#31.8 Spirit of Speyside 2023

The amber swan: Linkwood

TL;DR: Finally, the last day of the Spirit of Speyside came. After a relaxing morning, we visited another Diageo’s workhorse: Linkwood! Very beautiful distillery, tasty whisky, but the tour with the enthusiastic staff it’s what really gave value to this visit!

(missed Part 7 /Part 6/Part 5/Part 4/Part 3/Part 2/Part 1?)

The last morning of the long weekend was a slow one. We woke up in a rainy and gloomy Dufftown, waiting for one of the coffee shops in town to open. After some coffee and cake, we had some free time, so we finally managed to go to the Whisky & Heritage Centre. It is a little place managed by volunteers where whisky memorabilia are on display, plus old pictures and documents that can be checked out. We had a lovely chat with the lady taking care of it, finding out they have plans to increase the size of the centre, and we got a couple of second-hand whisky books for a small donation.

Black Bottle on tap.

We went to the Dufftown Whisky Shop, as they had scheduled a Benriach pop-up tasting. We tried a couple of their new range (which we are not too familiar with, since we visited the distillery before the core range revamp) and had a chat about it and other Brown-Foreman products with the brand ambassador. He told us that some news was in sight about Glenglassaugh, so we hoped for a reopening of the visitor centre. A few weeks later they revamped the line-up (with a 12y bottled at 45% and two NAS at higher abv), but as we are writing their website has disappeared, so…still hoping!

Left the shop, and Dufftown, we drove to Aberlour to…another shop, this time the Speyside Whisky Shop, for another chat with Matteo and a dram (at the time some saught-after bottles were open so people could purchase by the dram). This was followed by a quick lunch at the usual Gather’n Cafè nearby (we should have taken a punch card long ago!). It was soon time to leave though, direction Elgin, for the next and last distillery visit of the holiday: Linkwood! The road wasn’t very trafficked and the drive was smooth, so we arrived there a few minutes early.

Once again, we were not ready for the picture.

There, we met our friend John from the Edinburgh Whisky Group, and we were welcomed by Paul, the distillery manager. The welcome cocktail was the usual Old-Fashioned, of course made with their own flagship whisky. Hovwere, it feels odd talking about a flagship, since Linkwood 12, part of the Flora and Fauna range, is the only bottling from this distillery (similar to many other Diageo’s distilleries).

The original Linkwood distillery was founded in 1821 by the Brown family, and started production a few years later. It was sold in the 1930s to Scottish Malt Distillers, which in turn were acquired by United Distillers (a precursor of Diageo). In 1970-71 a new distillery was built, and in spite of that, the old one continued production until the site was mothballed. The old distillery was demolished only in 2012, with all the equipment moved to the new one, which was expanded.

The old buildings.

Our knowledge of Linkwood dates back a few years, to our first (and only) bottle of Johnnie Walker Green Label 15y, as this is one of the malts featuring in this blended malt, together with Caol Ila, Talisker and the fellow Speysider Cragganmore. Since then, we tried a few different Linkwood expressions thanks to independent bottlers, mostly the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Recently, we had a great one, finished in Tokaj wine cask, from the new independent bottler Fragrant Drops: a sweet dram with a hint of grassiness, which is the main character the distillery aims to get.

The tour was conducted by Barry and Eilidh, both distillery operators. Near the entrance of the production building, they showed us a small cask that was used back in the day by distillery workers to get their daily dram (or drams, in the past we’ve been told by some guide that usually they were 3 a day). As many other distilleries, they have a Porteus Mill, painted in dark red, but unlike many the proportion of husk/grit/flour is 10/80/10, and they use Lauriet barley. Here the tour became very interesting: they only do two waters during mashing (they call it “continuous sparging”), and we were shown a cylinder they use to check the wort cloudiness. This is one of the nerdy things we discovered fairly recently, depending on the desired newmake character, when mashing the wort could be more or less filtered. The less filtered mashes (thus, cloudy) give a nuttier character to the newmake. On the contrary, a clearer wort results in more fruity and grassy notes, like Linkwood indeed.

The fermentation in their 5 wooden washbacks from the 70s (and also other 6 installed in 2013) lasts 75 hours. Finally, we went to the still room, where three pairs of very large stills (with straight-ish lyne arms) operate independently. The shell-and-tube condensers are equipped with “turbulators”, to slow down the water. After the still room, we had a stroll outside around the famous lake, where we saw the swans that inspired the famous label. The water is mainly there as a reserve, used in case of emergency. From there, we could check out the old malting floor (and the pagoda roof), now a warehouse. Unfortunately, no tour inside there.

Overview of the still room…

…and an interesting detail.

