Tag: cadenhead’s

#58 A trip to the West

Hopping to Arran from Campbeltown

 

TL; DR: I (Gianluigi) went away on a weekend to the West of Scotland with Roberto, one of my best pals. It was a great day in Campbeltown, where we paid a visit to Springbank, before indulging in a couple of warehouse tastings. Then we went to Arran, where we climbed Goatfell and visited the island (but not the distilleries). 

The year 2024 was full of great whisky experiences and travels: from Raasay to Speyside, from Islay (twice) to the Central Belt, and further down to Yorkshire…And a bit more down to Australia. It was also the year when one of us, namely Gianluigi, turned 40, which we celebrated with some great drams. One of his best pals Roberto turned 40 as well. Not only pals and uni mates, they also played together in bands for almost 10 years: hand and glove.

To celebrate us getting old (from now on is Gianluigi writing), Roberto decided to come to Scotland for a weekend, and I had the task to choose some whisky experiences to do together. We had to aim for something opened over the weekend, at least on the Saturday. Because of this, we excluded the Ardnamurchan peninsula, and also Skye and the North Highlands, a bit out of reach. Speyside could have been nice if more distilleries had options catered to whisky geeks (excluding Glen Moray and Glenallachie, but Teresa and I visited them a number of times already). After some thinking, the answer became obvious: Campbeltown! Easy (ish) to reach, many options to choose from on the Saturday. Teresa and I were there last year, but for the Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting, which is always different. We haven’t stepped into Springbank or another of the distilleries since 2021, so it really fit.

When the time came, I picked up Roberto at the airport on a cloudy day, and we started driving westwards. With a slight detour, I could show him some of the monuments: the Kelpies, the Stirling Castle, the Wallace monument, Deanston distillery (we didn’t stop though). By then, it had turned into a very nice and sunny day. We drove up north to Callander, and approached Loch Lomond from the north, with glimpses of Highlands along the way. Once in Tarbet, we continued to Arrochar and had our first stop for a refreshment under the sun at the Fyne Ales Brewery. Dinner was booked at the George Hotel, in Inveraray, so we could chat with our pal Ivan, always a pleasure. We both had a proper venison burger for dinner, delicious! We then drove another couple of hours to find the spot we had chosen to sleep, just past Tarbert in the Kintyre peninsula.

  • Pre-dinner refreshments.

The day after was an early start: we had to be in Campbeltown by 9, so to have enough time to drop Mr Vantastic at the hotel (there are no campsites in town, so we took the comfortable way) and have a quick breakfast with a bacon roll and a coffee. Our first whisky activity of the day was before 10 (probably the only one in the whisky hospitality): the Springbank Tour. When we got at the distillery, around 9.40, there was already a line to get into the shop…Cage bottles we assumed? Our tour guide Finlay said they are used now to people queueing, eager to make a few bucks on auction sites. Hey ho. The tour started a few minutes earlier, as all the participants were already there: it was a nice tour, very informative, and Finlay only made it better with some jokes here and there. It wasn’t the first distillery Roberto had visited, as in previous trips we’d visited Lindores Abbey and Highland Park together, but it was the best one to showcase whisky making. He was particularly excited to see the malting floor in use (although not a unique feature in Scotland),as  he’d never seen the barley being malted before.

  • Always beautiful.
  • Two guys and three stills.

The tour went a bit long, so we took our drams as driver samples, and we ran to our next appointment: the Cadenhead’s Warehouse tasting. It was only the two of us for the morning session at 11, and our guide was an old acquaintance: Aly! It couldn’t have been better! He walked us through some of the drams, most really stunning, including an incredible Glen Moray from a bourbon barrel, and a peated Bunnahabhain from a refill butt, probably a Fino or a Manzanilla. Fortunately, we had empty sample bottles with us, that we used to store most of our drams…It was going to be a long day! As the tasting ended, an extra half hour late, Aly walked us to the Cadenhead’s tasting room, where we had the seventh drams (again put into sample bottles) and a delicious mushroom soup.

