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 .
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.
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.
(A. E. Housman)
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.
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!
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.
"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.
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!
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!
"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.
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!
We use cookies and website technologies to customize information and improve your shopping experience all around whisky. We use technically necessary cookies to ensure the general functionality and features of our website. With your consent we also use cookies and iframes of third party providers to present our social media content to you and make use of functional tracking and analysis tools to identify errors and continually improve your user experience.
Details & Settings
Necessary cookies (always active)
Necessary cookies
The following cookies and technologies are required for the core functionalities of our website and online shops.
Necessary cookies (always active)
Name
Provider
Lifetime
Type
Name
_fe_typo_user
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for logging into the Whisky.com community and using the community functions.
Name
sid
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for the basic provision of the shop functions.
Name
sid_key
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for the basic provision of the shop functions.
Name
cookie_consent
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
12 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to save the settings in this Consent Manager.
Name
adventcalendar_clicked
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for the correct display of the open doors in the Whisky.com advent calendar.
Name
language
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary for language control on our website.
Name
BannerImpressions
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to limit the banner ads on our website.
Name
datamints_http2push
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP2
Description
This cookie is necessary to improve the loading speed of our website for a better user experience.
Name
datamints_http2push_shop
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP2
Description
This cookie is necessary to improve the loading speed of our website for a better user experience.
Name
datamints_shopselector_hasdismissednote
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
Necessary functionality to determine whether the shop selection has already been made if the geolocation of the IP address does not match the shop country.
Name
hasUserHash
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
Necessary functionality to determine whether a shop user exists.
Name
Vanilla
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
1 Month
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to use the forum functions in the Whisky.com community.
Name
Vanilla-Volatile
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to use the forum functions in the Whisky.com community.
Name
Vanilla-Vv
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
24 hours
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to use the forum functions in the Whisky.com community.
Name
__vnf
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
13 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to use the forum functions in the Whisky.com community.
Name
preferred-country
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
12 Monate
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to save and restore the country setting in the language and country selection.
Name
preferred-language
Provider
Whisky.com
Lifetime
12 Monate
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is necessary to save and restore the language setting in the language and country selection.
Functional cookies
The following cookies and technologies allow us to anonymously analyze consumer behaviour on our website to detect potential errors and continually improve the user experience.
Name
Provider
Lifetime
Type
Name
__utmz
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
13 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie records whether a user is redirected to our website by a search engine (and if so, which search term was used), a specific link or if he was not redirected from a previously visited page (e.g. opening the website via a bookmark).
Name
__utma
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
24 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie records the number of visits, timestamp of your first visit, the previous and current visit.
Name
_ga
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
24 months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google for user differentiation.
Name
_ga_UA******
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google Analytics to limit the amount of data recorded on websites with high user traffic.
Name
_gid
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
24 Months
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google to track and store the visited page history.
Name
_gat
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
10 minutes
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google for tracking.
Name
__gads
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
30 days
Type
HTTP
Description
The __gads cookie is associated with the DoubleClick for Publishers service from Google. It serves purposes such as measuring interactions with the ads on our domain and preventing the same ads from being shown to you too many times.
Name
_gat_commercetracker
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
30 Tage
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie is used by Google Analytics to track and evaluate e-commerce applications.
Name
CONSENT
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
max. 2 Jahre
Type
HTTP
Description
This cookie stores user consent information.
Name
NID
Provider
Google, LLC
Lifetime
6 Month
Type
HTTP
Description
When creating a Google account or logging in, NID cookie is stored on the computer in order to remain connected to your Google account when you visit its service again. While you are logged in and use plug-ins from other websites, such as Whisky.com, Google uses these cookies to improve your user experience.
Social Media cookies
The following cookies and technologies are required for displaying Social Media content of third party providers like YouTube, Instagram, etc.
Name
Provider
Lifetime
Type
Name
yt-remote-cast-installed
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
yt-remote-connected-devices
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Persistent
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
yt-remote-device-id
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Persistent
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
GPS
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
1 Day
Type
HTTP
Description
Registers a unique ID on mobile devices to allow geographic GPS location based tracking.
Name
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
179 Days
Type
HTTP
Description
Attempts to calculate the user's network bandwidth on pages with embedded YouTube videos.
Name
YSC
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTTP
Description
Registers a unique ID for storing statistics on YouTube videos watched by a user.
Name
yt-remote-fast-check-period
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
yt-remote-session-app
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
yt-remote-session-name
Provider
Youtube, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Stores user settings when accessing a Youtube video embedded on external websites.
Name
_fbp
Provider
Facebook/Meta
Lifetime
1 Month
Type
HTML
Description
Facebook Tracking via Facebook Pixel
Name
csfrtoken
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
1 Month
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
ig_cb
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
ig_did
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
mid
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
rur
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
Name
urlgen
Provider
Instagram, LLC
Lifetime
Session
Type
HTML
Description
Are set as soon as an Instagram plugin is embedded in our website. Enables the correct functionality of these Instagram plugins, such as embedded Instagram posts. Instagram cookie information: help.instagram.com/1896641480634370.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
That's a lot of drinking! Enjoy!
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!
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!
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.
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
Haha Suzanne... you and your husband are approaching nerd status with the speed of light.