Whiskey distillery tours

Try the best one outside Scotland on your way up or down, I did it last summer, excellent. Good cafe, large car park for MH, and excellent tour and products.
GIn and Sherry too

www.lakesdistillery.com

The Lakes Distillery | Home of The Lakes Single Malt Whisky

Pushing boundaries in pursuit of flavour creation, The Lakes Distillery's artistic ethos is at the intersection of art, science and nature. Discover the award-winning Lakes Single Malt Whisky, and our unique collection of gin, vodka, whiskies and gifts from The Lake District.
www.lakesdistillery.com www.lakesdistillery.com
 
Glenmorangie distillery in Tain is what you’re looking for if you like a Sherry matured malt. If doing NC500 it’s on the route on the east coast.
 
Hi, was last in Scotland summer 2019 and in general the weather was fine. Personally I am not a fan of the NC500, single track road and bound to be very popular this year. The scenery is awesome and towns like Wick and Thurso are very welcoming. I used to work at the Rolls-Royce submarine nuclear test facility at Dounreay. In terms of distilleries I love the distillery at Dalwhinnie just off the A9 between Perth and Inverness. https://www.malts.com/en-gb/distilleries/dalwhinnie I find that you get off the beaten track and find lots of interesting places in the highlands that are less visited but full of history and as beautiful as ant other part of Scotland. To me a motorhome gives you the ability to explore in relative comfort where others cannot.

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Mr porky said:

Main page | Auchentoshan

www.auchentoshan.com www.auchentoshan.com
Click to expand...
Ok Guys,
it appears most of you are novices,
nothing to be embarrassed about, we can all learn something new,
been a malt whisky and whiskey man a long time,
and like most long established tipplers ,will have their personal favorites,
what no one has mentioned is the " friends of classic malts "
visit www.malts.com,
once a member you receive an excellent introduction pack
explaining all the scottish whisky options their regions the differences etc
very very informative to both the knowledgeable and novice alike
and as a gift there is for each whisky featured a descriptive page with
provision for a distillery stamp to be punched on,
and this simple membership not only gives really in depth explanations
of the regions whiskeys but also gives you a FREE tour of each distillery
of which there are eleven included,
I have not managed to complete the stamps in my book as yet
hopefully this year, and every one I have visited had no problem with overnight parking up
again FREE
what more could anyone ask for,
So guys join the " Friends of the classic malts " and get yourself on the malts journey
 
Awsome recommendations, Slainte Mhath

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Wild Oggie said:
At some time, hopefully this year! We intend to do a hhhhrrrmmmm NC500 tour, (never been there before)
It will be like hmmmm the weather forecast for up there is above freezing just, "come on let's give it a go"

Now I do like a sherry based as apposed to a peat based whiskey. Any recommendations for distillery tours
Click to expand...
If you see one, stop and do it, they all differ and are all interesting
 
Wild Oggie said:
Looks like some of the local porridge grazers get upset at mentioning nc500 and weather!

Thanks for the info, making a map of likely distilleries to visit
Click to expand...
Err, if you think it’s ok calling the folk who live in the beautiful Highlands “porridge grazers,” I’d suggest you find somewhere else to take your prejudices on holiday.
 
One thing I did notice is you've called it "whiskey". The Scottish drink to which you're referring is "whisky". (y)

I'm just back from the campsite in Grantown on Spey. I've stayed there many times and is a beautiful wee place with plenty options for distilleries. I'm unsure what the status is for tours just now with the pandemic, so if you're planning a trip, then I'm certain the website would advise you if tours are going ahead. There are some beautiful distilleries scattered about, so if that's your thing, then you've plenty options in Speyside.

Whilst Speyside is not on the NC500 route, you could make two different trips whilst you're up here. The whisky part and NC500. However you do it, enjoy yourself and take plenty photos to post some on here. Scotland really is a beautiful place.

Regards,

Arron.
 
