distilleries. Yes, their bottlings are pricey, but considering the scale of their operation it kind of makes sense…? Hopefully we’ll see a widely available and better priced expression soon.

Ballindalloch Short Tour and Drams

Price: £20.00 pp (November 2023)

Duration: 45min-1hr

Tasting: 2 drams of their new distillery exclusive bottlings

Distillery Exclusives: Single Malt Distillery Exclusive ex-Bourbon barrel (distilled 21/1/2016, bottled 28/8/2023, cask 29/2015, 62.3%abv) and ex-Sherry butt (distilled 3/12/2015, bottled 28/8/2023, cask 600/2015, 62.3%abv), both 50cl at £89.00

Target: everyone

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the distillery layout and building

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.ballindallochdistillery .com/

#36 The Stirling Distillery

Distilling underneath the castle

TL; DR: Very gloomy Sunday afternoon, we decided for a last-minute distillery visit not far from Edinburgh: the Stirling Distillery. Very close to the Stirling Castle, they distilled only gin until very recently, when they added malt whisky (well, newmake spirit for now) to their portfolio.

Most of our trips (in particularly whisky trips) are carefully planned in advance, mainly because of the popularity of distillery visits nowadays. Of course, we don’t want to risk travelling to a distillery and being told they’re fully booked, it happened once during a non-whisky trip and it was disappointing. Careful planning also helps because Scotland is not the easiest country to travel, with ferries, single track roads, etc…And before we got Mr Vantastic, finding reasonably priced last-minute accommodation was always a challenge.

Sometimes though, we can still sneak in a last-minute whisky trip, and this was the case of today’s story. On a Sunday at the end of October we’d planned to take the van and go somewhere for a walk. However, as usual when we plan outdoor activities, the weather was dire: dark, gloomy, rainy (we should probably just buy waterproof walking gear at this point…). So, instead, we went to a new whisky distillery: the Stirling Distillery!

When the rain brings you to a distillery…

This is one of the newest whisky distilleries in Scotland, and as the name reveals, it’s in Stirling, on the same hill that leads to the magnificent Stirling Castle (one of the most interesting to visit, and where Kings of Scotland stayed until the end of 1500s). Unlike many others, the distillery has not been talked much about in the whisky world, it’s not even mentioned in the very comprehensive Malt Whisky Yearbook 2024, despite the notable feature of starting distilling whisky in the town of Stirling for the first time after more than 170 years. We can think of two possible reasons for this: first, it’s tiny, definitely a craft operation (see later for more details). Second, and more importantly, owners June and Cameron conceived it as a gin distillery in the first place, all the way back in 2015, with the aim to “reflect the Stirlingshire countryside” in their gin, and only very recently they moved to new make spirit.

Outside the distillery…

So there we are, under a dire weather, after an almost-hour drive from Leith. The stone building is very beautiful, we will soon find out that it was called “the Old Smiddy”. Built in 1888, funnily enough it used to be a church temperance hall and a blacksmith. The distillery moved there in 2018, although they also have a warehouse and gin production in the Stirling outskirts. They have two experiences, one dedicated to gin and one to whisky, with the latter being very new as whisky production had only started 2-3 weeks before our visit. They also offer a gin school for £90 (or for £140 for the couple, quite unusual to find such discounts in the Scottish whisky landscape).

The building is very beautiful inside too, with low lights creating a very peaceful atmosphere. On the right side there is the shop, and on the left the bar, offering a variety of beverages (including soft drinks). There is also a mezzanine where we didn’t go, it looked like an office/warehouse space. The guide for the day, Kiran, told us he was mostly into gin and cocktails, and that was one of his first whisky tastings. When all visitors had checked in, we started the tasting, which included four single malts from their independently bottled range called Sons of Scotland (all non-chill filtered, not artificially coloured and bottled at 50%).

The expressions we (well, Teresa) tried are named after historical distilleries near Stirling. The first (*) was the Cambusbarron (batch 3), a 3y Lowlands whisky (vintage 2020) matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The second dram was the Arngibbon (batch 4), an 8y Speysider (vintage 2015) matured in ex-bourbon casks. Then we tried the Stoneywood 9y, an Orkney whisky (vintage 2014, we still wonder which distillery this was from), finished or fully matured (we didn’t get it) in ex-white wine casks (batch 3). Finally, we tried a previous batch of the Arngibbon (batch 3), a 14y Speysider matured in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry hogsheads (vintage 2008). Overall a nice string of drams, with the Orkney one being definitely the most interesting.

