Category: Highlands

#66.2 Something new, something old

Back to Glenturret, after the Lalique revamp

 

TL; DR: On our anticipated travel back to Edinburgh, we decided to revisit a distillery we’d only been once in the middle of the pandemic: Glenturret! In the meanwhile, the distillery went through a revamp, with a new core range and a new mashtun. A solid tour ending with two tasty drams!

(missed Part 1?)

The sky in Inverness was uniformly grey that morning, with hints of rain and puffs of cold air. We took the A9 southward, not stopping until Dalwhinnie: nope, not at the distillery, but at The Apiary, a nice cafe serving the most delicious honey cake ever! So good that we endured the rather expensive coffee. Back on the road, we decided for a last-minute stop at a distillery we’d visited over 5 years ago: Glenturret.

Back in August 2020, it was one of the few distilleries open in that weird summer between lockdowns. Gianluigi’s parents took advantage to come visit as well, and we took them to the magnificent Isle of Skye: the village of Crieff was a perfect stop along the way. The tour with masks and social distancing was really something else, but also having to translate everything for Gianluigi’s parents meant we couldn’t grasp all the details (and the tour guide, while she kindly agreed for us to translate, didn’t make much effort to space her sentences a bit). However, Gianluigi’s mother still remembers Towser the cat, the distillery’s mice-catching machine, long gone but remembered with a statue.

  • A cat with a glorious past.

A few weeks after our 2020 visit, a new revamped core range was announced by the new owners, Lalique (decanters, perfumes, etc). During the Edrington period, Glenturret was used as the home of The Famous Grouse, before it was sold to Lalique in 2019. Funnily enough, Edrington now has sold the entire Famous Grouse brand as well! When we first visited the core range was a bit outdated, with all expressions at 43% and without age statements. The new one is released about once a year, in a newly designed decanter-style bottle, and it is curated by their whisky maker Bob Delgarno, who worked many years at the Macallan. This year’s expressions are the Triple Wood (45%abv, £62, the only chill-filtered expression), a 7y peated (46%, £62) a 10y peated (46.6%, £67), a 12y sherried (46.2%, £77), a 14y also peated (48%, £150) and finally a 15y (46%, £165). The 12y had some success in our whisky bubble, despite its price betrays a move towards the luxury market, even more clear when checking the price of expressions beyond the 12y age statement (including the extra aged stuff, not mentioned here). Other than revamping the core range, Lalique also transformed the distillery: no more a stand-alone cafe, with hot beverages and snacks now available at the whisky bar.

  • There used to be a cafe here.

There is also a fine dining restaurant with two Michelin stars, and a Lalique boutique behind the visitor’s centre shop. However, production remained very much traditional, as shown to us by our guide Alan: he looked somehow familiar, but we couldn’t really place him exactly. After the introduction (held in what used to be the malting floor), he explained the recent history of the distillery and how it is the oldest in Scotland as it dates back to 1763. Apparently, this came to a surprise as the previous understood founding date was 1775: in any case, things must have changed quite a bit. What didn’t change is the presence of cats: during the tour we spotted a couple of them, apparently not trying very hard to fill Towser’s shoes.

  • Doesn’t look as active as Towser.

The distillery now works 7 days a week, doing 12 mashes (not reaching the total capacity of 500,000 litres of alcohol per year), using mostly unpeated barley. To note, a few months back they announced that they will stop using peated barley (usually about 9-14ppm) from next year. Although we can totally see the reasons (sustainability, mostly), it’s a bit of a shame as we love the peated Glenturret, particularly at a young age (in the recent past the Scotch Malt Whisky Society released a good number of those casks!). In line with their sustainability ethos, they are also trying to source the barley locally, for the moment it’s around 30%. The process starts with crushing the barley in their old Porteus mill, but compared to other distilleries their grist has a lower percentage of flour (7% vs the usual 10%), compensated by more grit (73%). Mashing is one of the novelties as they replaced the open mashtun we saw in 2020 with a shiny new 1.9ton one with a copper lid, and a semilauter system inside. Mashing is carried out with three waters at increasing temperature from 64°C to 85°, and the remaining draff goes to local farmers.

  • This mashtun wasn’t there back in 2020.

Fermentation happens in one of the eight wooden washbacks, using 37 kg of M yeast per batch, and lasts 100-120 hours. As for the distillation, in the second run the cut they take goes from 69%abv to 63%, with the foreshots and the feints redistilled with the next batch of low wines from the first distillation. Each batch produces about 850 litres of spirit, enough to fill 3 to 4 casks (American standard barrel) at a strength of 64%. Another novelty is that they installed a heat-exchanger that works between the mash and the still: the first still is now filled with pre-heated wash at 70°C and not 17°C as in the past: good for the environment and the wallet.

  • A bigger still than we remembered.

We didn’t visit the filling store, nor the warehouse, but after the tour we went back to the visitor centre. Alan took us to a room on the upper floor, next to the restaurant, for the tasting, including the 10y and the 12y. A pleasant surprise, as we thought they’d give us drams of the two cheapest expressions like other distilleries did in the recent past…Very good on them! We briefly stopped at the bar, for coffee and to buy a dram to take home: we chose the 14y, a very tasty example of soft and sweet peat smoke, with some decadent notes from the sherry cask (although, not “150-quid-a-bottle” tasty).

  • Two good drams for the driver…
  • …and a dram (not the bottle!) to take home.

Overall, we were very happy with this visit, the tour was entertaining and interesting, despite being more tailored for people new to whisky: still, probably one of the best “basic tours” we attended recently. In our opinion, Lalique and the team did a great job to give the whisky and the brand the character it deserved, because Glenturret can be delicious. Moreover, the makeover they gave to the distillery was more discrete and tasteful than we anticipated. Just a shame that some of the expressions are priced out of range for most whisky enthusiasts: hey ho.

  • We might see you again, Glenturret.

We left Glenturret, ready to get home 4 days in advance compared to the initial plans: not great. To cheer us up we did one last stop on the way: we found a table at the Lobster Pot, a nice restaurant next door to the Blackness Bay distillery. It was since the distillery visit last year that we wanted to go back, and finally there we were, enjoying some delicious seafood!

One more distillery visit to go before the end of our “back-up” plan. Until then, slàinte!

Glenturret Distillery Tour

Price: £20.00 pp (September 2025)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: two drams, Glenturret 12y (46.2%) and 10y peated (46.6%)

Target: anyone

Value for money: good

Highlights: the traditional production process

Recommended: yes, it’s a good basic tour

Link: https://theglenturret.com/

#66.1 Something new, something old

Toulvaddie distillery: A whisky mystery solved with…pizza!

 

TL; DR: After our trip to the Outer Hebrides was cancelled, we tried our luck driving East, to the Fearn Peninsula. There, we visited another new craft distillery: Toulvaddie. Not our usual tour, but a must-do for the pizza and cocktails lovers! 

If you read our last post, you’ll know our holidays to the Outer Hebrides went down the pooper: we barely managed to visit Tiree distillery, on the Isle of Tiree, but then our next ferries were cancelled because of high wind. Oh well, when we’d booked the trip, we knew this could happen, we’ll just need to wait a few months to regroup and try again. However, in the meanwhile we had to decide what to do with our remaining days off, at least during the weekend.

