Exploring Scotland on The Last Great Malts Tour

Scotland was never on my radar much before last year. I visited once, maybe twice before, but it had always been that classic case of 'it's local, and it's not going anywhere'. That may be true, but it's not a particularly good excuse for neglecting a bit of exploration - and we're always meaning to broaden our horizons.

Scotland, it turns out, has a lot to offer this blog - stunning countryside, happening towns, whisky galore, and very friendly people. Last year's Glenrothes trip could have filled a number of posts - and we were only there for one night. In the end, we stuck with some damn fine distillery shots and a piece on a VW graveyard.

This year, it was back to almost the same spot in Speyside, on Scotland's East Coast: an area packed with whisky distilleries. And this time, rather than just one, we'd be visiting five, covering six hundred miles of the Scottish Highlands. So, you can probably guess that this post on its own won't really do the experience justice. Sorry in advance for that.

Starting in Aberdeen and looping up past Elgin (just near Johnstons knitwear factory), before heading south to Edinburgh, our journey on The Last Great Malts tour took in every beauty that rural Scotland has to offer. The rugged and hugely varied countryside rushed by the window - high barren mountains, tree filled valleys, streams, rivers, and coastlines. We drove along winding roads plucked straight from car ads, through picture-perfect towns lifted from shortbread tins, and stopped at those quintessential whisky distilleries taken from the bottles which bear their names.

To describe each of them in detail would be fairly pointless. For the whisky geeks out there, we'd never give enough detail; for those with only a passing interest in drink, we'd give far too much. The trip was led by Bacardi, who owned the distilleries; but, perhaps surprisingly, each one had managed to keep the history, traditions, and personality of their locale captured within an individual brand.

MacDuff, Aultmore, Craigellachie, Royal Brackla, Aberfeldy - one and all pure Scottish names, each with a history stretching back at least 150 years.

My favourite was probably Royal Brackla, with it's small herd of cows and incredibly picturesque views over the duck pond of a reservoir that fed the distillery. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures here - such a shame, as I can see people booking flights to Aberdeen on that one picture alone.

My second favourite would be Aberfeldy, where we shot their latest bottle design overlooking the distillery's river, before bottling our own 17 year old, single cask whisky, which included the added fun of applying the wax. Seriously, some of us were a little too experimental with that last part.

I don't know how many of our readers have visited a distillery, but it's a fairly incredible experience really. This is an industrial process conducted in a huge - and almost uninhabited - warehouse. Drums, stills, pots, kettles, and pipes of an enormous size weave the length and breadth of many rooms. The place is hot, cold, steaming, and cooling in equal measures (especially if you go in Winter), with a feeling of organised chaos running through the place.

The process of making whisky is meticulous work. Following each stage, from mashing to maturation, you see the sights and breath in the smells; but, more than that, you take away an appreciation for the incredible hard work, dedication, and craft that goes into producing a malt whisky. 

These aren't just things that are thrown together; they're products of their age, of their owners, of their creators, and of their drinkers. Every element has been thought, considered, tried, tested, and tried again to create something that delivers (not to sound too corny) a taste of the distillery and its surrounds.

Everyone associated with whisky seems to emanate this same passion. The talk and tours we were given were in-depth and comprehensive, filled with facts, opinions, tales, and stories of haunted shoes - honestly, that last one is true, although I think it was a haunted boot.

The places, too, seem to embody the culture of whisky. The Craigellachie Hotel (Mat needs to work on his pronunciation of that one) is stocked floor-to-ceiling with some of the oldest, rarest, and tastiest whiskies you'll find. At their bar - The Copper Dog - they have alphabetical shelves of whisky, from which they can make a book's worth of whisky cocktails. There was even talk of someone asking for whisky in their porridge at breakfast the next day.

That's the third trip to Scotland in the last 12 months and the tally will be up to five before the end of this year. Even so, I'd love to go back again and sample a few more distilleries. Perhaps to a different area this time; but, to be honest, I definitely wouldn't pass on the chance to visit Speyside once again.

Has anyone else been around a distillery in Scotland, or anywhere else? Do you have a favourite whisky brand?

Thanks to The Last Great Malts for inviting us on this trip. 

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