A bad picture of the nice line-up.

After the tasting, Kiran showed us the whisky production, which is entirely happening in a separate part of the building, all in the same relatively small room! They buy malted barley grist (pre-milled), which they mash on site stirring by hand. Then they move it into two fermentation vessels, where it ferments for 4 days (96 hours approximately, they use distiller’s yeast). They finally distill it twice in the same 170-litre copper pot still, a very beautiful Portuguese still, named Flora after June’s mother. The spirit comes out at 70%abv, and it is first put into plastic jugs, only later transferred in casks at the warehouse for maturing. Edit (April 2024): they later installed a second still, to fully comply with the SWA regulations.

At the time they were producing the newmake to fill the casks for their King James Collection: six casks of different type (bourbon, sherry, rum, etc.) which will be released biannually starting in 2027. They also have a cask sale programme, from 55-litre Firkin to 250-litre hogsheads. They aim for a production of 10,000 litres of alcohol per year, which would put them as the smallest distillery in Scotland (currently the smallest are Dornoch and Moffat, with 12,000 litres each).

Some distilleries we visited started gin production as a way to get quick cash (for example Borders, Cotswolds and Holyrood), but they knew from the beginning they mainly wanted to do whisky. Stirling (and others like In the Welsh Wind or Deerness) on the other hand, started with gin, and decided to add whisky along the way. This is definitely reflected in Stirling distillery’s size and equipment, which makes them a truly craft operation. As we couldn’t try their newmake spirit, we cannot really say much more at this stage, but this left us very curious for the future. Hopefully we’ll come back to try it, or try their single malt too.

Until next time, slainte!

Stirling Distillery Whisky Experience

Price: £25.00 pp (October 2023, £12.00 for drivers + £1.85 fee)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: four drams from their Sons of Scotland independent bottler range, depending on availability (see * for description)

Target: everyone

Value for money: ok

Highlights: the bar and the distilling “shed”

Recommended: if you’re visiting Stirling and have some spare time, definitely, otherwise we’d suggest waiting for their single malt

Link: https://stirlingdistillery.com/

#33.5 The Welsh Whisky Trail (not TM)

Aber Falls and the last few days in Wales

TL; DR: Our final distillery visit in Wales was at Aber Falls. We had somehow high expectations, but to be honest the experience was a bit flat. We finished our holiday in Wales visiting the North-West, including the Eryri National Park (Snowdonia), before driving back towards Scotland.

(missed Part 4/Part 3/Part 2/Part 1?)

The bus ride back from Llanduno to Abergwyngregyn (we had to copy/paste this name…) was uneventful, under a grey Northern Welsh sky. We spent most of it having lunch with warm rolls and bakes we got just before taking the bus, to put something solid in the stomach after the extensive masterclass at Penderyn. Once we got off, we quickly checked the campervan, and left again for a 20-minute walk to Aber Falls distillery, but not before getting a coffee at the nearby Alma’s Cafè. When the bartender understood we were Italian, he got excited and started showing off his Italian vocabulary. It was not the first time this happened, probably not many people there are used to Italian tourists (which is a shame, some parts of Wales are truly beautiful!).

Walking under the rain, oh well.

Anyway, we were looking forward to visiting Aber Falls distillery, as it was the only other Welsh single malt we had tried before, beside Penderyn. We had tried two expressions. First, the inaugural release (thanks to a tasting put together by the always-on-point Justine from Kask Whisky), which was a one-off bottled at 46%, unchillfiltered and natural colour: a delicious dram, which punched above its weight being 3 years of age. Then, the ubiquitous expression that (if you’re reading from the UK) you can find in most supermarkets… this is not a memorable one, geared towards quantity rather than quality.

Aber Falls, nice location!

In spite of the gloomy day, the location looked still very pretty: the distillery is at the end of a road with a parking lot, on a land crossed by a wee stream, surrounded by a rural landscape. The building on the left is the bar/visitor centre, with tables outside for warmer and dryer days. The production building is on the right side instead, along the stream. Past the bridge to cross it, a red copper dragon welcomed us. The visitor centre looked very tidy and clean, with lots of merchandise on the shelf. We looked for potential whisky buys right away, but it seemed that the only expression beside their standard release was a 3yr ex-Sauternes cask finish from the Distiller’s Cut series, bottled at 47% (£75). We were told that they usually have either a Distiller’s Cut or a Distillery Exclusive.

