#31.3 Spirit of Speyside 2023

Next stop, Tamdhu station

TL;DR: On our second day at the Spirit of Speyside, we checked out the Pictish Stones before driving to the first distillery of the day. This is a famous one for sherry cask maturation: Tamdhu! Not the prettiest one, but an interesting visit nonetheless.

(missed Part 2/Part 1?)

We woke up early (campervan life!) but well rested. Because the weather was still a bit cold (3°C in the morning!), and also because we still needed to get a comfortable mattress for the pop-up roof (the basic self-inflatable ones provided at purchase were “not great”, let’s just say), we slept “downstairs” in the van. This means you can’t basically do nothing before putting the rock-and-roll bed bad together. Once done that, we could have breakfast: black coffee (we’re still Italian), fruits, yogurt and crumpets. The latter is becoming one of our official campervan breakfast supplies, after we ”discovered” them during our 2022 Orkney trip.

Being a sunny morning (the only one in the holiday), the temperature quickly raised, so before hitting the road we had a wee walk. There was a church there, with a porch hosting the Inveravon Pictish stones, uncovered in 1878 and dating back to the 7^th-9^th century. These are carved with animals and other symbols, quite a nice small bonus for the morning. Back to the van, we left directed towards the first distillery of the day: Tamdhu!

The not so famous Pictish stones.

We didn’t have to travel much, and as we were a few minutes early, we drove to Knockando distillery (at the moment not operational), just a stone’s throw away, for a quick snoop. Tamdhu distillery is located near the river Spey, quite hidden from the main road. We parked at the (former) train station, a familiar spot for us: it is where the Dramathon half-marathon starts. For the festival, the wee building was turned into a the visitor centre, with a pop-up shop, while another building was renovated into a “snug” for tastings (we just took a look from the outside). Our tour guides were Jackie and Mike, respectively guide at the sister distillery Glengoyne (the other owned by Ian McLeod’s, soon to be three with Rosebank), and brand ambassador. They gave us (well, they gave Teresa) a dram, the Tamdhu 12 (43%), a nice one to start with.

Teresa was not ready for the picture.

The distillery started producing in 1897, it isn’t the prettiest, having a very industrial look, with some parts even a bit run down (and missing the popular pagoda roof, destroyed in 1919 and never rebuilt). During its history it has been mothballed a few times, the last one between 2010 and 2013, when it was sold from Edrington to Ian McLeod (in 2011). As usual, we started the production tour from the milling room, where a big green-painted old Porteus mill was located. It was not the original, it was purchased in the mid-70s from an unknown location. One peculiarity is that they have two silent (i.e. not producing) seasons, March and September, where they switch fuel from gas to diesel. As the other two distilleries we visited, you could definitely see that it is not a place geared for tourists.

Not quite the “classic” distillery.

We soon moved to the tun room with its closed stainless-steel mash tun. Next, we checked out the 9 wooden washbacks where the wash is fermented for 59 hours. Jackie and Mike kindly opened a few of them to make us smell the wash at different stages of fermentation. As usual, it was then time for the stills: they have 3 pairs of wash and spirit stills. As we always do, we asked for the cuts of the “heart” (what goes in the casks), but they explicitly said they could not tell us…maybe they were afraid we open our distillery to copy them, ahah!

Traditional washbacks in a not that traditional room.

This time we were both ready.

We then took a walk in the courtyard, before visiting a dunnage warehouse, one of the 28 warehouses across all their sites. They have also racked and palletised warehouses, but for their single malt they only use dunnage and racked. Sandy, the distillery manager, was waiting for us in the warehouse. It was a very nice part of the tour: he told some stories about the distillery, their commitment to source only the best sherry casks (well…like most distilleries, so we wonder who gets all the crappy ones).

Dunnage warehouse, always fascinating.

Finally, after a wee walk back to the visitor centre, it was time for the other two drams, both very delicious sherried ones: Tamdhu 15 and Tamdhu 18. It’s just a shame that prices for these are slowly creeping up, probably moving their target towards the high-end market. As a confirmation, their Spirit of Speyside exclusive, the Dalbeallie Dram (which we could not try there), was £100. When Gianluigi asked information about it, including the age, the guides started a mini-rant about how age is not important and whisky can be delicious at young age. We definitely agree, but if you want to sell us a whisky for 100 quid “blind” (meaning, without letting us try it), the minimum you can do is telling us about everything on the liquid. They were very generous with the driver’s drams however, a pack of three 5cl miniatures – Tamdhu 12, 15 and 18. Hooray!!!