Back to the office, Paul and Scott, another distillery operator, were ready to host the 3-dram tasting: Linkwood 12 (43%abv, one of the best drams from the Flora and Fauna range, in our opinion), Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 (43%), nice to revisit it after some time, and finally a Linkwood cask-sample (similarly to the one at Dailuaine, not on sale and only served at Cardhu distillery in one of their fancy tours). Really a great dram, for sure in our top 5 of the festival. A shame these cask sample bottles were not available for purchase, although knowing Diageo’s pricing policies they would have probably been out of reach.

The tasting.

On the tour there was a group not very happy about that, so they started rudely complaining with the staff about the missing opportunity to buy the cask-sample bottles, showing their cluelessness on how a big multinational company like Diageo works (not that we know much better, but enough to understand that some decisions are not down to the distillery staff). Oh well.

Happy for the great festival experience!

Anyway, one of the things we liked the most of this first time at the Spirit of Speyside was to get to know and talk to people working in distilleries, in particular the ones not usually open to public: the staff friendliness, but more importantly their eagerness to show us around and make us understand their work were amazing. Seeing how passionate they are was really refreshing, in spite of all the cynicism of their mother companies, and in the whisky world in general nowadays. Of course, we don’t want to play down any of the people we met in distilleries usually open to public, however in our many trips sometimes we experienced too edulcorated, almost scripted tours, and a couple of times we were even treated with complacency. And this is fine (well, except for the last…), it would be silly to expect that every tour is mind-blowing, and that every tour guide is a whisky nerd: at the end of the day, it’s a job as any other. But we cannot help but noticing a certain difference when the tour is done by an operator, like in many cases during this trip. And just for it, we were grateful.

Until next time, slainte!

The Linkwood Distillery Tour

Price: £80.00 pp (May 2023)

Duration: 2hr

Tasting: welcome cocktail and 3 drams – Linkwood 10 (43%), Johnnie Walker 15 Green Label (43%), Linkwood cask sample from ex-bourbon (53.4%)

Target: whisky enthusiasts

Value for money: not great

Highlights: the enthusiastic distillery staff

Recommended: not at this price

Link: https://www.spiritofspeyside.com/

#27.1 Speycation

Dramming in Elgin

TL;DR: After the fun of the Edinburgh Whisky Group trip to Campbeltown in 2021, a year later we replicated with another one, but to Speyside! Plenty of whisky activities and fun, starting from Elgin, where we attended a bespoke tasting at G&M and we visited Glen Moray distillery, both great experiences.

During the pandemic, one of the things that helped keep us sane was the very nice people we met after joining the Edinburgh Whisky Group, on Facebook. While the group grew almost exponentially in numbers, during the lockdown a small part of it, mostly spread all over the Lothians (with some exceptions in London and…Norway!), started having regular Zoom whisky tastings. When the restrictions slowly phased out, we started meeting in person for drams, which was very nice and at times surprising (on Zoom we hadn’t figured out that John and Joe were that tall!). And in October 2021, we even went all together to Campbeltown. Storming the Wee Toon was very fun and therefore a big success, so we obviously replicated the experience in 2022. This time, however, the idea came from our brilliant friend Cath (part of the group, of course), to do a Speycation! So, Speyside it shall be!

Left Edinburgh very early, and we still managed to be late!

The plan Justine organised was easy: staying in Elgin (most of us booked a room at the Premier Inn, a good solution to keep us all together although a bit pricier than expected and not that close to the centre), spending the first day there, and then travelling around the region with a rented bus that could fit the entire group of 22 people. The appointment was at 11am for the first activity of the holiday, a tasting at Gordon & MacPhail old shop in Elgin in South St (now undergoing renovation, in our understanding). The travel from Edinburgh or elsewhere was done by car or car sharing. We travelled with Justine and because of a wee late start, a break a wee too long, and a freaking huge and slow truck on the road, we got there late, fortunately just a few minutes.

The tasting was a bespoke one Justine had agreed with them: 5 20ml drams for 50 quid. The drams came from their Connoisseur Choice range, except for the last one, and of course, were all non-chill filtered (NCF), not artificially coloured (NC) and cask strength (CS). We kicked the day off with a delicious 13y Strathmill from a refill ex-bourbon barrel, distilled in 2008 (57.3% abv). This is one of those Diageo’s workhorse distilleries whose product mostly goes into blends (there is a big J&B sign on the road leading to Strathmill distillery in Keith), but we are starting to appreciate it more and more thanks to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and other independent bottlers. The following dram was again a 13y, distilled in 2008 and from a refill barrel, but was a lightly peated Ardmore (whooping 62.5%), another distillery with little core range these days, but fortunately very prevalent with indy bottlers. The third dram was the best for both of us, a Tormore distilled in 2000, matured for 21y in a first fill ex-bourbon barrel and bottled in 2022 at 58.6%. Tormore is another of those distilleries we’d love to visit. It changed owner recently, from Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard) to Elixir Distillers, so we are hoping they’ll open to the public at some point.