Always a dragon somewhere :).

When the tour started, Carmel collected us, and the first thing was a video in a small room. As usual, the video talked about the distillery history and how they came to be. We then went outside, and across the site, to start the visit to production (again, no pictures allowed). Bar for the gin still (where they rectify neutral grain spirit), the distillery is very similar to a Scottish one. Their stills, made of copper, have a couple of interesting bits however: first, the spirit still has what we think it’s a cooling ring around the neck. This is a feature we found at Fettercairn, although they didn’t look the same. The second feature is a stainless steel condenser in parallel with the copper one. Carmel told us this one is rarely used, mostly for special bottlings and not for their core release. And in fact, one of the most interesting parts of the tour was to compare the newmake spirit from the two condensers, just nosing however. The difference was obvious, with the steel condensed spirit more earthy and oily, the other fruitier and more floral.

Spirits selection for the tasting.

For the end of the tour, we went back to the visitor centre, to try an array of spirits: gin, gin liqueurs and their single malt. We skipped most of the gin liqueurs, as from smelling them we figured out they weren’t for us. The bar was open for another hour, so we went there with the idea of trying some of their Distiller’s Cut and Distillery Exclusive, whose bottles were sold out. However, the price for a dram was £14 (mental!), so we tried one only, Barolo red wine cask (well, we’re still Italians…) Distillery Exclusive, which was ok. Fortunately, we managed to find Carmel again, and she kindly gave us a sip of the current Distiller’s Cut, from ex-Sauternes casks, but this one failed again to impress.

Overall, it was an ok tour, and we reckon this distillery has lot of potential. Probably they could do more to create interesting expressions and engage the whisky enthusiasts, because as it is, it looks like another tourist-driven experience with a supermarket style production. These are not bad things per se, of course, but it would be nice if they targeted whisky enthusiasts too.

After the tour, we slowly walked back to the campervan, under a rainy sky. The decision to spend the night there was not the best one. Being so close to the expressway, we barely slept.

Another castle yet – Caernarfon.

We spent the following days visiting the north of Wales, first the isle of Anglesey and Caernarfon Castle (very nice, but without a guide the experience was not as enjoyable as Pembroke), then the Lynn peninsula. One of the highlights was Nant Gwrtheyrn, a former miners’ village once abandoned, now restored thanks to the start of a Welsh language school: a place to go back to. We even spent a few hours on a nice beach, although we didn’t swim…We just enjoyed a pint under the sun.

Mining past in a beautiful scenery, Nant Gwrtheyrn.

The following two days were supposed to be the hiking ones, but the weather discouraged us to climbing mount Snowdon, in the famous Eryri/Snowdonia National Park. The first day, we decided to walk anyway, near Llanberis, on a trail climbing up to an old quarry…and in the two hours we ended up completely soaked. The following morning the climate wasn’t promising either, so we slowly started driving east. We stopped for an afternoon tea right before the crossing to England, to visit the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, another record of the once dynamic industrial life in the area.

Not the best weather for hiking…

So that was it, our first road trip to Wales! The country is very beautiful, although in some parts quite busy (in particular Gower and Pembrokshire), and with such narrow roads, driving was trickier than prevented. The North is quite spectacular, in particular around the Eyri National Park mountains.

Our likely reaction if we were able to see mount Snowdon behind us.

Whisky-wise it was a very interesting trip. Now that Welsh Single Malt is officially recognised as a whisky category, there is lot of space for further growth. Penderyn, of course, is leading the charge with its three distilleries. Thanks to their different types of stills, Faraday and traditional pot stills, they can really experiment and come up with a variety of flavours in their whisky. Aber Falls production, on the other hand, is more similar to a Scottish one. The craft scene is very interesting as well, with Coles, In the Welsh Wind and Dà Mhìle distilleries all giving a different take on the category. The use of a combination of pot and column distillation can be very interesting, although we think it can be tricky as well: some expressions had a very “gin-ish” flavour which we were not too keen on. In this crafty category there are a couple of distilleries we might have missed, Cardiff Distillery (it looks like they are doing gin and vodka, but someone told us they might make whisky too) and Anglesey Mon (for which we couldn’t find any information online). Overall, it’s a very interesting scene, and this trip definitely satisfied our curiosity…At least for now, eheh.

Until next time, Slainte!

