Category: Road trip

#55.5 All drams great and small

A distillery in Northumbria

 

TL; DR: Our Yorkshire trip had officially ended on Monday morning, but on the way back from Hunmanby to Edinburgh, we and other pals we did a further tour: Ad Gefrin distillery, in Northumberland! Production is aligned with that of Scottish distilleries, but the Northumbria history museum makes the distillery very local. Including the restaurant and bar, it is a great visitor attraction. 

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

For the last time, we woke up in sunny Yorkshire, inside our cosy campervan, Mr. Vantastic. The morning was fresh but not cold, we soon got dressed and went for breakfast at the Piebald Inn, where some of our pals were. It was time for our drive back to Leith, but not without a few stops on the long way home.

First, the coastal town of Whitby, a bit less than one hour drive from Hunmanby. A few people on the trip had recommended it to us, and it was indeed worthwhile. We didn’t have much time to explore the pretty town, so we just climbed the ‘199 Steps’ to get a scenic view of the harbour and the old town, before getting a quick lunch and a coffee. Soon after, we were back on the road towards our next destination: the final distillery of the trip.

  • Sunny Whitby.

The distillery is Ad Gefrin (meaning the Hill of the Goat…loved it!), in Northumberland, 20 minutes driving (14 miles) south from the Scottish border, in the town of Wooler. They started distilling in November 2022, and opened to public in March 2023. We’d heard of them a few years ago already, but didn’t manage to visit until now, so we were quite excited. We met at the distillery with other few people from the Edinburgh Whisky Group. We were a bit tight with time, the last ones to arrive, so we had just enough time to park and get a (another) coffee in the very nice bar and restaurant, before the tour started.

Our guide for the tour was Lesley, who showed us the museum on the first floor. This is a very fascinating aspect of the distillery, and a first for us: except some old distillery equipment (Glen Ord), company heritage (Aberfeldy) or copper mining (Penderyn Swansea) exhibitions, we never saw a distillery with a proper history museum.

  • A glimpse of the museum.

It hosts the collection of artefacts mostly from the Golden Age of Northumbria, when Gefrin was home of a Royal Palace, and it is possible to visit it for £10.00. Our knowledge of the troubled Britain history between the fall of the Roman empire and the arrival of William the Conqueror is foggy at best (and mostly due to The Last Kingdom TV show, ehm…), so for us it was quite interesting. It is linked to the Gefrin trust, which since 2002 is preserving and investigating the historical sites of Gefrin, first discovered in 1949. The whole project costed about £10m, and was partially funded by the local council. At the time of visit it had attracted over 70,000 visitors.

After a video and a few moments in the museum, it was time to check out production, literally behind a door from the exhibition. The distillery, which was set up in collaboration with Ben Murphy, the head distiller, now produces about 270,000 litres of pure alcohol per year. The water source is a borehole, while barley is sourced from four local farmers involved in the distillery business as well. These days, they mostly cultivate the Diablo variety for high yield, which is then sent to Simpsons for malting, in Berwick-upon-Tweed. They process about 25 tonnes of barley every three weeks, doing one mash per day. The malt is mostly unpeated, although before the winter holidays they run an 80% unpeated and 20% peated batch, with the peated barley at high phenols parts per million (ppm).

  • Grit, and how the distillery building looked like in the past.

The mashing-fermenting-distilling equipment is from Forsyths, in Rothes, Speyside. The mashing process starts with a run of 65°C water for about one hour, followed by a second run of water at 75°C: from the two they obtain about 5,000 litres of wort. The third water, at 85°C, is kept for the next mash. They currently have four washbacks, with plans to add another four. They use dried yeast, and fermentation lasts about 100 hours, resulting in a 8-9%abv wash.

  • The bottom of the washbacks, for once.

Similar to Scottish single malt distilleries, they have a pair of stills, a 5,000-litre wash still, from which they obtain about 2,800 litres of low wines, and a 3,500-litre spirit still. In the latter, they cut the head to 75% abv, and then the tails from 65% abv, obtaining 600 litres of newmake spirit. Casks are filled on site, at the standard strength of 63.5%abv, and the bottling plant is on site too. They also produce gin with a dedicated still (fortunately!).

  • Stills with a view.

After the tour of production we walked outside, to a nearby, very beautiful building. This used to be an old mill, now used for storage. We also checked out a warehouse hosting, among other things, about 200 privately owned barrels.

  • So nice outside too.
  • The cask owners wall.

Back at the visitor centre, it was time for the tasting with Gwen, another guide. First off, the Tacnbora, a blend of irish and Scottish malts and grain whisky, bottled at 42.7%abv, from Oloroso sherry, ex-Bourbon and American virgin oak barrels. It was sweet and drinkable, someone would call it a “breakfast” dram. It was followed by their Thirlings Dry Gin (43.4%) and Flýte Whisky Cream Liqueur (17%). It was a very enjoyable visit, and we liked the idea of this project: not just a distillery, but rather a wider hub for all types of visitors, with a restaurant/bar and the museum.

  • A very drinkable blend.

Overall, it was a very interesting trip, an eye-opener on what other whisky producers are doing in neighbouring countries. Production-wise, Ad Gefrin was the most akin to a typical Scottish distillery, following the same path that other English distilleries took, like White Peak, Cotswolds and the Lakes. On the contrary, it was exciting to see how the other distilleries we visited could take advantage of more relaxed rules. For example, both Spirit of Yorkshire and Ellers Farm use wash not produced on the same site as the distillery (for the second, even produced by another company), while also mixing column and pot distillation. Cooper King have only one still to run both distillations, something we never observed in Scottish distilleries so far.

However, the thing that most hit us was the amazing hospitality. That might be due to the need of making a name for themselves, which is not granted by a geographical denomination of their products, but still, in all places we felt welcomed and not took advantage of. We cannot recommend enough to get in touch with these distilleries.

Until next time, slainte!

Ad Gefrin Distillery Tour

Price: £25.00 pp (October 2024)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: Tacnbora (blended whisky, NAS, 42.7%, Batch 3); Thirlings Dry Gin (43.4%) and Flýte Whisky Cream Liqueur (17%)

Target: tourists and whisky novices

Value for money: ok

Highlights: the Northumbria history museum

Recommended: yes

Link: https://adgefrin.co.uk/

#55.4 All drams great and small

A dram-y day at the Distillers Lounge, in Scarborough

 

TL; DR: On the (almost) final day of our trip we didn’t visit any whisky distillery, but a rum one. It is located inside the Distillers Lounge, in Scarborough, where we had a full-on English whisky tasting and a great meal, before turning our attention to rum. It was a very fun day, and we have to say the quality of English whisky is really improving! 

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

On the Sunday morning, in spite of the very busy Saturday (two distillery tours, a brewery visit and the quiz), we woke up surprisingly rested. The morning was easy, we had breakfast in the van and a short stroll in Hunmanby, before gathering with the troop (except for some, who headed back home earlier) at the train station. Our destination was not far away: Scarborough, on the Yorkshire coast. In our understanding, Scarborough used to be a popular seaside destination for rich people to clear their lungs during the Industrial Revolution, in particular around the Victorian era. Nowadays, it doesn’t look as glorious, with a lot of closed up units on the high street, we guess one of the many victims of the massive deindustrialisation of the 80s and 90s.

Now, one could ask: “What were you doing there, then?”, which is a more than legit question, given the above. Well, it’s easy: because of the Distiller’s Lounge. This is a venue, conveniently located at walking distance from the train station, with a restaurant, a tasting bar and a spiced rum distillery.

  • A wee distillery in the Distillers Lounge window.

The whisky tasting bar is managed by Whiskyside, a small company run by Matt, promoting and selling English whiskies. As you can guess, the plan was a full-on English single malt whisky tasting. The location was a room underneath the main bar, looking a lot like a cellar. There, the biggest collection of English whiskies we ever saw was on display. It included pretty much everything you could think of, from limited releases and from independent bottlers. We even spotted a Bimber bottled by the guys behind Whisky Facile, an Italian whisky review website and blog.

  • Don’t look at us, look at the shelves – an impressive collection.

