Distillery Hop in Scotland

Finally, I made it to Scotland!  It seemed like it would never happen.  First, we planned to go for my 40th birthday but then my wife's parents announced they were taking the entire family to Hawaii.  Naturally the Scotland trip was pushed back.  Then COVID happened.  Then my Mom was planning to come watch the kids for a week while my wife and I went, but she got sick and couldn't make the trip.  

And the day before our trip the strikes in Germany caused flight cancellations and our group was down to two.

But finally, I made it!  We flew in to Edinburgh on a Thursday afternoon, and spent 3 days making a big loop around Loch Lomond and visiting Glengoyne, Oban, Ben Nevis, Dalwhinnie, Blair Athol, and Aberfeldy before flying out of Edinburgh on Sunday evening.

First Stop, Glengoyne!

Our first stop was Glengoyne for the "Fine and Rare" tasting.  It was 17:00 on a sunny day and with the sun setting in the west distillery looked just like the pictures on the website.  We made it to the distillery just in time and were quickly escorted up the drive to the tasting room situated in a house at the rear of the complex.  There we sat in deep leather chairs with high arm rests and were presented with drams of their 25 year old, 30 year old, and an 11 year old, PX aged, distillery-exclusive single cask at 56.7%.  Three nibbles of chocolate accompanied the drams and we were guided through the tasting... well my friend was guided through the tasting because I was driving.  Glengoyne is his favorite distillery so it was only fair.  I did get three small sips and have three excellent samples to enjoy at home.

A quick aside:  Kudos to all of the distilleries for proactive prohibition of drunk driving.  The first question before each tasting was "Who's driving?"  They asked it seriously, not as part of a necessary routine and would provide small glass containers for each of the drivers.  

Most distilleries had both a "Distillery
Exclusive" bottling and a single
cask distillery exclusive. 
Make sure to try both!

In the gift shop my friend asked for another sip of the PX distillery exclusive to make sure that was the bottle he wanted and they also offered a sip of the previous distillery-exclusive aged in a white rum cask.  That was his winning dram and he picked up one of the last two bottles!  

After an uneventful night in nearby Loch Lomond we meandered over to Oban for "A Taste of Oban" experience.  The roads and terrain reminded me of the hilly, curvy, and narrow roads in the Pennsylvanian Appalachians.  At Oban we sat around a big table in a large tasting room where our guide, "Gus", peppered us with anecdotes and his thoughts about Diageo while informing us about each of the whiskies.  He was a retiree working part time, so what was Diageo going to do?  Fire him?  His words, not mine.  He was also not shy about sharing opinions about the wood-intensive bourbon industry requiring a new charred oak cask every time.  And all you only get bourbon out of that cask!  To be clear, it was all good natured joking!

The tasting started with a dram of one of my all-time favorites, the classic Oban 14.  I love that salty apricot on the palate.  After the 14, we sampled the Distiller's Edition, Little Bay and the Distillery Exclusive aged in rejuvenated (shaved and re-charred) bourbon casks.  After letting Gus go on for a bit about how creativity and uniqueness of the Distillery Exclusive bottle, I asked for clarification.  "Just to make sure I understand correctly, your idea of of a special bottle is to try to age it in a new charred oak barred like bourbon?"  That earned some laughs and a smile and a wink from Gus.  In the end, the stuff was amazing and I walked out of Oban with a bottle of their exclusive.

After a satisfying lunch of pie and lasagna next door at the Cuan Mor we drove the hour north to Fort William to Ben Nevis.  We checked into our hotel and walked the 30 minutes to Ben Nevis, looking forward to finally both being able to enjoy the drams at the same time.  The weather was amazingly warm for this time of year and despite the walk being alongside a heavily trafficked roadway it was very enjoyable.  

We had originally booked a tour and tasting of four drams but when we arrived we were told they had run out of one of the whiskies and we were downgraded to a 12 quid tour.  On the tour our guide made the point to show us the stainless steel and wood wash tubs side-by-side.  Both are in regular use but the wooden ones were installed when Nikka took over in 1989 to show visitors "how whisky was made," in her words.  We saw the grist mill that had just broken down for the first time in 60 years and concluded the tour near some  "white" birch trees that were completely black due to a coverage of whisky fungus.  After the tour my friend started complaining about the lack of cleanliness.  It was a production facility, what did he expect?  The difference in opinion probably comes from the fact that he's in the heath care business and I grew up around dairy farms in the U.S. Midwest.  I'll show him dirty. 