Aber Falls Distillery Tour

Price: £12.50 pp (July 2023)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: a neep of the available spirits, including Aber Falls Single Malt (40%), and various gins and gin liqueurs

Target: tourists

Value for money: good

Highlights: comparing the newmake spirits made using different condensers

Recommended: not for whisky geeks, unless you really want to

Link: https://www.aberfallsdistillery.com/

#33.4 The Welsh Whisky Trail (not TM)

Nosing whisky in the north of Wales: Penderyn Llanduno

TL; DR: After the lovely Aberystwyth, a long drive north in the rain and the mist through industrial relics and castles to get to Llanduno, where we visited the third (and last) Penderyn distillery and enjoyed an interesting, full-on whisky masterclass.

(missed Part 3/Part 2/Part 1?)

We woke up in a misty Aberystwyth. Unfortunately, weather forecasts were right: a day of rain. Thus, a change of plan was needed: we were supposed to take the Cliff Railway to admire the Afon Rheidol valley, of which we’d had some glimpse the day before, but with fog and rain what was the point? Instead, we had breakfast and afterwards we visited the National Library of Wales, which had very interesting exhibitions (and a cosy cafeteria).

City encounters while walking up to the National Library of Wales.

We soon left the nice wee town driving north, towards the camping for the night, in Blaenau Ffestiniog. We tried to drive “the long way”, so first we stopped at the Dyfi Furnace, a well-preserved industrial relic. We kept driving north, to Machynlleth and past the Dyfi Bridge, until Llanelltyd. Here, we took a detour to drive on the coast, and we stopped at Harlech Castle, in a very picturesque little village. This was our last stop before the camping (named Quarry View… and indeed it is surrounded by quarries), where we arrived still under the rain: a shame, as the camping looked it could have been very enjoyable with nice weather.

Dyfi Furnace…

…and the Harlech Castle.

The morning after it was not raining but still misty. We had a quick breakfast and then we were on the road, as we needed to get to Abergwyngregyn in time for the bus to Llanduno. The road across Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park was quite spectacular even in the mist, and we passed many groups of hikers getting ready to climb the sharp mountains. That day we had two distilleries booked, Penderyn Llanduno and Aber Falls. We parked the van walking distance to the latter, but with a convenient bus we could reach Llanduno so we could both fully enjoy the Masterclass at Penderyn. The trip on the North Wales Expressway was quiet and smooth.

A distillery in the town centre: Penderyn Llanduno.

As we got off the bus, we got a hint on why the distillery is located in this town: it’s a very touristy place, dating back to Victorian times. We had just enough time to get a coffee and walk to the distillery, which contrary to many others, is located in the town centre. The building, in fact, is one of a former school. There, we were welcomed by Angharad, which collected us and other two people to start the Masterclass. She walked us into a big room and played a video about the history of Welsh whisky and Penderyn. She also served us coffee and a Welsh cake, a nice and appreciated touch. This was accompanied by a first dram, a Penderyn Myth, from the reduced strength range (41%), initially developed for the French market and finished in shaved-toasted-recharred (STR) casks.

After the introductory video and history, we did a nosing challenge: 10 fragrancies to recognise. Teresa was the best in the class, with 8/10, while “slow noser” Gianluigi had to be asked to finish twice, and only got 4…Ouch! In spite of her modesty, that confirmed what we knew already, that she has a great nose! For the next dram, we were asked to guess among Johnnie Walker Black Label, Monkey Shoulder, Haig Club single grain, and the Penderyn Madeira. Clearly it wasn’t the latter two, and it took a moment but we recognised the JW Black Label (due to the presence of a whiff of smoke).

Getting ready for the nosing challenge.

Now it was the time for the tour of production (where we couldn’t take pictures): it is very similar to what we’d seen in Brecon Beacons and Swansea, but on a smaller scale. They have only one Faraday still (and no copper pot stills), with which they produce only peated spirit. Of course, being in a town centre, they don’t have a warehouse on site, and the tour finished in a hallway with the types of casks they use on display for us to nose, like we did in the other two sites. This was accompanied by a dram of Buffalo Trace bourbon (their standard at 40%), because they mainly fill ex-bourbon barrels from this distillery, and a wee glass of Madeira wine, the finishing cask for their main expression.

Faraday still explainer.

