#20.1 Feast on the East

East of Scotland bonanza: Fettercairn and Arbikie

TL;DR: On our way to Speyside, we stopped by two distilleries along the way. One old, Fettercairn, and one new, Arbikie. We liked both tours: while Fettercairn was more of a classical distillery experience, we appreciated Arbikie forward-thinking and innovative spirit. Fettercairn Warehouse 2 drams were outstanding!

Here we are again, mid-September, early Friday morning, on a bus to Lochrin Place, near Tollcross, where a car is waiting for us. We had booked it at McNicoll – following the increase in rental car prices due to the pandemic, they are now quite competitive and their service is generally much better than most of the other ones. That morning Teresa, the designated driver for the weekend (Gianluigi: “AH-AH”), drove us up north towards the Highlands, but then turned eastward on the road to Aberdeen.

Our first appointment of the day was with Fettercairn distillery, at the bottom of the Cairngorms mountains (which is the meaning of the name). This distillery is owned by White and Mackay and has a long history. Founded in 1824, it was one of the first to get a distilling license.

Here we are, ready for the tour (not so much for the wind).

Recently the brand underwent a restyling, so although the 12y and the 12y ex-PX cask (a travel retail expression) stayed at 40%, the 16y moved to a more natural presentation: from 40 to 46%, not chill-filtered and no artificial colour additions, just what we enthusiasts want! They also added the Warehouse 2 series to their portfolio, usually younger expressions at a higher abv from a vatting of casks selected by the distillery manager, each different from the previous one.

As we get to the (renewed) visitor centre, we are welcomed by our guide for the day: Kirsty. She illustrated very clearly the historical context of the late 1700s and early 1800s, around the time that Fettercairn got its license.

We then moved to the Forest Flow monument outside the visitor centre, a testimony of the distillery’s sustainability plans. For example, they planted oak trees on the Fasque Estate, an 8,500 acres land nearby. Another long-term but extremely interesting plan is a collaboration with the farmers in the area around the distillery, which will lead to single-farm expressions: exciting times!

Moving to production, Kirsty showed us the water recycle system they have in place to minimise water waste.We were then shown their copper lidded mashtun, their Douglas Fir washbacks, and finally, their 2 pairs of (vapour coil heated) stills with their cooling ring. This was one of the most interesting features: the ring is a circular tube spraying water on the neck of the still, cooling it and therefore increasing the reflux. In our understanding, this makes some particles drop back into the still, allowing only the lighter ones to go up. So cool(ing)!

We checked out the warehouse and finally went back to the visitor centre for a taste of the two 12y expressions and the 16y (we opted to pay and extra fiver for a third sample). The two 12y were tasty compared to other 40% basic drams, but the stand-out was the 16y: a nutty storm, truly delicious. Kirsty was very kind and gave us also two wee samples of the Warehouse 2 collection, batch 3 and 4 (1 and 2 were gone): the #4 is a more classical, rich and fruity dram, while the ex-rum cask influence on #3 gives it a tropical and flowery perfume, one of the most floral drams we ever tried. Both amazing.

Overall, a nice visit, which we’d repeat, particularly because Kirsty told us that they are planning to offer new tours, including warehouse tastings and some Warehouse 2 series focused, looking forward to it!

We had lunch in a café close to the famous arch in Fettercairn, and then moved to the next distillery: Arbikie. This is a quite new distillery, founded in 2013 by the Stirling brothers, originally farmers in the area. They started by producing vodka with potatoes they cultivate, and soon moved to gin and later to whisky. An interesting characteristic is that they produce whisky from 3 different grains: oat, rye and, of course, malted barley. As we parked, we were welcomed by a stunning view of the fields and the sea, truly a beautiful spot! The amazing landscape can also be enjoyed from the very nice café and restaurant.

There were works going on to build a new semi-open conservatory to improve visitors’ experience, particularly in sunny days. It’s just the two of us on the whisky tour (they have also a gin-focused and a general tour). Our guide was Andy, very knowledgeable and whose great-grandfather worked for the Stirling family.

Everything in the distillery is oriented towards sustainability, with heat-exchangers and other features in place to minimise energy consumption. Some peculiarities are their stainless washback silos (more similar to those in breweries) and their stills: three pot stills (one for wash and two for spirit) and the column stills. While gin and vodka are exclusively distilled in the column still, for the whisky they can play with a combination of the two. For example, we’ve been told that some of their rye newmake spirit recently underwent the second distillation in the columns, as the spirit stills (normally used for the second distillation) were under repair. Unlike most distilleries, they currently don’t have a dunnage warehouse, everything is palletized. On top of the usual ones, they have a variety of casks, including ex-Armagnac, ex-rum, and ex-red wine.

Back at the shop we tried some of their rye whiskies, the first ones officially released in Scotland in over 100 years. We had two expressions, the one that can be defined their core range (which we had already tried via Whisky-Me), and a single cask finished in ex-Armagnac casks. The second was better, but we weren’t huge fan of either: too herbal, almost a hybrid between a gin and a young rum. Very pricey too, £90 for the first and £250 for the second. It must not be easy to find your feet for something so uncommon as a Scottish rye whisky, where, unlike single malts, there is no “blueprint”. So, we are confident that their product will improve over time, in particular as more aged stock becomes available. Also, we’ll be very curious to try their single malt, once released.

Back to the car, we took the “slow” but very scenic road across Speyside to reach Fochabers, where we had our hotel booked. After a nice dinner at the Gordon Arms Hotel, we went to bed ready for the next day.

Fettercairn Tour (with extra dram)

Price: £20.00 pp (September 2022, £15 without the extra dram)

Duration: 1h 30min

Tasting: 3 drams, 12y (40%), 12y PX-finish (travel exclusive, 40%), 16y (46.4%, NC, NCF)

Target: anyone

Value for money: Very good

Highlights: the cooling ring system on the stills

Recommended: definitely!

Link: https://www.fettercairnwhisky.com/

Arbikie Whisky Tour

Price: £25.00 pp (September 2022)

Tasting: 2 drams, Arbikie rye (48%, NC, NCF), Arbikie single cask rye ex-Armagnac finish (46%, NC, NCF)

Target: anyone

Value for money: Ok

Highlights: the view and the distillery setting

Recommended: mainly to fans of all spirits

Link: https://arbikie.com/

#19.2 Dramming Around Orkney

The other side of Kirkwall

TL; DR: The second day on Orkney was dedicated to visiting historical sites like the Ring of Brodgar and the incredible village of Skara Brae. On the third day, we finally managed to visit Highland Park distillery. It was a very interesting and in-depth tour (mostly thanks to the outstanding guide, James), however followed by a disappointing tasting, which made the overall experience mostly a tourist trap.

(missed Part 1?)

On the second day on Orkney, we decided to put on hold our whisky curiosity and focus on the history of the island instead. After a brief run to the foot of Wideford hill, shower and breakfast, we left the camping westward. First, we visited the quite spectacular standing stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. Fortunately, it was a sunny day, albeit very windy, we even spotted a sunbathing seal!

Around lunch, we moved on to Skara Brae. This is one of the sites we liked the most in Scotland, so far. Reading about the discovery of this 5,000-year old village was very interesting, as well as finding out about all the insights on the life of our ancestors. Being a nice day, we also took advantage of the splendid view on the beach just behind the site. After our visit, we drove first to the nearby Orkney brewery, not in time to enjoy a beer there but still in time to buy some for dinner. This was after a stop at Birsay beach, where the splendid landscape was saddened by the presence of a half-dozen dead seabirds: avian flu striking again. Back at the camping, it was grilling time! The only thing we did not account for was the number of midges assaulting us: the food intake was barely enough to compensate for the blood loss (sorry, we like to be dramatic…)!