The fourth dram was from a demolished distillery in Dufftown: Pittyvaich, distilled in 1993, matured in a refill American hogshead for 29y and bottled in 2022 at 48.6%. Finally, a sherried dram, a Speymalt from Macallan distillery, 20y and 55.9%. A nice one, but it didn’t blow our socks off as we were expecting. Overall it was great tasting, with a good overview of the whisky produced in the area (Ardmore is just outside Speyside), and we particularly appreciated the ex-bourbon casks heavy line-up, which gave us a better idea of the distilleries character.

Lunch was “free”, so we walked towards Elgin main square, where many diners and cafes looked full. We had a very average lunch in a quite anonymous one on the square (we chose a half-empty to be quick…probably it was half-empty for a reason), and we soon walked towards the next destination: Glen Moray distillery.

Glen Moray is one of those we initially underestimated due to their cheap expressions in supermarkets, but that now we are big fan of! And actually, we like them more because of their ability to provide cheap but still decent quality drams, as well as more serious stuff for the whisky nerds, like their Warehouse 1 series, featuring the amazing 8y peated whisky from an ex-PX cask we bought a couple of years ago: a treat! We’d been at the distillery in 2019, only for a (not so) quick tasting though, so visiting the production was a real novelty for us.

We had booked the Intermediate Tour, which included an in-depth visit of the production, followed by a tasting of three of their bottle-your-own casks (all NCF, NC and CS). Emma took us around the distillery, which combines old and new elements, as it underwent recent renovations, including the addition of new shiny mash-tuns. The courtyard is dominated by a huge black silo used as malt storage, which can be spotted from far away, including from the near highway.

A peculiarity is that the wash stills in the old stillhouse, the one right in front of the entrance, have all been converted into spirit stills. The tour ended in the warehouse, where a number of empty (d’oh!) casks were aligned. They used to contain various types of sherry, Sauternes, Bordeaux, Rioja, bourbon, and many others. We nosed all of them, it was definitely interesting to understand how different they can be!

In the café, the three drams were waiting for us: first, a controversial (some people loved it, some definitely didn’t, including us) vintage 2014 (bottled 2022, so 7 or 8y) unpeated whisky from an ex-cognac cask (60.2%). It was followed by a vintage 2006 (so 15 or 16y) in an ex-oloroso sherry cask, definitely a sherry bomb (60.9%). Finally, a 2012 (so 9 or 10y) peated matured in an ex-Rioja red wine cask, another delicious one (58.4%). As a bonus dram, we got another peated, but matured in an ex-Sauternes cask (vintage 2013, 58.9%), of which they still had a few bottles.

After walking back to the centre, we finished the day with a nice meal at the Drouthy Cobbler, a cute restaurant hidden in a small lane near the main square. We finally got to Premier Inn after a quick cab ride, where we had a restful night looking forward to the following days!

Gordon & MacPhail

Link: https://www.gordonandmacphail.com/#

(No summary because this was a bespoke experience)

Glen Moray Intermediate Tour

Price: £35.00 pp (October 2022)

Duration: 1h 30min

Tasting: 3 drams from the current bottle-your-own range, for us Glen Moray Vintage 2014 (7-8y) ex-cognac cask (60.2%), Vintage 2006 (15-16y) ex-oloroso sherry cask(60.9%), Vintage 2012 (9-10y) peated ex-Rioja red wine cask (58.4%)

Target: Whisky enthusiasts and geeks

Value for money: Very good

Highlights: Smelling the empty casks in the warehouse

Distillery Exclusives: Three bottle-your-own casks (see above), and the travel retail range (Elgin Classic, 12y and 15y but bottled at 48%, NCF and NC, and one litre bottles)

Recommended: Yes!

Link: https://www.glenmoray.com/

#17.1 A first taste of Speyside

A birthday surprise

TL;DR: in December 2019 Teresa organised a surprise weekend for Gianluigi’s birthday, so we travelled to Speyside for the first time. One of the few times we travelled by train, it wasn’t easy to reach all the places we wanted. Nevertheless, in the first couple of days, we managed to visit four distilleries in Elgin, Aberlour and Dufftown.

2019 was a weird year for us. Because of an intense period at work, Gianluigi could take very few leave days throughout the year. But it was also the year where something changed for us about whisky: we became members of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, we started listening to whisky podcasts, reading books, and visiting distilleries more often. So, when December arrived, going off on a wee whisky holiday was a very easy decision to take. It was also Teresa’s gift to Gianluigi for his birthday…so for him the destination was a surprise!