The tasting started with a first for us, a Henstone single malt, from a distillery in the Shropshire (near the Welsh border) established in 2017. A young expression, but quite round despite the age, matured in ex-oloroso sherry casks. The second dram was an old acquaintance, the Cotswolds (visited in Summer 2023) Founder’s Choice, a small batch release (in this case 2,500 bottles), fully matured in STR casks (former wine casks, shaved, toasted and recharred). It comes from the Cotswold’s small batches of the same cask type, ranging from ex-bourbon to ex-sherry, ex-peated whisky, etc. A very nice dram, very drinkable, but it didn’t impress us, contrary to the one that followed. This was from Adnams, a brewery and distillery in Southwold, which we had tried one or twice before. This expression was a 9-year old bottled for Whiskyside, bottled at 55%, part of their Explorers Series. The combination of casks is quite unusual: matured in second-fill French oak casks, and then finished in ex-Sauternes barriques (for two years), a finish that we generally struggle to appreciate. This one, however, smashed all our prejudice on Sauternes casks, as it was delicious, full of sweet, cream and chocolaty notes: tiramisù in a glass. What was weird is that we came across the same tasting notes independently, before sharing them.

  • We were really impressed by this.

The fourth dram marked the introduction of peat. First off, a 5y single malt finished in ex-PX casks (from Bodega Navarro, previously in ex-bourbon hogsheads). In our understanding this one was from the English distillery, but bottled in 2019 by Sacred Spirits (or Sacred Gin), after the second maturation in London (don’t know why it is important, but it is stressed on both the label and the website). It was a decent dram, but again we were blown off by the final one: a lightly peated Wireworks (from White Peak distillery, one of our favourite tours in 2023) matured in ex-Amarone red wine casks, bottled at 54.1% and made in a small batch of 662 bottles. Grilled berries notes, an excellent dram. Overall, it was an impressive tasting, it showed how good English whisky can be, even at young age.

  • Another cracking dram.
  • Great lineup!

After the tasting, we moved back upstairs for the meal, which included two courses for slightly less than 30 quid. When we saw the price, weeks before (one of the necessary evils of these group holidays is that we have to choose our meals weeks in advance), we were not so convinced. Truth be told, it was a fantastic meal, in particular the lamb was one of the best we ever had since we moved to the UK.

  • No, we didn’t take pictures of the meal.

After this tasty lunch, we went back to the cellar, this time for another tasting: a rum one, with mainly tots from the local Siren Distillers company, run by Jamie and Anna. The distillery is in the Distiller’s Lounge itself, right upstairs, with the still in the window. (Update March 2025: we learned from posts on social media that the collaboration between the Distillers Lounge and Siren Distillers ceased, so they moved to a different location).

Their main activity is to source rum, and then redistill or infuse it with their spices of choice. From their range, we tried the Golden rum (40%, blend of 5y Caribbean rums, infused with honey, orange peel and vanilla), the Dark rum (40%, blend of Caribbean rums, including a 10y Jamaican one, and again infused with honey, orange peel and vanilla), and a preview sample of their Spiced rum (38%, redistilled with a number of spices), respectively paired with candied ginger, dried pineapple and dark chocolate.

  • Ready for round 2 – a rum tasting.

We also tried the Botanical rum from Rum Runner (40%, distilled at Twisted Roots Distillery, aged in ex-red wine French oak cask), and a spicy (yes, spiced, but also SPICY) rum, the Hell Smoked Rum (40%, barrel-aged in peated ex-Islay Whisky casks with fresh chili peppers and cacao nibs). It was an interesting tasting, although we are not really into spiced rum, so we didn’t (and still don’t) have much basis for comparisons.

  • The malternative lineup.

After the train back to Hunmanby, we had a last pint at the Piebald Inn (to Gianluigi’s disappointment, the kitchen was already closed) before retiring to the van. Overall, it was a very fun day, and we were particularly impressed with the English whiskies we tried. One popular Glaswegian whisky youtuber said (more than once) that there is nothing like good English whisky to keep Scottish producers on their toes…True or not, we can definitely say that the quality of these malts is good in general, fantastic at times! And hospitality-wise, many Scottish producers should take example from their neighbours.

It was the last “official” day of the All Drams Great and Small tour, but we saved one last whisky experience for the following day. Until then, slainte!

The Distiller’s Lounge
Link: https://www.jspubcompany.co.uk/distillers-lounge/

Whiskyside
Link: https://whiskyside.co.uk/

Siren Distillers
Link: https://www.sirendistillersltd.com/

#55.3 All drams great and small

An English malt with a Tasmanian twist and an eye for sustainability

 

TL; DR: From Ellers Farm, we went directly to another distillery: Cooper King. Inspired by Tasmanian craft distilleries, they produce other spirits other than single malt, with a very interesting set up. And, everything is done in the most sustainable way possible, kudos! After the visit, we went to Brew York, for a tour, dinner, and a quiz! 

(missed Part 2/Part 1?)

After the visit at Ellers Farm, we jumped back on the minibus. Our next destination was only about half hour away driving north-west, approximately 13 km north from the city of York, in the village of Sutton-on-Forest. The distillery is called Cooper King, just outside the village. It was founded by Abbie and Chris, a couple who got the inspiration while travelling in Australia and visiting local distilleries. The distillery is named after Charles Cooper King, Chris’ great-great-grandfather. The main building is just a few meters from the gravel parking lot, and it harbours a bar/shop and production. There is also a nice wee garden outside, with wooden tables and benches, which we took advantage of after the tour. It was a nice sunny day!

  • Nice set up outside.

We were welcomed by Mark, tour guide and assistant distiller. Like others, he came on board as a crowdfunder. At some point (in our understanding) the two founders Abbie and Chris asked who among the crowdfunders wanted to be more involved, and Mark answered the call. We could clearly see his passion for the project. He explained that, in 2014, Abbie and Chris, once a biochemist and an architect, moved to Australia to travel, and started working as fruit pickers. Then, they went to Tasmania, and after getting in contact with Sullivan’s Cove and Lark, they decided to go back to England and produce a Tasmanian-style whisky. Back in Yorkshire, they bought the land thanks to a crowdfunding, as well as a 900-litre pot still (Neilson) straight from Australia.

  • Cooper King distillery in one shot.

Another principle they had in mind when setting up the distillery was sustainability. The electricity comes from renewable sources, of which 60% is produced on site with solar panels: this contributed to make them the first net-zero distillery in England. They also have a programme for planting trees and restoring woodland and wildflowers habitat for each bottle they sell. Moreover, they chose lighter bottles, and offer refills at the distillery, for a few quid less.

  • Ready for the tour.

Production-wise, they use Maris Otter barley malted in middle England. They pre-heat the small mashtun before mashing the malt. After that, the remaining draff goes out to local farmers to feed cows. Fermentation takes place in a 1750-litre plastic vessel (usually only half full to avoid foam accidents) and lasts seven days. Both distillations happen in the same still, which is different to what we saw in all the Scottish distilleries we visited so far. At first, Neilson the still was heated externally, but to make the process more efficient it was sent to Scotland for modifications and is now internally heated and insulated.

  • Inside Neilson.

The wash gets distilled to 25% abv, while the heart of the second distillation comes out on average at 75%, before getting diluted by filtered tap-water. Needless to say, everything in the distillery is very manual, except for the gin and vodka very modern cold-distillation machines (which take only about 10% of energy compared to a classic copper pot distillation).

  • Super-modern gin and vodka distillation.

They use a variety of casks from all over the world, and their main American cask supplier is the Garrison Brothers distillery, in Texas. Casks are kept in a safe container behind the distillery, while waiting to get a proper warehouse. They started distilling newmake spirit in 2018, and their first whisky was released in October 2023, about a year before our visit.

  • And Cooper King warehouse in one shot.