On the third day, it was finally Highland Park time. Our friends Roberto and Cecilia are not whisky nerds, but they enjoy a dram once in a while, so they were very keen to visit the distillery. Because kids below a certain age are not allowed, we had to do the tour in two shifts so that there’d always be someone with the wee one: first, Teresa and Gianluigi, later Roberto and Cecilia. Our friends opted for the basic (but not cheap) one: Honour and Pride (and prejudice?) experience (30 quid, 3 drams). After excluding the two high-end offers (eye-watering price of 125 and 325 quid), we chose the upgraded Wild Harmony Experience, 75 quid with 5 drams, placing it as one of the most expensive tours we ever did… actually THE most expensive (unfortunately, the price jumped from 60 to 75 around May). Because of this, and of the history of the distillery, we had great expectations.

Two happy kids in front of a candy shop.

They picked us up at the St. Magnus cathedral, in Kirkwall centre, saving us the 15-20 mins walk to the distillery’s gate. Our tour guide was James, a true whisky geek and expert, who didn’t limit himself to answering all the questions, but went above and beyond to provide more context and deeper explanations. The tour started with a short video, during which we tasted their most basic expression, the HP 10y (40%, chill filtered, but according to them not artificially coloured, available in supermarkets). After that, we moved on to the distillery, starting with the malting floor: similar to other distilleries we visited (so far Laphroaig, Kilchoman, Glen Garioch, Benriach and Balvenie), they malt some of their barley in house (about 20%), using peat from Orkney, resulting in a quite distinctive flavour compared to Islay or Highland peat.

The distillery has a very interesting history, and a curious layout, almost like a tiny village. It was founded in 1798 and now it belongs to the Edrington group, with a production of 2.5 millions litre per annum. They used to fill almost exclusively ex-sherry cask, although now they have several ex-bourbon cask expressions (the 10y, 15y and the Full Volume).

The excellent tour guide James explaining us Highland Park distillation.

The tasting took place in the Eunson room, named after the founder, above the visitor centre. To our surprise, the line-up was actually the core range: the widely available 12y (40% abv), the new 15y in the ceramic bottle (44% abv), the 18y (43% abv), and the 21y (2019 bottling, 46% abv). Except for the 21y, which was really good (but unfortunately overpriced at 240 pound), the others were OK drams: not dislikeable, but quite inoffensive as well. At the end, they gave us a bunch of (quite unnecessary) gifts: other than the usual glass, a booklet about the distillery (OK as well we guess…but what are we going to do with two of these?), the (n-th) tote bag and a postcard-size frame with a tour attendance certificate (probably more of a gullibility certificate for having spent 75 quid each on this tour).

We were hopeful until the end, but nope: no distillery exclusive or limited bottling in the tasting. Back to the shop, we spotted a couple of interesting expressions that we thought could be a good buy: a 10y bottled at 46% (ambassador choice) and a cask strength bottled to raise money for a local rowing club, both around the £60 mark. We didn’t even bother to ask for the distillery exclusive: 170 quid for a 14y cask strength seemed a bit ridiculous (at the SMWS you can them for less than half of this), while the Full Volume at £80 was definitely overpriced for a non-age statement whisky (probably you pay for the Marshall amplifier shaped box…Gianlugi always preferred Orange and Fender). We asked if we could purchase a dram of the two. We were told it was not allowed because they are an off-sale only (so…what about the 5 drams they had just given us? Mystery), but we could try them at the shop in Kirkwall. Once down at the shop, they said the same, but that we could try at the Kirkwall Hotel’s bar. At the hotel, of course, they did not have those 2 drams. We went back to the shop, asking them again, but no chance we could try.

(rant mode: on)

We like to be positive in our posts, but seriously: how detached from reality do you have to be to think that whisky enthusiasts would prefer the bag of cra…ehm, unnecessary gifts to, for example, some more limited/special drams?

We usually like vertical tastings, but in this case it was very poor value for money. We were OK with getting the 12y, as it is their flagship, but the inclusion of the 10y as well was not great, as it is a mostly supermarket release (please don’t misinterpret us: the single malt selection in most supermarkets in Scotland is far better than some liquor shops in other countries, we just found strange to get that after travelling all the way to distillery). Not only the tour was super-expensive for no apparent reason (no samples from the cask, or distillery bottling, or some limited-edition release) but the fact that you couldn’t try try any other drams at the distillery nor at the shop was almost ridiculous. We believe that the only reason they can get away with it is the hordes of tourists from the cruise ships, which guarantee them some cash flow no-matter-what.

Highland’s Park bunch of (mostly) “unnecessary” gifts…definitely not worth 75 quid!

Ironically, the more basic tour was definitely better value for money: our friends did a very similar tour (albeit, not with James), and they still got to try the 12y and 18y, but instead of the 10y they got the Full Volume release. So, if you want to tick off Highland Park from the distillery list, the Honour and Pride tour is the one to go for.

As for the whisky itself, thanks to the SMWS, Cadenhead’s, Watt Whisky and other independent bottlers, we know how good Highland Park can be, so the offer at the distillery was a bit disappointing. This is a shame for all the nice people working there, first and foremost the guide James, which was one of the best ones we ever had.

(rant mode: off)

Anyway, not being able to buy a bottle at Highland Park left us with a problem: no Orcadian whisky for the rest of the trip! Gianluigi solved the situation by getting a Douglas Laing blended malt Rock Island form the local CoOp: not only very tasty (and not-chill filtered and bottled at 46%), but also with some Highland Park in it, so 2 birds with one stone and a great value for money!

The day after we explored the east: a wee coffee break at the Deerness gin distillery (soon to produce single malt), a stroll in the Gloup reserve, and a stop at the J Gow rum distillery, on our way to the Italian Chapel. We went to the shop, and guess what: they let us try their (quite delicious) rums before buying!

We really liked Orkney: we expected a quieter and eerie place, more similar to some areas in the north of the Highlands with mosses and peat bogs. Instead, it turned out to be a lovely, very rural landscape. Next time we’ll definitely try to cross to the other islands as well, but for a first taste it was a great visit!

Until next time, slainte!

Highland Park: A Wild Harmony Experience

Price: £75.00 pp (August 2022)

Duration: 2h

Tasting: 5 drams from the core range, 10y (40% abv) 12y (40% abv), 15y (44% abv), 18y (43% abv), and 21y (2019 bottling, 46% abv), probably all chill-filtered (but according to our guide, no artificial colour added)

Target: Gullible whisky enthusiasts

Value for money: Quite bad

Highlights: our guide James was outstanding, chapeu!

Things we did not like: see rant above

Distillery exclusive: 14y single cask (£170)

Recommended: NO!

Link: https://www.highlandparkwhisky.com/en

Bonus: Highland Park Honour and Pride Experience (thanks to Roberto and Cecilia)

Price: £30 (August 2022)

Duration: 1h 15m

Tasting: 3 drams, Full Volume (48% abv NAS), 12y (40% abv) and 18y (43% abv)

Value for money: Acceptable

Target: Everyone

Recommended: Only if you want to visit the distillery really badly

#18 Two festivals adventures

Festival!

