First off - whisky! Our trip to Scotland in early May started off with a 2 night stay in Forres in an AirBnB, which turned out to be a lovely old Victorian place with lots of character and a very nice host.
We toured Benromach Distillery, as it was literally down the road, and we decided to take our whisky taster away with us as we had to drive to another distillery straight after. And saying that, promptly bought several more to go and a bottle of Benromach 15 year old (sherry cask, hint of smoke - gorgeous!).
Next we flew off to Tamdhu Distillery in Knockando, near Aberlour. Now this was an interesting tour - I know, you’re thinking “Aren’t they all the same?”, but far from it! This distillery isn’t usually open to the public, only during the Speyside Whisky Festival, so their reception and tasting area was in an old station ticket office next to a defunct railway and unlike most tours, we were allowed to take photos inside the distillery itself. It was large scale and modern, unlike Benromach, which was a much smaller affair and with very traditional processes and no computers! I did sample the 3 that were on offer, but they were all batch or cask strength and just too strong without adding more than a few drops of water to it - and what’s the point of whisky if you can’t enjoy it without watering it down? I didn’t buy any, and didn’t feel bad about it as the tickets themselves were £30 each, but did find out from chatting to them that they do a 12 year old Tamdhu and only sell it in M&S. I shall be looking out for that one - and it comes in the most stunning weighted bottom cut glass bottle - just what you need in a zombie apocalypse (as one guy at the Edinburgh Whisky Experience said to us a few years ago as we were gazing bewildered by the array of whisky on offer!). We’d like to think we know a thing or two about whisky now, but we’re always finding out new and tasting them too.
On our way to see family, we stopped off at Glendronach Distillery near Huntly, which we toured last year, for 2 bottles of their 18 year old “Allardice”. Again, Oloroso sherry cask (are you seeing a theme here? My fault, I’m afraid!), and heaven in a glass.
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Got to split this into 2 parts, as I can’t see the text at the bottom of the page doing this on an iPad, so more in a bit...
Laters
Shel
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