While we were outside checking out the casks, another member of staff set up the tasting in the main production room, which also serves as a tasting location. First, we went through five liquors and gins (see below), but as it’s not really our focus, we won’t spend many words on it. We were really interested in their whiskies. The first one was not exactly that: a newmake spirit, from the “Pilot Series” and bottled at 47%. It was followed by two single malts from their “Expedition Series”, Transatlantic (ex-bourbon and ex-wine casks, 48%), and Embers (charred ex-bourbon casks, 49%). Then, two single casks: first, an ex-Cognac matured single malt, bottled at the 53.2% natural cask strength; second, a dram first matured in virgin oak casks, then re-racked into an ex-Armagnac cask, again cask strength at 52.1%. The evaporation (or “angel share”) is higher compared to Scotland, about 4%, which combined with other specific conditions, might cause the abv to be lower for such young whisky. Overall, we could tell the degree of experimentation at this distillery is high.

  • The whisky part of the tasting, with our guide Mark.

After the tasting we had a few minutes to spend in the sunny patio, sipping on our leftover drinks, before getting back on the mini-bus. We headed towards York, precisely the Brew York Brewery. Despite the city location is not their main production facility anymore (that one is in York’s outskirts), it’s still a massive place. We did a production tour (£15, including four tastes) and then had dinner there (they do a range of Asian-inspired dishes, which were delicious, albeit heavy on spring onion). Unfortunately, the place was too noisy for the next scheduled activity, a whisky-based quiz, so we had to move to a quieter pub nearby. The quiz, organised by our whisky veteran pal Charlie, was great fun, and we went back to base all very happy.

What a great afternoon and evening we had! At that time, we had tried very few craft Australian whiskies (and even less Tasmanian ones), so the link between them and Cooper King was not evident to us. At the time of writing however (after a serendipitous trip to Australia…Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more), the connection is quite obvious: we spotted a very typical herbaceous note in Cooper King drams, the same we found in most whiskies down under. Overall, it’s a very interesting project, which we are very glad we got to know more of.

Next up, another Yorkshire whisky day, but not a distillery! Until next time, slainte!

Cooper King Distillery Bespoke Tour

Price: £20.00 pp (October 2024)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 5 spirits (Dry Gin, 42%; Herb Gin, 40%; Smoked+Spice Dry Gin, 41%; Black Cardamom Vodka, 40%; Berry+Basil liqueur, 25%) and 4 drams: Transatlantic (48%, ex-bourbon and ex-wine, 1208 bottles), Embers (ex-bourbon, 49%, 938 bottles), ex-Cognac matured single cask (53.2%), virgin oak/ex-Armagnac cask (52.1%)

Target: whisky and spirit enthusiasts

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the distillery set up

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.cooperkingdistillery.co.uk/

#55.2 All drams great and small

Compares apples with malt: Ellers Farm

 

TL; DR: After a good night sleep, it was time for another couple of Yorkshire distilleries, starting from Ellers Farm. Initially only a vodka distillery, they soon moved into gin and other liquors and spirits. The plan is to release a single malt in 2025. A very different take on whisky distillation, even compared to other English distilleries. 

(missed Part 1?)

Done with the distillery tour at the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery, we slowly walked back to the Pie Bald Inn, and to Mr Vantastic. After some rest, it was time for dinner: we were eager to try the renowned pies. They did not disappoint, the pies were very good, and portions quite big, so big that we both had some leftovers (which rarely happens with Gianluigi)!

 We woke up feeling well rested and ready for the day ahead. For breakfast we had the leftovers from the night before, warmed up in a pan in the campervan – great smell afterwards. We needed a big breakfast, as the programme of the day was ambitious: two distillery visits and a brewery tour. To make things easier for everyone, Justine had booked a small coach for the day.

  • Tasted much better than it looks.

After about 50 minutes driving inland in the sunny Yorkshire countryside, we arrived at our first destination: Ellers Farm Distillery, in Stamford Bridge. This distillery might be popular because of a certain comedian coming on board, but more on that later. The site is an old farm, with one of the buildings now hosting the visitor centre and shop, a tasting room and some offices. We were welcomed by Ollie who, after a brief introduction, showed us around. The founder, Chris Fraser, started getting into drinks in 2014 after spotting an apple orchard whose fruits were not getting picked but instead left to rot on or under the trees. He started using the apples to make cider, followed by brandy and “calvados-style” spirits using a small still. He then came up with the idea to distill to high proof to make an apple vodka. So the Dutch Barn Vodka was born! The name comes from the type of barn that there used to be on the site before the conversion into a distillery – to us, despite the “Dutch” adjective, the building looked more of American style. Later on, the Y-gin (Y for Yorkshire) was added to the portfolio. Today, 20% of the (B Corp) company is owned by employees, and there are plans to reach net zero by 2040. In 2023, Ricky Gervais was asked to feature in an advertisement, but instead he came on board as co-owner. 

A Dutch barn converted into a distillery.

Production takes place in the building on the other side of the courtyard. They use water coming from a 263-meter-deep borehole, and put the apples in a 8,000-litre fermenter with their own strain of yeast, to get a 12-15% abv “wash” (not sure if this is the name…). The distillation happens first in a column still (‘Magic Mike’, great name) made in Italy, but also in a pot still (see below) and two rectification stills (with 26 and 25 distillation plates) for a total of 70 distillations: apparently, the two parts combined would make it one of the tallest stills in Europe (please if you work at the distillery and thing we got this wrong let us know, our notes were a bit foggy). Within the stills, about 70% of the liquid is recirculating, while 30% comes out as vodka. To note, they also have another mini-still, ‘Crystal’ to reduce the level of methanol.

Success came right after their launch in 2022, with Waitrose being one of the first clients (for those not living in the UK, a very posh supermarket chain). When Asda (a bigger chain) also wanted to distribute their vodka, they increased production. At the time of our visit, they were about to launch in the American market, which meant further expansion from the current 1.3 millions of litres per year production.

  • Magic Mike, not easy to take a picture of.

Still in 2022, they started a collaboration with Theakston Brewery, producer of the popular (but unknown to us before this visit) Old Peculier beer, to make English single malt. The brewery provides the fermented wash: it is made with 100% malted barley (from Muntons maltster) and is fermented for 96 hours with two different yeasts, one at the bottom and one at the top of the vessel. They also let it reast for another 12 days, to get to 16 days in total. Once at the distillery, it goes first into an 8.5m-tall column still (‘Magic Mike’, great name) to get to 40%, and then in a 2,500-litre copper pot still (‘Granny Smith’, another brilliant name), described by Ollie as their distiller Jamie’s “brain child”.

  • This one was easier to take.

For every distillation run, they produce about 7 casks worth of newmake spirit, mostly filled at 63% after diluting from the original strength of 80%, with the borehole water. Their most prevalent casks are ex-bourbon barrels from Heaven Hill distillery, in the US. Some of the casks are kept in the production shed, but the majority rests in another building on site which we didn’t visit. The first cask was laid out in August 2022, and they aim to have their first malt ready in November this year (2025). In the meanwhile, to follow the journey of the spirit, they have setup the Evolution Collection: a set of 50cl bottle spirits, taken every six months from 0 to 24, and the final first single malt whisky, all bottled at 46% (the whole set for the not cheap, but not unreasonable either, price of £500).

  • A sip of vodka in front of the still.

After the visit of the production area (and a sip of the Dutch Barn Vodka) we went back to the visitor centre for the tasting: the 3-dram lineup started with the newmake spirit, followed by the 6- and 12-month spirits. The three samples were very interesting and very promising, all three at 46% and characterised by notes of grilled pineapple and other tropical fruits. The second dram had notes of banana and, surprisingly, of burnt (in a good way), while we got apple pie but some herbal ones too from the last one. As the tasting was turning to an end, Ollie took out the “liqueurs cart” with several gins, coffee liqueurs and others to try. Some of them were definitely very nice, although it’s not really our scene, but perfect for those friends or family members who like lower abv and sweet drinks.

  • A cosy tasting room.

This visit was really good, we could feel the enthusiasm around this project, and how much thought is put in every aspect of production. Also, this was probably one of the most generous tours we have done so far, which is not a given these days, in particular given the silly prices of whisky experiences (at the time of writing, the Spirit of Speyside 2025 program was just out, with many companies really taking the proverbial piss). The one from Ellers Farm is definitely a single malt release we’re going to keep an eye on!

Stay tuned with us for the rest of our Yorkshire boozy day! Until the next time, slainte!

