Having recently spend a week in the heart of Speyside, Scotland visiting distilleries I thought I’d do a quick write-up of my personal experiences of the distilleries we visited. I’ve tried to keep it as short as possible – this isn’t a travel log!
I was there in early June and stayed at the Craigellachie hotel in the heart of Speyside. A great base for touring distilleries.
We could have squeezed more in but in between we were also visiting shops, cooperages and walking. Also, with whisky tastings in the evenings my liver wouldn’t stand anymore.
The Tours:
Glenfiddich – Explorers Tours, £10, 3 hours
Macallan – The Precious Tour, £20, 2 hours
Balvenie – Standard tour, £20, 2.5 hours
Aberlour – Standard tour, £12, 2 hours
Glenfarclas – Standard Tour, £10 (possibly £5.00, can't remember), 45 mins
Glenlivet – Spirit of Malt Tour, £30, 2.5 hours
Impressions:
Glenfiddich
A good place to start. My brother and I were the one ones on the tour with a very nice and knowledgeable guide. After the corporate video we were shown around the distillery and into a couple of dusty sheds where we got to try whisky direct from the Solero vat. It was a good, personal tour and well worth the money. The distillery has a great café and shop. We finished with a vertical tasting of their basic range 12/15/18/21 – then bottled my own 15 yo cask strength. Score: 7.5/10
Macallan
We had high hopes of this one. Lovely setting. The tour is well orchestrated if not a little corporate and ‘sterile’. Good resource centre with visual aids. Truthfully, a little boring ( I think this depends on the guide). We ended up in the tasting room and tried new make/12/18/25FO. As we progressed through the tasting it became clear that there was another group waiting outside and we were rushed out before we barely had chance to finish. It felt wrong – like we were being dismissed from class. Disappointing. Score 6/10
Balvenie
Sister to Glenfiddich and on the same general site. Tour by pre-arrangement. Met in a great little ‘receiving room’ and given a briefing by a great guide. Shown around everything, extremely interesting and engaging tour, even shown the grain drying floor and the cooperage. Say, touched and smelt TUN 1401 and bottled our own cask strength whisky. Tour finished with a tasting of 12/17/single cask/Carribean/21 Port wood in a lovely room with a real personal feeling. Always made to feel special. Cannot praise this tour highly enough - miss it out and you’ll regret it. Score 9/10
Aberlour
Great setting and very, very friendly little distillery. Met at gatehouse and taken around by a guide who clearly loves the distillery and her job. Tour was engaging and informative. Finished with a tasting of five whiskies plus new make and the opportunity to bottle our own whisky. A nice little gem of a distillery and the whisky was fantastic. Score 8/10
Glenfarclas
One of my favourite whiskies and a family run distillery so I was expecting a lot. Oh dear. A real let down. The visitor centre was very nice and seemed to promise a lot of the distillery. However, they were ridiculously under-staffed and getting served and getting any sort of attention was dreadful. One guy who came in looking to buy several casks was told to ‘contact the office in a couple of days’ as they were too busy. Really? The tour was lack-lustre. It finished with the offer to try their 10 year old basic expression and no opportunity even to buy other drams to compare it with. How NOT to do a tour. Score 4/10
Glenlivet
Our last distillery and one we knew little about before we went. Oh my – it was simply extraordinary. From the moment we arrived in the brilliant visitors centre we were made to feel like kings. Our tour was the more expensive Spirit of Malt tour and worth every penny. My brother and I had a personal guide and weren’t just given a tour but given a brilliant history lesson and insight to scotch whisky.
We were then taken into a ‘private’ shed where they keep the Prince of Wales’s own cask and a selection of old whisky. We got to try, several times, a 38 year old. Damn.
We then went to the tasting room where a vertical tasting was set up of their entire standard range from new make, 12/15/18/21/25 and Nadurra.
We were also given several gifts including a set of nosing glasses. The tasting guide was the best I’ve met so far – and I run a whisky tasting club. The whisky was a major surprise, ALL were very good, especially the 25 year old. The tour ended with us being allowed into the Guardians Lounge to try a few special whiskies before departing very, very happy. Yes I am a Guardian – sign up – its free. Score 10/10
Final Thoughts.
Bear in mind that these are personal views, based on my expectations and knowledge. The tours we selected varied in cost and therefore what they offered as tastings at the end. Having said that, it was more about how we felt about the tours and distilleries. Some were just going through the motions, some treated us like personal and valued friends. What it proved to me was that its all about the experience you have there, not the whisky, not the distilling process, but the people and feeling you get for a tour.
If you are in Speyside and cannot do anything other than one or two tours – go for the Balvenie and Glenlivet tours. If you are passing through – try Glenfiidich…they do a great lunch.
