Day 3 and 4 of Speyside Trip - Jinee in a still

Day 3

More according to the name Saturday started with a 6 or 7 dram breakfast whisky tasting. This was done in the name of science as we wanted to find out how the palate is different in the morning compared to the afternoon. 

The partybus and partycar (mind you not all German cars have good gearboxes) were off to Glenlivet. 

The first impression of this distillery is: shiny, new and well polished. It didn’t surprise us then that the new stillhouse with mash tun and washbacks were only opened in 2010 by the Prince of Wales. We ran into a bit of a discussion with Kelly on the quantity of alcohol still remaining in the pellets created from the residue pot ale and mash residue but overall, the tour was well balanced and presented Whisky in a very bright and refined light. Unsurprisingly, with bigger washes than Glenfiddich they need a few less to reach 24/7 production capacity of just above 10 million liters. For the tasting part it was not the Glenlivet itself which was the most interesting, but the Single Cask Chivas Editions of a few Pernod Ricard belonging whiskies like Longmorn or Scapa. The Scapa was excellent and it is believed that at least one tour participant walked off with a bottle. 

The afternoon then gave us the opportunity to have insight into another Chivas Distillery, Strathisla. Now this was the warmest welcome we have received on the entire Trip. The duo of manager and old stillman Tommy, who seemed to be working like an old married couple did give us both the knowledge of 27 year of operating the stills and 13 years of doing the tours and the refined touch of the modern tasting room. But more to that later. We had never had a tour from a former stillman before and we know now what we missed out on. The banter and the opinion of Tommy was fabulous. We will not reveal all his secrets as we encourage you to see them for yourself but just ask them about dogs and you’ll be in for an interesting story.

The tasting part was upgraded by a taste of the newmake. I think you need to be stillman to enjoy this fully, but we loved the insight between the new spirit and the final product. 

I can really recommend checking out Duffus castle on a mildly sunny day. Excellent location to have a dram and climb around when you feel like it.

We thank Eimear our president for the excellent choice President Tasting secret three dram selection.

Final Day

It showed on Sunday that the Trip was going on for four days as the Party Bus at some points became the Sleeping Bus. Despite this some vehicles were still going strong towards Dallas Dhu. 

This certainly passed my expectations. If you are a Historic Scotland Member it is free, if not it is still worth a visit. The movie they show you at the start is quite hilarious and then you can run around the 1983 closed distillery freely. If you’re feeling adventurous you can even climb in the stills or if less adventurous just hug one.

Almost final stop at the beach where the weather was lovely sunny despite the salty breeze ruining some people’s lunches by the amount of feathers carried on.Queen's view in the afternoon with another round of well chosen drams.

All in all, as those 20 lucky people who went will tell you, an amazing trip.

Day 2 Speyside Trip - Champagne Breakfast

Our second day of the Trip started very uncommonly but deliciously with a Champagne and Bacon Breakfast before moving onwards to one of the smaller distilleries, Cardhu.

 Being early in the morning left us enough time to view the (for petting not for eating) Highland Cows a retired employee was nursing just next to the distillery where the air is potent with the share of the angels. 

 Yay, the sun is shining. Btw, these our our female pioneers of the society.

“Smaller” in our terms means a production of 7000 liters of spirits a week, as Loraine explained to us, all coming from 21 mashes a day. It is exactly one of those mash tuns, made from Scottish larch that is supposed to be the oldest still operating tun in Scotland. A whooping 53 years of age that is. Further on, for the fun part of the tour, the tasting we can say that we were not disappointed by the unusual selection, ranging from the 12 yo Cardhu, to a very tasty Mortlach. The venue of the tasting was rather well selected, being in the former Kiln of the Distillery it gave out a nice dark and cosy atmosphere despite the glass lids proving some difficulties at some points. The overall impression of Cardhu was that they were really keen on having us, maybe because same as Cardhu is the only distillery being pioneered by women, the WOLS has been in a firm and fruitful grasp of both our female Vice-President and President.  

Finalising quote from Cardhu: A whisky collection is a crisis proof investment. You collect in good times and in bad times, you are prepared.

Onwards we drove to our lunch stop in Aberlour. Quote from Jillian: “They had a great Whisky selection – for a Sandwich shop.”