  • Thanks Aly!

We went for a walk around the harbour, as it was again a magnificent day, but we felt that one soup was not enough, so we complemented the lunch with a jacked potato and a plate of nachos at the Bluebell Cafè. During the walk, we also went past Glen Scotia distillery – I felt a bit bad that we could not make it to such a great distillery, but unfortunately the timing of the tours was not good for us. 

It finally came the time for our last event of the day: the Kilkerran Warehouse tasting. It was the first time for me as well, so I was very curious. We were not alone this time, as a group of Dutch men were attending the tasting too. We started with a triple distilled whisky, then a couple of ex-bourbon cask expressions (the first one a 19y!), followed by a sherry and a Port wine matured couple, to finish with, predictably, a heavily peated one. That was quite a great exploration of Kilkerran, which is definitely one of my favourite ones. A good thing is that only half bottles are on sale, which if you ask me, is a more than enough quantity to enjoy such drams. After the tasting, we had an extra dram at the Washback bar (couldn’t leave without sipping a Longrow 18, another favourite!) and then we went to properly check in to the hotel. Soon though, we walked back to the Ardshiel Hotel for dinner, where we had a yummy fish and chips. 

  • That looks promising.

In the morning, we woke up surprisingly well (thanks, sample bottles!), and after a shower and a massive full Scottish breakfast at the hotel, we left. I didn’t want to make the weekend only about whisky, I had something else in mind for the day. We drove along the east coast of Kintyre, to reach the little pier of Claonaig. From there, we sailed to on the Isle of Arran! It’s been a while since Teresa and I were there, our first and only time was in November 2019…Remember the time before the pandemic? We haven’t been back since, reason why Teresa was particularly jealous of this trip! The ferry cross was only about half hour, before arriving at the pier in Lochranza. As we were there, we couldn’t avoid a quick stop at the distillery…Could we? We stopped only for coffee and a (delicious) scone however, and a quick snoop of the shop. After that, we drove to the parking lot near Brodick, for the challenge of the day: climb Goatfell, the highest peak of the island. And it was a challenge indeed, in particular the last bit. It took us almost 2 hours through the almost 6km of the shortest path. Once at the top, we celebrated with a micro dram of a Cadenhead’s Arran whisky Teresa had gifted me a while ago, truly delicious.

  • Climbing Goatfell, that was hard!
  • …But totally worth it.

On our way back, we decided to take the longer path through Glen Rosa…We thought it would have been slightly longer, but it ended up being almost 11 km! During the walk we crossed path with many runners on a 2-day ultra marathon, we felt a bit sorry for them, as THAT was definitely a challenge. Once at the parking lot, we put our feet in the sea for a brief moment (in my case, very brief, as it was freezing), before getting some food at a nearby golf club restaurant. We drove west to find a spot, so we could enjoy the sunset with a final dram, before falling asleep to the sound of the sea…So poetic.

The Monday was warm and sunny, we visited the south of Arran. We started with Machrie Moor, the neolithic site with stone circles and standing stones, where we felt a bit like inside Age of Empires 1 (IYKYK). Then we drove along the coast, aiming for a coffee at Lagg distillery, but we found out it is closed on Mondays. We kept driving and stopped at the Forest of the Falls, to enjoy a coffee and a cake under the warm sun. We then walked along the beach near Kildonan Castle, and we finally drove to Brodick to catch our ferry to Troon, from which we slowly drove back to Leith.

  • It’s not just all about whisky.

What a great weekend that was, we were both super happy at the end of it! For Roberto, Saturday was the first time spending such a whisky-focused day, and although he’s not a geek like us, he loved it. Other than the great appreciation for Springbank distillery, he liked the comparison between the two warehouse tastings. He realised how much independent bottlers can offers, while conversely it was also great to follow the “journey” of Kilkerran in different casks and at different ages. It’s always interesting to see things through the eyes of someone not so focused on whisky like us, it brought some different perspectives. We should do that more often!