That Friday we woke up at the campsite in Fort William under a gloomy grey sky: a cold, wet and windy day, not putting us in the best mood for outdoor activities. After breakfast, a shower, and a chat with Justine, Karen and Chris, we decided to split. The two of us and Mr. Vantastic left Fort William eastward, hoping the other coast would bring some luck. While Teresa drove, Gianluigi looked at potential whisky activities to do in the area. There was a new distillery that had been on our radar for a while, but we had not managed to visit: Toulvaddie. One reason for not getting there earlier was that tours are available only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (until a few weeks ago, also on Thursdays). Truth to be told, a few weeks prior we’d tried to plan a visit on our way back from holidays, on a Tuesday. However, the booking system didn’t work, and our queries weren’t replied. After a check on their website, we found out that they do pizza nights on Fridays and Saturdays, so we figured they must have been open (two Sherlocks in action here!). Thus, we decided to drive there and try our luck. Worst case scenario, we’d still get a pizza!

  • It took a while, but we found our way to the distillery.

The distillery is located on the Tarbat peninsula (near Fearn, Easter Ross), to the east side of the A9, roughly between Invergordon and Tain. It is on the site of a former naval airbase (HMS Owl) and while part of the surrounding area has been redeveloped for industrial use mostly, there is still an airfield for small private planes. As a matter of fact, Google Maps sent us straight in the middle of the runaway; the area is quite flat though, and not massively built, so we quickly found our way around the airfield to get to the distillery.

  • Memory of an old airfield.

We arrived there at 2pm, the opening time, while pizza would have been available from 3pm until 8pm (unless sold out). We left the van next to the gate, and we walked in to find a very nice space: on the left, some vegetation and a container (we’ll learn later that’s the temporary warehouse, while waiting to build the permanent one), on the right side a nice garden with a fish pond, chairs and a grill: perfect for summer time! In the meantime, the sun came out (for a while), and it gave a great feel to the whole outdoor area.

  • Such a nice space.

The production is inside the main building, together with the bar in a big open space. As we walked in, we were welcomed by Heather, the distillery owner together with her husband Bobby (who was busy setting up the pizza oven). The production equipment is past the bar area, with the shiny stills almost in the middle of the building. We sat at the bar, and while splitting a tasty Happy Chappy pale ale (from Cromarty Brewing), we started chatting with Heather about their whisky production. Although the distillery was planned way before, they actually started distilling in April 2024, so their spirit is half-way to become a single malt.

  • A nice space inside too.

The distillery is operational from Sunday to Thursday, and production is quite scheduled. They don’t have a mill, but they bring in pre-milled Laureate malted barley from Crisp. Other than saving one stage of production, this allows them to reduce the spark risk, so they can have people inside the building. They usually mash on a Wednesday, in a 0.33 ton mashtun, and then ferment the wort for 5 days in one of the 2,000-litre washbacks. Distillation is usually done on the following Monday (first) and Tuesday (second), in a couple of Hoga stills: the spirit one (the second) is only 500 litres, one of the few that is smaller than the Dornoch distillery’s one! Both stills work with a steam coil, powered by an oil unit, and they are both equipped with a shell and tube condenser. The second distillation cuts are approximately between 70% and 60%. All the casks are filled on site, mostly ex-bourbon barrels, but sherry ones too from time to time. The draff and the pot ale are sold to local farmers. We shared a dram of the newmake spirit (bottled at 63.5%), which was very malty and cereal-y, with the usual green fruits (apple and pear) taking a back sit in this one: nice stuff!

  • Very small Hoga stills.

At that point it was about time to order the pizzas, pepperoni and mushroom+ham, which we happily enjoyed, for Gianluigi while tasting one of their newmake spirit-based cocktails. The idea of using the distillery as a pub and pizzeria to get some cash is a very smart one in our opinion, also because there aren’t many other options in the area. They have plans to build a new permanent pizza oven outside the distillery, so they won’t have to set it up every Friday. Before leaving we signed the guest book, hoping to go back when their single malt will be ready!

  • Happy after pizza and another distillery under our belt.

We took Mr. Vantastic back on the A9, and decided to stay in Inverness for the night. After we found a suitable parking, we visited the Uile Bheist “brewstillery”’s pub, as last time we were there, we hadn’t had time to enjoy it after the production tour. We had a couple of drams there and, completely unplanned, we were rejoined by Karen and Chris: the choice is great and prices are very competitive. To end the night, we decided to pay one final visit at a whisky bar we’d heard a lot about but never been before: the Malt Room! The whisky choice is great there too, but probably because it was a tad too busy, and the general rowdiness of the night (Inverness is rowdy on a Friday night!!), it didn’t feel very cosy. Hopefully next time we’ll visit on a quieter day.

  • Last dram at the Malt Room.

The next morning we woke up and, with no rush, drove south towards Leith. Did we drive straight home? Almost. More on this next week. Until then, slàinte!

Toulvaddie Distillery Tour

Price: £15.00 pp (September 2025)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: a dram of newmake spirit (63.5%)

Target: anyone

Value for money: N/A*
*we didn’t do the tour as advertised on the website so we don’t know. We went in for the pizza on a Friday

Highlights: the garden and the pizza!

Recommended: nice for a pizza/distillery combo

Link: https://www.toulvaddiedistillery.com/home

#63.4 As north as you can get (on the mainland)

Pointing north to the bunker

 

TL; DR: Our final distillery visit in this North Highland trip was to another new distillery: North Point! The location is very fascinating, and during the engaging tour, Alex walked us through their process in a distinctive visit that left us excited. After the visit, we visited peat bogs, beaches, and waterfalls, an ended the trip with a cheeky visit at Tomatin. 

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

The Forss Technology Business and Energy Park is only a few minutes driving from Thurso, the access road is on the right side of the A836, if you’re driving westward. As we approached it, the site looked more like a wind farm, as it’s surrounded by turbines. We’d done our homework before, and we learned that the site, built in the early 1960s, used to be a U.S. Navy radio station active during the Cold War. Not only that, but after the closure of NAVCOMMSTA Londonderry in 1977, it became crucial to monitor the North Atlantic and the North Sea until November 1992, when it ceased operation and the Americans left. The site maintained some activity because of some of the existing facilities (basketball court, bowling alley, swimming pool, baseball diamond), but then in 2003 it was transformed into a business park. And in 2020, North Point Distillery moved in!

  • The barrels told us the way to the distillery, thankfully.

We learned about North Point because of their other spirits (more on this later), but their inclusion in the 2025 Malt Whisky Yearbook meant that they started distilling newmake spirit for whisky, sparking our curiosity. The visit almost didn’t happen, because the Founders’ tour (the in-depth one, but they also have a shorter option for £12) was not scheduled on Saturdays. However, we’d noticed that the shop was open, so we got in contact and they agreed to give us a tour! This kindness is not a given, as other distilleries would have just turned us away, so many thanks to them! As we arrived Alex MacDonald, one of the founders and our guide for the afternoon, spotted us right away, and introduced himself while we entered the Murkle building. This is where their offices, shop and part of production are. Despite his surname, Alex is Canadian, and came to Scotland to play rugby. After getting an MSc in Business, he founded the distillery with Struan Mackie (native of the North Coast). The company is independently owned, and they recently obtained the B Corp Certification, to testify their effort in sustainability.

  • Yes, we got to the right place.

The part of production near the offices is mostly dedicated to the other spirits, although one of the whisky stills is also there. The stills are all named after members of their families (some still alive, who apparently complained) and they are custom made by a Serbian company. They are all electric, not very common in Scotland. Right in front of the stills, we could check out their massive collection of botanicals, while tasting three spirit samples each (excluding Gianluigi, the driver). They started in 2020 with one 500-litre still, Sandy Stroma, to produce their Highland Rum and their gin, and they later added Audrey, a small experimental one (for smaller batches as well, including for clients).

  • The first still, Sandy Stroma.

