The cons of the single track roads is that the driver is ever on the lookout for potholes, passing places – which seem an incomprehensible idea for some of the non-locals who blankly try to win a staring contest trying to force you to back up to a passing place, while they themselves are still…
The Sound of Islay
Oh, hello! Is it another day already? We thought we were on Islay time? Normally, we would have said it slows down a bit, but it seems to have caught up with mainland time over the years. Shame! Anyway, While we want to explore the Island and not only go on another distillery hopping spree,…
Katie’s first time
Having decided to calm things down, which sort of comes natural when one is on Islay, we leisurely cruised to the Bruichladdich shop, which we had never seen this busy outside of Feis Ile. Crammed with people going on different tours, and sadly no space for us to squeeze in. Although we have seen the…
Islay Calling!
Islay, Queen of the Hebrides. While we were planning the trip back in September 2023, we were checking to go to Skye, drive the NC500, do some exploring of cities and villages we had never visited and do some sightseeing of waterfalls, ruins, large standing stones and whatnot. For some reason though, we kept looking…
Dreich, inside and out
An early start was out of the question. The day ahead of us was as much a question for us, as it was for anyone else. Having “forgotten” a proper raincoat and the weather forecast and a small burst pipe in our hotel room told us we should have, we just had to treat ourselves…
On y Va!
Whoever invented WiFi on board of a ferry sailing in international waters should be thanked for their services, although they may not have thought about possible emails you receive. If said emails are about a cancelled ferry further in the trip, one can not follow up over the phone without breaking the bank. Stress, during…
Dear diary…
Scotland, April 2024. After the hiatus of about five years, we are finally back in Scotland. Boy, have we missed being here. The journey here was, as ever, not that eventful and mainly consisted of us waiting in the car for a boat, looking at the sea, worrying about whether or not the weather would…
A 5 year itch.
A 5 year itch. January 19 2019 was our last article about a whisky distillery we visited in May 2018. A year and a bit later, in October 2020, we wrote some words about the annually released Malt Whisky Yearbook from our friend Ingvar Ronde. After that, a long silent period from us. Sorry if…
THE GOOD BOOK
One book we annually purchase to make sure we are up to date on our statistics concerning existing and new distilleries, is the Malt Whisky Year Book by Ingvar Ronde. Every year, he single handedly sets out to update these stats and self publish them. Enriched with interviews, behind the scenes stories, colourful pictures and…
JUST GETTING STARTED…
For most whisky enthusiasts, entering the Speyside area brings something special. With over 50 active whisky distilleries – and counting, the region has become a new home away from home for WhiskySpeller, albeit for only about two weeks of the year. These two weeks, not very incidentally, always seem to coincide with the busiest time…
DEXTER’S LAB
Well, that was quite a fermentation period… At WhiskySpeller HQ we have been handling a pair of overflowing washbacks the last couple of weeks. Cutting the froth didn’t quite ehm… cut it, so we decided to switch to an anti-foaming agent to clear the schedule a little. Repairs have been done, both stills are undamaged,…
DARNLEY’S
In 2016, we visited the Kingsbarns distillery in the Kingdom of Fife for the first time. Then, they were already producing and casking single malt spirit for a whole year, which means that it has now come of age and can be called whisky. Except for an exclusive selection of their founders’ club members, it…
WhiskySpeller 