TL;DR: With the relaxation of Covid restrictions (thanks vaccines!), public events started coming back, including whisky festivals! In 2022 we attended a couple of wee ones, the Fife Whisky Festival in March and the Whisky Fringe in August. In both cases, we are already looking forward to the next editions!

Until a few years ago, the word “festival” meant a very specific situation to us: (mostly) summer, a few thousand people around, and music blasting your ears. Northern Italy wasn’t short of these events, so during our teenage and 20s we indulged in what the national and international rock scene offered. Fast forward a few years, we are still going to concerts, even to international festivals, despite the older age making it more difficult: sleeping in a tent in our mid-20s was feasible, doing it in our mid-30s, it just won’t happen again (thanks a lot, Bluetooth speakers!).

Us going to festivals before getting into whisky!

In the meantime, we collected a new hobby: whisky! As you probably know if you read this blog, we started by visiting distilleries around US and Scotland. We have been enjoying the usually remote location of many distilleries, and the often intimate type of experience. That’s why, when first heard about whisky festivals, we weren’t too convinced. This changed in 2019, when we learned about a couple of them that seemed a great opportunity to know more about our beloved amber liquid.

After missing out on a couple of events in 2019 (Whisky Fringe was already sold-out when we learned about it) and 2020 (we only managed to attend a Fife Whisky Festival side-event at Kingsbarns distillery), the time of our first whisky festival finally arrived, in March 2022: the Fife Whisky Festival, for real! Because of our friendship with one of the organizers (Kask Whisky Justine), we were recruited as volunteers to help out during the day. The festival actually started the evening before, with a dinner at the Lindores Abbey distillery.

Welcome cocktails on the way at Lindores Abbey…

A very tasty 3-course dinner, entertained by the radio host Vic Galloway (to note, he’s curating a very interesting podcast for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, tasting drams with guests from the Scottish artist scene and pairing them with music). The dinner was accompanied by four tasty drams: a wine-matured Lindores, the Glen Scotia Victoriana, a 25y Glenfarclas, and finally a peated Kilchoman, UK exclusive batch 3, each one presented by one of the respective distillery ambassadors.

Archived the dinner, the day of the festival arrived, at the Corn Exchange in Cupar. We were given aprons and instructions: we were going to be at the door, Gianluigi scanning tickets (with Kath, a friend from the Edinburgh Whisky Group) and Teresa putting bracelets and giving away scratch cards (with Kath’s partner, Craig) to get the chance to buy one of the festival bottles, a single cask Lindores Abbey and a highly sought-after single cask Daftmill. The scratch card was actually a very smart move by the organisers, because it avoided tons of chancers going straight to the shop and buying a limited edition bottle to be put on auctions. Of course, someone complained, but there is no remedy against self-entitlement and selfishness…or is there?

After the entrance operation, our task was to set up the room for the two masterclasses, Mackmyra and Loch Lomond. During these, we could do little breaks, which we exploited to taste a couple of drams each. We spent the rest of the session walking around the stands assisting brand ambassadors and chatting with friends.

At the end of the first session, we and the other volunteers quickly cleaned everything up, and had a little lunch break. This is when Justine brought in the mystical fudge donuts: a beast of a dessert, probably hundreds of Kcal per bite. After checking that everyone had one, Gianluigi decided to show his true animal nature and ate a second one.

The second session went almost as smoothly as the first one: a few more drunken fellas, but fortunately no one outrageously pished. Overall we loved the atmosphere, so relaxed and friendly, it was a great day that we are looking forward to repeating.

A few months went by, until we got to the middle of August. Gianluigi had just come back from a conference in Canada (and a distillery trip he managed to sneak in, wink wink), just in time to attend the Whisky Fringe. “Just”: his flight from Toronto landed in Edinburgh around 9am. Fortunately, the festival location, the beautiful Mansfield Traquair, is only about 30 minutes walking from Leith, and the festival was starting at 2pm. After an abundant brunch and a bit of unpacking, we were on our way to the festival.

The number of participants for each session was limited to 500, which seems a lot, but because of the festival layout on different floors, and the space around, never really felt very crowded. The first stand we hit was the Uncle Nearest one. We were already aware of their fascinating history (Green Nearest was the person, at the time enslaved, who taught Jack Daniels how to distill). We tried two of their Tennessee whiskies, both quite delicious. We then went to say hi to our friends at Ardnamurchan (Gianluigi is part of their AD/Ventures club), and to taste one of their fabulous drams. We met several friends, some from the Edinburgh Whisky Group, some from past tastings, some just friends. Feature of the festival, a half-time dram: at 4pm, each person could choose a special dram from one of the stands. Gianluigi went for a 16y Port Charlotte from Thompson Brothers, Teresa for an old Glen Moray, both very tasty!

Blurred picture (ooops) of Uncle Nearest whiskeys.

Choosing what to buy with our 10-quid voucher was hard, of course you can’t get all the delicious Thompson Brothers’, Glenallachie’s, Springbank’s/Kilkerran’s, Ardnamurchan’s at once. We finally opted for a bottle of White Heather 15, a stunning blended scotch from the Glenallachie company, very different from most whiskies we tried, and which we had been after for a while. The night ended with a meal with some friends at the Leith Depot, and a last dram at Nauticus.

Both experiences challenged our prejudice of whisky festivals being messy and noisy. They were both quite relaxed, lively experiences, where we could enjoy some delicious drams (well, not so many at the Fife Whisky Festival, as we were helping out) without spending lot of time queuing. We already signed up to help at the 2023 Fife Whisky Festival, and we will keep an eye on the Whisky Fringe tickets. Are we ready for bigger events? Not really sure, but who knows.

Until next time, slainte!

Whisky Festivals Links

https://www.fifewhiskyfestival.com/
https://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/whisky-fringe/

#17.2 A first taste of Speyside

Walking and blending

TL;DR: The last two days of the trip were dedicated to less standard whisky experiences. First off, a walk through the village of Dufftown and its distilleries. On the last day, we did a blending experience at Strathisla, learning the hard way how difficult it is. Overall, definitely a great trip!

(missed Part 1?)

The morning of the third day was quite open, so we went back to Aberlour, officially for a walk to the Linn waterfalls, behind the Aberlour distillery, but we sneaked in a second visit to…no, not the distillery, to the Walker’s cookies shop! Just to pick up Christmas gifts for family and friends, and because Gianluigi loves cookies indeed! We had some take-away food from a local shop, before our afternoon activity: a walking tour of the 9 distilleries of Dufftown! If you’re asking yourself why 9, just stick with us…

A cute meeting point for the walking tour.

The tour was organized by Michelle, a local guide living in the village. We and another young couple met her at the clock tower. First, we walked towards her house, where she very professionally gave us a glencairn and a yellow vest: at the end of the day we were about to walk through a few whisky producing plants, most of them not open to visitors. To start with, we walked towards the site where the now demolished Pittyvaich distillery used to be (close to the Mortlach Parish Church). While looking at some of the old warehouses, Michelle poured a taste of a 25y Pittyvaich from a Diageo release. A bit down the road, we then stopped at Dufftown distillery, owned by Diageo.