For the rum they buy molasses from Barbados, and they ferment them with Kviek Norwegian ale yeast for a week, before running it through the still. Their main product, delicate and sweet, is the Pilot Rum (aged for 1-year in ex-whisky casks), named after the pilots of the Pentland Firth, who used to guide bigger ships through those dangerous waters. They later added the Spice Rum (43%): for this, they found a recipe (including cocoa, orange, vanilla pods, and other 18 botanicals) that tries to replicate the experience of drinking rum while eating a Terry’s Orange. In the same stills, they also produce the Crosskirk Bay Gin, made with juniper imported from Tuscany (because of a higher concentration in oils), Szechuan and pink peppers, and other botanicals. Edoardo particularly appreciated the gin and its oiliness, the last of the three-spirit flight.

  • Plenty of botanicals here.

As we were saying, one of the whisky stills is also in the same building: Gertie, the 1000-litre spirit still. While Alex explained that they obtained the license for whisky in 2021, he gave us a newmake spirit sample of what will become Dalclagie Single malt. Until 2023 they mostly did research and development, including 40+ mashbills before finding the one they wanted for their malt.

  • Newmake, malternatives, and beautiful stills in the background.

Alex then walked us to where the rest of whisky production is, inside an adjacent, much bigger building. They get pre-milled malted barley from Crisp, mostly Maris Otter, processing 4 tons every two weeks. They are still experimenting a lot, in particular around Christmas, with both barley and yeast: a fun time for their distiller Greg. They also have plans to trial some heritage “bourbon-style” mash recipes. Mashing is carried out in a 2000-litre mashtun for 9 hours, while they have six wooden washbacks: two Wilhelm Elder, and four former vatting used by Diageo for the Johnny Walker Blue label (one of them is called Angus). We wondered if they were still haunted by the whisky of the ghost distilleries that went into that. After 7 to 10 days of fermentation with Kviek yeast, they finally run the first distillation in the 2000-litre wash still, Nettie.

  • Quite a unique setting for production.
  • Nettie and us.

Then it is moved into the building we were in before, for the final distillation, with Gertie: cut points are always made based on aroma and taste. At the moment they store most casks (palletised) in the same main production building. Among the casks, a small cabinet with some bottles: in fact, the Founders’ experience included a sample of three aging malt spirits, one chosen by each of the co-founders, and one chosen by the distiller. Two of them were an 11-month-old Chateau Talbot red wine cask (at ~65%), and a 12-month-old ex-Jim Beam bourbon cask (~64%). Despite the young age they were very different, the first one richer, the latter carrying a lot of hints of newmake spirit. The third cask sample was not available on the day, so instead Alex treated us with a delicious E.H. Taylor Bottle-in-bond bourbon (50%abv).

  • Promising experiments.

Then, before the tour ended, it was time for a surprise: a trip to the bunker. Being former military buildings, most of them come with a bunker, and they didn’t let go the opportunity to use it for cask maturation (stored horizontally there). We’d never been to a bunker before, so it was a great experience, and we’re very curious to see how the whisky will mature there, compared to the main warehouse.

As we left the production/warehouse to go back where we started, Alex pointed us to some buildings they are trying to acquire for potential expansion: exciting times for them. Back at the shop we had a rugby chit chat: despite Alex used to be a hooker, Edoardo a fullback, and Gianluigi a referee, they seem to have (surprisingly) gotten along, eheh. Overall, we really enjoyed the time spent there, and Alex gave us a great tour. The project is interesting and considering how well they are doing with the current spirits, their single malt will be one to keep an eye out for. The tasting in the warehouse and the visit to the bunker were the cherry on the top, which made this tour a bit different and innovative.

  • A bunker as a warehouse, that’s a first.

We soon left the site, under an overcast sky, driving towards the Forsinard RSPB in the Flow Country. This is a truly majestic landscape, one of the biggest peatlands in Western Europe, now a conservation area: peat bogs are more efficient than forests to capture carbon dioxide. We also got soaked by a storm, so we rested a bit inside the RSPB visitor centre, getting some warm drinks in exchange for donations, and watching the full half-hour video. Back on the road, we drove south inland, and then north-west towards Tongue. We looked for a place to stay trying to avoid the midges: we failed.

  • Amazing peatland.

The day after we continued on the North Coast 500, stopping at the Smoo Cave and in Durness for some shopping, and then for a fantastic seafood late lunch at the Kylesku Hotel, in the namesake village. We finally stayed in a quite pricey (£50 for one night!) but scenic campsite just north of Ullapool. We managed to have dinner outside, but as soon as the wind calmed, midges came back, so we had to retreat in the campervan where we spent the night sipping some Springbank samples: one of Edoardo’s favourite, so we’re always sure to have some for when he comes over.

  • Brothers in water.

The final day, after a hot breakfast in Ullapool, we drove straight back to Edinburgh, with a stop for a walk at the Corrieshalloch Gorge (very scenic, just a shame for the…midges!), and a final last stop at Tomatin distillery. There, Edoardo and Gianluigi shared a flight of their bottle-your-own drams (pricey, but generally good) and one of Cu Bocan (their lightly peated malt), plus a couple of sherry expressions: the Manzanilla and the PX finished ones were particularly delicious. After that, we slowly drove back to Leith, where we arrived in time for a quiet dinner and a final dram.

  • Unplanned but welcomed stop to finish off the weekend.

First, we loved this trip, and we had a fantastic time up in the Highlands. Landscapes are fantastic, and although we had been there before, this time we really appreciated why it became so popular. It’s really a magic place. Second, the distilleries: we had a very good time up north. Apart from Pulteney, which was a bit too corporate and impersonal (not the guide’s fault), Wolfburn, which was the other one well established, was just fantastic. The two new distilleries, 8 Doors and North Point, were both great as well – we were walked through the detail of their projects, and people’s passion was contagious. During both visits we could try their newmake spirit, and although someone might think that it is a given for new distilleries, after visiting a number we can say that it really isn’t. Kudos to them, and we’ll patiently wait for their single malt whiskies.

After a pause, we’ll be back with a Fife experience! Until then, slàinte!

North Point Founders’ Tour

Price: £30.00 pp (July 2025)

Duration: 1hr (in theory, but it was longer)

Tasting: Pilot Rum (40%), Crosskirk Bay Gin (45.1%), Spiced Rum (43%), Dalclagie Newmake spirit (63,5%), 11m spirit ex-wine cask (~65%), 12m spirirt ex-bourbon cask (~65%), and we had a dram to replace the third spirit sample (not available on the day, see text)

Highlights: the bunker and the warehouse tasting

Target: whisky and spirits enthusiasts, and Cold War nerds

Value for money: good

Recommended: absolutely

Link: https://www.northpointdistillery.com/

#63.3 As north as you can get (on the mainland)

The Wolf(burn) is loose*

 

TL; DR: After escaping the haar in Jonh O’Groats, we arrived in Thurso for another long-due visit: Wolfburn distillery. Charlie was a very competent and knowledgeable tour guide, and we really liked the tour. The distillery is lovely, and the malts we tried were delicious: definitely one we’d happily go back to.

(missed Part 2/Part 1?)

We woke up surrounded by the haar. A thick and pervasive fog, obviously coming from the sea. From where Mr. Vantastic was parked, we couldn’t even see the shore, a mere 100-120 meters away. We couldn’t help but think what could have meant for people a few hundred years ago, not knowing what was hiding behind a wall of fog like that: nothing maybe, or merchants, or unfortunately raiders sometimes. Nevertheless, thick fog can also provide a sense of calm and peace, like if everything is slowing down.

  • Where’s the sea?

That morning we couldn’t slow down really, as we had to shower, fix and eat breakfast, and wrap up the van by 9.15 maximum. Our first destination was about 40 minutes away, and we had to be there at 10am. Somehow we managed to do everything on time, and soon we were on the road, leaving the haar behind as we drove. During the drive we spotted a distillery to-be in the former Castletown Mill, between John O’Groats and Thurso, set up by the company behind the very popular Rock Rose gin. The single malt will be called Stannergill. The site looked under construction (we’re in July ’25), but we could see the still already positioned, so they must be not too far from completion. Another visit for another time.

