#78 Another trip to the West Coast

From Mull to Ardnamurchan, again

TL; DR: Edo’s annual July visit took us (plus Valentina, this time) back to the Isle of Mull and Ardnamurchan. Highlights: giant oysters in Oban, a stellar Warehouse 1 tasting at Tobermory, puffins on Staffa, the Ardnamurchan lighthouse, Sanna Beach and an excellent dram session at Ardnamurchan distillery. Stunning places that balance whisky and everything else perfectly. Bottles bought: Tobermory 0, Ardnamurchan 4.

Over the last few years, we’ve started a new tradition: Gianluigi’s brother, Edoardo (Edo), who is a teacher, visits us every July during the Italian summer school holidays. Since he has already been to Edinburgh many times, we use these visits to take Mr. Vantastic somewhere new in Scotland, ideally somewhere with distilleries, as he’s also a whisky enthusiast. In 2024 we went to Islay and Jura, for a five-distillery trip, and a cheeky Cadenhead’s Warehouse tasting in Campbeltown. That was hard to beat, but in 2025 we also had a great time in the northern Highlands, visiting “only” four distilleries, with a cheeky stop at Tomatin on the way back for a tasting flight. This year, Edo’s long-term partner, Valentina, came along too, so we decided to plan a less whisky-heavy trip. One place we loved and were keen to return to was the Isle of Mull. We first visited in summer 2019, spending a couple of nights there. Since then we’d only been back once, on a very wet trip in February 2023, when we crossed on the Kilchoan ferry as foot passengers and spent the day in Tobermory. So going back to Mull looked like a win-win (spoiler: it was!).

When the day came, we picked Edo and Valentina up just outside Edinburgh Airport (to avoid the extortionate £8.50 fee for entering the drop-off zone, even for a couple of minutes) and headed for the west coast. We drove past Falkirk and Stirling, with landmarks like the Kelpies and Stirling Castle, and up to Callander, where we stopped for a quick coffee. Our destination was Oban, and our mission was to get there in time for some seafood at the Oban Seafood Hut. Despite an incompetent driver* in a rented campervan crawling along at “granny speed” (probably not a fair comparison: Gianluigi and Edo’s grandma drove way faster than this guy well into her 80s), we made it, and it paid off. The mussels were out of this world, and the oysters were the biggest, and among the best, we’ve ever had! (*Full disclaimer: nothing against slow drivers, but if you’re driving at half the speed limit, show some consideration and let people overtake instead of building a 15+ vehicle queue behind you!) After the snack, we settled in for the evening, them in a B&B and us in a paid car park near the pier. We then had a very nice dinner at Cuan Mor, followed by a very overpriced dram at a tourist-trap pub called the McGregor Whisky Vault (avoid, avoid, avoid: it’s always a bad sign when you ask for the whisky list and the bartender replies, “I am the whisky list”).

Well worth the long drive!

The next day, we took a mid-morning ferry to Mull. Our first stop was Craignure, for a nice, easy coastal walk gifting us a very scenic view of Duart Castle across the bay. After a quick lunch at the Fishnish Food Bar, we took a panoramic route south of Loch Frisa and checked in at Tobermory Campsite.

A cloudy day, but still a great view.

Once settled, we walked into Tobermory, about 30 minutes away (downhill), for our Warehouse 1 tasting at Tobermory Distillery.

It was our second time at this tasting. The first came after a distillery tour in 2023, when Warehouse 1 was being renovated, so we had our drams in the shop. This time we went into the warehouse, which seems to have been set up specifically for the tasting (the original was sold years ago and is now an apartment building). Our guide was Olivier, from Switzerland, who began in the courtyard with a general explanation of how whisky is made. He was very knowledgeable, though at times he tried a bit too hard to be funny, and he ran over time, so we had to dash off to make our dinner reservation. The “warehouse” is small but very cosy, and although attendance was larger than we expected (about a dozen people), we could all sit comfortably on chairs and stools. As last time, there were two Tobermory and two Ledaig single malts, the distillery’s unpeated and peated whiskies, respectively. The first dram was a 20yr Tobermory fully matured in a Manzanilla sherry cask (55.3% ABV), probably the favourite for all of us!

