Scotland
Over this past winter I was invited to a 50th birthday party in the tiny town of Tysoe, England. It's a quaint little village nestled into the Cotswold countryside of England. Pipa, the guest of honor who was turning 50, is very close friend of my best friend Tom and so also a friend of mine. Tom and I felt it was foolish to travel all the way across the pond to London and then up 90 minutes north of London to Tysoe and not pop into Edinburgh and Glasgow. So the journey began. In Edinburgh our first and most important stop was Royal Mile Whiskies. There we were greeted like old friends my Martin(pictured left), Tom(pictured second from left). There were tastes and discussions and Tom and I both walked away with five bottles each of some very limited single malt whisky.
The Dalmore King Alexander III. This was one of our first of many drams at Whiski Bar & Restaurant. After a hearty lunch of Haggis and Teets, we moved to the bar for a few drams. This whiskey is a sextuple-wood bottling from Dalmore. This auspiciously-named dram was matured in wine, Madeira, Sherry, Marsala, Kentucky bourbon and Port casks. King Alexander III is a rich, fruity Highland single malt. |
Fettercairn Fior. Fior is Gaelic for "true", and the whisky has an very rich flavour of cocoa, espresso, spices, fruit and almond. I enjoyed this enough to purchase a bottle at RMW.
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This was a nice treat. An Aberlour A'BUNADH. This was a huge mouthful of sherry notes and even though it was almost 120 proof, it drank smooth and finished very light on the palate. I also purchased a bottle of this from RMW after tasting it at Whiski Bar.
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Moch is Gaelic for dawn and this dram from Caol Ila is a lovely take on their standard 12 year old with less smoke. I found it a very nice contrast to the Aberlour.
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The 5 mile walk from the train to Auchentoshan was well worth the trek.
So many choices at the Visitors Center.
Bottled Exclusively by Me.
So no trip to Scotland would be complete without visiting at least one distillery. Auchentoshan, is one of my favorite whiskies. So it was only natural that I would want to visit the place that it's made. Staying on Edinburgh it was about an hour train ride west towards Glasgow. Tom and I were entertained the entire trip by a 10 year old Scottish boy that sat backwards in his seat and proceeded to tell us all that he knew about the United States. His Grandmother was very sweet and upon hearing that we were headed to the distillery, gave us directions to said distillery. Well, that didn't go as planned. It seems that what the Scots think of as "just down the road", is actually about a 5 to 6 mile walk. So needless to say, we were very sweaty and thirsty when we arrived at Auchentoshan.
Upon our arrival and walk into the distillery property, we made our way down to the visitors center located in the heart of the operation. The staff was made up of a range of ages from mid 20's to late 50's and both men and woman. We were greeted by a fine Scotsman named Stevie. Stevie it turned out was a retired police officer from Glasgow and was now working part time at Auchentoshan to keep busy and keep him out of the house. He was awesome. We explained to Stevie that we, Tom and I, wanted to both bottle our own whiskey. He was happy to oblige and asked us how many bottles did we want? "How many could I have", I responded? "As many as ya like, as long as ya pay for them", Stevie told me in a heavy Scottish brogue. A good chuckle was had by all and we realized that we were in for a great experience. Stevie took us to the warehouse where there was a separate room set aside for people who wanted to bottle their own whisky. We were not allowed to take pictures in the warehouse due to security and the amount of alcohol floating around in the air. In the room there was a single barrel sitting on a stand that brought the bung up to about waist height. Stevie handed me what looked like a cave man club/hammer. It was a 3 food branch with a wooden block attached to it like a hammer head. He instructed me to strike firmly and forcefully on either side of the bung hole to dislodge the bung. It took me 5 whacks with the hammer, it took Stevie one. Once the bung was dislodged it was time to put the valinch into the barrel draw out our liquid gold. The whisky was drawn into the valinch and then quickly put into a glass beaker. Once the beaker was full it was then poured thru a filter in a funnel and into the bottle. Once my bottle was full, Stevie suggested we have a taste. After all, how can you buy and bottle your own whisky without tasting it. Glencairn Whisky glasses were brought out and he proceeded to fill both mine and Tom's glass to about a half inch from the top, this was no taste, this was several tastes in once glass. Keep in mind that this is barrel strength whisky, no chill filtering , no cutting with water, just straight from the cask. The whisky was delicious, amazing, and far better than i would have expected from a 7 year old whisky. Upon finishing our bottle filling and the large glass of whisky that Stevie poured us, Tom asked for a second glass of whisky. Oh the embarrassment, oh the shame, only to have Stevie respond with "why not" and then proceed to refill our glasses with a second full pour of cask strength whisky. After our two full glasses in the barrel room, we moved back to the lobby of the visitors center.
Upon our arrival and walk into the distillery property, we made our way down to the visitors center located in the heart of the operation. The staff was made up of a range of ages from mid 20's to late 50's and both men and woman. We were greeted by a fine Scotsman named Stevie. Stevie it turned out was a retired police officer from Glasgow and was now working part time at Auchentoshan to keep busy and keep him out of the house. He was awesome. We explained to Stevie that we, Tom and I, wanted to both bottle our own whiskey. He was happy to oblige and asked us how many bottles did we want? "How many could I have", I responded? "As many as ya like, as long as ya pay for them", Stevie told me in a heavy Scottish brogue. A good chuckle was had by all and we realized that we were in for a great experience. Stevie took us to the warehouse where there was a separate room set aside for people who wanted to bottle their own whisky. We were not allowed to take pictures in the warehouse due to security and the amount of alcohol floating around in the air. In the room there was a single barrel sitting on a stand that brought the bung up to about waist height. Stevie handed me what looked like a cave man club/hammer. It was a 3 food branch with a wooden block attached to it like a hammer head. He instructed me to strike firmly and forcefully on either side of the bung hole to dislodge the bung. It took me 5 whacks with the hammer, it took Stevie one. Once the bung was dislodged it was time to put the valinch into the barrel draw out our liquid gold. The whisky was drawn into the valinch and then quickly put into a glass beaker. Once the beaker was full it was then poured thru a filter in a funnel and into the bottle. Once my bottle was full, Stevie suggested we have a taste. After all, how can you buy and bottle your own whisky without tasting it. Glencairn Whisky glasses were brought out and he proceeded to fill both mine and Tom's glass to about a half inch from the top, this was no taste, this was several tastes in once glass. Keep in mind that this is barrel strength whisky, no chill filtering , no cutting with water, just straight from the cask. The whisky was delicious, amazing, and far better than i would have expected from a 7 year old whisky. Upon finishing our bottle filling and the large glass of whisky that Stevie poured us, Tom asked for a second glass of whisky. Oh the embarrassment, oh the shame, only to have Stevie respond with "why not" and then proceed to refill our glasses with a second full pour of cask strength whisky. After our two full glasses in the barrel room, we moved back to the lobby of the visitors center.
I should have nicked the glasses.
Once back seated comfortably at the visitors center, Tom and I decided that while we were here, we should taste the Travel Retail Selection. This is a selection of 5 different bottling that are only available to the international traveler and also at the distillery. No where else can you buy these whiskies. We decided to try 4 out of the 5. Springwood, Heartwood, Cooper's Reserve, and Silver Oak. I wish I could tell you how wonderful these whiskies were in great detail, but alas, I can not. By the time we sat down and had our second of these four drams, we were well on our way to a whisky sodden bliss. I would say this though, I do recall that all four drams were very good, and that I will be buying them next time i pass thru Heathrow or another airport in Great Britain. The party departed Auchentoshan via taxi to Glasgow where we had dinner and sobered up before heading back to Edinburgh for what else, but more whisky.