Clive Beeza said:
Ok Guys,
it appears most of you are novices,
nothing to be embarrassed about, we can all learn something new,
been a malt whisky and whiskey man a long time,
and like most long established tipplers ,will have their personal favorites,
what no one has mentioned is the " friends of classic malts "
visit www.malts.com,
once a member you receive an excellent introduction pack
explaining all the scottish whisky options their regions the differences etc
very very informative to both the knowledgeable and novice alike
and as a gift there is for each whisky featured a descriptive page with
provision for a distillery stamp to be punched on,
and this simple membership not only gives really in depth explanations
of the regions whiskeys but also gives you a FREE tour of each distillery
of which there are eleven included,
I have not managed to complete the stamps in my book as yet
hopefully this year, and every one I have visited had no problem with overnight parking up
again FREE
what more could anyone ask for,
So guys join the " Friends of the classic malts " and get yourself on the malts journey
Click to expand...
I’m a qualified quaffing specialist 😁😁
 
Conrad J said:
Err, if you think it’s ok calling the folk who live in the beautiful Highlands “porridge grazers,” I’d suggest you find somewhere else to take your prejudices on holiday.
Click to expand...
Err, did you not see that we had dealt with that earlier, or did you just feel the need to keep the bickering going.:doh:

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Wild Oggie said:
At some time, hopefully this year! We intend to do a hhhhrrrmmmm NC500 tour, (never been there before)
It will be like hmmmm the weather forecast for up there is above freezing just, "come on let's give it a go"

Now I do like a sherry based as apposed to a peat based whiskey. Any recommendations for distillery tours
Click to expand...
 
St. George's Distillery in Norfolk, wonderful single malt, good short tour and whiskey tasting evenings.
Bit of a detour if doing a Scottish tour though :giggle:
 
Zains Pops said:
We visited Tallisker on Skye a few years ago.all a bit of a con in my view.
When I asked can we see the malting answer no it’s all done at Diageo Inverness. Can we see the maturing store? No it’s all at Diageo Glasgow can we see bottling? No that too is Diageo Glasgow. Is the Barley grown on Skye? No contract grown for Diageo in Suffolk
So this local whisky isn’t exactly wedded to Skye is it.? Answer most Diageo whiskies have a similar production process. But this distillery is unique in that it’s on the coast and the whisky has a hint of the sea in it

More BS than I could take mind you it tasted nice and had pretty sea pictures on the box

Welcome to the wonderful world of marketing!!
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The vast majority of distilleries are exactly the same. The distillery is that, not a maturation or bottling plant.
If you want to see malting at a distillery some of the Islay distilleries may still do this locally.
All distillers supplement local barley with "imported" barley even from overseas, eg Canada.
As an aside for the rugby fans, David Sole, the Scottish Grand Slam captain, was senior buyer for Diageo.
Virtually all whiskies are matured, blended and bottled at a remote location to the distillery given the cost and complexity. The exceptions to this is some of the new craft distilleries who do "hand bottle" but that is, of course, very small scale production.
The location of bottling adds nothing to the taste of the whisky.
As examples, Talisker is bottled at Diageo Banbeath (Shieldhall, Glasgow is generally used to bottled blended whiskies), Highland Park (Edrington) is still bottled, I think, in Drumchapel, Glasgow and Laphroaig is now bottled in Dumbarton after Chivas (Pernod Ricard) closed Paisley.
Other key components influencing the flavour of the whisky is the water (local) and the shape of the still. Diageo are in the process, may just have finished, of replicating the stills for Brora distillery which they are just reopening from old drawings.
As has been said above the majority of batch process distilleries follow the same process, albeit, they do look different internally.
In terms of location some of the Islay distilleries actually have the sea hitting their walls in certain conditions.
 