After this, we followed Angharad first in an exhibition room, then in the bar, where we could choose a dram: for us, it had to be the Icons of Wales #7 Rhiannon (finished in ex-sherry casks, 46%) and the Penderyn club exclusive (an ex-Madeira cask exclusive, whose purchase for £95 allows to be in the Club for 3 years, with some benefits like discounts, etc.). We headed back to the “boardroom”, for yet another test: we had four Penderyn from the Gold range (Madeira, Peated, Sherrywood, Portwood and Rich Pak/STR) and we had to recognise which one was which (one missing). We both did the same: got the Sherrywood and Peated right, correctly guessed the Portwood was the missing one, but mixed up the Rich Oak and Madeira. Nosing is a tricky thing! Finally, we headed down to the shop, where we collected some memorabilia included in the tour.

A beautiful bar!

The second guessing game of the day…All Penderyn, but which one?

The masterclass was supposed to be 2-2.5 hours, but it ran for over 3.5! So, as we walked out, we raced to the bus stop and barely had time to get a couple of hot rolls and beefy bakes to eat on the bus. Overall, we liked the experience, even if it was more challenging than expected. We were hoping for some drams from the cask, like some sort of warehouse tasting. It wasn’t the case, but the offer was very generous nonetheless, and we could appreciate the variety of the Penderyn offer. After visiting all three distilleries, we are left wondering how different the whisky from the three sites will be, in particular the peated one. In our understanding, the way they’ve made peated whisky before opening the site in Llanduno is by using ex-Laphroaig casks). Anyway, definitely a trio of distilleries to keep an eye on and revisit at some point. Slainte!

Penderyn Llanduno Masterclass

Price: £60.00 pp (July 2023)

Duration: 2hr 30min

Tasting: 8 drams (Penderyn Myh, JW Black Label, Buffalo Trace, one from the bar, 4 from the Gold Range) and a sip of Madeira wine

Target: whisky novices and nerds

Value for money: good

Highlights: the sensory experience

Distillery exclusive: mostly the same as Swansea and Brecon Beacon distilleries

Recommended: for craft distilling enthusiasts in particular

Link: https://www.penderyn.wales/

#33.2 The Welsh Whisky Trail (not TM)

From Cardiff to Pembroke: Penderyn Swansea and Coles

TL;DR: After visiting Cardiff, we spent the next couple of days again on the road in South Wales for a mix of whisky and non-whisky activities: Penderyn Swansea distillery, Gower peninsula and Rhossili, followed by Coles distillery and Pembroke Castle.

(missed Part 1?)

That morning in Cardiff the sky was a bit moody, but this didn’t stop us going for a morning run (to Teresa’s disappointment). Near the camping there is a huge park, the Bute Park River Side, which continues along the river Taff, with plenty of pedestrian and cycling paths. We took advantage of it – always nicer to run in green areas. We spent the rest of the day in Cardiff, visiting the castle first, buying rugby-related gifts for Gianluigi’s brothers and father, and looking out for some local beers to try: we found a pub we quite liked right in front of the stadium, but we found out soon it wasn’t Welsh: Tiny Rebels, from Bristol (delicious beers!). We liked Cardiff as a city, small but cosy, and seemed very liveable. Definitely a place to go back to!

Inside Cardiff Castle.

The following day we left early in the morning, directed to Swansea. No matter how we liked Cardiff, we have to say that the landscape along the road between the two cities was not nice at all, very industrial and a bit decadent. Even Swansea didn’t look that good to be honest, not to their fault: it was quite flattened by the Germans during WWII. We soon managed to find the distillery (although Google Maps pointed us somewhere else): the newest of the Penderyn.

A beautiful building – Penderyn Swansea

We did the regular tour here as well (pricier, see summary below), as it was the only experience available in July. In fact, the distillery was so new that they hadn’t even started distilling yet (all the equipment was there however). Being built inside a former copperworks, in the first part of the tour they showed us some videos and the reproduction of a little copper mine, showcasing the importance of this material for electricity (and distilling). Very interesting indeed!

About the importance of copper.

We then visited the soon-to-be active production (again, no pictures allowed), and we realised it is a replica of their Brecon Beacons site. We couldn’t quite get why they made two almost identical distilleries, but our guesses are for tourism (see later) and because it was not possible to increase the size of the original production site. They have a warehouse, however, which we got to after walking on the remains of the copperworks building (covered by glass, hence why we could walk on them). Finally, in the very beautiful tasting bar, we could try two of their expressions each. We picked another two drams from the Icons of Wales series, the #6 Royal Welsh Whisky (43%, peated Portwood finish, to commemorate the original Welsh Whisky distillery at Frongoch) and the #10 YMA O HYD (43%, matured in ex-Rye casks), plus a couple from the core range, the peated ex-Islay cask and the Rich Oak. Despite the fairly basic tour, overall we enjoyed the experience, especially thanks to the very friendly staff.

