Speyside trip and tasting request...

James_H

Hi guys. Ive booked a trip to Speyside, staying in Cardhu in September. Im only there for 3 days and plan on visiting Macallan and maybe a couple of other distilleries. I wondered if you could recommend any of the other distilleries in that area as there's so many it's difficult to choose?

My second question probably belongs in the other forum but hope you don't mind me tagging it on here. My girlfriend has a taste for wheated bourbons and if possible I would like to request some tastings on bourbons with different grain profiles and the difference that makes (if possible including Old Fitz 12 or Weller 12). I understand this might not be possible but thought i'd ask.

Thanks a lot and love the new glass, would buy if shipped to the UK .

James

SanctTom

Can't help you with wheated bourbons...
Considering our experiences with distillery tours in Speyside I'd recommend Aberlour, Glen Moray and Balvenie - these were the best tours I had in Speyside. You probably should consider not taking the standard tours, however - the more expensive tours are well worth it! They should be booked well in advance, though - 3 months to go might already be too late for it.

ben_2

I haven't been to Scotland since I was 16 and I was less interested in whisky back then. (Since I was a minor)

As you may have known from the last two videos, I did a trip through all the big distilleries in North America.
If you like wheated whiskey you can try the bourbon from Heaven Hill or the Maker's Mark. I would recommend the whisky from Maker's Mark. They have a very good process of making the whiskey and they try to get all the bitterness out. All of their flavour profile is in the forward part of the mouth. One of the smoothest and fines whiskeys I tried. But you will miss the spiciness and the long finish from the Scotches.

Suzanne1967

Hi James,

We are actually in Speyside right now, on our summer holidays, staying in Dailuaine for a week, and doing nothing but Distillery Visits, Tours and samplings!

With the Distilleries being so close it is possible to do 4 or 5 visits in a day, but only if you limit the tours to one a day, or 2 at an absolute max! 8)

Our 1st day - the 400 mile drive here from Manchester - included stops at Tullibardine, Blair Atholl, Edradour and Dalwhinnie, of which Edradour and Dalwhinnie were the best.
Day 2 - yesterday - was a Sunday, so limited opening hours, we managed to do Glen Grant - lovely, Glenlivet - little disappointing, Cragganmore - lovely, Aberlour - fab whiskys, Strathisla - too late for a tour but supposed to be very good.
Day 3 - Today - was the Roadtrip to the Highlands, Glen Ord at 10am - lovely 18YO to taste, then Dalmore - a highlight, then Clynelish - disappointing, Balblair - great and Glenmorangie - too touristy and the staff didn't seem to engage.

Best Tours so far, Aberlour - book in advance, 5 types of Whisky to taste, Edradour - bit further south - but definitely worth the trip, Dalmore - again book in advance, awesome trip, got to taste 7 types and bought 6 of them, Cragganmore - short but worthwhile and the rest, well, we wont know until later in the week!

Plans for the rest of the week include
Tuesday - Cardhu, Tamdhu, Speyburn and Benromach
Wednesday - Glendronach, Glen Garioch, Fettercairn, Royal Lochnagar and possibly Daftmill
Thursday - Tomatin, Glenfarclas, Macallan, Glenfiddich and the Cooperage
Friday - possibly Talisker, Oban and Ben Nevis - or a day of rest
Saturday - the trip home, calling at Aberfeldy, Glenturret, Deanston, Glenkinchie, then home!

Total bottles bought so far........ 18x 0.7L, with a possible further 15 to 18 bottles to come..... an expensive holiday, but a once in a lifetime trip that will give us a wee dram to savour every night for several years to come!

Hope your trip is as much fun as ours has been so far!

Regards
Suzanne

James_H

Thanks for the info, sounds like great fun. We're actually flying from Manchester to Aberdeen as i've only got 4 days off and wanted to maximise time. At the moment the plan is Gleanfarclas, Macallan, Aberlour and Glenfiddich.