This is one of the three distilleries making the Singleton (Singleton of Dufftown), sold mostly in the UK and Europe. Moving on with our tour, walking along the Dullan Water, we found the third distillery: Glendullan, another one from the Singleton series (this one distributed in North America, while the third one is from Glen Ord and is distributed in the Asian market). One exception was the House of Tully Singleton, part of the Game of Thrones range, which we had a taste of after a wee look at the still room. Next stop was a popular one, Mortlach, which we were very curious about for their quite complicated 2.71 distillation process. We saw their third still (from the outside), called the Wee Witchie, where the last 0.71 of the distillation happens (in our understanding, but not so sure…).

In this case, the dram was a Gordon & MacPhail 25y from the distillery label range, paired with homemade shortbreads, which were fantastic! It took a bit to get to the next stop, this time walking along the Foiddich. During the walk Michelle showed us the building where another silent distillery was, Parkmore, closed too long ago to get a sip. We were already acquainted with the next working one, Glenfiddich, but not the next ones: Kininvie and Balvenie.

Unfortunately, during this trip we hadn’t managed to book the latter (although we caught up almost a couple of years later), so we were very curious to see it. As we walked past the malting floor, we saw smoke coming out of it, meaning it was working! Michelle was very excited as well, she had seen it only a dozen of times. We walked past Kininvie still room (the mashtun and washbacks are at Balvenie). The final distillery was another silent one, Convalmore, now used as warehouses. This is where Michelle’s husband was waiting for us in a van to bring us back (it was quite dark at that stage). It was a great experience, a bit different from a regular distillery visit, definitely worth it! We ended up having dinner at the Commercial Hotel and, again, a couple of drams at the Seven Stills.

Sunday was the last day of our wee holiday. We had a very nice conversation with Linda and her partner, who drove us to Keith for the last whisky activity of the long weekend: Strathisla. The distillery looks very pretty, in particular as you walk in from the parking through the courtyard. Like Aberlour, it is owned by Chivas Brothers (a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard), and it is the core malt of one of their most popular brands, Chivas Regal. The 12 year old expression is present in almost all aunties’ and grandmothers’ houses back in Italy too.

For this tour, Teresa picked something different: the blending experience. So, after the tour of the distillery and the warehouses (where we had a dram of Chivas straight from the cask), we were guided to the blending room. It looked like a fancy version of a high school chemistry lab, with all the glass equipment, but instead of burners there were bottles of whisky. Our task was to create a blend of 5 whiskies: fruity (Strathisla), citrusy (Glen Keith), smoky (Allt A’Bhaine), creamy (Longmorn) and floral (Strathclyde, a grain whisky distilled in Glasgow). Of course, as we were making it, it was like: “it’s going to be super tasty”, but when a few months later we opened our 20cl souvenir bottle of our very own blends, it clearly was kind of crappy. Well, blending is more of an art, and the blenders job is definitely one of the hardest in the sector! Definitely a fun activity though, although we both agreed that one time was plenty.

As we came out, we had over an hour to wait at the Keith “station” (a porch) for the train to Aberdeen. We couldn’t really walk around because of the backpacks and the heavy rain, so we just sneaked in a walk to Glen Keith distillery, right in front of Strathisla.

On the train back we came up with the idea of a whisky blog. It would have taken over a year to kickstart it, but this trip is the culprit! It substantially improved our knowledge and made us even more enthusiastic about scotch whisky. Speyside is one of those places where every time we visit, we say to each other: “we should get a house here”. This was the first trip to this magical region, with many more just about to come!

Until the next story, slainte!

Strathisla Distillery Tours
https://www.maltwhiskydistilleries.com/strathisla/

Michelle’s Dufftown Distilleries Walk
https://www.dufftown.co.uk/prov_attr_detail.php?id=153

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

#14 A taste of Campbeltown

Dramming Around moves to Scotland

Our first whisky trip in Scotland: couldn’t have been anywhere else!

(For a more in depth Campbeltown experience go here: Cadenhead’s Warehouse tasting, Kintyre Gin and Watt Whisky tastings, Springbank/Glengyle visits and Glen Scotia tasting)

September 2018, still the beginning of our life in Scotland: Gianluigi had moved about a year earlier, Teresa not even 4 months. We were coming out our first Fringe as Edinburghers (although someone would use another term), festival that we appreciated but despised at the same time, as the city can become very hard to live in August.

We wanted to have a weekend break somewhere, but for a few weeks we were stuck exploring options, undecided. Then a thought crossed our minds: why don’t we go to that place…the one that is a whisky region by itself…what’s its name…Campbeltown!

As we used to do for our weekends away back in Illinois, we rented a car, and booked a random accommodation on Booking.com (at the time we were not aware of the Ardshiel Hotel), and the holiday was set! The program was very easy: travelling on Friday, Saturday in Campbeltown, and on Sunday we’d visit Oban and travel back to Edinburgh. We had no idea what was expecting us! At the time we hadn’t visited any distillery in Scotland…together: Gianluigi had visited Glengoyne as a side event of a conference he had attended a couple of months before in Glasgow. Unfortunately, the experience was far from great: too many people and one tiny dram.

So, when the day came, Teresa went to work in Glasgow as usual, while Gianluigi picked up the rental car and picked her up for lunch. We followed Teresa’s colleagues suggestions and drove westward instead of north. So, we crossed the sea on ferries twice: first from Gourock to Dunoon, and after crossing the Argyll, from Portavadie to Tarbert, to finally drive down the Kintyre peninsula.

Even if this is not the most popular part of the West Coast, we found most landscapes truly beautiful, and particularly peaceful. We arrived at our hotel quite late, and Gianluigi had to finish off a bit of work. We hadn’t realised how early restaurants were closing in Campbeltown, so we almost missed dinner time. Fortunately, a nearby restaurant allowed us in, at the condition we ordered quickly, which we did, as we were super-hungry (unfortunately, when we were back in 2021 we saw that it’s closed). The night ended with a pint at the hotel’s bar.

After a generous breakfast, we left the hotel to check out Campbeltown. The day wasn’t great (overcast but not rainy), and we just walked around. Someone would describe the town as a bit run down, but to us the atmosphere was relaxing and cosy, almost intimate and melancholic, one that you can only find in far-away villages like this.

The first appointment of the morning was at Glen Scotia Distillery, but when we arrived, everything was closed. We waited a bit puzzled, checking emails and times meanwhile. Suddenly, a man came out of the production gate, asking if one of us was Gianluigi. He was one of the distillers, Archie, who told us that the designed guide was sick and couldn’t give us the tour. However, if that was OK with us, Archie would be the guide for the two of us, although sometimes he would have needed to go check the stills. Moreover, the tour was free as an apology for the inconvenient. We couldn’t believe our ears, of course it was OK with us!!! The tour was really in depth, and the fact that a distiller was our guide made it really invaluable. Even the tasting was very generous: a wee taste of the new-make spirit, then the Double Cask, the 15y, the Campbeltown Festival 2018 (finished in Ruby Port casks), and the Victoriana. Unfortunately, the shop was closed as well (the sick tour guide was running the shop too), so we bought something later at Cadenhead’s.

After the tour, we had a quick but tasty bite at Café Bluebell, and we then proceeded to the afternoon activity: the Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting. At the time we weren’t as nerdy as we are today, so we decided to skip the Springbank or Glengyle distillery tours in favour of a tasting: we weren’t even aware of all the frenzy around Springbank yet. Moreover, at first, the concept of an independent bottler was not the easiest to grasp: why should a distillery sell its product to an intermediary? Now it is so obvious, and we are grateful for that: the variety of whisky that some independent bottlers can offer is truly astonishing, and without them we wouldn’t be able to get our Miltonduff’s, Glen Elgin’s, Glentauchers’, Glen Spey’s, Mannochmore’s, and all the other ones that are rarely bottled by their owners.

