Ultimate Scotch Whisky Holiday

As it so happens, I'm heading to the Speyside Whisky Festival in May! www.spiritofspeyside.com.

I'm based in Toronto, Canada, so this is quite a trip for me - hoping it will be the Ultimate Whisky Holiday! When I return I will be posting about it here on connosr.

@talexander

Great times to be had, would be interested to know what you make of it

I've decided to fly out to the Isle of Islay as my Favourite whiskies are the smokey peat based ones like Laphroaig and Ardbeg. I'm going to meet up with a local guide and do me a tour. Photos will likewise be uploaded onto the site.

It seems with most Isle tours you have to catch a company in Edinburgh which will do a 4 day excursion.
This lot seem fun and local: www.friskywhisky.co.uk so I'm giving them a try

Last September, I planned out and took a 2 week distillery-focused vacation through Scotland. We rented a car, and drove a loop from Edinburgh up through St. Andrews to Speyside, west through Inverness and the Black Isle to Skye, turning down the western coast past Oban, ferried over to Islay and Jura, and then back, closing the loop at Glasgow.

Standouts: Ardbeg (great tour, very down to earth) Laphroaig (after hours & they gave us a private tour!) Kilchoman (went after hours and had a private visit with the distiller) Bruichladdich (sheer volume of expressions to sample is jawdropping!) Benromach (a pleasant surprise, some really nice whiskies) The Whisky Castle (bottle shop featuring primarily indies. A wonderful host, and great learning experience) Day-Pass Membership at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Casual Lunch at Mitchell in St. Andrews Mohr Fish (tasty chippie in Callendar)

Sadly missed LOTS, as must always be the case. Will have to rectify in particular: Highland Park Edradour Glendronach Clynelish Aberlour Springbank

A cost saving tip if you intend on visiting any Diageo distilleries is to sign up as a "Friend of the Classic Malts" (malts.com). You can do this online, or at any of their distilleries. Membership is free, and grants you free access to their base-level tours at all distilleries (they operate many many many).

If you like beer, check out Brewdog (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow) and Black Isle Brewery. If you make it to London, also Kernel.

I have lots of other insights as well, just ask. It was an epic trip & we loved it!

Oops, I always forget the site omits most single line breaks, that list is missing commas and might be hard to read :)

I forgot to mention that several of the Diageo distilleries will pour not only tastings from the home distillery, but also offer selections from the rest of the Diageo lineup. This is particularly nice for the Flora & Fauna series, which is not available where I live. The best Diageo distillery in this respect was Glenkinchie.

@EvaRees Wow, you know how to travel! I don't think that's going to be topped Cheers Eva