Things we tasted, and things we didn’t taste.

Well, another distillery under our belt. Overall, we enjoyed the tour, and we learned a lot about Tamdhu, definitely a dram to try for all sherry bombs aficionados (although, it’s more delicate than most sherry bomb drams, very balanced). Stay tuned to learn about the rest of the day. Slaintè!

Tamdhu Tour (Spirit of Speyside)

Price: £35.00 pp (April 2023)

Duration: 1hr 30min

Tasting: 3 drams, Tamdhu 12 (43%), 15 (46%) and 18 (48%)

Target: whisky enthusiasts

Value for money: good (if not very good, considering how expensive Tamdhu 18 is)

Highlights: a real working site

Recommended: if you’re a fan of sherried whiskies

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

#20.2 Feast on the East

The Macallan experience!

TL;DR: we had planned this trip around the visit to Macallan, which we managed to book well in advance despite the low availability of their tours. To sum up: a modern art museum inside a Teletubbies house, but the production part is cool!

(missed Part 1?)

Something we didn’t say in the first part of the story, this trip was kind of a last-minute plan. The reason being, we planned it around a specific distillery visit which we had booked a few months before, and because of this, we were not sure we’d be able to make it. The distillery is Macallan: because they only do 6-people tours twice a day (at 10.00 and 11.00), twice or four times a week (always on Saturday and Sunday, on Thursday and Friday too in summer), it is very hard to find a spot. Back in June we somehow managed to find two places in September, so here we are. And of course, because Macallan is not exactly around the corner, when we decided to go for it, we also booked Fettercairn and Arbikie the day before, and Cragganmore for the afternoon of the same day.

Truth to be said, we aren’t huge fans of this single malt. First and foremost, the distillery expressions we tried so far (mostly their 12y) were always a bit dull, a bit better the independently bottled ones but not better than many other sherried Speyside drams. This aside, the company’s marketing towards the super-rich customers is on the edge of ridiculousness, similar to all products marketed in the same way (whether cars, watches or whatever). As we both come from working-class families, we are quite indifferent to (most) marketing BS, we can’t really figure out how someone would pay 300 quid for a 43% and probably chill-filtered 18y. This said, we were very curious to visit the distillery because of its strange and unique architecture, in particular after our “coffee experience” last year. And, at the end of the day, it is still a Scottish single malt distillery, so sooner or later a visit was due.

So, after a typical Scottish breakfast in the hotel’s pub (the dining room was under renovation), we drove past Rothes, where we stopped for a quick sneak peek at Speyburn distillery (closed to the public, sadly), and we reached Macallan parking lot. The distillery is something very different from any other we visited so far: dim lights and soft piano music, and a very high ceiling giving the impression of a big open space. It reminded us of a modern art museum, kind of Bilbao’s Guggenheim.

About to see what’s in the Teletubbies house.

At the check-in, our guide Colin (who later we discovered to be very knowledgeable) welcomed us very warmly. He took our jackets (bad sign, as it probably meant no visit to the warehouse) and told us that we could check out the shop in the meanwhile…oh sorry, not the shop, the “boutique”. A few minutes later, we were brought to the café where a few tables were reserved for us. Everyone got a coffee and a (quite delicious) scone, a nice touch. When the tour started, we were walked to the Macallan collection, where Colin explained to us the history of the distillery and the brand, including all the various collections that came out throughout the years. Quite interesting overall.

A bad picture of the interesting collection.

We then moved to the first floor towards the production area, separated from the bar by glass doors. Colin explained how this distillery came to be, and the underlying sustainability concept, like the vegetation on the roof (they probably should also ditch the huge and useless bottles boxes to really go green…). There we didn’t see any operators, as the production is 100% computerised. They installed a huge mashtun (17 ton mash!), probably the biggest we have ever seen, and there is an empty hole with space for a second one, in case they’ll need it in the future…or for a shark tank, maybe?

Absolutely massive mashtun…and empty space for a second one!