Distillery Tours – A week in Speyside, Scotland
Having recently spend a week in the heart of Speyside, Scotland visiting distilleries I thought I’d do a quick write-up of my personal experiences of the distilleries we visited. I’ve tried to keep it as short as possible – this isn’t a travel log!
I was there in early June and stayed at the Craigellachie hotel in the heart of Speyside. A great base for touring distilleries.
We could have squeezed more in but in between we were also visiting shops, cooperages and walking. Also, with whisky tastings in the evenings my liver wouldn’t stand anymore.
The Tours:
Glenfiddich – Explorers Tours, £10, 3 hours Macallan – The Precious Tour, £20, 2 hours Balvenie – Standard tour, £20, 2.5 hours Aberlour – Standard tour, £12, 2 hours Glenfarclas – Standard Tour, £10 (possibly £5.00, can't remember), 45 mins Glenlivet – Spirit of Malt Tour, £30, 2.5 hours
Impressions:
Glenfiddich
A good place to start. My brother and I were the one ones on the tour with a very nice and knowledgeable guide. After the corporate video we were shown around the distillery and into a couple of dusty sheds where we got to try whisky direct from the Solero vat. It was a good, personal tour and well worth the money. The distillery has a great café and shop. We finished with a vertical tasting of their basic range 12/15/18/21 – then bottled my own 15 yo cask strength. Score: 7.5/10
Macallan
We had high hopes of this one. Lovely setting. The tour is well orchestrated if not a little corporate and ‘sterile’. Good resource centre with visual aids. Truthfully, a little boring ( I think this depends on the guide). We ended up in the tasting room and tried new make/12/18/25FO. As we progressed through the tasting it became clear that there was another group waiting outside and we were rushed out before we barely had chance to finish. It felt wrong – like we were being dismissed from class. Disappointing. Score 6/10
Balvenie
Sister to Glenfiddich and on the same general site. Tour by pre-arrangement. Met in a great little ‘receiving room’ and given a briefing by a great guide. Shown around everything, extremely interesting and engaging tour, even shown the grain drying floor and the cooperage. Say, touched and smelt TUN 1401 and bottled our own cask strength whisky. Tour finished with a tasting of 12/17/single cask/Carribean/21 Port wood in a lovely room with a real personal feeling. Always made to feel special. Cannot praise this tour highly enough - miss it out and you’ll regret it. Score 9/10
Aberlour
Great setting and very, very friendly little distillery. Met at gatehouse and taken around by a guide who clearly loves the distillery and her job. Tour was engaging and informative. Finished with a tasting of five whiskies plus new make and the opportunity to bottle our own whisky. A nice little gem of a distillery and the whisky was fantastic. Score 8/10
Glenfarclas
One of my favourite whiskies and a family run distillery so I was expecting a lot. Oh dear. A real let down. The visitor centre was very nice and seemed to promise a lot of the distillery. However, they were ridiculously under-staffed and getting served and getting any sort of attention was dreadful. One guy who came in looking to buy several casks was told to ‘contact the office in a couple of days’ as they were too busy. Really? The tour was lack-lustre. It finished with the offer to try their 10 year old basic expression and no opportunity even to buy other drams to compare it with. How NOT to do a tour. Score 4/10
Glenlivet
Our last distillery and one we knew little about before we went. Oh my – it was simply extraordinary. From the moment we arrived in the brilliant visitors centre we were made to feel like kings. Our tour was the more expensive Spirit of Malt tour and worth every penny. My brother and I had a personal guide and weren’t just given a tour but given a brilliant history lesson and insight to scotch whisky.
We were then taken into a ‘private’ shed where they keep the Prince of Wales’s own cask and a selection of old whisky. We got to try, several times, a 38 year old. Damn.
We then went to the tasting room where a vertical tasting was set up of their entire standard range from new make, 12/15/18/21/25 and Nadurra.
We were also given several gifts including a set of nosing glasses. The tasting guide was the best I’ve met so far – and I run a whisky tasting club. The whisky was a major surprise, ALL were very good, especially the 25 year old. The tour ended with us being allowed into the Guardians Lounge to try a few special whiskies before departing very, very happy. Yes I am a Guardian – sign up – its free. Score 10/10
Final Thoughts.
Bear in mind that these are personal views, based on my expectations and knowledge. The tours we selected varied in cost and therefore what they offered as tastings at the end. Having said that, it was more about how we felt about the tours and distilleries. Some were just going through the motions, some treated us like personal and valued friends. What it proved to me was that its all about the experience you have there, not the whisky, not the distilling process, but the people and feeling you get for a tour.
If you are in Speyside and cannot do anything other than one or two tours – go for the Balvenie and Glenlivet tours. If you are passing through – try Glenfiidich…they do a great lunch.