As a matter of fact, it didn’t take long to appreciate the great work that Cadenhead’s do. In the warehouse, a sizeable line-up of casks was waiting for us. We don’t remember much, but in the bunch there were a Strathclyde grain (there are pictures), a Longrow 11y, a Paul John, definitely a speysider, someone said a Lagavulin (probably a Caol Ila) and a 10y rum from Darsa distillery, in Guatemala. We ended up taking the rum and the Longrow, but all the drams were truly delicious. Not surprisingly, we’re in the Cadenhead’s club now!

At the end of the tasting we were kind of tipsy (ehm…), so we decided to leave the bottles at the hotel and have dinner in the most far-away restaurant we could reach walking, on the other side of the harbour (which is now closed too…are we bringing bad luck??). We went back to the hotel, not before having an extra dram, the last one in Campbeltown…for now.

The Sunday morning was again overcast turning to rain, so we checked out and started driving south, towards the Mull of Kintyre (“Oh mist rolling in from the sea, my desire is always to be here”…), to finish our exploration of the peninsula.

Slightly better weather on the way from Campbeltown to Oban!

Then we drove north, towards Oban, the last stop in our trip. Although the sun came out while driving, it started pouring rain as soon as we parked in Oban (experiencing the 4-season in day). Oban is a nice village but looked a bit too touristy for us (and indeed we haven’t been back yet, unlike Campbeltown). The tour at the distillery was nice but a bit dull, probably it suffered in comparison to the previous day experiences. Still, it was interesting to see how this distillery, unlike many others, is nestled in the village, with no space for potential expansions. At the end of the tour we were given a dram of the flagship, the Oban 14y, and one of the Oban Little Bay. We ended up not buying anything, as even then we were aware that distillery prices sometimes are not competitive. We would have bought a bottle a few months later.

Oban right in the middle of the flavour map.

As a baptism into scotch distillery visiting, we couldn’t ask for more: a magic place, and magic whisky. With the pandemic and all we weren’t able to go back to Campbeltown for a while, so when we managed to do it in 2021, it was a very welcome return, with more whisky knowledge and experience in the pocket! Now it’s time to plan our third trip… 2023?

Links

Glen Scotia Distillery: https://www.glenscotia.com/
Cadenhead’s: https://experience.cadenhead.scot/
Oban Distillery: https://www.malts.com/en-gb/distilleries/oban

#13 A weekend on the Isle of Arran

Arran, the beautiful

Back in 2019, when you didn’t have to sell a kidney to rent a car, we organised a last-minute weekend on the iconic Isle of Arran.

The Autumn of 2019 was a very different time. Thinking of that period makes us feel a bit naïve and unaware, a bit like pigeons pecking on the road before being run over by a bus.

Things were different also regarding our whisky journey. It had started, but it was still at a larval stage. We had already visited a few distilleries in the US back in 2016 and 2017, in Campbeltown (a year earlier) and up in the Highlands (a few months earlier). We were still in our first year of SMWS membership, and we had barely just found out about their awesome tastings in the city venues. A few months earlier Gianluigi had found out about Mark Gillespie’s WhiskyCast, which became the soundtrack for his runs on the Pentlands. The idea of starting a blog wasn’t there yet. So, we were getting there, slowly but steadily. Things were definitely moving at a much slower pace with respect to the pandemic first wave when, ironically, our knowledge and awareness sped up quite a bit.

It’s in this context that one day, we decided on a whim to book a mid-November weekend on the isle of Arran. At the time renting a car was much cheaper, so we got a compact (we are quite compact ourselves), we booked one night in a B&B (it wasn’t exactly high-season) and, more importantly, the tours to two distilleries: Lagg and Lochranza! These distilleries are both owned by the Isle of Arran Distillers Ltd. While Lagg was very new at the time, we were already familiar with the Lochranza’s Arran 10yr, having tried it once or twice in bars before. To be completely honest, we hadn’t connected with it right away. We think it was (past tense, very important!) because, as beginners, we were chasing big and bold flavours such as peat or heavily sherry influence, rather than gentle and balanced drams like Arran or Deanston. Nevertheless, it sparked enough curiosity to jump in a car and get to see them!

Teresa studying Ardrossan Castle’s ruins.

The drive from Edinburgh to Ardrossan on a Saturday morning was easy and smooth, not too much traffic. We stopped briefly to check out the Ardrossan Castle ruins (not much is left, to be honest), before getting to the pier. On the boat, we got that melancholic feeling of visiting an off-season tourist destination. And indeed it is, as many people from the mainland, Glaswegians in particular, choose it for their holidays.

The Isle of Arran is called “Scotland in miniature”, because of the very different landscapes in the north, resembling the Highlands, and the south, more similar to the Lowlands. It is roughly shaped like an oval and its main roads draw an “8”, which we intended to drive all along to explore the island. So, as we landed in Brodick, we drove first north, then west, then towards the south-west corner of the island where Lagg is located. This distillery was very new at the time, they had started producing only a few months earlier. They focus on peated spirit, and while their single malt was not available of course (it still isn’t at the time of writing), the available peated range Machrie Moor was produced at the Lochranza distillery.

Inexperienced whisky enthusiasts at Lagg distillery.

The building is beautiful, with the shop on the ground floor and a good café upstairs from which we could see young orchards (we found out later that they were planning to produce cider). Before starting the tour, we admired old pictures showing how life on the island used to be. Then the guide welcomed us and, after covering the history of the distillery and the island, made us try the new make – that was a nice surprise! The tour of the production was good and fairly short, mostly because everything was in one large room, one of the first (but definitely not last) times we had seen this.

From the big window behind the mashtun, the view on the sea was just stunning. In the tasting room, we tried some Machrie Moor (the main expression and the cask strength), but the guide also kindly gave us a wee sip of the sherry-finished Fingal’s Cut.

Sorry you can’t see the sea behind the mashtun!

Tired but happy, we took the south road to Whiting Bay, had dinner and, finally, a couple of drams in a bar before going to bed.

It was very sunny when we woke up in the morning. This and a generous breakfast with sea view put us in a very good mood, and we were ready to explore the island! We decided to take full advantage of the nice weather and go for a short hike. We first drove along the coast to get to a car-park where we could take the path to Machrie Moor (yes, it’s not just whisky).

The walk was easy and the landscape just beautiful, and at that stage it was so warm that we took our jackets off (who said that the weather is always bad in November?!?). It was fascinating to walk around the archaeological site dating to between 3500 and 1500 BC and admire the circle and standing stones.

Back in the car, we headed north towards the last stop of the day, Lochranza distillery. Formerly known as the Isle of Arran Distillery, it can be considered the trailblazing distillery in this new golden age of Scotch whisky, dating back to 1995. Other than being the first to open on the island in a very long time, it was built in a period when, elsewhere in Scotland, some distilleries were still being decommissioned or demolished following the whisky loch of the 80s.

The same inexperience whisky enthusiasts at Lochranza distillery.

The visit started with a short video about the history of the distillery, its connection with the location and a bit about production. While watching the video, we enjoyed a dram of Arran 10yr. After that, our guide Richard gave us a very entertaining, informative tour. He also spent some time in the courtyard to show us the variety of casks they use, thanks to which we finally started to understand the difference between barrel, hogshead, butt, etc. (again, it was the early days of our whisky journey).