Until next time, slainte!

Springbank Tour

Price: £15.00 pp (April 2025)

Duration: 1hr (more like 1hr 15min)

Tasting: 1 dram (choice between Springbank 10, Hazelburn 10 and Longrow) and a 5cl to take home

Distillery exclusives: cage bottlings

Target: everyone

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the whisky and the friendly staff

Recommended: yes!

Link: https://www.springbank.scot/

Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting

Price: £45.00 pp (April 2025)

Duration: 1hr (more like 1hr 3omin)

Tasting: 6 drams from the cask + 1 dram at the Cadenhead’s Tasting Room

Target: whisky enthusiasts

Value for money: very good

Highlights: the drams

Recommended: yes!!

Link: https://www.springbank.scot/product/cadenheads-warehouse-tasting/

Kilkerran Warehouse Tasting

Price: £40.00 pp (April 2025)

Duration: 1hr

Tasting: 6 drams from the cask

Target: whisky enthusiasts

Value for money: great

Highlights: the drams

Recommended: yes!!!

Link: https://www.springbank.scot/product/kilkerran-warehouse-tasting/

#46.6 The return of the smoke

One last stop in C-town

 

TL; DR: Back on the mainland, we indulged in a further treat before driving back home: a morning in Campbeltown. After spending the night in a camping just outside town, we drove there to get some goodies from Springbank and do a generous Cadenhead’s Warehouse tasting, very well conducted by Aly. What else?

(missed Part 5/Part 4/Part 3/Part 2/Part 1?)

The ferry back from Islay was uneventful. Once on the mainland, at the junction with the A83, instead of turning left towards north, we turned right, southwards. Well, at first we actually turned north, but just because we made a mistake and Gianluigi forgot to turn on the data on his phone, so Waze couldn’t help much. Anyway, our destination was Campbeltown. There were two available campsites near Campbeltown (unfortunately none in town), one in Machrianish, near the airport, and one on the east Kintyre coast, a mere 10-minute drive north of town, in Peninver. We opted for the latter, and to get there, we drove through the east coast of Kintyre. The road is a single track, much smaller compared to the faster one on the west of the peninsula. However, because it was a beautiful sunny evening, the landscape was quite spectacular, with the isle of Arran clearly visible. Around 7.30pm, we arrived at the Peninver Sands campsite: small but tidy, with campervan pitches on grass just a few dozen meters from the beach, behind a row of static caravans.

  • Not a bad spot for the night…

After dinner and a well-deserved shower, we had a few of the drams collected during the day. We were pleasantly surprised by the differences in the Laphroaig 10 cask strength batches (13 to 16): some more smoky, some more fruity, some harsher while others very mellow, drinking like a lesser abv whisky. We totally embraced batch variations! Unfortunately, there were midges outside, so we had to enjoy the drams in the van. That’s the West Scotland summer curse: either crappy weather or midges…What a bummer!

  • …except for the midges!

The morning was sunny again, and light came in through the van windows. Edo was the first one to wake up, we followed soon after. We then had breakfast, another shower (just because) and a walk to the beach. We dipped our feet in the incredibly cold water: after a minute we felt like pins in them. Then, we drove southwards under the Kintyre morning sun. Soon after we arrived in Campbeltown, where it was easy to find parking not too far from Springbank.

That was in fact our first destination, first to check out what the cage had to offer. Edo got himself a 7y heavily peated Kilkerran matured in bourbon casks, while we got a sherried teenager Kilkerran matured in sherry (probably Oloroso) and a 9y Longrow matured in refill Palo Cortado sherry cask. Of course it is always a gamble, but a safe one: never had a bad nor an average cage dram. A few days later the former two were mentioned in Roy’s vPub, hinting to two memorable drams (ours aren’t open yet at the time of writing, but we feel optimistic).