Teresa is ready for the tasting.

While Swansea didn’t look very beautiful itself, just past it we found a very touristy seaside location, Mumbles, where we stopped for a coffee and a bite. Further ahead, the Gower peninsula. In spite of the narrow and busy roads, we really loved it, in particular Rhossili. We spent the afternoon there, walking to the Ynys Weryn and the Worm’s head before the tide would make it an island again.

Rhossili, probably our favourite spot in this part of Wales.

For the night we didn’t park much far away, just past Crofty, so we had time for a walk. The spot is popular for dramatic sunsets on the river Loughor estuary.

Enjoying the sunset – a bit chilly, but worth it.

In the morning we drove towards Llanelli, but only after checking out a nice café inside a gym (!!) to get a coffee and a morning roll. One of the peculiarities of this holiday was that the offer of morning rolls in Wales seemed to be less rich than in Scotland (lacking black pudding and haggis, for example), so we always ended up with bacon…bacon and sausage in this case (delicious!). Anyway, we soon got to the next stop, Coles Distillery, at the historical White Hart Inn pub, in Llandarrog, which dates back to 1371.

As we parked behind the inn, our guide for the day, Tom, approached us. He is a young and enthusiastic fella, who works in both the brewery and the distillery. The Coles family (who took over the pub in 1994) started brewing their own beer in 1999, cider in 2011 and since the craft stills legalisation, they have been making whisky, vodka, gin, brandy and the first ever welsh rum (as you can imagine, all in small batches). Except for the rum, for which they import molasses, they are a proper grain-to-glass distillery (or fruit-to-glass), as even the gin and the vodka are made from scratch using wheat.

Understanding the theory…

The first part of the tour took place in a hallway, in the pub building, where there is a panel displaying how their distilling operation works, including the botanicals for the gin. They take the water from a well about 90 meters deep, and mashing and fermentation take place in stainless steel tanks (the latter are 6, and fermentation lasts 70 hours). The actual distillation is the interesting part: they have one stainless-steel pot still which takes 3000l wash, and of which only a joint before the lyne arm is made of copper. Then, they have two column stills, each one with 20 copper plates. This setup, all using a steam boiler, gives them lot of flexibility, thanks to which they are able to make different products.

…Still understanding the theory.

After this very thorough explanation, we moved inside the distillery, just a few steps away from the pub. Because of the craft size of the operation, everything is under one shed, including some maturing casks of whisky and rum. There we could revisit all the steps of their process under Tom’s careful guide, which explained that they mostly use American oak ex-bourbon barrels, in particular for their main whisky.

Back to the pub, we sit at the bar to try a few of their spirits. Sips were very tiny, but they also sell almost everything they produce in 5cl miniatures, so we took a few with us for a more in depth tasting in the evening.

For once, not a distillery behind us.

Back on the road, we started driving towards Pembrokeshire, to visit the Pembroke Castle, probably our favourite of the holiday. We were able to catch a guided tour, and what an amazing tour that was! The history of the castle is very fascinating too, definitely a must-do if you’re ever in the area. Our camping for the night was still in Pembrokeshire, near St David.

Sunset tasting.

It was on a farm, and because the weather was nice, after dinner (we went “true Italian” and made pasta) we could relax and watch the sunset while sipping the Coles distillery’s miniatures: Welsh single malt (5y, 42%, ex-borubon), Organic single malt (42%), dark rum (oak aged, 40%) and the Plum brandy (40%). The latter was the winner for us, delicious!

See you next week, slainte!

Penderyn Swansea Copperworks Tour

Price: £19.50 pp (July 2023)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: 2 drams of choice

Target: everyone

Value for money: less good than Penderyn Brecon Beacons

Highlights: the copperworks history of Swansea

Distillery Exclusive: same as Penderyn Brecon Beacons (except the Fino cask)

Recommended: if you are curious about the copperwork history and/or if you haven’t visited the Brecon Beacons site

Link: https://www.penderyn.wales/tours-swansea-copperworks/

Coles Distillery Tour

Price: £12.50 pp (July 2023)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: a nip of anything they produce

Target: everyone

Value for money: good

Highlights: the range of spirits

Recommended: for craft-distilling enthusiasts in particular

Link: https://www.coles.wales/