A stunning dram.

The second was also sherried, but this time a finish: a 32yr (!) “double matured” dram, 13 years in a refill bourbon cask followed by 19 years in an Oloroso sherry cask (we know there’s no strict definition, but 19 years seems a bit much for a “finish”), also 55.3%. The first peated malt was a 19yr Ledaig, again double matured, seven years in an ex-bourbon cask and then 12 years in a Pedro Ximénez sherry cask (55.6%). The final dram was an 28yr Ledaig fully matured in a refill Oloroso cask (52%). It was a cracking lineup, and they really stepped it up age-wise compared with our 2023 tasting. However, none of the bottles were anywhere near affordable: the cheapest, the third dram, was £185 for 70cl. Ouch!

This dram has legs!

Dinner was at Cafe Fish, a tasty seafood restaurant at the other end of the pier. Afterwards, we went to MacGochan’s for a pint (and, once again, an overpriced round of drams) and a game of darts that lasted waaaay too long: nobody could hit the double one to finish it! By the time we were done, it had started “pishin’ doon”, so we got a cab back to the campsite for just a tenner!

The following day we visited Iona, and from there took a boat to Staffa (£45pp), where we saw the magical Fingal’s Cave with its “hexagon” rocks and, more importantly, the puffins! They came really close to us, and the whole trip was very exciting. Our last full day on Mull (a Sunday) was spent exploring the north-west of the island. We tried to get to Ulva, but there’s no ferry on Sundays, so we kept going and had a nice lunch at Calgary Bay Co., a lovely café within walking distance of a gorgeous beach.

The cutest.

On Monday it was time to head back to the mainland. We took the early Tobermory–Kilchoan ferry again, as we had a great plan for the Ardnamurchan peninsula. First, we visited the lighthouse, and it was third time lucky: the visitor centre and café were open! Even without them, it’s such a magical place and definitely high on our list of favourites. Next, we finally got to check out Sanna Beach, where we took a long walk through the coastal dunes.

Ardnamurchan lighthouse, a special place.

Sanna beach, another special place.

After a stop at the community café in Kilchoan, we completed the treble with a visit to Ardnamurchan distillery. We hadn’t booked a specific experience, having already done both the standard and the geeky tours (in 2019 and 2023, respectively), and Edo was keener on a tasting than a tour anyway. We were welcomed by Roksana, Beth (and her lovely puppy!) and Marie-Soleil, who gave us a table and helped us put together a lineup. As Gianluigi is a member of the AD/Venturers club, we got a welcome dram, which turned out to be one of the best of the day: the previous bottle-your-own, a 6yr made with Golden Promise barley and matured in an Oloroso cask (55.7%, 2019 vintage). Great stuff, but sold out (d’oh)!

A tasty dram.

Next came the 2025 Heritage Barley (NAS, 55%) and the 2026 Tokaji Cask (NAS, 52%). Then we tried the Open Day Exclusive (10yr, finished in a Mizunara oak cask, 55.4%), probably the weakest of the lineup, with too much wood shavings on both nose and palate for our taste. It was followed by the 2026 Midgie release (NAS, 48%) and a single-cask shop and distillery exclusive (10yr, peated, matured in a Spanish oak Oloroso cask, 58.8%), which was also delicious! We finished with the latest Cask Strength edition (58.4%, quite peaty) and the then-current fill-your-own, a peated 6yr matured in an ex-Islay quarter cask (58.9%), nice but very funky. We had a great time, and the staff were lovely. Just as importantly, prices are very fair: the most expensive Ardnamurchan dram was only £5, and the Adelphi range is also very reasonably priced by the dram (though we didn’t touch it this time). Needless to say, we drove off with a case (not completely full, to be fair).

Happy brothers.

The last leg of the trip was also very scenic. Instead of taking the Corran Ferry (the quickest way south), we drove north and then east to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct. The famous train came through just minutes after we arrived. We were very lucky, and Edo and Valentina were both thrilled to see it! They had booked a room at the Laggan Hotel, where we all had a tasty dinner before the two of us drove off to a nearby spot to park up for the night. The next day, we took our time driving back to Edinburgh, stopping for a wander and lunch in Dunkeld, a lovely (if slightly touristy) wee town on the River Tay, and a short hike around the Queen’s View near Pitlochry.