In the morning, first train to Aberdeen, then another one to Elgin, so Speyside, which we’d never been before! This is home to over 50 distilleries, without doubts the biggest producing single malt whisky region. Although not all of them are open to visitors, a good bunch are. Which ones then? Still a mystery to Gianluigi.

Happy faces, and we were not even drunk!

The first distillery was only a 20-minute walk from Elgin train station: Glen Moray. We are now very fond of this one, probably underrated because of their entry-level expressions available in supermarkets. Thanks to a few very tasty SMWS bottlings, however, at the time we had already started to appreciate it, so Gianluigi was very happy! Because of time constraints we only did a tutored tasting at the distillery’s café. We chose different flights, the travel retail (with the Elgin Heritage NAS, 12y and 15y, but all bottled at 48% and not chill-filtered) and the distillery casks (2008 ex-rye cask finish, 2001 2nd fill ex-oloroso, 2014 peated ex-gamay cask). We loved these expressions, in particular the 12y in the travel retail range and the 2008 Rye cask finish, but we felt it was too early in our trip to buy anything (much regretted decision).

From there, we took a cab to another distillery, completely unknown to us: Benriach. Together with its sisters GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh, it had been recently sold to Brown-Foreman (aka Jack Daniel’s).

After seeing a malting floor for the first time.

At the time the visitor centre was just a small room with a couple of sofas, table and chairs, and a small shop. The tour was intimate (only 6) and quite in depth. We were guided throughout production, including their malting floor (first time we visited one), and we tasted the wash (someone said: “like a bland and watery beer, basically an English ale”). It was before the revamp of their core range, so we tried their 10y, 10y peated (Curiositas), the magnificent 12y triple-sherry cask, and the travel retail 10y triple distilled (of which we were able to grab a bottle only a few months ago), and another couple of older distillery exclusive expressions, including a peated ex-port cask. Truly a great tasting!

By the end of the tasting, it was dark outside (December…), and we almost missed the last bus to go to our final destination for the day. Fortunately the driver saw us waving at him in the dark. We arrived in Dufftown, where we stayed at the Conval House, a lovely B&B run by the very kind Linda. After the check-in, we had dinner at the Stuart Arms (not open anymore) and a couple of final drams at the Seven Stills.

The next day we woke up a bit dizzy, how so? (wink, wink). This didn’t prevent us to move on with our mission, and after breakfast, Linda generously drove us to the next distillery: Aberlour, in the near village of… Aberlour!

It was just us on the tour, definitely not high season for them. The guide gave us a dram straight away (the 12y), which we enjoyed before another really in depth tour. The distillery sits in a marvellous location, surrounded by woods and near the Linn Falls waterfall.

Again, the final tasting was quite generous, with samples of the newmake spirit, the 16y, the Casg Annamh, and two 14y single cask, one from an ex-bourbon barrel and another from an ex-sherry butt. Unfortunately the A’Bunadh, which we hadn’t tried yet, was not in the line-up, but we would have caught up later that day.

After a quick stop at the Walker’s cookies shop in Aberlour, we caught the bus, next stop: the Speyside Cooperage. It was a very cool experience, and very different from a distillery. To be honest, the guide did not say much (a bit shy?), but was available to reply any questions. However, as whisky novices we didn’t have that many. The walk in the production area was very interesting: we could admire the toasting process and the coopers doing their magic rebuilding the casks.

The sky is blue above the Speyside Cooperage.

Finally, the last stop for the day: the Glenfiddich distillery. This is a massive operation with a capacity of over 22 million litres of alcohol per year. The tour started with an introduction video. After that, we parted from another quite large group of people, as only the two of us went for the in-depth tour. It was the first time we visited a distillery of that size: the two huge lines of stills striked us!

At the end of the tour and after a wee look at the bottling line, we were ready for thetasting. We had the 12y, the 15y, the Project XX (the best of the bunch, in our opinion), the Fire and Cane, the 18y and finally the 21y rum finish. When we visited the warehouses we could try a tiny sip of the 15y cask strength form one of their huge solera-style vatting tubs – very tasty but pricey (at the time 120 quids at the visitor centre).

Our day ended with a nice dinner at A Taste of Speyside restaurant (now unfortunately closed), and another dram, only one this time (the Aberlour A’Bunadh) at the Seven Stills. What an intense day!

Distillery (tours) links

https://www.glenmoray.com/our-distillery
https://www.benriachdistillery.com/en-gb/distillery-tours/
https://www.maltwhiskydistilleries.com/aberlour/
https://www.glenfiddich.com/en-gb/distillery

Speyside cooperage
https://www.speysidecooperage.co.uk/tours.php

(Because this trip happened almost 3 years ago, we are not compiling the distillery visit evaluation box.)