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.