The rest of the production is divided into three “isles” with 7 washbacks and 8 stills in a circle. The stills are quite small and of the same shape as the “old Macallan” ones. At this point Colin made us taste a sample of newmake spirit, taken from a very narrow cut (from 72% to 68%, if we recall correctly) and then reduced to the industry standard of 63.5%. Quite nice, and less green-apples-and-pears forward than others. After this, we were shown a display of the main estate house, a nice example of Victorian architecture but at the moment not possible to visit.

We then went to a room, where we watched a video about how the Spanish wood is harvested and treated to make their barrels (no new information, but still OK to see), and then to another room for a second video about the art of blending (this one not very insightful to be honest).

A model of the “Spiritual Home”, and the real one in the back.

Finally, it was time for the tasting, which took place in a warehouse that sits underneath the bar, kind of in between a crypt and the Bat Cave. Initially this was just a display, it is now officially a maturing warehouse, with a few casks for each year since the new distillery started production. We tried two expressions: the Macallan 15y Double cask (a mix of sherry casks from American and European Oak) and the Home Edition, both at 43% and very drinkable but not outstanding (also, both 10ml, not much to taste anyway). We moved to the bar, where Colin gave us one last dram: the 2022 Classic Cut, a NAS expression bottled at 52.5%abv. This was definitely a step up in flavour and complexity, but for a price of £120 it disqualified itself as a potential purchase.

Overall, it was nice to get to know this distillery, and try a few expressions one after the other. It would have been great to visit one of their proper warehouses or the old distillery, which at the moment is actually mothballed (in our understanding, all the equipment is still in place). Just there in case of future needs (eg training)? It doesn’t look like there are plans to open it to visitors, but it would be really nice to be able to visit the production plant that made Macallan famous. Maybe in the future? We certainly do hope so.

The Macallan “Discovery Experience”

Price: £50.00 pp (booked in June 2022)

Duration: 2h 30min

Tasting: 3 drams, 15y Double cask (43%), Home Edition (NAS, 43%), Classic Cut (NAS, 52.5%), plus a coffee and a delicious scone

Target: whisky nerds

Value for money: a bit pricey

Highlights: the futuristic distillery layout

Recommended: only if you’re interested in modern architecture and not in “classic” distilleries

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

#2.3 A very Scottish summer holiday

A trip to ~~Orkney~~ Speyside et al.
(day 3)

Officially not in Speyside but very close, both geographically and in spirit: GlenDronach.

(Forward to Day 10 / Days 7-8-9 / Days 5-6 / Day 4 / or back to Day 2 or Day 1)

First lesson for newbies campervanners: nights spent in a camping are waaaaay more resting. We woke up feeling great in the morning, but maybe because we were anticipating what was waiting for us: the GlenDronach distillery. The drive from Aberlour to Huntly was quite smooth, with just a quick stop to Asda to pick up some folding camping chairs (another rookie mistake not to get them beforehand…).

Since its foundation in 1826, the GlenDronach distillery went through some troubled history including a fire, bankruptcy, government ownership, and mothballing. Now the distillery is owned by the American giants Brown Forman (does Jack Daniels ring a bell?) which acquired it together with Benriach and Glenglassaugh from Billy Walker. He was the responsible of GlenDronach revitalisation started in 2008, and hugely contributed to its current popularity.

We had our visit booked late in the morning. Since tours of the production had not restarted yet, we opted for the sherry masterclass. After checking in the visitor centre, the guide Vicky led us into a very nice mansion on a hill just a couple of minutes walking from the centre and in front of the warehouses, with a stunningly beautiful garden. This is called the Glen House, and it is where distillery managers used to live.

The GlenDronach distillery from the Glen House.

The tasting was ready for us and abundant beyond our expectations! We started with a “dram” (not sure if we are supposed to call it this way) of Oloroso sherry, golden colour and very dry, followed by one of Pedro Ximenez sherry, this one much darker, sweeter and syrupy. Then, we tasted their newmake spirit, which to be honest was one of the best we tried so far, already rich with sweet and fruity flavours, but delicate as well. Moving on to the whiskies, we first tasted the GlenDronach 15y (which we learned is made with whisky matured 50/50 in ex-Oloroso and ex-PX casks, unlike the 12y which is 30% ex-Oloroso and 70% ex-PX, and the 18y 100% ex-Oloroso), and then the cask strength Batch 9 (bottled at 59.4% and aged between 6 and 12 years). Finally, two gems: a vintage 1995 matured for 23 years in an ex-PX puncheon, and a vintage 1992 matured for 26 years in an ex-Oloroso butt. The tasting also included a dried fruits and chocolate florentine, which perfectly paired with the drams. It was a unique tasting for us, because for the first time we tried the sherries alongside the whiskies, which allowed us to better understand the influence of the casks on the spirit maturation. Vicky did a perfect job at guiding the tasting, and although she said she was feeling a bit “rusty” because of the long visitor centre closure, we really enjoyed the experience.

