A Wee Tale for You: Whisky Trip #2

In October, Luke and I went with the University of Edinburgh whisky society (Water of Life Society) to the highlands (see post here). In April, we decided to go on the Spring whisky trip – again to the highlands of Scotland, but more specifically to Speyside. We visited 5 active distilleries (Glenfiddich, Cardhu, Glenfarclas, The Glenlivet and Strathsisla), 1 brewery (Speyside Craft Brewery) and 1 closed distillery now in the hands of Historic Scotland (Dallas Dhu).

We had a lot of fun on this trip. It ended up being a smaller number of people and we had two other New College couples with us. We didn’t take as many pictures inside the distilleries as last time (mainly because you weren’t allowed to) but we did still take some to share with you.

Our first stop of the trip was Glenfiddich. The best thing about this distillery was the ladies toilet. I didn’t take any pictures because that would be just weird, but talk about plush! Vanities with stools where you could touch up your makeup (if that’s your thing), heavy duty towels for drying your hands, vaulted ceiling, wingback chairs, fireplace….. Yes, I did just type fireplace. Not sure who hangs out in the ladies these days but I just might hang out here.

From here we headed to a wee little brewery and got to meet the owner Seb. Two years ago someone tried his homebrew and told him that he should make beer for a living. He decided to look into it and 6-7 months ago Speyside Craft Brewery was opened. He employs one guy part time to work in the brewery while he does some traveling to market his product. We had the opportunity to try all three of his brews – all of which were quite tasty. So tasty in fact that we brought six home with us.

The next day we started with Cardhu Distillery. Cardhu is situated so that you have a beautiful drive along the River Spey on back roads to get to it. Lovely to see but not so fun for those of us who get car sick. Cardhu is also home to a family of highland cattle. It was great to get to see them up close and they were super gentle. Cardhu was also neat because they have turned their kiln where they used to dry their barley into a tasting room. It was a beautiful room.

From there we headed into Aberlour and lunch along the River Spey. The day was beautiful and it was nice to sit outside and enjoy some sunshine.

Then off to Glenfarclas Distillery where they do a great tour. No matter how many tours you go on you'll always see something just a bit different at each. Glenfarclas did not disappoint. Unfortunately we had opted to leave the camera in the van so we don't have that many pictures. Two of the big differentiators were that we got to see the mill where the barley is ground and saw the washbacks being filled.

On Saturday we started our day at The Glenlivet. The tour here was free so we got a special dram at the end. Yum.

For lunch we stopped in Dufftown. We had some time to kill so we opted to walk over to Balvenie Castle. It's part of Historic Scotland so we were able to run around it for free. And when I say run that's exactly what I did because we didn't have very long.

After lunch we headed to Strathsisla Distillery. For the tour we split in to two groups. Luckily we were in the good group and got the most amazing tour guide ever. He had worked for the distillery for 40 year. 27 of which as a stillman. It was great to hear some of the good stories of the past.

When we finished our tour it was still pretty early in the afternoon so we headed to another Historic Scotland property - Duffus Castle.

On Sunday we had a pretty unique experience. We went to the Dallas Dhu distillery that closed in the 1980's and is now run by Historic Scotland. Because it's no longer a working distillery, you get to see lots more of the ins and outs of the equipment.