Washbacks at Lochranza distillery… and a wee guest!

At the bar, we were given a sip of their cream liqueur (great gift for non-whisky drinkers), but then we separated from the rest of the group to do a more in-depth tasting. We enjoyed having the tasting room all to ourselves while Richard talked us through an excellent selection of drams: Amarone and Port finishes, Bodega (sherry finish), the Bothy (ex-bourbon quarter cask finished), 18yr….

After the tasting (and the purchase…), we sat at a table outside the distillery for a bite (Italian salami, cheese and bread), with Richard joining us for a few minutes. We would have stayed more, but it was time to get the ferry back to mainland.

And there it happened, we connected with Arran whiskies, confirming how a good distillery experience can make a difference: now we always have an Arran on our shelf! The quarter-cask expression also made us realise how good bourbon-matured casks can be, a type of flavour that since then we have been chasing more and more!

Beautiful Arran, we’ll be back.

Links :
(No distillery box because we visited these distilleries more than two years ago.)

https://www.laggwhisky.com

https://www.arranwhisky.com

#12.5 From Islay with love

Back to mainland… Au revoir, Islay (Epilogue)

A straight return to Leith and some reflections about our first trip to Islay.

(missed Day 3, Day 2, Day 1 or the Prologue?)

We woke up a bit sad: we weren’t on Islay anymore. The night before we had made good use of the disposable grill (in the parking lot…) and, exhausted, went straight to bed. After breakfast we called AA right away, still puzzled about what to do with the campervan. Another guy came, again from the super helpful Stag Garage, and helped us turn the van on. One objective now: drive straight to Edinburgh, without turning it off! It looked like one of those challenges in the old ads of Amaro Montenegro (at least the ones on Italian TV), but we could do it, fuel was enough. And yes, we made it: four hours later we successfully drove it to a garage in Leith previously agreed with the owner, stopping only once for a leak and once for Teresa to unload our stuff (Gianluigi stayed in the van… we don’t feel comfortable enough to leave a running vehicle around Leith yet)! After a celebratory coffee and pint, we finally went home.

So that was it, our very first trip to Islay, and hopefully, the first of many! It didn’t go as we planned it out, and we definitely didn’t like being moved from one distillery to another like cattle. We like doing things our way, and it’s not just about the whisky: taking our time, exploring the roads and the places, enjoying the changing landscape and feeling the community. But setbacks happen, so we feel lucky that we still managed to somehow visit the island, at least! Anyway, visiting six distilleries in three days made us reflect on a popular topic in the whisky community: what makes a good distillery tour?

First, the tour guide, definitely. An experienced, engaging and enthusiastic guide always makes the difference, even when the distillery doesn’t have much to offer (for example, because whisky is not ready yet or because the site is not the most beautiful one). We always admired the ability of a guide to set the tone of the tour depending on whether the crowd is knowledgeable or not, and to answer questions at a depth which felt just right for the audience. Most of the guides we found on the island were great, and were a big component of our experience.

Second, the type of visit matters too. We always have fun visiting production, but warehouse tastings are becoming more and more our favourite whisky experience. The trip on Islay only confirmed it: the feeling, the smell, the dampness…there is really no other place like a distillery warehouse! We already did some excellent warehouse tastings before coming to Islay (Deanston, Cadenhead’s twice…). Among the ones we did so far, Bunnahabhain Warehouse 9 was definitely one of the best ever. Next time we’d like to do the distillery tour, but we’ll likely do the warehouse tasting too (yes, again!). Similarly for Lagavulin, with a slight difference: Bunna’s drams were clearly chosen as outstanding ones, all very rich and showcasing the influence of both cask and spirit; Lagavulin’s drams were cleaner and spirit-forward, and this gave to the tasting a very valuable educational angle, it was like following the spirit in its maturation journey. We loved both!

Happier and more knowledgeable after the Lagavulin warehouse tasting.

We know they have warehouse tastings at Laphroaig and Bruichladdich too, but while we couldn’t fit them in this trip, we’ll definitely check them out next time. In both distilleries we did the “regular” tour, although we were pleasantly surprised because in both cases the tour was definitely whisky geek oriented, and nothing like the quite dull regular tours you can find sometimes on the mainland. Probably being in a distillery on Islay is definitely a sign of whisky-geekery, you cannot stumble there on your way to Loch Ness we guess…

Having a good experience definitely makes you connect deeper with a whisky, but in these two cases we already liked them both. Laphroaig was one of the drams that got Gianluigi into whisky in a first place, although now we moved away from the main range (the Select and the 10y), trying solid drams like the Lore and the Cairdeas was a pleasant discovery. The basic Bruichladdich range (Classic Laddie and Port Charlotte 10y) is very solid already, but unfortunately getting special releases or and single casks can be a bit pricey…in particular the whole Octomore range.

Finally, every distillery has its own features, and even just this makes the visit worthwhile (ok ok, we accept this might only apply to enthusiasts like us). While some of the distilleries might seem similar at a first glance, ultimately they are very different in their philosophy, style and, more importantly, their malt. For example, we were very curious about Kilchoman, being one of the youngest distilleries on the island, but still built in a moment when the whisky frenzy wasn’t as high as it is now. The fact that this tour was supposed to happen over two years ago only made us more eager. It did not disappoint, and we both really liked everything about the distillery, from its mix of modern and traditional features, to their philosophy. A truly farm distillery, something we hadn’t seen many times.

Ardnahoe tour was the only one we found a bit basic, in particular compared to the others on the island, but we have to consider that it’s much harder when you are such a young operation (from 2019…and with 2 years of pandemic in between) and don’t have well aged stock to showcase. Still, it was very interesting to see a perfect example of how new distilleries are clearly built with visitors in mind. Also, their new make is very promising, so we’ll look to go back after their single malt releases.

At least this time we have bad weather as an excuse for our bad Ardnahoe pictures…

The only thing a bit off was some of the crowd we encountered in a few distilleries. It’s understandable being enthusiastic, but when that becomes rudeness it’s not ok: touching things you’re not supposed to touch, making the party wait for you, not respecting personal space, bothering the guide with questions about other distilleries (…why?), talking over the guide and reply to question directed to them…Please don’t be that guy! We had already witnessed some of these previously, but not all at once like on Islay…We were a bit shocked, so shocked that we thought the whole thing was worth a bingo card! Big shout out to the guides that, kindly but firmly, kept the undisciplined visitors straight!

Well, we will need to go back to Islay, hopefully sooner rather than later: first to visit the other distilleries (Bowmore, Caol Ila and Ardbeg, plus the close-enough Jura…and of course one day Port Ellen and Portintruan), and probably to revisit some. Hopefully next time things will be much smoother (not that it would take much, to be honest…), so we’ll have a chance to have a more fulfilling experience!

As you might imagine, we are already starting to planning it out!

#12.2 From Islay with love

Pouring down rain…and drams

(Day 1)

Despite the campervan breakdown we made it on the Isle of Islay! Not a postcard day (euphemism…), but that didn’t prevent us to enjoy some awesome drams!

(missed what happened first? Here’s the Prologue. Curious to know how it continued? Day 2, Day 3, Epilogue)

In spite of the bad luck with the campervan, we were on Islay! , On the ferry we managed to book a taxi to get to our first destination. This distillery is a very favourite of ours, so much that their 12y is the only bottle we replaced: Bunnahabhain!