Unfortunately, the price of the two single casks was a bit steep for our pockets (we’d like to tell you, but our brains removed that information too quickly), and the price of all core range bottlings a lot higher than specialist retailers. Therefore, we “settled” for a 15y bottle your own (although, because of Covid, it was pre-bottled) matured in an ex-PX cask for around £120 which Vicky, very kindly, made us taste (the other option, an 11y ex-oloroso cask was a bit cheaper but unavailable at the time).

We drove away (ehm, Teresa drove…. driver drams for her again) to go back to the village of Huntly, where we had a quick lunch. Since the day was still long and our whisky activities were over, we decided to first visit the Huntly Castle.

A not so great photo of the Huntly Castle.

The castle was the ancient home of the Earl of Huntly. Version 1.0 of the castle was made of wood and on a motte, and only later it was replaced with a stone building right next. As many other castles in Scotland, the external structure is still well preserved. A good guided tour through the remains helped us understand a little bit of the history of the castle and the region. A fascinating, unexpected detail was the presence of Catholic religious symbols engraved on the external wall – a clear message to visitors. The garden around the castle was very well kept as well, with the river Deveron running on one side in a very picturesque landscape. We left Huntly but stopped again right outside the village for a walk at the Bin Forest. The walk was very nice and relaxing as well, we chose a fairly short trail (around 6.5 km), which led to the top of the hill. The view was very nice despite the overcast weather, but what surprised us the most was the different vegetations along the path, including some magnificent forests.

After the walk, we drove back to Speyside to get closer to the distilleries booked for the next day. We should have had an online tasting with our Leith based Quarter Gill club, but everything else went wrong. We had chosen a pub’s parking lot to spend the night as it was recommended by the Park4Night app, but we found out very late that they didn’t have food. We went to another one which unfortunately treated us very poorly (we won’t name names here, we already left a review on the appropriate platform), and we missed the online tasting. The night was saved by a few drams and the joyful crowd at the Fiddichside Inn, including a stunning 1995 Tormore bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in their Connoisseur’s Choice range. A rainy, happy night.

GlenDronach Sherry Masterclass

Price: £40.00 pp (July 2021)

Tasting: 5 drams + 2 sherry, oloroso sherry, Pedro Ximenex sherry, new make spirit, Glendronach 15y, Cask Strength Batch 9, 1995 single cask ex-PX puncheon, 1992 single cask ex-sherry butt

Target: whisky enthusiasts and geeks, in particular sherry bombs lovers

Value for money: Good

Highlights: the tasting venue and the drams

Things we did not like: the prices in the shop

Link: https://www.glendronachdistillery.com/en-gb/

#2.2 A very Scottish summer holiday

A trip to Orkney Speyside et al.

(day 2)

Busy day (fortunately, given the weather…): we officially entered Speyside and visited a couple of Glens, Glenlivet and GlenAllachie!

(Forward to Day 10 / Days 7-8-9 / Days 5-6 / Day 4 / Day 3 or back to Day 1)

Unfortunately, our first night ever sleeping in a campervan was not particularly resting, aided by an incessant rain pounding on the van’s top. Teresa waked up particularly nervous because this day was going to be the first time she drove on the left side of the road. However, we jumped in the van and the drive was (surprisingly) smooth until, just round a single-track corner, a behemoth of a distillery appeared: and here we are at Glenlivet!

Here, the tasting guide Andrew welcomed us very kindly, leading us to the newly built visitor centre and bringing us a nice coffee. The room is quite nice, with a very relaxing and cosy atmosphere, almost like a chalet on the Alps. It has a cocktail bar and comfortable chairs. That brings us to the tasting room, with soft lights and themed to look like an 1800s whisky cellar.