Ellers Farm Distillery Bespoke Tour

Price: £10.00 pp (October 2024)

Tasting: newmake spirit “The Bairn” (46%), 6 months-old spirit (46%), 12 months-old spirit (46%)

Target: whisky and spirits enthusiasts

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the staff enthusiasm and friendliness, and also a paradise for those interested in different types of distillation

Recommended: yes!

Link: https://www.ellersfarmdistillery.com/

#55.1 All drams great and small

The Top of the Wold and the Spirit of Yorkshire

 

TL; DR: This year the jolly gang of the Edinburgh Whisky Group chose a controversial destination for the annual trip: Yorkshire, in England! Plenty of distilleries and other destinations, starting from one of the most celebrated English whisky distilleries: the Spirit of Yorkshire! The tour(s) and tasting exceeded our expectations: this distillery is a strongly suggested destination for whisky lovers! 

With the start of the autumn (or fall, for those of you on the other side of the pond), it was time again for the Edinburgh Whisky Group annual trip. Our first destination was Campbeltown, in 2021: plenty of whisky activities, all at walking distance from each other, just perfect. The trips that followed, Speyside in 2022 and Northern Highlands in 2023, were logistically harder to organise for Justine, as they required getting a coach, and playing Tetris with the various distilleries’ availability. One thing Justine had to face, despite her huge effort and the number of distilleries in those areas, was the unwillingness of many to accommodate a large group (with exceptions, such as Glen Moray and Glenallachie), open their doors for the ones usually closed to visitors (again some exceptions, like Dornoch), or just arrange something different for us…In some cases even replying to emails seemed to be too big of an effort!

For the 2024 trip, Justine had a great idea up her sleeves: going south of the border, to England! Specifically, to Yorkshire. English whisky has seen a renaissance in the past decade, going from one distillery (The English distillery, in East Anglia), to a few tenths, as testified by the ever changing map maintained by Cooper King (a caveat though, some of them are gin distilleries possibly laying cask of newmake spirit, so take this number with a pinch of salt…Nevertheless, 55 is quite impressive!). We had already “drammed around” England, with visits to the Lakes Distillery (March ’22), Copper Rivet (October ’22), White Peaks, and Cotswolds (both July ’23), with White Peaks being the most impressive, in terms of location, quality of the whisky and, last but not least, company ethos. Because we’d enjoyed these ‘tasters’, we were quite curious of this deep dive in the English whisky scene, so when October came, we were really excited!

  • On the road again.

We left Leith on the Thursday night, sleeping half-way between there and the “base camp” of our trip, the Piebald Inn, in Hunmamby. This is a quite famous hotel and restaurant, in particular for the number (and quality) of their pies…Although Gianluigi was a bit disappointed when he learned that the Quarter Horse or the Chestnut Horse pies were not really made with horsemeat, d’oh! We got there in the morning, just in time for the group meet-up. For our first day, we had a brewery and a distillery tour: Wold Top Brewery and Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery, both owned by the Mellor family.

  • First stop – Wold Top Brewery.

We started from the brewery, called Wold Top because Wolds are the hills where the brewery is located (it’s not a typo!). We got there by taxi, and as we settled in the brewery visitor centre and bar, they offered us a half pint (with a pint glass to keep), nice welcome! Sam, our guide, put on a well-made video about the brewery history. It was founded in 2003 by Tom and Gill Mellor on their farm, and it’s currently run by their daughter Kate and her husband Alex. Knowing that this part of Yorkshire is ideal to grow brewers’ and distillers’ barley, and realising that the farm sits on a great water source, they decided to cut the middleman and start producing their own beer, farm-to-glass. At first the biggest issue was distribution (they started with farmers markets), because of the remoteness of the area. In 2008 they installed their own bottling plant, and in 2012 and 2016 they expanded with new kits and started doing contract brews as well. For a while, the location could also be hired as a wedding venue, but that stopped a few years ago. In 2016, they also started distilling, but we’ll talk more about that later. For the beer, they mainly use Lauriet barley, which is sent to Muntons for malting. The barley is malted to eight different “colours”, but sometimes they also use wheat and, more rarely, corn. They use over 40 varieties of hops from all over the world.

A welcome half pint, nice!

After the video, we moved to the production area next door, also used as an extension for their events (and indeed, decorations from the October Fest were still hanging around). In this location they produce both the beer and the fermented wash for the distillery. After checking out the modern malt mill, we climbed a stair to get on top of a catwalk and check out the mushtuns, including the kettle to boil the beer (one of the main differences between making beer and whisky, beside the addition of hops), where the beer wash is boiled for 75 minutes. Next to the catwalk, the stainless steel washbacks for fermentation. The beer is kept in conditioning tanks for 2 to 4 weeks before going straight into casks (i.e. unfiltered), then chilled, filtered and finally put into kegs or bottles. We headed back to the (cosy) bar for another half pint, while our pal Stephen (after asking permission to the staff) served us a dram of a Filey Bay single malt finished in a Wold Top beer barrel (Ex-IPA finish, Whisky Exchange exclusive bottled for the 2024 Whisky Show, 51.5%) – a preview of what was about to come.

  • Going up to the top of the Wold.
  • Oh yes, the wort fermets here before going to the distillery down the hill.

We headed back to Hunmamby (again by taxi), to the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery. The building is in a small industrial estate, and other than distilling they also have a shop and a bar/café (The Pot Still) overlooking the still room. We had tables booked for lunch, and after the (nice) meal, we started the tour with our guide Justina. She gave us a welcome dram (the Flagship) while telling us the history of the distillery, which was built in 2016 and opened to visitors in 2017, with many options for tours and tastings.

  • Second stop – Spirit of Yorkshire distillery.

The fermented wash comes twice a week from the brewery on a tractor, 20,000 litres in total. For the whisky, they usually use Concerto barley in spring, and Vessel in winter. Fermentation lasts 75 to 95 hours, and the yeast is added twice, at different temperatures (two types of yeast, we missed which varieties though). The first pot still holds 5,000 litres, which are reduced to 1,700 after the first distillation. The second pot still is 3,500 litres, and after 10-15 minutes of foreshots, they collect 500 litres of spirit for about 1-1.5 hours, with cuts between 77-76% and 69% abv. Here is the novelty, they also have a small column still, which they use for 6 months a year in tandem with the pot still. For the column still, the 400 litres cut is taken between 86 and 85%. This system, as for many other new distilleries, was suggested by the late Dr Jim Swan, and because we are in England, and the grain used is barley, they can call it single malt whisky. The newmake spirits from the column and pot stills are put into casks separately, and then blended before bottling to get the required flavour profile: their flagship product is 50/50 column and pot still whisky, and it is fractionally married aiming for consistency; everything else they produce is made in small batches.

  • No pictures in the distillery – this one if from the cafe window.

The full capacity would be 450,000 litres of alcohol per year, but their usual production is between 12 casks per week (about 82,000 litres) which are stored in a bonded warehouse off site, but near the farm. Casks are then moved back to the distillery for bottling, in their new automated bottling line, able to make 600 bottles per hour. Everything is non-chill filtered and no colouring is added.

  • Well, we were allowed this one :).

After the very comprehensive tour, for the tasting we went back to the cafe, which they closed for the occasion. We explored their current range of single malts and variety of cask they use, including two expressions from beer casks (full tasting description below). At the shop they offered us another nip of things we might want to try (peated and Moscatel cask finish for us, to complete their range). Happy, we then headed back to the Pie Bald Inn.

  • Awesome tasting!

It was a great visit, we learned how things can be done differently compared to Scotch whisky, and still obtain a great result in such a short time (first release was in 2019 only) – the distillery is not even 10 years old! The array of whiskies we tried was very interesting, showcasing a great variety of flavours.

Stay tuned with us for more English whisky action! Until the next time, slainte!