Just in time!

Whoa…this was a long post, so let’s wrap up. First and foremost, the Isle of Mull and the Ardnamurchan peninsula are fantastic places to visit, and they amazed us all over again. Just as importantly, it was very easy to balance whisky with other activities. Whisky-wise, we were very pleasantly surprised by the age of the whiskies at Tobermory, a (delicious) step up from before. However, it always leaves us a little uneasy to see how much they charge for these bottles, as if they’re trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of visitors. Fortunately, not everyone takes this approach, as we saw at Ardnamurchan a few days later. And at the end of the day, our purchases speak for themselves: 0 vs. 4.

Next week we’ll take a break, but stay tuned for some European action in the coming weeks. Until then, slàinte!

Links
https://tobermorydistillery.com/
https://ardnamurchandistillery.com/

#30.2 Back to the West

A deep dive in Tobermory

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

(missed Part 1?)

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

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

That’s us needing a shower.

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

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

Impossible to miss it.

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

Classic anti-foam remedy.

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

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

Looking forward to trying these beauties!

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

Whisky and pizza, what can go wrong?

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

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

Grogu studying hard while driving back home.

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

Tobermory (alternative) Warehouse 1 Experience

Price: £40.00 pp (February 2023)

Duration: 1hr (in theory!)

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

Target: whisky enthusiasts and geeks

Value for money: good

Highlights: the drams were spectacular

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

Recommended: yes

Link: https://tobermorydistillery .com/

#30.1 Back to the West

Ardnagain

TL;DR: After a very dry January, we are on the road again, direction: West Coast…of Scotland, of course. It is also the first whisky trip with our new vehicle: Mr. Vantastic! First destination of the trip is an “old” acquaintance, the Ardnamurchan distillery. Such a great place, a must-do for every whisky enthusiast!

The year 2023 started similarly to 2022, and 2021: dry. Not exactly the entire January, but still 4 weeks, from the 3^rd to the 1^st or 2^nd of February. Gianluigi managed to sneak in a blood donation right before boozing again: perfect timing!

Because of this, the first whisky trip of the year couldn’t be before February. We were quite impatient, mostly because of a big novelty in our life in Scotland, our first vehicle: Mr. Vantastic, the campervan! We bought this second-hand van, newly converted to campervan in December, after a 1-2 months search. Unfortunately, being December, it had to stay in the parking space for a couple of weeks while we were stuffing ourselves with food in Italy. In January, our maiden trip (to try it out) was a dry one: we went visit the Bamburgh Castle, just south of the border, inspired by The Last Kingdom series, which we thoroughly watched a few months back (“I am Uthred, son of Uthred”!). We learned a thing: sleeping in the pop-up roof is like sleeping in a tent on top of a car, strongly advised against in early January.

The team are good to go!

Finally, February came, and we could take Mr. Vantastic out for a more serious trip: the West of Scotland, more precisely Ardnamurchan and Mull! We prepared ourselves and left on the Thursday evening after dinner, so to avoid the morning outbound road traffic from Leith. We actually drove a bit more than planned, until right past Callander. In spite of having a few more hours of sleep in the morning, we woke up quite early because of the excitement: it’s the first time we were going to visit the Ardnamurchan Distillery after they released their single malt! During our previous trip, we could only try their spirit and the Adelphi blend.

Big drive, but we got there.

The drive was quite amazing: Tyndrum, Bridge of Orchy, Glencoe, and then the short ferry crossing at Carron: actually very short, as we managed to get on the boat just a few seconds before it left the pier. After the crossing, we drove towards the Ardnamurchan peninsula, on the usual single-track road. We drove past the distillery, because we had decided to park in a spot a couple of miles ahead, where we could just spend the night or at least give us some time and a “nice” recovery walk after the tasting and before driving again. This was a sensible idea in theory (we felt so wise!), but we’ll see how it terribly backfired. By the way, the spot is quite amazing, in front of McLean’s Nose (we were not aware of the new Adelphi blended whisky at the time), a truly stunning view: in spite of the cloud and wind, we could have stayed hours there just enjoying the landscape.