On the way to the first distillery, we could admire the Port Ellen maltings and some piles of peat. We were a few minutes early, so while Teresa arranged the payment with the taxi driver (we found out at our destination that they didn’t take card…note for next time: bring cash), Gianluigi started browsing the shop, which featured the core range, some limited releases, and to our surprise last year (still) and this year (already!) Feis Ile bottlings. As the time for the tasting arrived, we followed Colin through the distillery to the mythical Warehouse 9 (although there aren’t 9 warehouses on the site now, only 6).

We were quite a large group, 13 people, which coming out of 2 years of pandemic seemed even bigger! But of course, there was place for everyone on the benches around the 4 casks. The mood was already up to the sky and we both had smiles larger than our faces. Colin was very knowledgeable and funny, he definitely played a big part in our experience. We later found out that he is the co-host of the Attic Islay podcast… we wish we would have known before that! (We also learned from his social media that he moved on soon after, so the best of luck to him!) The first sample was one of the last few bottles from a cask that was just replaced: a beautiful and pale 17y malt from an ex-manzanilla sherry butt. As a starter dram, it set the bar quite high! Second off, a weirdly pale ex-PX Noe which was extremely silkie and sweet, another belter. According to Colin, the reason why the whisky came out so pale after 17 years in an ex-PX cask is because this might have been the one on “top” of a solera system “pyramid”, so the sherry might not have had the time to give the typical dark colour, which in some cases can be as deep as coke (note: solera systems casks are not necessarily physically on top of each other, but it’s easier to explain it this way). Teresa won a sample of the ex-PX Noe by being the closest to guess the year in which the Bunnahabhain flagship expression 12y went on sale: 1979 (Teresa’s guess was 1981, Gianluigi’s 1972). The last couple of casks were very new in the line-up, and since Colin was still recovering from his Covid-caused loss of smell and taste he told us he had no idea about how they tasted… what a shame for him! The third dram was a peated matured for 17y in an Oloroso butt, this time a dark, very earthy and oily dirty dram, like chainsaw fuel but in a good way. The final dram was truly one of the best whiskies we tried: 19 years of age, the first decade spent in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead, the final 9 years in an ex-Heaven Hill barrel. Truly wonderful stuff.

Because their cafeteria at their visitor centre is still closed, we decided to move on to the next distillery, despite we had the tour booked for much later in the afternoon: Ardnahoe. The distillery is only a half-hour walking distance, so we went out to take a few pictures before moving on. The cloudy day, which earlier dissuaded us from pursuing other walks, turned into a downpour. As we walked in Ardnahoe, we were totally wet: excluding the times we were physically inside a body of water, probably the wettest we had ever been. The visitor centre is unusually big (it almost makes the distillery looking like a side feature), with a shop and a cafe. In spite of its size, the first available table was at 2pm, a good hour and a half away. During this time we browsed several times the Hunter Laing collections (including Old Malt Cask and Hepburn Choice, among others) and did a few trips to the restroom to try dry ourselves under the hand-driers. The soup and the chowder (we needed to warm up!) were quite tasty, and after a good coffee we indulged in a couple of their very fairly priced drams: an independently bottled 9y Talisker (first time we tried an independently bottled one) and a 25y North British, both 5 quids each.

Ardnahoe still room (on a very dark day)…try to picture Jura’s Paps behind the fog!

Finally, 4pm. The tour started in a room adjacent to the visitor centre, where our guide explained the history behind the distillery, which started producing new make spirit only in 2019. We quickly moved to the production area, where we admired their Bobby mill, one of the very few existing. It was followed by the copper covered mash tun, their wooden washbacks, and in particular their stills, which have the longest lyne arms in the Scottish industry (they are really long!). These arms take the distillate to worm tubs condensers, a unique feature among Islay distilleries. Unfortunately the tour didn’t include the warehouse. We were brought back in a tasting room, where we could choose a dram among four: the Islay and Highland Journeys (two regional blended malts), a Hunter Laing Glengoyne and the Scarabus single malt (from an undisclosed Islay distillery). We chose the two blended malts, which were ok but not very memorable. More interestingly, we got offered a taste of the new make spirit: on top of the usual pear and green apple aromas we tasted in other mew makes, this one also had lot whiff of bananas and, of course, smoke.

After the tour we unsuccessfully tried to call a few taxi companies to pick us up. Fortunately, we spotted a father-and-son duo, and asked them for a lift to the hotel. Fortunately, they accepted, as the hotel was on the way to their camping. That really saved us, as the rain didn’t seem to want to stop any time soon (we were again very wet just crossing the Ardnahoe parking lot!). We rewarded their kindness with a tasting set of the Scarabus once at our destination: the Skerrols House hotel.

We were very warmly welcomed by Thomas, the hotel manager. He showed us the amenities of the hotel (including a warm room where we could dry our clothes and shoes!) and offered us a cup of tea. As he learned about our trip, and that we wouldn’t have left the hotel before the next morning, he and his wife offered us a couple of sandwiches for dinner. The hotel was quite great, just outside our house there was a small “reading room”, and downstairs, where we had the tea, a very comfortable hang out room (with TV). Everything in the room was great too: soft towels, comfy bed and pillows, and a nice view. We are not definitely used to such fancy places! We couldn’t relax as we wished however, and we had again little sleep, because of the uncertainty around our plans… but there was nothing to do until the morning.

Bunnahabhain Warehouse 9 Tasting

Price: £40.00 pp (April 2022)

Tasting (all samples from the cask, so NC, NCF and CS*): 17y unpeated ex-manzanilla butt (56.5%), 17y unpeated 2004 ex-PX Noe cask (52%), 17y peated Oloroso butt (52.9%), 19y double ex-bourbon maturation (10y hogshead, 9y 1st fill Heaven Hills barrel, 53.7%)

Target: whisky enthusiasts, geeks, and experts

Value for money: great

Highlights: the drams, the distillery scenery and Colin’s enterteing tasting

Distillery exclusive: most of the above (they decided to stop selling the Warehouse 9 releases on their website, as tour re-started)

Link: https://bunnahabhain.com/

Ardnahoe Distillery Tour

Price: £15.00 pp (Apr 2022)

Tasting: one dram from the following, the Islay and Highland Journey (blended malts, NAS, 46%, NC, NCF), Scarabus (single malt, NAS, 46%, NC, NCF) and a Hepburn Choice Glengoyne

Target: casual tourists and whisky novices

Value for money: Good

Highlights: the distillery scenery (still nice despite the weather)

Things we did not like: very “vanilla” tour

Distillery exclusive: 11y Jura (NC, NCF, CS*) from Hunter Laing

Link: https://ardnahoedistillery.com/

*NC: not artificially colored, NCF: not chill0filtered, CS: cask strength

#12.1 From Islay with love

Breakdowns and smoke

(Prologue)

Finally, after just over two years of delay, we made it to Islay! Not as easy as you might think, however…

(Want some distillery action? Go to Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Epilogue!)

Finally, THE day arrived. It was a matter of time, not “if” but “when”… our very first trip to the mighty Isle of Islay! But let’s go in order: it’s not the first time we booked a trip there. Last time we had rented campervan for 10 days, booked the ferries, booked tours in all 8 available distilleries (Caol Ila visitor centre was, and still is, closed for renovation), a trip to Jura, and a couple of other distilleries on the way. But that trip was due to happen in March 2020, so you can guess how things went down…

This time we took things a bit easier, we only booked 3-4 weeks in advance. We were able to get a campervan for an acceptable price (unfortunately the price of most accommodations on the island was more than the van alone), but this time just for a long weekend: 3 full days on the island (+ 2 half-days for the travel back and forth), and 6 distilleries, still pretty good! So, when the day came, we woke up super early: run, breakfast, packing, a bit of house cleaning, lunch and, finally, picking up the van near the Leith Links.