Ben Nevis Distillery - Left: A view from the entrance with distillery and namesake mountain in the background.  Middle: The steel and wooden washtubs.  Right: White birch trees covered with black fungus.

After the tour we sampled the Ben Nevis 10, Coire Leis and Nevis Dew Blue label.  The first two were ok but do not do Ben Nevis justice.  The last was a young blend that included grain whisky from a distillery in Glasgow.  I left some in the glass.  Overall, it was a disappointing experience.  How do you run out of one of your whiskies?  Why do you not have something better than a 10 year old to serve visitors?  Why serve something not solely from your distillery?  If you are not a diehard-Ben Nevis-can-do-no-wrong fan, you can skip this one.  

The "Expressions Tour and
Masterclass" experience
at Dalwhinnie was the
highlight of the trip!

The Dalwhinnie "Expressions Tour & Masterclass" was the highlight of the trip.  After an entertaining tour (with another retiree who did not care if he was fired) and pulling a dram out of a barrel we sampled six whiskies, each paired with a chocolate made specifically for that whisky.  Each chocolate pulled new and untasted flavors out of the whisky, some fruity, some nutty.  Absolutely amazing.  The only dram which I did not pair with the chocolate was the 30 year old 2019 special release.  That whisky was a high-end blend in itself and a treat to try.  The other drams were the 15, Winter's Gold, Distiller's Edition, distillery exclusive bottling, and the distillery-exclusive single cask.  I walked out with a bottle of the Distillery Exclusive bottling, a NAS matured in "first-fill bourbon, charred and rejuvenated red wine casks".  Whatever that actually is, it's good!

After finishing our drams, and trying another couple in the shop, we walked the 3/4 of a mile south to the Snack Shack where we gorged on huge double-patty burgers.  The good kind of burger where by the end the bun is basically a napkin keeping your fingers off the meat and out of the ketchup.  Dalwhinnie is the coldest part of Scotland with an average temperature of 6C and according to the guide,  "Dalwhinnie" means "the meeting place" in Gaelic.  What a horrible place to plan meetings, but on the flip side I bet they were short!  After the burgers and the cold, windy walk, we were good to drive and stopped off at the Blair Athol shop on our way to Aberfeldy.

Dalwhinnie distillery - Left panel: A view looking up into the cupola.  Middle panel: The stills with the wide necks.  Right panel:  Pulling whisky from the cask!

Filling my own bottle at Aberfeldy!

We finished our adventure at Dewar's Aberfeldy distillery with the "Connoisseur Experience" with a food pairing.  Regarding the whisky the experience was great, regarding the tour it was so-so.  Let me start with the tour so this post ends on a real positive note.  Being the home of Dewar's, the experience focused on the history of John Dewar and Dewar's whisky.  It started with a 10 minute movie in a small theater followed by a 30 minute self-guided tour in the museum showcasing the history of Dewar's.  Finally the tour guide took us through a very clean and polished distillery.  It was the only distillery where we could not take pictures, but my friend appreciated that we could probably eat off the floors in the still room.  The tasting was not guided like the others and we were allowed to go at our own pace.  My friend and I ordered the food pairing and were presented with some nice Scottish made cheeses, salamis, and jams but when we asked what we should pair it with the guide just say "oh, it's just good stuff to try with the whisky".  It was all very corporate and did not have the same character as the other distilleries.

That said, I would go back again in a heartbeat for the whisky!  We got one single cask dram on the tour and five others - Dewar's 12 and 25, Aberfeldy 12 and 21, and Craigellachie 17.  I was driving so only took a small sip of the single cask one and got the rest to go.  In the shop I tried a sip of their 21 year distillery-exclusive finished in a Madeira cask and their 24 year old PX single cask.  The 21 year old Madeira cask was sweet and all too drinkable but the 24 year old blew me away.  That's the bottle I walked away with and left me with the yearning to go back to Scotland and try the next dram straight from the cask.