Mr. Vantastic and its first distillery visit.

The walk to the distillery took about 35-40 minutes, but we still arrived a bit early. Julie welcomed us, and we browsed the shop for a while before DJ picked us up for the tour. In the meanwhile, we found out that there was no distillery exclusive/bottle your own because paperwork was not there yet, ouch! The curse of bureaucracy haunting us! Tour-wise, we had chosen the “Behind the scenes” tour, a more in depth experience compared to the one we did in 2019, and it also came with a discount because Gianluigi is member of the distillery AD/Venturers club. We were the only ones on the tour, so that meant “free question time” (sorry, DJ!).

Colours, colours and more colours.

We started in the dunnage warehouses behind the main building, on two levels. DJ explained us the (very eye-pleasing) colour coding of the casks and gave us some anticipations about future annual releases, which will join the Paul Launois, Madeira, and cask strength expressions. We then moved back to the main building, where we went through production. We hadn’t forgotten how compact the distillery is, and how tiny the stills are, and the boiler fuelled with biomass from the area: all very sustainable.

Teresa admiring where some of the magic happens.

Surprise of this tour, we discovered that not both pagoda roofs are just for aesthetics: a malting floor is being set up and, at some point in the future they will malt some of their barley, with and without local peat: really looking forward to it!

A malting floor on the way, yay!

DJ then walked us to the tasting room above the shop, where he started pouring us drams: first, the special for the AD/Venture club (a very nice 7y matured in an ex-bourbon barrel, the alternative was a sherried one). The three drams served as part of the tour were the Bruce-McLean bottled by Adelphi, the Paul-Launois 2021 (which we hadn’t tried) and the single cask CK.339 (unpeated), all three quite amazing, so very difficult to single one out. On that day maybe the Bruce-McLean, but on another day we would have probably picked a different one.

Then the mess happened. What we did not took into consideration was the weather. On the way to the distillery, it had started raining but not that much. We thought “oh well, it will go away”. It didn’t. Actually, by the end of the tour it was pouring down. So after the tour we waited a bit, but then we gave up and just left. Of course, by the time we were into the campervan, we were soaked. We spent the next hour drying ourselves up with the diesel-heater and fortunately we had an extra change of clothes and shoes. Teresa just before leaving Edinburgh had asked: “is a second pair of shoes really necessary?” Oh, yes it was.

After some hours drying and warming up, we decided to go get some food in the only local “pub”, the Kilchoan House Hotel bar, in Kilchoan. In spite of the many options on their menu, everything is more or less deep fried, including the sausage Gianluigi ordered, to his surprise. We had a nice wee chat with some locals, although some of them soon left for an event at the community centre club. Again to our surprise, the bar was closed on the next day, which meant no Scotland-Wales 6 Nations game for us. The bartender was very nice though, she kindly allowed us to sleep in the hotel parking lot. Thanks to that we could relax and enjoy a pint.

Despite us almost ruining the day because of our dumbness, we had a great time again on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. The landscape is amazing as we remembered it from our trip back in 2019. There is a feeling of calm and peace when visiting such remote spots. About the distillery, they are one of the few producers we really admire, for their dedication and their ethos, and their ability to supply us with incredible single malt (and blends too!) at still reasonable prices. Their club is run properly, it is obvious that they are whisky enthusiasts and, thus, it is made for whisky enthusiasts, not just another money-making machine. We believe other companies should definitely take notes.

Ardnamurchan Behind the scenes

Price: £50.00 pp (February 2023, £35 for the AD/venturers)

Duration: 2hr

Tasting: 3 drams chosen from what available at the bar

Target: whisky enthusiasts and geeks

Value for money: good

Highlights: the walk in the warehouse

Distillery Exclusive: not available when we were there (due to delay in paperwork…d’oh!)

Recommended: even have to ask?

Link: https://www.adelphidistillery.com/