The first distillery we visited that day was one of the first coming online in the new wave of the 2010s: Wolfburn distillery. They have been around for a while, and in fact their first 12y single malt was released earlier this year. The name comes from a burn that flows near the distillery, which is also their water source. There used to be an older distillery called Wolfburn located roughly in the same area, in the outskirt of Thurso, in what now is a small industrial estate. The old distillery was founded in 1821, licensed in 1823, but closed down in 1858, with all the equipment sold at auction. This was decades before Alfred Barnard visited the area, so no record of it in his book. The new distillery was founded in 2011, and was up and running in 2013. The distillery manager and master blender, Shane Fraser, had previous experience at Glenfarclas, while the two owners were new to the spirits industry. While Wolfburn single malt has been around for a while, it doesn’t seem to be too common: we’d only tried a few expressions in the 2020 lockdown during two online whisky festivals, the Summerton whisky club festival and the Belfast whiskey week. We generally liked it, in particular the peated version (Morven), but since then, we tried Wolfburn only a handful of times, so it started fading a bit from our palate. A first plan to visit the distillery failed in 2021 because of a Covid-related issue, and we couldn’t fit Caithness in the rescheduled trip. No more plans were done to visit them…Until this summer! Hurray!

  • Right place, on time. Yay!

We arrived at the distillery five minutes earlier, while our soon-to-be guide Charlie was opening the visitor centre. The distillery production is in a warehouse, together with the shop and some offices. As we entered, we could spot all the equipment from the wide hall: malt bin, mill and mashtun on the left, washbacks and stills in front of us, two tanks for water and spent ale, and the shop, on the right. Fun fact, the tanks come from the demolished Caperdonich distillery, from Rothes. So, after Belgian Owl (still) and Falkirk (still and mashtun), Wolfburn is the third distillery we know of that uses equipment from the defunct Caperdonich. The plant was built by Forsyths, and it was the first project Richard Forsyths took on.

As it was just the three of us, the tour started right away, and after some background information, Charlie started describing the production process. Currently they are only producing four days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: we wondered if that is because of the current sales slowdown in the whisky market (and potential overproduction in the industry in general). At first, they only had two people working in production, now they are four, and production went from 100,000 litres per annum to 125,000.

  • Nice view on arrival. To note the red tanks from Caperdonich.

They get the malt from Inverness, one lorry every 4 to 5 weeks while, as we said, water comes from the nearby Wolf burn. They aim for a light and floral spirit, mostly unpeated: only 3 out of 11 barley deliveries per year contain lightly peated malt to 10 ppm. To make sure not to mix peated and unpeated runs, the first distillation after their peated period (and cleaning) goes into ex-Islay quarter casks anyway. In general, they mill 1.1ton of malted barley (with the usual split for the grist, 20/70/10) and mash it (twice a day, 8 mashes a week) first with 4,000 litres of water at 64.5°C, and then with another 1,000 litre at 80°C. The third water, 4,000 litres at 90°C, is stored for the following mash. Mashing takes 5.5 hours, and at the end of the process they obtain a clear wort, and sell the draff to cattle farmers. The wort, 5,000 litres, is moved to one of the very tall washbacks: they are so tall that they don’t need defoaming.

  • Good to see everything is signposted.

Fermentation lasts 72 hours for the Monday and Tuesday batches, while 96 for the Thursday and Friday ones (so 84 hours on average), and is kicked off using distillers’ yeast to obtain an 8.5% wash. At the end of the catwalk between the washbacks there are the two copper stills, both equipped with a steam coil inside, heated by a kerosene boiler. First distillation lasts about 5.5 hours, while the second one only 4.5 hours; during the latter, they take the spirit between 74% and 61%abv, a quite wide cut, discarding the first 40 minutes of foreshots, and the last 1.5 hours as feints.

  • The unmissable selfie with the stills.

At that point Charlie walked us to warehouse 1, the first past the distillery, where we could see a number of different cask types and sizes, which they get from the Speyside Cooperage.  Casks are stored horizontally above ground: a proper modern dunnage warehouse. He told us that warehouse 2 (the next one) is identical, while warehouse 3, on the other side, hosts the bottling plant as well (the water to reduce the abv is from the burn as well). There are two more warehouses – Charlie said that on top of the distilling history, land availability was crucial for choosing the site.

  • Warehouse 1, bigger than we thought.

Back to the main building, it was time for the tasting, with a branded perfect-dram glass for us to take home. The first dram was Wolfburn Aurora, made with an even split between 1st fill ex-bourbon and 2nd fill sherry casks, bottled at 46%. It’s a non-age statement whisky, similar to most of the expressions we tried, but Charlie told us that as older stock becomes available, the average age increases, and is now around 8 years. Second up, the Northland (46%, NAS but again around 8y), unpeated spirit aged in ex-Islay cask: peat is there but very subtle, so much that Edoardo bought a 20cl bottles to give to a pal who claims they don’t like peated whisky…We’re waiting for the response. The third dram, Langskip, was cask strength (57%), from 7y and 8y 1st fill ex-bourbon barrels: a floral deliciousness. The last two drams were the 10y (46%, 2nd fill Oloroso casks) and the Morven (46%, again ex-Islay casks, but peated spirit).

  • Quite the display for a delicious tasting.

In the shop they have quite a variety of bottlings, other than their core range (in 70cl and 20cl bottlings, and 5cl miniatures): the new 12y (60%ex-bourbon and 40% sherry casks), a small batch Cognac Cask (46%, finished one year in ex-Cognac cask), the Drams on The Burn (a vatting of few casks for a local festival), a couple of small batches (one ex-Rum, another cask strength) and the “fill-your-own-bottle” (details below) single-cask expression. Everything is also very well priced between £45 and £75 (for 70cl bottles), except the “fill-your-own-bottle”, which is a tenner or two too expensive in our opinion.

  • Bottle-your-own.

As the tasting ended, we quickly left, as we didn’t have much time before our next tour. We had to decide whether to go to Lidl or to try go watch the second half of the first test between Australia and the British and Irish Lions. With Gianluigi and Edoardo being rugby fans, we obviously chose the latter, and we drove back to Top Joe’s, in Thurso. They don’t do food, but we could order some tasty sandwiches from the next door Central café menu.

Overall, both the tour and the tasting at Wolfburn were great, one of the best and most satisfactory experiences we did recently in an established Scottish distillery (we’re excluding the new ones that haven’t released their own whisky yet). Charlie was an excellent guide, very knowledgeable, and very engaging too. Their range of malts is very tasty and various, and the delicate, floral (but also very fruity) spirit signature is clearly there in all the different expressions we tried. Definitely one you should keep an eye on, and if you’re in the area, go to.

Next up, the final northern distillery, but with a twist, so stay tuned! Until then, slàinte!

Wolfburn Classic Tour and Tasting

Price: £19.50 pp (£18.00 when we visited in July 2025)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 5 drams, Wolfburn Aurora (46%, NAS), Northland (46%, NAS), Langskip (58%, NAS), 10y (46%), Morven (46%), and a perfect-dram glass to take home

Distillery exclusive: Fill-your-own-bottle 2018 ex-Bourbon cask (7y, 59.3%, £89.99)

Highlights: the tasting

Target: everyone, both occasional and seasoned drinkers

Value for money: great

Recommended: yes

Link: https://wolfburn.com/

“The hero of the gods
The crossing of the threshold
The belly of the whale
Refusal of return”

*The wolf is loose, Blood Mountain (2006), Mastodon

  • © imago images/Gonzales Photo/Terje Dokken

We’ll miss you Brent, crazy guitar genius.