The afternoon gave us the opportunity to being lead around one of the few family owned distilleries, namely Glenfarclas being in the hands of the Grant Family for 5 generations now. That this can be considered a quite impressive history is no wonder. The Grants were quite ingenious it seems as they found an amazing place for a distillery since they have almost unlimited space for potential expansion in the future. Sadly, on a slow Friday afternoon where the warehousemen are sent home at 2 pm (sounds like a dream job I know) we could not opt for the Manager’s tour, but our tour guide had worked in the company long enough to be equally knowledgeable and geeky enough for the connoisseurs of the Whisky Society. 

The Glenfarclas production capacity is between 3 and 4 million litres a year, which is quite impressive for a family business. 110 tons of malted barley, peated at 3-4 ppm go through the good vibration mill every week. We did spent quite some time putting our noses through the washbacks and staring in awe at the biggest mash tun in Scotland, with a diameter of 10 meters it looked much rather than a swimming pool. All the Glenfarclas Whisky is being held at the premises and there are no mutual assurance agreements with other distilleries. Supposedly the warehouses looked far enough away (due to the amazing availability of space in the valley) that this shouldn’t be a problem.

A 10yo and a 15yo Glenfarclas were on the menu in their tastefully decorated tasting room which looked much rather than a ship’s dining room then the space where excellent whisky is nosed and tasted. 

A short walk in Craigellachie did help us win appetite in order to taste a few more whiskies from the amazingly large collection (and decently prised if you were digging a bit) at the Highlander Inn where we had an excellent dinner despite managerial qualities being not up to the height.

 

This concluded day 2 of the trip all but the Campfire Canada bonfire and the viewing of new-born lambs. 

Pictures by Jerome Mausen and Ole Bratset

WOLS Speyside Trip 2013 Day 1

WOLS Speyside 2013(4) Trip

 Yes, we went to the beach. And it was nice.

Last Thursday morning 20 lovely people found their way early, but not too early in the morning to Buccleuch Place to set off for the Speyside Trip 2013 Wuhuuu. Again, the road does not disappoint with their many BRIIIIDGEs and RUINS and MONUMENTS so that the atmosphere in the Party Bus definitely was up to the heights. The Master of Tunes Jillian made dragonsure that their driver was excited and energised as well. But that is also where you disappoint, Speyside, with your many roadworks, heavy plant crossings (We didn’t see the Ents they were probably a bit shy that rainy day) and conveyor cars (which is a strange sight to begin with). 

Finally making it to one of the biggest Distilleries in Scotland and one of the most wellknown Malts in the world, the Valley of the Stag did not disappoint. Despite it being very touristy and neat, Caroline proved to be quite knowledgeable and had us bow in awe with the fact that 88 tons of malted barley go through the copper pipes at the end of the distilling process every day. In numbers, this is 32142000 kilos a year. Remember that this quantity had to be shovelled in the olden days while being dried by the kiln. That’s what I call a monkey shoulder. No monkey business is naming the 28 different stills which is quite a peculiar fact as well as the one that the most skilful cooper can assemble a cask in 7 minutes. I can’t even drink my whisky as quickly most of the times.

What makes the Glenfiddich tour interesting is the same present you get as with Glenmorangie, namely that you can smell whisky right from the cask and if it is from 1974 all the better to distinguish the different aromas of bourbon and sherry casks. 

Even a Whisky Society does not run on Whisky alone. Caffeine is much needed on a 4 day trip. 

 The second stop on Thursday (but because of refuelling stops for other yeasty liquid not the last) was to the Speyside Brewery in Forres. Located in an industrial site, the charm of this beer mostly comes from the brewer, Seb and his dedication to engage in having more microbreweries in Speyside in the territory heavily dominated by Distilleries. I do think that there is space for both of them as the water on the eastcoast might be heavily defended but still plenty. His hoppy brew is quite nice to drink and we made sure that we didn’t leave the premised with empty hands. 

The final way to the bunkhouse later that night deeply took us to the middle of nowhere, a place where I’m sure no Whisky Society has ever ventured before. That being said, the perks of having as your only company the sheep and lambs next doors were well appreciated, especially by our female members. 

Also, the bar was well stocked in the bunkhouse.