Gellyneck said:
The vast majority of distilleries are exactly the same. The distillery is that, not a maturation or bottling plant.
If you want to see malting at a distillery some of the Islay distilleries may still do this locally.
All distillers supplement local barley with "imported" barley even from overseas, eg Canada.
As an aside for the rugby fans, David Sole, the Scottish Grand Slam captain, was senior buyer for Diageo.
Virtually all whiskies are matured, blended and bottled at a remote location to the distillery given the cost and complexity. The exceptions to this is some of the new craft distilleries who do "hand bottle" but that is, of course, very small scale production.
The location of bottling adds nothing to the taste of the whisky.
As examples, Talisker is bottled at Diageo Banbeath (Shieldhall, Glasgow is generally used to bottled blended whiskies), Highland Park (Edrington) is still bottled, I think, in Drumchapel, Glasgow and Laphroaig is now bottled in Dumbarton after Chivas (Pernod Ricard) closed Paisley.
Other key components influencing the flavour of the whisky is the water (local) and the shape of the still. Diageo are in the process, may just have finished, of replicating the stills for Brora distillery which they are just reopening from old drawings.
As has been said above the majority of batch process distilleries follow the same process, albeit, they do look different internally.
In terms of location some of the Islay distilleries actually have the sea hitting their walls in certain conditions.
Click to expand...
Highland Park does the entire process from malting (turning by hand) through to maturation on site. Only the final blending (single malt means single distillery, it will still potentially be a mix of casks) and bottling is offsite. As you say the still, the water source, the kiln all create the raw distillation spirit with added colour and flavouring from the cask. To me at least the tour does seem like one of the more complete available.

Worth noting that a lot of spirits, not just Whisky, are sent to different off site plants. Bombay Sapphire Gin even has it's water tankered to the distillery (so as to match the standards from their previous distillery prior to Hampshire) before sending the end product to a different plant.
 
Always worth going in to the distillery shop, they often have little gems not easily found elsewhere

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I take it , at the risk of it becoming another *NC500* nay sayer that you have not considered the Antrim Coast Road? Bushmills and the Giants Causeway at the end and ( now duck) a proper whiskEy at Bushmills to savour? Hello Coventry! :LOL: Done both NC 500 stunning Antrim out of this world!
 
Visit as many places as the trip and time allow.
Its nice to build up a bit of a collection, then there’s always birthdays and Christmas....
Also, some great examples elsewhere, Wales - one of my favourites, Norfolk, Ireland and then further afield - Japan, India
Your personal preference is unique to you so your going to have to try a few before you get a “feel”
 
Kannon Fodda said:
Highland Park does the entire process from malting (turning by hand) through to maturation on site. Only the final blending (single malt means single distillery, it will still potentially be a mix of casks) and bottling is offsite. As you say the still, the water source, the kiln all create the raw distillation spirit with added colour and flavouring from the cask. To me at least the tour does seem like one of the more complete available.

Worth noting that a lot of spirits, not just Whisky, are sent to different off site plants. Bombay Sapphire Gin even has it's water tankered to the distillery (so as to match the standards from their previous distillery prior to Hampshire) before sending the end product to a different plant.
Click to expand...
As you say there are some exceptions to "the rule" where some maturation is done at the distillery, these tend to be the island distilleries. Central maturation is much more cost effective given the lay down timing for most malts and the space required. Their are a number of Scottish based hauliers who's business is predicated on moving the shooks, casks and bulk tanker spirits around. There is, of course, a number of instances where bulk spirit is shipped overseas for bottling in market.
Gordon's London Dry, Tanqueray and variants are bottled in Scotland since the plant in Laindon was closed a number of years ago.
Bacardi operate their own tanker vessel to bring in bulk rum from the Caribbean for bottling in Southampton. Most of their whisky bottling is done in London Road, Glasgow.
 
Gellyneck said:
As you say there are some exceptions to "the rule" where some maturation is done at the distillery, these tend to be the island distilleries. Central maturation is much more cost effective given the lay down timing for most malts and the space required. Their are a number of Scottish based hauliers who's business is predicated on moving the shooks, casks and bulk tanker spirits around. There is, of course, a number of instances where bulk spirit is shipped overseas for bottling in market.
Gordon's London Dry, Tanqueray and variants are bottled in Scotland since the plant in Laindon was closed a number of years ago.
Bacardi operate their own tanker vessel to bring in bulk rum from the Caribbean for bottling in Southampton. Most of their whisky bottling is done in London Road, Glasgow.
Click to expand...
There has been so much interest shown on this topic
and so very much to take in from knowledgeable tipplers,
I am going to sit down, as I need a drink 🥃 :Grin:

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