Wold Top Brewery Tour + Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery Tour

Price: £12.50 pp + £30.00 (October 2024, our experience was a combination of the Brewery and Distillery tour, £25.00, and the Distillery tour & Deep Dive tasting, £30.00)

Duration: 1hr 30min + 2hrs

Tasting: 2 half pints of choice at the brewery and 6 Filey Bay drams at the distillery: the Flagship (46%, NAS, £55); IPA finish Batch 2 (46%, 6-7 months finish in a barrel that hold an IPA for 7-8 months, £65), STR Batch 4 (46%, finished for 7-8 months, £65); Porter Cask (50%, similar to their flagship, but finished for over a year in barrel that held Rip Curl porter for 14 months, sold out); Yorkshire Special Release 2024 (55%, matured in STR, then re-casked in ex-Madeira, ex-Sherry and finally virgin oak casks, £95); and a single cask bottled for the whisky marked (49.9% cask strength!, fully matured in ex-PX casks, distilled in December 2018, bottled in 2024)

Distillery exclusive: the Yorkshire Special Release 2024 (see above)

Target: beer and whisky enthusiasts

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the whisky and the welcoming staff

Recommended: absolutely

Link: https://www.woldtopbrewery.co.uk/, https://www.spiritofyorkshire.com/

#54 Another whisky year under our belt

What a 2024 it was!

 

TL; DR: The recap of our whisky year: 33 distillery visits, 28 visited for the first time, and 9 not in Scotland (a record for us?)! Also, 5 festivals attended (3 as volunteers), and 1 non-whisky focused. But more importantly, a lot of drams with a lot of friends, who really made our year special! 

Another year about to end, we hope you are enjoying these last few very mild days (at least, mild in the Central Belt) of the year with some good drams, possibly in a cozy room, by a nice wood fire. For us it’s like that, minus the wood fire.

These quieter days come with some reflections and thoughts, as is usual for this period. Nowadays we give for granted these recurring events like New year, but it being established on January 1st has more to do with cultural traditions coming from ancient Rome, rather than astronomical events. This said, the fewer hours of light (particularly at higher latitudes like in Scotland) bring some natural peace and tranquillity, helped by things slowing down due to most people being on holiday.

  • Inevitably, we fell in love with this place – Raasay.

This year has been another good one: we visited over 30 distilleries, most of them for the first time. We started with a bang during our usual trip around February, this year on Skye and Raasay. The latter in particular was quite spectacular – the 3-hour tour at the distillery and at the warehouse was great, but it was also amazing to drive around this pearl of an island, definitely one of the best we visited so far. That weekend also marked our appearance in Roy’s Aqvavitae vPub, as Italian guests in a 6-Nation themed blind tasting (which we both horribly failed). We had so much fun, it was one of the whisky highlights of the year!

A few weeks later, we visited Aberargie distillery, in Fife, thanks to an event organised by the Fife Whisky Festival crew. The distillery, which hasn’t released any single malt yet, is run by the Morrison Distillers Company, who also own very tasty brands like the sherried blended malts Old Perth, the Islay single malts Mac-Talla, and Carn Mor range (usually single casks or small batches). The Mac-Talla Mara (cask strength edition) was Teresa’s whisky of the year.

  • Mr Vantastic and Teresa at Aberargie Distillery!

The next appointment was, for the second year in a row, the Spirit of Speyside Festival. This festival is great because it includes visits to some distilleries that are usually closed to public – this year we visited Auchroisk, Tormore, Craighellachie, and Kininvie (where we met our friend Paul, who used to work at Linkwood and other Diageo distilleries). We also attended the Whisky Fair, a mini-festival at the Mortlach Memorial Hall in the familiar Dufftown, and a very fun and nerdy Start Wars themed tasting at Glen Moray!

  • We fell in love with this place too – Tormore.

In the summer we managed to visit Islay twice, first with our pal Justine and Gianluigi’s brother Edoardo, and then with our pals Clay and Glaire. Between the two visits, we managed to finish visiting all distilleries on the island, including Jura (another awesome location we’d like to go back to) and the newly reopened Port Ellen, during one of their monthly open days (spoiler, you don’t get any dram, but the visit is free). After the first trip, we also somehow managed to sneak in a visit to Campbeltown, for a cheeky Cadenhead’s Warehouse tasting…What else?

  • Happy, wee whisky group.

During the nice season we also visited a handful of distilleries around the Central Belt, including the newly reopened Rosebank, Crafty in Galloway and Glengoyne (Teresa had never visited production before) in the southern Highlands, almost all single-day trips. Edoardo was back in October to run the Dramathon, and in that weekend we visited production at Glenlivet, and had a tasting at Glenallachie, with our friend Sue pouring some super tasty drams!

Our yearly trip with our pals from the Edinburgh Whisky Group was in…England! Yorkshire precisely, where we visited three distilleries, two breweries, and a tasting room in Scarabourgh (The Distiller’s Lounge, also likely harbouring the most complete English whisky collection). Our longest holiday was in Australia, where we visited five distilleries and three wineries. We won’t talk much about these trips here as we still have to write the blog posts, but we were surprised by the quality of some of the whiskies we tried, particularly in Australia, but mostly by the incredible hospitality. In Yorkshire, all the distilleries offered in-depth tastings for (relatively) cheap, and they went above and beyond to accommodate our 15-people group. Similarly, in Australia some of the visits were arranged at the very last minute, but still, everyone was happy to show us around and was very welcoming. In our opinion, that’s something that the Scottish whisky tourism in general needs to learn, or maybe re-learn? In the past, with the EWG we struggled to find activities, we almost needed to beg for a chance to spend our money in some distilleries. Both in Yorkshire and Australia, things were so effortless that it left us wondering if Scotland is resting on its laurels.

  • Dramming south of the border – Yorkshire.
  • Dramming further south of the border – Australia.

A good opportunity to meet nice whisky people are whisky festivals, in particular the small ones! The year started with Funky Booze, organised in January by our pal Francesco, right here in town: small sized, very focused on Edinburgh companies, with a funk band playing in the background. It was very fun, with a younger and more diverse crowd compared to most festivals. March was the month of the unmissable Fife Whisky Festival, third time in a row for us volunteering there. The team behind this festival organised another event in October, for the first time with a different name and location: the Borderlands Whisky Festival, in Lockerbie. In August we attended the Whisky Fringe for the third time as well, almost in Leith, and earlier in the year (March) the same company organised the Drinkmonger Spirits Festival, in the same location: it was fun to try different spirits for once, we were impressed with some of the rums and Mezcals.

  • Working hard at the Fife Whisky Festival.

It was a very busy year also for tastings. Edinburgh’s offer is huge, with many tastings representing a great value for money. Mark’s Jolly Toper tastings, now happening at different locations and no longer at Kilderkin, are a good example. The Belfry pub is also hosting many tastings, for example the ones of the newly formed Edinburgh Drammer’s Club (IG profile here), a new whisky club inspired by the Glasgow Whisky Club. Gianluigi attended the initial meeting, but other commitments got on the way…Let’s see if we manage next year. Other great tastings were the Springbank Society new releases early in the year, Rob’s (aka Quasidrams and Marshall Spirits) Adelphi tasting at the World’s End, and Murray’s (aka One Malt at a Time) Springbank, again at the Belfry.

  • Trying to come up with decent tasting notes.

We’re looking forward to next year: no detailed plans for now, but we’ll definitely go back to the Fife Whisky Festival and, depending on the events, we’ll likely attend the Spirit of Speyside again. On our wish list there are the northern Highlands, particularly the area around Wick and Thurso, and the Outer Hebrides, which would be quite exciting (they look quite spectacular, not just because of whisky, of course). But mostly, we’re looking forward to having drams with the new people we’re going to meet, as well as with our many pals around Scotland: that is what really makes whisky a great experience!

So, until the next year, slainte mhath!

#53 Dramathon and Glenlivet

On the run yet again

 

TL; DR: After last year debacle due to storm Babet, this year we finally managed to run the Wee Dram, the Dramathon 10k. And while we were in Speyside, we stopped by Glenlivet distillery and visited production for the first time. The tour was a bit impersonal and very scripted, but nice to check it out anyway. Fortunately, we also went to Glenallachie, where our whisky friend Sue treated us like VIPs! 