#63.2 As north as you can get (on the mainland)

Pushing north: 8 Doors distillery

 

TL; DR: After the morning in Wick, we spent the rest of the day in John O’Groats. After a trip to a nearby lighthouse, we visited 8 Doors distillery, where Ryan gave us an extremely interesting and geeky tour of their operation. Even though we’ll have to wait for their single malt, it’s definitely a must-do visit! 

(missed Part 1?)

There is a human tendency to order facts and figures, probably that’s why articles with rankings, billboards, such as “the X best records of year Y”, “Quentin Tarantino movies ranked”, and so on, preceded the internet by a long time. For whisky brands, having one of the ‘-est’ facts can often be an unmissable chance to make themselves notable, which has become particularly important since the massive wave of new players in the market (are we over 160 distilleries yet? For sure over 150, and just for malt ones). The “biggest”, “oldest”, “southmost”, “highest”, or “the only distillery on Skye”…which now became “the oldest distillery on Skye”. Although some of these traits might actually have a connection with the flavour profile of the whisky advertised, in most cases we wouldn’t read too much into it.

Nonetheless, going back to our long weekend up north, let’s talk about the northmost distilleries in Scotland. The northmost used to be Highland Park on Orkney, although now it’s probably been beaten by Lerwick distillery (assuming it’s online) on Shetland. On the mainland, it was Pulteney for a long time, but then the (imaginary) trophy went to Wolfburn. Nowadays there is a new winner of this race: 8 Doors distillery, in the village of John O’Groats, which is where we were headed after our tour at Pulteney. The village is only about half hour driving from Wick, almost straight north, along the rugged North Sea coast. We only stopped to put some diesel in the tank, and to save time we ate our pre-prepared sandwiches while driving (the Lidl rosemary focaccia, with grilled aubergines and roast turkey: delicious!). We took advantage of the stunning sunny, warm and breezy weather to visit the Duncansby Head Lighthouse.

  • Such a nice day to head to a lighthouse.

It is only a few km away from John O’Groats, just a short drive on a secondary single-track road. The building is not accessible, but there is a stunning walk starting from the car-park on the cliff near a marine bird nest (we saw puffins here! Unfortunately our phones’ cameras are too crappy to take decent pictures) and a view on the Duncansby Stacks, a very scenic rock formation. Back to the car park, we drove to the John O’Groats Campsite to drop Mr. Vantastic before going to the distillery, which is just a couple of minutes away. As a matter of fact, everything in John O’Groats seems to be two minutes away from everything else: the distillery, the shop, the campsite, the signpost, the pier, the brewery, although the rest of the village is quite spread out.

  • Duncansby Stacks…Breathtaking (the picture not so much).

We arrived at the 8 Doors distillery a few minutes after 3.00pm, the time we originally agreed with Ryan Sutherland, the distillery manager, who moved to 8 Doors after an extensive experience with William Grant & Sons (Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Grant’s). Ryan is a fellow barfly and although we’d never met in person before, we’d chatted online a few times. When we started planning this trip, we asked him if he could give us a tour of the site, which he kindly agreed to. As we entered the visitor centre, we had to move around a swarm of tourists coming from a cruise ship: not a rare occurrence in summer, as Ryan told us later, which can put some pressure on the staff. Fortunately, the shop/cafè is wide enough for everyone, it has a big window facing north towards the Pentland Firth and a fireplace – a cosy and relaxing space. Ryan took us to the tasting room, between the shop and production, to drop our bags, but we soon moved to the main production area. The distillery is quite self-contained, and from the main area we could see most of the equipment.

  • Ready for another distillery tour.

The distillery started production in 2022. Founders Kerry and Derek wanted to bring distilling back to John O’Groats and its community, and to do so they employed a consultant, John Ramsay (former Edrington), who is now the master blender. A short-lived distillery existed between 1826 and 1838, and illicit distilling was common in the area before. The name of the distillery comes from the founder of the village, John De Groot, which had seven sons and to avoid fights, he built an octagonal house where each of them (him and the sons) had a door and a window. We wondered if, in their shoes, we’d take the south facing one, for the sunlight, or the north facing one, for the view on the Firth.

The distillery is a small operation, producing only about 36,000 litres of spirit per year (in theory they could reach 45,000 litres), and is run by one operator, Andrew, and Ryan himself. Ryan described the setup in great detail, including all the small changes he is implementing to make the process more efficient – his engineering background shone through. There is no mill at the moment, so the malt comes in already milled from Simpson maltster (usual 20/70/10 split for husk/grit/flour), but in the future they are hoping to get the malt locally from Caithness producers. They are also considering using oat, which would be super interesting, as only a handful of Scottish distilleries are using this cereal (Inchdairnie and…actually we cannot think of any other).

  • The repurposed mashtun.

The mashing equipment comes from a defunct brewery in East Lothian, Archfield Brewhouse, and has been repurposed to work in a distillery. Because of this, together with the usual mashtun, there is also a kettle, that comes in handy to pre-heat the water with the heat exchanger. For each mash they use one 400kg bag of grist together with 1,200 litres of water: the 3-to-1 ratio makes it a thick one, cloudy at first but they let it decant for a while. Between the first and second water they get 1,800 litres of wort, which is then moved to one of the four 2,000-litre stainless steel washbacks (there is a fifth, but it’s not been used). Fermentation lasts about 100 hours on average to get a wash at up to 9%abv. Here is where it gets interesting: depending on the variety of barley, they try to pick a yeast to obtain a determined flavour profile. Among the barley varieties used, Lauriet, Firefox and Diablo, but also Cara Gold, Maris Otter and Golden Promise. Yeast-wise, M1 is the main one, which results in a fruit-forward wash, but they also use XP for red fruits flavours, Norwegian beer yeast Kveik/Hornindal, MW, D23 and MGplus. In general, they produce their house-style for most of the year, while in December and January they run more experimental batches.

  • Fermentation check.

The stills and the spirit safe are on a raised floor, and fun fact: from there we spotted Mr Vantastic in the campsite! The stills are from Speyside Copperworks, which is now owned by Forsyths. The first distillation in the 1,700-litre wash still is very slow, about 7 hours, while the second one is carried out in the 1,300-litre spirit still. They run the foreshots for 15 minutes, then the heart (or spirit) is collected within 3 hours, from 71.5% to 64% abv. They aim to produce about one hogshead per day.

  • Sorry we’re covering the second still.

After all these technical details, Ryan took us outside to have a quick look at the LPG boiler and head to the warehouse, a low building on the other side of the distillery staff car park. Here we saw a multitude of casks of different sizes. They mostly fill ex-Sherry casks from Casknolia of various sizes (from 50-litre octave to 5,090-litre butts), but also casks previously used for their Seven Sons range. The filling strength is the standard 63.5%, and the type of cask used also depends on the barley/yeast combination: interesting experiments they are running at the moment are an ex-brandy cask filled with spirit obtained from Cara Gold barley and D23 yeast, or a former Booker’s bourbon cask with spirit fermented with Hornindal yeast. All of these, albeit technical, sounded very cool, and our science-y brains were quite triggered by all these potential permutations.

  • A peek into the warehouse next door.

