An "Own Bottling" day.

At certain distilleries you have the opportunity to bottle your own whisky from a selected single cask.  Invariably it is whisky not available outside of the distillery so if it is to your taste it is a wonderful opportunity to obtain something not normally available and very personal.

Today was our second and third opportunity to do this.  The first was at Glendronach at the beginning of the week and today we were at Abelour and Glen Fiddich doing the same thing.  I think we'll be paying duty when we come home.  We have been lucky in that the three expressions suite our taste admirably.  We filled our own bottle direct from the cask, fill in your own labels and do the Excise documentation in a more personalized manner.

On our way back.....the ubiquitous gatekeeper...........another one!!

Elgin....Grant and Fiddich

Elgin apart from being a pleasant little market town in the Highlands is also home to Gordon and MacPhail the Fortnum and Mason of Scotland.  An old attractive building containing a huge selection of Malt Whiskies.....over 1000 plus a large quality wine cellar and a delicatessen you could spend hours in.

The whiskies range from 35 pounds to over 15000.....a  little out of our league but a selection that is totally confusing unless you can narrow down your choice a little.

$24,000 this baby.  Maybe we'll buy a case! Maybe not!

After buying toffee at Thorntons and fresh pork pies at a butcher who we couldn't understand we headed south again to visit Glen Grant and Glen Fiddich before heading back to the Dufftown Golf Club to pick up Mark and Barb who had been playing the mountain goat course.......massive elevations!!

Grant and Fiddich are the two distilleries who, more than any other, cater to visitors.  The grounds are staggering.....Grant has 20 acres of Victorian gardens.  Fiddich has wash rooms that could only be found in the finest of hotels anywhere in the world.

Like my new car!

So we still have more to do before heading down to Yorkshire on Saturday via Edinburgh.

Dufftown and GlenDronach

The sun is still shining and we've been here four days now.....go figure.  Today we were shopping in Abelour.

We have a reservation at the Mash Tun for Wednesday night.  No hope in hell without a reservation apparently.

Then on to Dufftown the heart of Speyside Whisky and home to the Whisky Shop....worldwide renown but leave your credit cards at home!!

This place will drive you crazy with prices from normal to "outofsight."  This was simply a stop off as our final destination was the GlenDronach Distillery.....one of our favourites!

This was parked in the field when we left after an incredible afternoon with tastings galore which resulted in Hilary driving!!

Culloden and other things.

The cottage we rented is terrific.  An old converted cow barn in the boonies of the Cairngorm Mountains.  Inside it's warm, modern and beautifully appointed.  Outside it's currently sunny......so far anyway.....but we're surrounded by sheep.....in fields this time.

We headed off to Culloden Moor  to tour the site of where the Clans were destroyed by the English army in 1746.  Fantastic presentation.........audio visual......but with tons of artifacts and one 360 degree movie where they have you stand between four  screens.  The impression is you're standing between the two opposing armies as the Scots charge......amazing really!!

After this we headed further north to Tain...the site of Glenmorangie Distillery.  This is the furthest north we'll travel.  This distillery though very much caters to tours and visitors.  Had a great visit......bought something pretty darn expensive and then a long drive back to the cottage......after stopping for dinner in Abelour at the Abelour Hotel.....which, for food anyway, we can highly recommend.

Scotland....first couple of days!

Drove from Glasgow to Aviemore and then on to Speyside.  Stopped at Glengoyne and bought a little something.

.Got attacked by marauding Scottish sheep.

The whisky bar in the Craigellechie Hotel.

Cawdor Castle outside Nairn.  Home to Macbeth!

The Spey......home to dozens of distilleries!!

June 13. A few pics plus some news.

The beginning of June and we're getting ready to go away for the first time in three years.Hilary was sick and then me last year. Now the docs say "go" so we're going. So a few pics for now.....after all it is a "photo blog." For sure we'll update it from where we're going........A Distillery Tour in Scotland!!

Some current stuff in the meantime......some not so current.  Keep an eye out for the new stuff coming from over the sea.