116520

That's a lot of drinking! Enjoy!

"James_H" wrote:
Thanks for the info, sounds like great fun. We're actually flying from Manchester to Aberdeen as i've only got 4 days off and wanted to maximise time. At the moment the plan is Gleanfarclas, Macallan, Aberlour and Glenfiddich.

Suzanne1967

Thanks we will........ managed to do flying visits to Glenfiddich, the Speyside Cooperage, Glenfarclas, Cardhu, Maccallan, Glen Moray, Benriach, Benromach and Tomatin today, samplings for my husband in a fair few places, and 10 bottles purchased...... some nice specials including the Distillery Editions at Tomatin and Benriach, the Solstice 17YO at Benriach and an 18YO Cardhu! Going to be fun savouring these over the next year or two at home!

Tomorrow is Glendronach, Glen Garioch, Fettercairn and Royal Lochnagar, with possible purchases at GlenDronach and Royal Lochnagar and a tour at Royal Lochnagar for sure!

116520

Enjoy! Maybe you can rank which are the best Distillery to visit after the trip.

Btw, you have an impressive 6-pages of whisky collection in the database!

"Suzanne1967" wrote:
Thanks we will........ managed to do flying visits to Glenfiddich, the Speyside Cooperage, Glenfarclas, Cardhu, Maccallan, Glen Moray, Benriach, Benromach and Tomatin today, samplings for my husband in a fair few places, and 10 bottles purchased...... some nice specials including the Distillery Editions at Tomatin and Benriach, the Solstice 17YO at Benriach and an 18YO Cardhu! Going to be fun savouring these over the next year or two at home!

Tomorrow is Glendronach, Glen Garioch, Fettercairn and Royal Lochnagar, with possible purchases at GlenDronach and Royal Lochnagar and a tour at Royal Lochnagar for sure!

horst_s_2

"James_H" wrote:
Hi guys. Ive booked a trip to Speyside, staying in Cardhu in September. Im only there for 3 days and plan on visiting Macallan and maybe a couple of other distilleries. I wondered if you could recommend any of the other distilleries in that area as there's so many it's difficult to choose?

I visited most of the distilleries in Scotland. Only the very new built are missing.

The success of a visit depends very much of the tour guide you get. Talisker is a very good distillery but I managed to get a part time host. That did not help. Glenfiddich as the biggest single malt whisky seller is a huge operation with a fully automated bottling plant. One would suggest, that this would be a 'not so good' mass tour. But the guide was really excellent and knew everything.

The best to do is paying visits to several distilleries. The ones mentioned above all belong to the good ones. You fill have excellent ones and not so good ones. But in total you will be able to compare the distilleries and find similarities and differences. And that, what you also find in whiskies.

Suzanne1967

Hi 116520,

I will certainly do an overall write up of our holiday when we return, and the best tours we have done, as a rule the smaller Distilleries have been better for tours, more attentive as they aren't mobbed, our experience at Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich and Glenlivet has been poor in comparison to Oban, Edradour, Dalwhinnie, Balblair, and even when not doing a full tour the attention from the staff has been much better in the smaller ones, Fettercairn and Glen Dronach were excellent!

We have been on a Roadtrip today, Speyside to Talisker, to Ben Nevis to Oban, almost 16 hrs start to return, Tallisker was disappointing, I was expecting something really special, and the tour seemed disjointed and we weren't really engaged, Ben Nevis had lovely soup, we didn't do the tour, but staff were good in shop, and Oban were excellent, despite being exceptionally busy!

Lol, the collection is growing nicely, we had a PPI payout, hence why the collection has grown, a treat to us both for our 15th Wedding Anniversary, 37 bottles purchased this week, ranging from £27 to £150, basically if we liked it and thought it worth it, then we got it, a once in a lifetime treat for us both!

Regards
Suzanne

Budgerigar_canalis

Haha Suzanne... you and your husband are approaching nerd status with the speed of light.