Back to the tasting room, we were ready for the whisky flight. First off, a small taste of newmake spirit (63.5%), fruity and cereal, as you’d expect for a good one. Then, we moved on to the Seven Sons whisky range (named after John De Groot sons). First, the 10y blended scotch (46.7%), characterised by a high malt content (40%) with the grain component coming from North British. This is one of their “house” whiskies – not all batches are identical (this is the 9th), but they aim for a nice-sipping blend, and they nailed it! Edoardo took one home to share with his friends over the next 6 Nations – as Italians we need something good to hang on to. The second dram was a blended malt, a 12y teaspooned Dalrymple from Ailsa Bay, bottled at 57.1% (100 of the old imperial proofs), from a third fill European cask, which provided a mild and delicate flavour. The third dram was a single malt, a 6y sherried (Oloroso) and very vibrant Glen Wyvis from a Firkin cask (52.1%), the cherry on the top. We finished the tasting with their Five Ways whisky liqueur (22%), and a cheeky “Manager’s Dram”, a delicious blend produced with the idea of recreating a 1970s Famous Grouse.

  • This will satisfy our thirst.

What a geeky and awesome tour! We loved everything about the distillery and how they set up their plan, and it was really great to listen to Ryan explaining in detail how the distillery works. 8 Doors is one to keep an eye on, where we’d like to go back to (not just for the beautiful scenery). We are looking forward to the release of their first single malt!

  • Not a bad spot for the night.

After the distillery, we walked a bit around John O’Groats, before going back to the van and start a barbecue. It was a bit windy, but nonetheless we managed to grill some massive Hellbent burgers. The evening ended with a pint at the John O’Groats brewery/pub, a very cosy place just in the middle of the village.

Next up, another former “northmost” distillery on mainland Scotland, so stay tuned! Until then, slàinte!

8 Doors Distillery (bespoke tour*)

Price: £23.33 pp (July 2025)

Duration: 2hr

Tasting: newmake spirit (63.5%) and 4 drams, Seven Sons Blended Whisky (10y, 46%), Blended Malt (12y, Dalrymple, 57.1%), Single Malt Glen Wyvis (6y, 52%), Five Ways Ginger Whisky Liqueur (22%)

Distillery exclusive: bottle-your-own versions of a whisky from the Seven Sons range and Five Ways whisky liqueur (forgot to take note of the prices, sorry)

Highlights: the location and Ryan’s knowledge

Target: casual tourists and whisky geeks alike

Value for money: very good

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.8doorsdistillery.com/home

(*similar to the Behind the Scenes tour https://www.8doorsdistillery.com/tours, but longer and with extra drams)

#63.1 As north as you can get (on the mainland)

Pulteney: the old one in Wick

 

TL; DR: Another long weekend this summer, this time up to the Northmost North of the Northern Highlands. And we have a special guest, Edoardo again, Gianluigi’s brother and whisky enthusiast. First off, the oldest distillery in the area: Pulteney. A nice tour ending with a decent 4-dram tasting. 

It’s slightly windy at the Ruthven Barracks, but not cold at all. The night is very clear, and if it wasn’t for the midges we could have spent some time outside. Instead, we retread immediately inside Mr Vantastic, accompanied by the distant noise of vehicles driving on the A9. We arrived directly from Glasgow, the two of us and Edoardo, Gianluigi’s brother. He was supposed to land in Edinburgh around lunchtime, and the idea was to go visit Glasgow where he’d never been despite his many travels to Scotland. However, the flight was delayed by over 90 minutes (thanks Easyjet), plus another 40 to wait for the luggage, which meant that by the time him and Gianluigi parked the van in Glasgow, it was already late afternoon. On top of that, it started pouring rain, so not much sightseeing happened that day. Instead, the two brothers sheltered at the Pot Still, waiting for Teresa to come out of the office. After a spicy meal at the Rosa’s Thai, we left towards the destination for the long weekend: the Northern Highlands.

As we were saying, we stopped for the night at the Ruthven Barracks car park, near Kingussie. It is slightly uneven and there are no facilities, so it was ok for one night, but probably next time we’ll search for an alternative spot. The next day we had an early start anyway: the 3-hour drive was interrupted only by a 15-minute break in Aviemore for coffee and roll. We had an appointment at a very old and popular distillery, that somehow, we never came across during our trips: Pulteney, in Wick. It belongs to Inver House, together with Balblair, Speyburn (both visited), Knockdhu and Balmenach (both closed to visitors, so naye). The single malt, Old Pulteney, is famous for being a coastal dram and their basic expressions are very prevalent in supermarkets (Harbour and 12y, both 40%abv).

  • A long drive to get here, but totally worth it.

Pulteney distillery will turn 200 next year and is currently stretching the silent season to allow some renovations in time for the celebrations. In the mid-1880s Alfred Barnard approached it, and the Royal Bourgh of Wick, from the north, travelling along the rugged coast, on his way south after spending some time on Orkney. Instead, we arrived from the south, on the smooth A99: things must have changed quite a bit in the last 140 years. The distillery is in the southern part of the village, before the Wick River, and between the main road and the coast. We parked Mr Vantastic near the Pulteney community centre, just next door. You can tell the old from the new buildings around, as the former are all blackened by the Baudoinia fungus, digesting away the alcohol in the “angels’ share” (i.e. evaporating). We got in a few minutes earlier to check the shop before our tour started: the front part is very small, but in the back, they have a bigger lounge decorated with memorabilia, and a spacious but cosy tasting room. We chose the From the Source tour (£40.00pp), which has an improved tasting compared to A Taste of Old Pulteney (£20.00pp, 2 drams), but not as expensive as the Flagship Experience (£125.00pp!!!, 6 drams).

  • Reading about the history of the distillery before the tour.

Our guide was Tim, who used to work in Glasgow before going back to his native Wick during the pandemic, and it was a small tour: the three of us and another person. Tim started with the usual history of the distillery – founded in 1826, initially was only accessible by the sea, and it was acquired by John Dewar & Sons in 1924, which in turn joined the Distillery Company Limited (DCL, Diageo’s precursor) in 1925. After prohibition started in Wick in 1922, the distillery was closed in 1930 and reopened in 1951, four years after prohibition was abolished. The distillery than went to Hiram Walker’s (1954), Allied Distillers (1961) and finally to Inver House (1995). During the Hiram Walker period, Pulteney malt was a component of Ballantine’s blended Scotch.

  • A classic Porteus mill.

The malting floor, dismissed decades ago, was above the visitor centre, while the cooperage used to be in one of the visitor rooms. Nowadays they bring in malted barley from Inverness, in 30ton weekly batches. They have a bright red Porteus mill for grinding the malt, and water comes from Loch Hempriggs (to the south of Wick) in a stream system engineered by Telford, that we’d see later. Each mash is done with 5 tons of grist, in a copper-lidded mashtun, which was replaced about 20 years ago. They do four rounds of water at increasing temperatures (60° to 90°C), with the last two ready for the next mash. The (cloudy) mash is then pumped into one of the seven washbacks, while the draff is sent away for cattle feed. Fermentation lasts 60 hours normally, 100 for the batches going over the weekend, and is triggered by 25 kg of distiller’s yeast which is added to the 23,500 litres of wort. At the end of the process, they get an approximately 8.5% abv wash, which is then sent to the wash still.

  • The mashtun from above.

They have two stills: the wash still has the top clearly cut off (it was too tall for the building) and has a massive bulge in the middle, much bigger than usual; and the spirit still lyne arm is almost entangled – definitely a unique pair of stills. Each still is equipped with a stainless-steel squared worm tub condenser, with a 110m copper pipe inside, placed outside the still room. In the second distillation the foreshots usually last 16 minutes and the first cut is taken depending on the temperature, while the second is taken at 68%.

  • The most unusual wash still…
  • …and a slightly less unusual spirit still. Look at that lyne arm!