For that day we chose the “Single Casks” tasting, where we were given four samples of the big range of single cask bottlings available at the distillery, all cask strength. Andrew was extremely knowledgeable and passionate; we could listen to him talking about whisky and whisky making all day! As a first dram, he picked a 12y aged in an ex-oloroso butt, very dark in colour and a typical sherry bomb style. Second and third a pair of 16y, one golden coloured, almost like a wheat field in June, and the other again deep amber. Of course, this was to show us the difference between maturation in ex-bourbon barrels and ex-sherry casks. Finally, a real gem: an 18y matured in a refill sherry cask, lighter in colour than the previous sherry matured drams, but more delicate and nuanced. Overall, a great experience.

The Single Cask bottles at the shop were a bit expensive (among the ones we tried, the cheapest was £85 for a half-litre bottle), so we decided to buy a “bottle your own” expression. They had three, all cask strength but not single casks: a 12y (£55 for a 70cl bottle), a 15y (£70 for 70cl) and an 18y (£110 we think, but we might not remember correctly); we chose the 15y, whose cask make-up reminds a lot the one of their 15y core range, although this one is not chill-filtered. To note the impressive collection of Glenlivet expressions available at the shop, as well as whisky from other Pernod-Ricard distilleries (these ones in the single casks range).

Of course one of us could not taste these beauties right away, and today Teresa picked the shortest straw. Back in the van, we drove towards the village of Aberlour, where we had booked a pitch at a lovely camping. The second and last distillery of the day is one producing a whisky we both really enjoyed so far, so we were very hyped up and we didn’t want either of us to miss the tasting. So, after checking in at the camping, we walked towards the distillery on a nice trail, and 50 minutes after (someone miscalculated and thought there were only 20 minutes…ehm, Gianluigi for once) we arrived at GlenAllachie!

Here as well, tours were not available, so the experience offered to us was a video tour and a tasting. The video was very entertaining and one of the best substitutes for a walk into a distillery that we have experienced. The guide Graham interrupted the video a few times to give us the opportunity to taste the delicious drams (although with a very tiny version of a Glencairn glass, almost could not stick our noses into it!). These were: a GlenAllachie 15y, two of their distillery single casks (2009 Grattamacco finish and 2006 ex-oloroso full maturation, both cask strength, priced £100 and above) and finally a 21y McNair Lum Reek (46%). He also gave us a taste of theMcNair upcoming rums, two 7y (one finished in an ex-peated whisky…very interesting!) and a 15y. Gianluigi in particular appreciated this, as he is starting getting more and more into rum as well (oh noooo).

Something that we both always experienced, since the beginning of our whisky journey, is a connection with the red wine finished whiskies. We grew up in different parts of Italy, but both our families come from the countryside. There, red wine is almost always the drink of choice during meals. All this to say that the Grattamacco had to come home with us (nice excuse, isn’t it?), together with a miniature of the mighty 10y cask strength, a dram now very hard to get hold of when a new batch is released. After we left GlenAllachie we walked back to Aberlour through a wood, near the Linn Falls and along the Aberlour distillery (…no worries, just walking past it, we already visited it in December 2019, but it’s a story for another time).

The quality of pictures decreases after two tastings…

We had a quick pint and a warm soup in a pub before heading back to the camping, tired but happy. Our first attempt to grill failed miserably as the charcoal was too humid after all the rain of the night before. So, we sadly cooked the meat on the portable cooker, and we quickly went to bed, to get ready for another adventure!

Glenlivet The Single Casks Tasting

Price: £30.00 pp (July 2021)

Tasting: 4 drams from the Glenlivet single casks bottlings (for us 12y 1^st fill ex-sherry butt, 16y 1^st fill ex-bourbon barrel, 16y 1^st fill ex-sherry butt, 18y 2^nd fill ex-sherry butt, all cask strength)

Target: whisky enthusiasts and geeks

Value for money: Good

Highlights: the drams and the renovated visitor centre

Things we did not like: the single casks bottling prices

Link: https://www.theglenlivet.com/en-UK

GlenAllachie Premium Experience

Price: £30.00 pp (July 2021)

Tasting: 4x20ml drams, GlenAllachie 15y, two distillery exclusive single casks 2006 ex-oloroso hhd and 2009 Grattamacco finish, MacNair Lum Reek Blended Malt 21y. Complimentary mini glencairn.

Target: whisky enthusiasts and geeks

Value for money: Good

Highlights: the drams and the video distillery tour

Things we did not like: nothing really

Link: https://theglenallachie.com/