  • Three whisky enthusiasts in the old whisky capital.

It was soon time for the Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting. To our surprise, the meeting point was not the Springbank visitor centre, as the previous two times (three for Gianluigi). This was because the venue for the tasting changed (for the second time in the last few years): instead of being held in one of the warehouses behind Springbank, Cadenhead’s recently acquired a building not too far from the new hub (shop and tasting room), that has been gradually converted into a warehouse dedicated to tastings.

  • A wee warehouse…

The tasting was guided by Aly, who did a great job guiding us through the usual range of tasty drams: it was informative and entertaining. We started with a blended malt, a vatting of a 24y Glenrothes, 12y Aultmore and 14y Dalwhinnie, from an ex-bourbon barrel, bottled at 54.9% abv: a tropical deliciousness. It was followed by a few drams from fortified wine casks: 16y Glentauchers ex-Oloroso hogshead (49.4%), a 13y Glenburgie from a Madeira barrique (57.5%), an ex-Amontillado 11y Glen Garioch (58%) and an Oloroso-finished 13y Craigellachie (finished for 4 years). All these drams were very well received, although for the three of us the Glen Garioch was a notch below the others: too herbaceous and harsh. Finally, the peated dram was a Staoisha (peated Bunnahabhain) 9y at 60.4%, finished for three years in a PX-cask: delicious, only reason we didn’t buy it because we have waaaaaay too many peated Bunna at home. So, after much debating we opted for the ex-Madeira Glenburgie and the tropical blend, by far the best value for money.

…with great drams.

We had our seventh dram at Cadenhead’s Tasting room (Ardmore 11y ex-PX cask, Deanston 15y ex-Manzanilla, and Balblair 10y ex-rum cask for Teresa to take home, to add to the other six drams). Then, we finally had a nice big lunch at the restaurant of the Royal hotel, before going back to the Washback bar for a final dram of Springbank, whose Edo is a big fan, before finally hitting the road.

  • Thanks Aly!

That day Teresa had the shortest straw, but the day was beautiful and sunny, and the drive was smooth. Edo and Gianluigi fell asleep for a few chunks of it. We only stopped once at Inveraray, to meet our friend Ivan who was saving some venison burgers for us, and we took the chance to try the Ardnamurchan Midgie at the George Hotel bar: a super funky and tasty dram.

  • One down!

Another Warehouse Tasting, another banger: we really enjoyed the range of drams, and Aly was very entertaining and fun. As we said other times, warehouse tastings are probably our favourite type of experience. There is something more when sipping drams just drawn from the cask, in the dumpy cold warehouse environment, surrounded by the “angel share” (i.e. vaporised alcohol). Similarly to our last Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting (two for Gianluigi), this tasting was structured and tidy, while the very first one back in 2018 was a bit more wild (and we had more samples, if we recall correctly). The concrete floor made it less dumpy as well, although thanks to this year not-so-warm summer, it was definitely chilly (and indeed Aly was very heavily dressed). Also, it’s great that Cadenhead’s are keeping it at £40 per person, which is an incredible value for money considering it includes 6 (+1 at the bar) drams. Other warehouse tastings are generally pricier, like Bunnahabhain (£50 for four drams) or Deanston (£40 for three drams). In this specific case, if we have to be really peaky, maybe the only thing that was missing was another ex-bourbon cask dram, after the first one. Anyway, with experiences like this, and the honestly priced drams, Cadenhead’s is leading the way in the scotch whisky landscape. Kudos to them!

The very last dram stop.

See you in a couple of weeks for more whisky action. Until then, slainte!

Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting

Price: £40.00 pp (July 2024)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 6 drams (plus a voucher for a seventh dram at the Cadenhead’s Tasting Room)

Target: whisky nerds

Value for money: great

Highlights: the drams

Recommended: absolutely

Link: https://experience.cadenhead.scot/