Like for the last three years, in 2024 too the second half of October meant Dramathon for us! After running it in 2021 (Wee Dram, 10k, for Teresa and the Half Dram, half marathon, for Gianluigi), and again in 2022 (Half Dram for both), last year we decided to take it easy and run the Wee Dram only, with a special guest: Gianluigi’s brother, Edo. Unfortunately, storm Babet got in the way, and although the Speyside area was not hit too badly, a red-alert flood risk in Aberlour resulted in the event’s cancellation (btw, we never received a refund from the B&B, as according to the despicable owner a red alert from the Met Office was not enough to cancel the reservation for an apartment about 150 meters from the river).

Because the race was cancelled, we could pass our tickets to this year for free. Or, we should have to – Edo unfortunately half read the email and thought it was automatic. It was not, and it was too late when we realised it, so the organiser could not sneak him into the race last minute because of insurance. Hey ho, these things can happen, so Edo ran on his own, since the path was open to the public during the race.

  • Welcome to “Space-side”.

But let’s get back to the day before the race: we picked Edo up at the airport, back to Scotland after the successful trip to Islay in July, and drove straight to Speyside. We only stopped at the KJ’s Bothy Bakery, near Grantown-on-Spey, to have lunch with a few tasty treats (the focaccia was greasy-ly awesome). For the afternoon, we had booked the Glenlivet Distillery Original Tour, their basic one. Among the open distilleries in Speyside, it was the only one we hadn’t fully visited yet, except for a tasting in summer 2021 (when production was still off limits because of Covid). The single-cask tasting was great, although prices of their bottlings were already quite high (and they were all 50cl bottles!). As the distillery is such a Juggernaut, with a production of 21 million litre of pure alcohol per year, we were very curious to check out the production site.

  • A glimpse of one of the many videos.

Our guide Emma met us in a space just below the (very nice and cosy) distillery shop and bar. After some basic information (Glenlivet means “the valley of the river Livet”), we got an introduction about the history of the distillery, and all the people that made that possible. It was George Smith that decided to get a distilling licence back in 1823 (the first one in Scotland), and to protect from the illicit distillers, he also got a pair of Innes guns, which are now on display at the distillery. Production started in 1824, marking 2024 as their 200th anniversary: quite impressive. This introduction was almost repeated in the next room, where we watched a series of videos: some very informative, while others very marketing oriented. We then followed Emma in another room, where production was explained. We were a bit puzzled at that point, as we started to suspect that there wouldn’t be a visit to production (it was almost mid-way through the visit).

  • A bit of history while walking to production.

Fortunately, we were wrong, and we soon moved to the production area. The distillery saw two fairly recent expansions, in 2009 and 2018, but we only got to see a part of that. We didn’t either get to see the mill room, where they have a Bulher mill with three sets of rollers to crush the malted barley (all sourced within 70 miles from the distillery) to grist. Mashing happens in one of the massive 13.5 tons mashtuns, with the usual three waters at increasing temperature (65°C, 82°C and 92°C). The sugary wort is then moved to one of the 60,000-litre washbacks, made of either stainless steel or Oregon pine, where it ferments for 56 hours with distillers’ yeast. Then, the fermented wash is sent to one of the 14 wash stills, where it undergoes the first distillation. From the second distillation in the spirit stills, they take a cut between 74% and 62% abv. They have 28 stills in total, spread across three still rooms, and to achieve such massive production, the distillery works 24/7.

  • One of the three still rooms.

We followed Emma in a dunnage warehouse near the car park. They have also racked ones on site, less romantic but more efficient to manage casks. In the warehouse, we saw the usual exhibitions to explain maturation, but we could also smell the whisky maturing in different cask types, which was nice.

  • Nice display in the dunnage warehouse.

Finally, it was time for the tasting, which was a bit rushed since we were slightly late. We got three drams: the flagship Glenlivet 12 (40%), a 14y from 1st fill American oak which was bottled to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the distillery (48%, the best of the bunch), and finally a double matured 16y, Distillery exclusive (nice, but not as the 14y in our opinion). Back at the visitor centre, we didn’t stay long as we drove straight to Dufftown to the register for the race. The day ended at the Parkmore campsite, where we had dinner and went to bed early.

  • Got there in the end – the tasting.

In the morning the weather was quite nice, so after breakfast we slowly walked to the Glenfiddich car park, where the bus would pick us up to go to the starting line, in Aberlour. Edo got a public bus instead, and we met him at the starting line. The race went quick (it’s only 10k after all), and although at the awards Gianluigi was announced as second in his age category (40-49… although he was still 39 at the time and wants to remark this!), it turned out a few days later that he actually got first, second total. He picked up his prize, a bottle of Glen Moray Sherry cask, weeks later at Royal Mile Whiskies, and he happily shared with his colleagues at his work Xmas party.

  • Got first, actually!

After the race, we went to Dufftown CoOp to buy some meat to grill, as we’d decided that the weather was perfect for a barbecue! By the time we had dinner it got quite chilly, so we sheltered inside Mr Vantastic, while enjoying some Springbank tasting packs. A great way to end the day!

As opposed to the sunny Saturday, Sunday was rainy and miserable. After breakfast, we went to the Glenallachie distillery under a heavy rain, to try some drams at the new distillery bar! Our friend Sue, who works there as a tour guide, gave us great recommendations, and we had a great time. She also kindly offered Teresa some coffee, as she was on driving duties (*sad trumpet*…but we got some drams for her to enjoy home).

  • Guess who’s driving.

That was another successful Dramathon weekend under our belt! Probably next year we’ll skip it, as there are other whisky events we’d like to attend in the same period, one up in the Highlands in particular. Good we could finally visit Glenlivet production. The tour was not memorable, mostly because visiting only part of the site, we didn’t fully appreciate how big it really is. Anyway, at least we got to try different expressions, definitely tasty.

Until the next time, slainte!

Glenlivet Original Distillery Tour

Price: £25.00 pp (October 2024)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 3 drams, Glenlivet 12 (40%), 200th Celebration 14y (48%, 1st fill ex-American oak, £75), Distillery exclusive 16y (48%, 1st fill American oak finished in refill European oak, £95), and a complimentary wee glass

Distillery Exclusive: Glenlivet 16y (see above), Fill-your-own (12y, £55; 15y, £70; 18y, £140, all cask strength), various 50cl single cask bottlings from Glenlivet and other Chivas Brothers distilleries

Target: tourists and whisky novices

Value for money: ok

Highlights: the massive production site

Recommended: if we could choose a basic tour in the area, it wouldn’t be this one

Link: https://www.theglenlivet.com/en-gb/

#50 Falkirk distillery

Old stills for a new whisky

 

TL; DR: On a gloomy Friday afternoon, we visited the Falkirk distillery, guess where? While surrounded by construction sites, the distillery is up and going (well, not when we visited, as it was silent season): one of the most classical distillery layouts among new distilleries we visited so far. The drams we tried reflected this, maybe merit of some old stills being used? 

In 2021, on a lazy summer Sunday towards the end of the pandemic, we joined our friend and whisky expert Justine (btw, her new book on the Pattison brothers and their crash is due soon!) on a drive around the Central belt, to visit the site of an old distillery, Kennetpans. After visiting the site, mostly ruins, we did a couple of detours on our way home. One was to check out the construction works at Rosebank distillery, the other one to look at a newly built distillery, the Falkirk distillery indeed! The distillery building was fully up, all white and shiny, with the home brand painted on the side, while some construction was still going on in the car park. This September, over three years later, it was time to go back, and check the distillery out.

The Falkirk whisky got on many whisky people’s radar last year, but for the wrong reason:  their first release was priced just south of £200; it surprised many and enraged a few. We don’t know anybody who bought a bottle for themselves, but of course it was sold out, so bottles are probably laying in some collector’s cabinet, or in the storage of some hopeful flipper. That was followed by a more reasonably priced release, named after the distillery founder: George Stewart, for £58. It is still available on their website, and the proceedings are going to Prostate Scotland charity.

  • Things you can do on a Friday afternoon.

Distillery tours are available through email reservation and only during weekdays, which prompted us to take a few hours off on a Friday afternoon. At the time the tour was £20, now there is an extra option for a three-dram tour instead of two, for £25. The person who answered our email was also the guide for the tour, Zilvinas (or Zi), who has been working at the distillery for a while in different roles.