This was still the happy part of the day.

The company we used works like an “AirBnB of campervans”: they are an intermediary but vehicles are privately owned. Our “host” was very nice and she explained carefully all the features of the camper, which was definitely an upgrade compared to the one we used in Speyside and Highlands last summer, having a little sink and the hobs. We jumped on it, a quick stop home to get our stuff, and then straight towards the West Coast!

The trip was smooth, we took the highway to Stirling, then drove west towards Drymen, and kept going along Loch Lomond. We stopped at the Rest and Be Thankful area to stretch our legs, and again at the Lochgilphead’s Tesco for gas and some groceries.

Rest and Be Thankful, aka the calm before the storm…

When it was time to restart the vehicle, plot twist! The campervan just wouldn’t start. We called the assistance, which said that they would take around 2 hours to come. Was it the battery? That was what we hoped for, but by turning the key the radio and lights were working, very bad omen. The assistance arrived (meanwhile, we had already changed our ferry ticket for the next morning), and the verdict was ruthless: the starter motor broke down, no way to replace it in the evening nor on the Saturday morning, we’d have had to wait until maybe Monday, but more likely Tuesday for something to happen (the perks of a bank holiday weekend). For a moment we were speechless, thinking “is this really happening? Does it mean we won’t be able to go to Islay, AGAIN?”

But an idea crossed our minds: if there was nothing to do until Tuesday anyway, we could just go to Islay on foot for the weekend, couldn’t we? The assistance guy turned on the campervan, fortunately the parking lot was on a slope (Gianluigi still remembered how to push things from his rugby years). So, back in the campervan we drove to the parking lot at the Kennacraig ferry terminal.

We spent the night in the campervan, not really in the mood for drams and not sleeping much either. In the morning we packed the only backpack we brought (we didn’t take two with us because… “We have the campervan, why would we need two backpacks?” So naïve!) with the very minimal: laptop, a change of underwear and t-shirt each, toothbrush, the Malt Year Book 2022 (fundamental), some food in a tote bag. During the ferry trip we found an accommodation on the island for the night and arranged some taxi rides (of course, the first distillery was the farthest away from the terminal). Our arrival in Port Ellen was very emotional and for a moment we forgot all of our worries and starter motors: we were finally on the Isle of Islay!

#10.3 Whisky in Edinburgh and beyond

Dramming in
Glasgow and Fife

Another couple of distillery trips right outside Edinburgh: Clydeside and Kingsbarn.

(missed Part 2 or Part 1?)

Being in a new golden era of whisky, recent years saw a plethora of new single malt distilleries being built around Scotland and the rest of the world. A few new ones are in the Lowlands. Here, distilleries opened really all over the place: in Fife (remember our trip to Lindores Abbey?), in Edinburgh (someone said Holyrood?), in the south of Scotland (ehm-ehm, Borders), and in Glasgow. One of the most recent here, is the Clydeside distillery, which opened in 2017 and started producing new make spirit in 2018. We visited it back in November 2019, at a time we were getting more and more involved into whisky. We spotted an event in the SMWS website which included the distillery tour plus tasting and bites. What else could we ask?

Coincidentally, a couple of friends of ours were visiting, so we gladly involved them in the visit (we’re still unsure whether they really wanted to get involved, but they didn’t say “no”). Being a time when people used to go every day to the office, Teresa was already in Glasgow, and the three of us reached her in the late afternoon. At the time the distillery was not quite easy to reach by public transport from the city centre, so we grabbed an Uber. The distillery building is beautiful, a mix of modern and industrial architecture, right on the side of the Clyde river (well, the distillery name kind of gave it away, I guess…). There is a whisky shop inside the visitor centre, with a wide selection of whiskies.

The tour was very nice, we had to translate it in Italian for our friends, so we ended up not taking any pictures (and tbh, at the time the blog idea was not there yet…), but we enjoyed it nonetheless. We were very happy to try the newmake spirit at the end of it. Being a SMWS one, the rest of the tasting was quite great as well, and there we could try a single grain whisky distilled a couple of days Gianluigi was born! The bites were a bit underwhelming, so to calm our hungry stomachs we had to get a (very typical late night in Glasgow) kebab when we were back in the city centre, before our train back to Edinburgh. At the time they didn’t have any official release yet, but now that they have, we are waiting for the right occasion to go back to Glasgow and try something tasty!

Among the most prolific areas for new distilleries, Fife could almost be a region on its own now. We recently visited Lindores Abbey, but among the new distilleries we can count for Aberargie, Daftmill, Eden Mill, Inchdairnie, and Kingsbarns. We visited the latter in March 2020, right before the pandemic. The event was organized by the Fife Whisky Festival, and consisted in the projection of the Amber Light documentary, featuring Dave Broom, and the tour of the distillery. To attend this event Gianluigi had to turn down a free ticket offer for a Scotland rugby game at Murrayfield, where it was playing against France. His epidemiologist instinct suggested avoiding big crowds, since Covid was already spreading across Italy and, in his mind, it was just a matter of time for it to get to Scotland.

Reaching the distillery in a combination of train and buses turned out not being the cheapest, we ended up spending more money than what a rented car would have costed at the time. However, it paid off as the distillery is situated in a very beautiful spot of the Fife coast, nearby the sea and meters away from golf courses. The projection of the movie was not the best, due to the initial technical problems and a very low audio volume.

The distillery was built in 2014 on an abandoned farm originally from the 1800s, of which they retained the main structure (including the pigeon house and, as many newly built distilleries, they have a café, where you can have food and tasty cakes. The very enthusiastic tour guide walked us through the production stages, and tested our ability to recognize flavours and aromas in a dedicated area. We understood that the intention was to release single malt at a young age, therefore commonly to others they use lots of shaved, toasted and recharred (STR) casks. They started making newmake spirit in 2015 (the first cask is exposed in the visitor centre), which we could taste at the end of the tour, together with a first core range expression, Dream to Dram (46%, ex bourbon and STR casks), and the Family Reserve: a similar expression but bottled at cask strength. The distillery is owned by the Wemyss Family, which is an independent bottler as well, so we were also offered a Velvet Fig 25y/o malt from their range. We particularly liked the Family Reserve expression, however at the time we had a 10-day trip to Islay scheduled for the end of the month, so we didn’t buy it and we got a couple of Wemyss blended malts miniatures instead…fortunately we could find that bottle months later, since that trip to Islay never happened.

In spite of the young age, the drams we had were both very tasty. We recently attended a Kingsbarns vertical tasting at the Tipsy Midgie, in Edinburgh, which confirmed how promising their whisky is, when matured in a range of casks as well. Overall, getting to know these new distilleries is very exciting: all of them can offer a unique take on single malt, and unlike many of their older brothers, the new and family-owned ones have more freedom to experiment and provide innovation in the category. Being able to reach them (more or less) easily is definitely a big “plus”!

Until the next adveture, stay safe and sláinte!

Whisky Activities Links

https://www.theclydeside.com/
https://www.kingsbarnsdistillery.com/
https://smws.com/
https://www.fifewhiskyfestival.com/