After the still room, we went back outside in the courtyard, and then into the filling store: they cask onsite but also fill tankers, in particular for the distillate that is sold to third parties, mostly for blends (still Ballantine’s? The Inver House blend is the Hanky Bannister though). After checking out the biomass boiler, we visited the warehouses: 10,000 casks are stored on their side in rows 3 high in a warehouse (but not dunnage, as the floor is concrete), while other 14,000 are in the other buildings, mostly racked. However, they are in the process of building another four warehouses, to accommodate for Pulteney production of about 1.2 million litres of alcohol per year. The mostly fill ex-bourbon casks from Jim Beam, but inside the warehouse we spotted other casks too, sherry in particular.

  • Terror in the warehouse.

It was time for the tasting, in a very cosy and wide room. We started with the classic Old Pulteney 12 (40%), mostly matured in refill ex-bourbon cask. It’s a very decent malt, possibly a bit thin. We can’t just help wonder how increasing the abv to 43% or 46%, and not chill-filtering it, would improve it. It was followed by the 15y and the 18y, both bottled at 46% (yay!), and both with a similar double-maturation (or finishing?) concept: they spend 13 and 14 years in ex-bourbon casks, and they are then re-racked into Oloroso sherry casks. They’re solid and tasty drams, benefiting from the saltiness of the spirit and the dark fruitness (is this a thing?) of the cask finish. Finally, our last dram was supposed to be the distillery exclusive (as it was advertised on the website, see below for the specs), but apparently they’d finished their “tasting stock” (whatever that means in corporate BS language, they still had many bottles in the shop), so instead they gave us the second expression of their Coastal Series, matured 5-6 years in ex-bourbon and then 5-6 years in Ruby Port seasoned cask. Not bad, but a tad too sweet.

  • Nice display for the tasting.

When Teresa and Edoardo finished their drams, we went back to the shop and quickly left. Overall, the distillery was super interesting, the tour was fine, the tasting was decent, and Tim was a knowledgeable guide. Being in such a remote place (about 5hr driving from the Central Belt) you’d think they could do something a bit more special, but it was along the lines of the Balblair tour we did back in 2023. So, unless we’ll be in the area for their 200th anniversary, we’ll hardly go back…Never say never, though.

Next up a much much nerdier experience, so stay tuned! Until then, slàinte!

Pulteney ‘From The Source’ Tour

Price: £40.00 pp (July 2025)

Duration: 2hr

Tasting: 4 drams, Old Pulteney 12 (40%), 15 (46%), 18 (46%) and Coastal Series Port cask matured (46%), plus a complimentary glencairn

Distillery exclusive: D.E. French Cask matured (NAS, 53%, £85.00); Distillery Hand Bottling ex-Sherry cask (13y, 2010-2024, 62.5%, £130.00); Distillery Hand Bottling ex-Bourbon cask (18y, 2006-2025, 58.4%, £150.00)

Highlights: the shape of the stills and the site in general

Target: whisky curious, the tasting was a bit too basic for the enthusiasts

Value for money: ok

Recommended: for Old Pulteney fans

Link: https://oldpulteney.com/visit-pulteney-distillery/

#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!

#45.1 Stepping over the (Highland) line!

An old acquaintance, Glengoyne

 

TL; DR: We took advantage of a free weekend to get on the van and go for a night away in the (not so wild) wilderness. The next morning, we visited Glengoyne distillery: a very nice tour, although very basic, which ended in a lovely tasting room with some very tasty drams! 

In recent months we had been quite busy, for various reasons: friends visiting, visiting friends, unfortunately work as well… so, except for the Spirit of Speyside weekend, we’ve not enjoyed much our van. In early June though, we had a weekend with no commitments, so wedecided to spend a night out, not too far away, in the area between Stirling, Glasgow and the Trossachs. This area sits across the Highland Line (roughly, very roughly following the Highland Boundary Fault), which historically was used to separate the taxing regime of whisky producers in the Lowlands and Highlands: we basically spent the weekend crossing it back and forth!

We’re not new to the area: back in February, we’d spent a lovely evening in Fintry, together with our friend Justine, having a meal at the Fintry Inn, followed by a few nice drams from the Uncharted Whisky Co independent bottler, which has strong ties with the pub (in our understanding, it’s also their tasting room). This time, we aimed for another pub that welcomes campervans, the Pirn Inn in Balfron. The drive was uneventful, but when we got there, we realised they didn’t have a kitchen: d’oh! So, we had to go find food. First, we tried the Old Mill in Killearn, but it was super-busy (in part because of a beer fair they had on for the weekend). Moving on, second time charme: the Clachan Inn in Drymen. We were lucky: it was very busy, which surprised us, before realising it is on the West Highland Way, already swarmed with hikers this time of the year. They found us a table at the bar to be shared temporarily with a couple waiting for their table at the restaurant: we had a nice chat, and as the man was a dairy farmer, Gianluigi asked some questions about farms management and diseases…professional bias. After dinner, we quickly drove back to the Pirn Inn, where we had a last pint and a dram (Bunna 12 never disappoints!), before going to sleep.

An ugly glimpse of a much more beautiful spot.

In the morning, the sky was cloudy. We woke up rested, and we somehow managed to avoid midges invading the van, probably thanks to the previous night breeze. We tried to look for an open cafè, but we were unlucky… so after a stop for the loo, we drove towards our first destination: the Devil’s Pulpit. The Carnock Burn goes through a very beautiful gorge, all green and brown. You’d almost expect to find something like this in a tropical jungle, rather than in the Southern Highlands (or Lowlands?). The parking spot can only take three cars (if well parked), so we left Mr Vantastic at a bigger lay-by at the cross of the A809-B834 roads, from where we had to walk no more than 10-15 minutes to find ourselves at the top of the gorge. It was very nice, although we were slightly upset by the amount of garbage found all over the place: from the lay-by, to the side of the road, and in the gorge itself: how can people be so inconsiderate?

Back to the van, it was time to drive to our next destination: Glengoyne distillery (with a brief stop at the Turnip The Beet for tasty coffee and snacks). Glengoyne is an old acquaintance , as we visited it during the pandemic years (can we say that?) in summer 2021, but at the time we couldn’t tour production because of COVID19 of course…and the waterfall was empty too! Gianluigi had also visited it as part of a networking event after a conference he attended in Glasgow in 2018: too many people, it wasn’t such a memorable experience.

  • Looking at the Highlands from the Lowlands.

We parked on the south side of the road, which together with their warehouses, is in the Lowlands: the road is the boundary, apparently. Thus, as you can guess, the distillery is in the Highlands. It is owned by Ian McLeod’s Distillers, together with Tamdhu, the newly rebuilt Rosebank, and a the soon to-be-built Laggan Bay, on Islay (in our understanding they also have acquired a single malt distillery in India). As we came out the parking, a hostess pointed us to the check-in for the tour, which started a few minutes earlier in the courtyard. Our tour guide was Diane, “fae Glasgow”, and the other two people on the tour were a father-and-son couple from Canada.

In a small exposition room, Diane explained us that the distillery has always been Scottish owned since its foundation and licensing in 1833. It must be one of the few among the old ones, we reckon. Glengoyne means “the valley of the geese”, and it is located in Dumgoyne (“the hill of the geese”), hence why you can find this bird on the label.

We quickly moved to production, which is fairly standard. First, Diane showed us a destoner dating back to 1912 and the mill, which we couldn’t take a picture of. The barley varieties they use are mainly Sassy and Lauriet, although one week a year they use Golden Promise, all coming from the East of Scotland.

A shiny mashtun.

The mashtun has a copper lid, and it takes 16,000 litres of water at 63.5°C for the first water, followed by the usual two waters at higher temperatures to maximise the sugar absorption during mashing. Fermentation takes place in one of the six Douglas Fir wood washbacks and lasts about 56 hours, a rather short one. The newmake spirit is obtained after a usual double-distillation process, first in a wash still (16,000 litres), to get to ~20% abv (from their 8-9% wash) and then in one of the two spirit stills (5,000 litres each). Their cut points for the spirit run (what it is going into casks) are generally from 75% to 65%, and the cut is taken only after 3-5 minutes of foreshots.