As we arrived at the distillery, we noticed some construction works around the parking lot. Zi told us later that the plan is for a restaurant/cafè next to the distillery, and for commercial units in the building on the other side of the parking lot.

Zi welcomed us very warmly and was a great host throughout the tour. To start, we watched an introductory video with some words from the founder, and some drone footage in the distillery. We then moved to production, of course starting with the milling: they are equipped with a modern 4-roller Buhler mill, so no Porteous, nor Bobby Mill, which makes sense for a fairly new distillery. They use Lauriet malt, from Boortmalt in Speyside, exclusively unpeated as they are aiming for a typical floral, lowlander style. The malt is automatically processed in the mill, and the resulting grist split is the usual 70/20/10 (grit/husk/flour).

  • An old mashtun in a new distillery.

Here, we could see the first piece of old equipment: the mashtun. A massive 4.5t semi-lauter tun, it comes from the defunct Caperdonich distillery. The distillery, also called Glen Grant #2, was closed in 2002 and demolished in 2011 to make space for the stills-maker Forsyths (which we visited in 2023). The only new part is the plates underneath the tun, used to obtain a very clear and filtered wort. They use three waters, which they draw from a 90m deep borehole, at increasing temperatures (60°C, 72°C, and finally 85°C). They do two to three mashes per week, but they’re aiming for 10 a week, for a total of about 750,000 litres of alcohol per annum. The wort then goes into one of the six stainless-steel washbacks, each one with a 34,000-litre capacity (but only filled up to 20,000 litres for safety). Fermentation is kickstarted with 75kg of distillers’ yeast and lasts 100 hours.

  • New washbacks, with an old mashtun on the back.

And then, the other piece of Caperdonich equipment: the two stills (another couple was sold to Belgium’s Owl Distillery). They are magnificent, and it is great that Falkirk gave them new life. The stills are heated with steam from a gas boiler, and they are run quite slowly to increase the reflux in the spirit. During the second distillation they take a cut from 75-76%abv down to 65%, in about 2.50-3 hours. From two mashes they get about 4,200 litres of spirit before dilution to 63.5% abv to fill the casks.

  • A blast from the past…Caperdonich stills.
  • …and safe.

They have two warehouses on site, and they are planning for a third. We visited the first one, which was a “semi-dunnage” on two floors: the cask are stored horizontally three high, but the floor was not earth but concrete. They mostly use ex-bourbon American standard barrels from Heaven Hills, less often from Jack Daniels, and sometime other casks too, like Oloroso sherry.

  • Lot of promising spirit here.

After this, we went to the shop to pick up our drams to go, as we needed to head back home. The two drams were the newmake spirit (63.5%) and the George Stewart expression (48%). We also got an extra dram from a small ex-sherry firkin (about 40 litres), 3.5 years old, at 58-59%. In the shop there was a bit of a mix of stuff on sale: some gift packs with aged spirit (not yet whisky), merchandise, and some random bottles of whisky on sale. We remember spotting a Deanston 12, but also a Laphroaig Select and maybe a Famous Grouse.

  • Take-home whisky tasting.

A few days later, at home, we tried the drams: overall we found them quite solid, particularly compared to other young distilleries. The newmake spirit was very fruity with notes of pear juice (which we often find in newmake spirit), and a very nice mouthcoating. The George Stewart was very tropical, with bananas, banana bread and honey notes. Overall pleasant, but you could tell it’s very young and the finish was a bit short. Finally, the sherry firkin was obviously a very cask-forward dram, with leather, trifle, pine forest, nuts, Xmas spices, chocolate, oak, and sour cherry. We wouldn’t have said it was that young though.

The spirit we tried is very promising, quite tasty overall. The tour was nice, again Zi was a great and very knowledgeable host…He answered so many questions! However, it felt a bit strange that this year they prolonged the silent season for over two months (at the time of the visit, now we don’t know). Hopefully, things will be on track soon!

Stay tuned for more Central belt action, and until then, slainte!

Private Falkirk Distillery Tour

Price: £20.00 pp (September 2024)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: newmake spirit (63.5%), George Stewart single malt (3.5-4yr, 46%)

Target: whisky nerds

Value for money: good

Highlights: Zi was an excellent guide

Recommended: yes

Link: : https://www.falkirkdistillery.com/

#49 Blackness Bay

The craft distillery with a pirate twist

 

TL; DR: On a lazy mid-September Saturday afternoon, we did a last-minute trip to a distillery we’d only recently found out about: Blackness Bay, near the famous castle.It was a very fun tour, one of a kind, and the distillery is a little gem. 

The resurgence of the scotch whisky industry, started towards the end of the 90s after the downturn of the 80s, led to a high number of distilleries being built. It was, and in some extent it still is, a boom of new distilleries in almost every part of Scotland, including the most remote ones like the Shetland islands.

Among the whisky regions, as defined by the SWA, one that saw the biggest increase in the number of distilleries is the Lowlands. Until a few years ago only two malt distilleries were constantly producing, Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie, with a third one seeing periods of alternate fortune, Bladnoch. Nowadays, both Edinburgh and Glasgow could theoretically claim the “region” status as both have more than three malt distilleries each (Bonnington, Holyrood, Port of Leith, and the nearby Glenkinchie the first; Auchentoshan, Glasgow, and Clydeside the latter). Similarly, Fife went from one grain distillery only (Cameronbridge) to one grain and six malt distilleries currently producing, or about to (Kingsbarn, Inchdairnie, Lindores Abbey, Daftmill, Aberargie, Eden Mill). The Central Belt, stretching between Edinburgh and Glasgow, where a lot of the Scottish industrial production is concentrated, is no exception: a lot of new distilleries came online decades after the closure of St Magdalene (1983) and Rosebank (1993, now rebuilt). In this and the next few posts we’ll talk about some of these new distilleries in this area, all visited in September 2024.

  • View of the castle from the beach.

The first one is by far the smallest one of the bunch, as a matter of fact one of the smallest in Scotland: Blackness Bay distillery. It is quite a novelty, as they started producing whisky only about a year ago (October 2023), while also making rum. Being that new, it doesn’t feature in the SWA map yet nor in the malt whisky yearbook. The distillery is in the middle of the Blackness village, home to the famous Blackness Castle is (we still have to watch Outlander, btw), but not much else. Despite being relatively close to Edinburgh, reaching it by public transports is a nightmare, so we just drove there (Teresa got the short straw that day). We arrived at destination a bit early, just enough time for a stroll along the beach to get some of the refreshing sea breeze.

  • We could hear Colm tuning his bagpipe…the tour was about to start.

The distillery, a long and low building, is part of a complex including a pub, the Lobster Pot, a big stone house, and a large garden in the middle of the three. The two founders, Colm and Sheena, acquired the whole complex about 15 years ago. More recently they stopped managing the pub/restaurant, so they decided to set up this small distillery, in the shed that used to be a bakery and brewery for the pub. It took two years for the project to complete.

  • It was the wrong door…Now the tour is really about to start.

Sheena was the one who gathered us, about a dozen people, in the pub’s courtyard. We could already hear Colm playing the bagpipe, that accompanied us in the short walk from the pub backyard to the distillery. That was unexpected! Then, he welcomed us and started telling a very peculiar version of the history of Blackness, all the way from the Roman settlements, the castle, and whisky in Scotland. It was genuinely funny and entertaining, and we all had a good laugh. This happened inside the distillery building, a cozy area with a bar and the shop. While Colm gave us his introduction, we had a sip of their products, starting with the Blackness Bay Flowers of Scotland Pink Rum, then the Jacobite Spice Rum, the White Rum, the 6-month-old oak-aged malt spirit: this is called Virgin Mary, a hint to the future realises of scotch whisky that will be called “Mary Queen of Scotch”, name that caused some dispute with the trademark office.

  • Smelling what goes into rum.

We soon moved to the production area, located in the same building, all in a big space. They get pre-milled barley from Crisp, in Alloa, so they don’t have a mill (it would be hard to fit one in there). So they proceed directly to mashing, with local tap water first warmed up to 70°C in the kettle, before sparging (done by hand) Fermentation lasts 6 to 7 days, and the wash is then distilled in the wash still, Lucifer, and re-distilled in the spirit still, Lilith. From the second distillation they take a cut from 80%abv to about 63%, in our understanding. Rum production is similar, with molasses brought in, fermented for longer (10 days) and distilled in the same pair of stills twice, or three times for the ones with botanicals, after cleaning the equipment. At this point, we got some new make spirit to try, which tasted very caramelly, with a good mouthfeel a not too much burn despite its high abv. 

  • A wee distillery…and a museum!

We then moved next door to check out the small warehouse where casks are kept: mostly ex-bourbon barrels, some ex-Islay to introduce some smoky element, and some hogshead and quarter casks. At this point the tour was mostly ended, with people slowly moving towards the Lobster Pot pub, while we had a chit-chat with Colm and Sheena. Unfortunately, we didn’t book the tour with the dinner included, so after finding out that there was no free table at the pub, we went back to our van and left.

  • The smallest, cutest warehouse.

A very interesting visit overall, they are a lovely couple, and their tour was definitely an experience. Their spirit is nice too, but of course we need another couple of years before trying their scotch whisky, so we’ll patiently wait. In the meanwhile, we might pop in again at the Lobster Pot, possibly with a booked table, to enjoy what looked like a very nice pub!

In two weeks, another Central Belt distillery, this time a bit more far away. Until then, slainte!

Blackness Bay Distillery

Price: £20.00 pp (September 2024), £10.00 pp for drivers

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: Flowers of Scotland Pink Rum (43%), Jacobite Spiced Rum (43%), White Rum (43%), Virgin Mary aged spirit (50%)

Target: everyone

Value for money: very good

Highlights: Colm and Sheena are great

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.blacknessbaydistillery.co.uk/

#48.2 Islagain

In the Jack Russell’s den: Ardbeg

 

TL; DR: Among the Islay distilleries, we left a good one for last: Ardbeg! Together with our pals, we went there for a tour and a snack: we were not disappointed, the tour was good, and very relaxed. We even got a special gift! 

(missed Part 1?)

After our Saturday celebrations, we had an “early” start on Sunday: we had booked a distillery tour at 10.30, and we had a 40-min drive from Bowmore to get there. It was a sunny day, so during our drive we enjoyed a great view of the island’s landmarks: peat bogs, the Laggan Bay, the Oa, Port Ellen maltings and village, the Kildalton coast…Our destination? Ardbeg! We arrived a few minutes early, just enough to browse the shop and take pictures in front of the distillery to mark an achievement: our 10th on Islay, the 90th Scottish one, 109 in total.

As we’re not that seasoned in our whisky journey, we haven’t experienced legendary Ardbeg drams like the Uigedail’s first batch (although, the current one is still pretty delicious) or the original 17yr old (we’re not very excited about the clumsy attempt at reviving it, as it’s silly expensive). However, in our early whisky days, Ardbeg 10 was one of the first serious drams we tried, and still a safe bet nowadays: there might be some batch variation, but in general it’s pretty solid. When we started exploring the range, we found other excellent expressions as well: Uigedail as we said, Corryvreckan and the more recent For Discussion are great, while An Oa and Wee Bestie are fine. While we don’t mind too much the silly marketing, we are a bit put off by the high prices of limited releases. But we reckon, if they sell, good for them: we’re happy to stick we the solid core range.

  • 10th Islay distillery, yay!

Back to present, our tour guide was Becca, who took us to the pier and gave us a dram while explaining the history of the distillery: of course it was their flagship, Ardbeg 10 (bottled at 46%, matured in first fill and refill ex-bourbon casks). The distillery was founded by the MacDougall’s family in 1815, and saw some ups and downs, it was even closed for some periods. In recent times, after the LVMH/Glenmorangie acquisition (for £5.5m), they had to release younger whisky because of the lack of stock of the 10yr old. They used to have two malting floors, dismissed in 1981, which are now used as visitor centre, restaurant and warehouse.

Once inside the distillery, we first got into the mill room, where the Bobby mill is still going strong (btw, it’s one of the 17 currently working Bobby mills in Scotland, including Ardnahoe and Bruichladdich). The grist split is the usual, and once milled the barley is moved into the mashtun, where 18,000 litres of water at 65°C are added for the mashing.

  • One of the 17th Bobby mills in Scotland.

Their water source is the Loch Uigedail, located 3 miles away, which then goes into the Charlie’s dam, at the distillery. The second water (8,000 litres at 80-85°C) is then added to complete the mash, while 18,000 litres of the third water (90-95°C) are used as first water for the following mash. They used to do 22 mashes per week, now they cut back to 16. For fermentation, they have 12 washbacks, six original made of Oregon pine (Douglas Fir), plus the new ones. At this point in the tour, Becca gave us the second dram, a glass of Uigedail. Fermentation lasts 66 hours and, once fully fermented, the wash is split in two to fill up the two new wash stills for the first distillation.

We visited both the new and the old still room, the latter being quite tight and very traditional, with the two dismissed stills: apparently one reached its end of life as the new stillroom was built. There, Becca explained us the role of peat and she gifted us a small block! Teresa was not so keen, but Gianluigi was: now it’s on display in our kitchen! We moved on to the new stillroom and its two pairs of new shiny stills, shaped exactly like the old ones. It’s a very modern build, where everything is computerised, including a huge window that was open to get some fresh air. During the second distillation, the newmake spirit is collected after 10 minutes of foreshots, from an abv of 74%, for five hours down to 69%: the rest (feints) is put together with the foreshots and redistilled with the next batch of low wines from the first distillation. Here, Becca gave us the third dram, a Corryvreckan. The tour ended at the pier again, where everyone could finish their dram at their leisure…Except Gianluigi, who went back to the visitor centre to collect his driver drams pack (in a tube, quite distinctively). Other than the glass, they also gave us a five-pound voucher each to be used for merchandising or on the core-range bottlings (min £40).

  • The new still room…That’s big!

After the tour, we had a snack: unfortunately the restaurant was closed for a private event, but we could get some tasty food at the cart in the courtyard, and the weather (although windy) was good enough to eat outside. We then drove back to Bowmore, where we dropped our friends at their accommodation.

  • Such a lovely day.

Our intention was to go for a walk, but as it was starting to rain, we jumped back in the van instead and we visited a bit of Islay we hadn’t been before: the Rhinns. We drove to Portnahaven, where we had some seafood at the An Tigh Seinnse, a local pub. It was truly delicious, and we left the village very happy, also because we spotted seals in the bay. Overall, another good day on Islay.

The day after we just had a walk and a coffee in Bowmore, before driving first to Bunnahabhain (Gianluigi had to catch up the tour he’d missed on the Saturday) and then to Port Askaig for our ferry back to the mainland.

  • Seals spotting in Portnahaven.

Another nice wee holiday on Islay. While Bunnahabhain unfortunately dropped the ball, Ardbeg was great, with a very good tour that could fit both newbies and more seasoned whisky geeks (just a shame we didn’t get to see the warehouses). In our experience so far, we think Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Bruichladdich and Lagavulin offer the best “regular” distillery tours on the island (full disclosure: we haven’t done the regular tour at Kilchoman).

If we combine the two previous trips on Islay, overall we managed to “bag” nine distilleries, out of the ten currently working distilleries on the Island (plus Jura!), and we got to 10 with Ardbeg on this trip. As we are writing this post, we heard the news that the construction company building the 11th one, Portintruan, filed for administration, and we are wondering if this is going to delay the project. Finally, there is a 12th distillery in the pipeline: Laggan Bay, a collaboration between the Islay Boys and Ian McLeods (Glengoyne, Tamdhu and now Rosebank), but as far as we know works haven’t started yet. So, probably for a while we’ll be able to claim that we have visited all distilleries on Islay. Yay!

Stay tuned for some Lowland action! Until then, slainte!

Ardbeg Quintessential Tour

Price: £20.00 pp (August 2024)

Duration: 1hr 15min

Tasting: 3 drams, Ardbeg 10 (46% ex-bourbon casks), Uigedail (54.2%, ex-bourbon and Oloroso casks), Corryvreckan (57.1%, ex-bourbon and French oak)

Target: both casual and more seasoned drinkers

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the new still room

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.ardbeg.com/en-int/visitus.html