  • Classic, onion-shaped stills.

After production, we visited Warehouse 1, next to the production building (not on the other side of the road): quite small, they mostly made a maturation exhibition out of it, where transparent bottles containing spirit and whisky at different stages of maturation are showed, together with the different types of casks and wood. A very interesting bit for more inexperienced visitors. Diane soon after walked us to the Manager’s Cottage, where there is a very nice and relaxing tasting space, with sofas, comfy chairs and fireplaces (they were off while we were there, otherwise we could have easily taken a nap).

  • Whisky maturation explainer in one shot.

The tasting was ready for us: 3 drams from the core range paired with one chocolate each, from the Highland Chocolatier. First off, the 12y, bottled at 43% and matured in a combination of first-fill European oak (ex-sherry we think…20% of the total), first fill American oak ex-bourbon (20%), and not better specified refill casks (60%). Quite nice and bright. The second dram was the 18y, again bottled at 43%, but with a different composition: less refill (50%) and ex-bourbon (15%) casks, and more first-fill European oak casks (35%). This brought definitely more dark-fruity notes and richness, although not as rich and decadent as the last dram. This was a 21y, fully matured in first-fill European oak casks.

  • Heading towards the Manager’s Cottage for…
  • …the tasting!

Overall the visit was nice, geared towards less whisky knowledgeable visitors though. The best part was the tasting – while we were a bit sceptical because of the low abv, these were delicious and not watery at all. A shame their prices are a bit higher than expected (in particular in the shop, and even taking into account the discount for visitors doing a tour or a tasting), which is probably the main reason we haven’t connected so much with this distillery so far. However, the velvety and soothing quality of these drams was not lost on us, and we think they are perfect to share with family and friends less used to higher strength drams than us. So who knows, maybe one coming in the future?

Stay tuned for the rest of our trip, this time definitely below the Highland line! Until then, slainte!

Glengoyne Collection Tour and Tasting

Price: £35.00 pp (June 2024, plus £3.50 booking fee per transaction)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting:3 drams, Glengoyne 12 (43%), Glengoyne 18 (43%) and Glengoyne 21 (43%)

Highlights: the tasting room

Distillery exclusive: Glengoyne Distillery Cask, ex-Port, 14y (56%, distilled 14/04/2010, £200…!)

Target: the whisky curious

Value for money: good

Recommended: yes

Link: https://www.glengoyne.com/

#40 A last stop on the banks of river Ness

Uile Bheist

 

TL; DR: After a long whisky weekend in the Highlands, it was time to get home. However, on the Sunday afternoon, we had time for a last stop at Uile Bheist, in Inverness. Very interesting operation, as it’s both a brewery and a distillery. Too early for the single malt, but we could still sip two of their ales.

Our Highlander trip was about to end: we left Clynelish distillery while our pals were still enjoying the drams provided. It was still a very nice and sunny day, and maybe because it was a Sunday afternoon in early November, the A9 towards Inverness was not very busy and the drive was quiet and relaxing. We were approaching Inverness quite early (and Teresa was recovering from her sickness), so we took a swift decision: make a last stop before getting home. Destination: Uile Bheist distillery, in Inverness, one of the newest kids on the block. 

  • Ready for another tour…not for the picture.

A key feature is the artwork by the artist Ken Taylor (already famous for the many collaborations with rock bands), picturing creatures from old Scottish tales: we found them very well drawn and captivating. “Uilebheist” itself means “monster” in Scottish Gaelic. 

The distillery is located on the banks of the river Ness (duh!), and the entrance is in the same building as a hotel called Glen Mhor (but nope, it’s not the site of the former Glen Mohr distillery, actually at opposite site of the river). As a matter of fact, the founders of the distillery (Jon and Victoria Erasmus) opened their hotel in the mid 2000s first, and added a brewery in 2014. The distillery is the most recent part of their business, with the first newmake spirit distilled in April 2023. It is also the first distillery to open in Inverness in 130 years, and the first to produce whisky since Glen Albyn, Glen Mhor and Millburn closed in the mid-1980s. The beer garden is visible from the street, as well as the distillery building just behind, with the two stills making a triumphant appearance behind the glass windows. 

  • A beer garden with a very special background.

The place is quite dark but cosy, pub-style (a partial excuse for our terrible pictures too) and in line with the artwork. And in fact, because they are a brewery as well, their main room is organised exactly like a pub: a long bar, many malts behind the bartenders’ back, and their beers on tap, named after the creatures: a lager (Uile Bheist), a stout (Dark Horse), a session ale (Highland Storm), an unfiltered (White Witch), and a pale ale (Forest Dweller). We would have never remembered the names, if it wasn’t for the association with the different beer types…Clever!

  • Gianluigi studying the bar selection (but not drinking)…
  • …and the good looking beers!

The tour guide for the day was Louis, on training because it was one of his first whisky tours, shadowed by Amy. We entered the production area from a door at the end of the bar, and we climbed the stairs right away. We were soon in the main production room, where all the machinery is: a very modern mill, the mashtun (1.5 tonnes, near the one used for brewing), the washbacks (4 stainless steel), the stills (1000-litre wash still and 500-litre spirit still). The space was completed by a small lounge for visitors. There, they showed us an intuitive schematic of the production plant, including a description of how they get energy –  solar panels and shallow water.

  • That’s a useful explainer!

Like many new distilleries, sustainability was in their mind when the plant was designed. Fermentation lasts between 72 and 96 hours, and they take the spirit at around 70% (they didn’t know the precise cuts). The newmake is then transported to their warehouses in Forres to be put into casks. 

  • Beer and whisky mashtuns.
  • The not-so-wee stills.

Next, we moved to the lower level, mostly dedicated to beer production: 8 fermentation tanks, and the machine to carbonate with nitrogen and fill the kegs (plus a small bottling line). Back to the bar, it was time for a small tasting: their newmake spirit (which is available to buy in half-litre bottles) and a blended malt they produced (quite tasty!). Teresa also sipped half pint of their lager, as well as Gianluigi’s half pint of pale ale. Very tasty. Unfortunately, at the moment they only sell kegs, so we couldn’t buy any of the beers.

Teresa and the kegs.

We have to say, we really liked this operation, the first “brewstillery” (as Amy suggested during the tour) we visited. Because we don’t know Inverness very well, we are planning a weekend there in the near future, and we will definitely go back to Uile Bheist to try more of their beers and enjoy the pub’s cozy atmosphere. We are also very curious about their malt, since the newmake spirit was above average compared to others. For that, though, we’ll have to wait a while. 

A surprisingly interesting blended malt.

This was the perfect epilogue for a very nice whisky weekend, although not the luckiest health-wise. For the records, as expected Gianluigi got the same bug as Teresa two days later, and for more than a couple of days he was KO. It wasn’t Covid (got the month before), it probably wasn’t flu…A mystery. Unfortunately, this caused us to miss Roy Aqvavitae blind tasting in Glasgow the following weekend too. But that’s all gone now, while the memory of such a fun weekend with our pals will stay with us for a long time.

Until next time, slainte!

Uile Bheist Discovery Tour

Price: £35.00 pp (November 2023)

Duration: 1hr+

Tasting: 2 drams (newmake spirit and Colpach Blended Malt, 46%) and 1 half pint of beer

Distillery Exclusive: Colpach blended malt (£50)

Target: anyone who likes both whisky and beer (or one of the two)

Value for money: ok

Highlights: the location and the pub

Recommended: if you’re visiting Inverness, definitely!

Link: https://www.uilebheist.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. 

The joys of foldable chairs.

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.

An empty mashtun.

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