The Speyside region. A region not really designated by natural boundaries, or clan ownership claims, but roughly defined by having access to the water coming from or flowing into the river Spey. Home to roughly 50 distilleries in the mid-east of the Highlands between Inverness and Aberdeen, hugging the North Sea coast. In the triangle…
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Entering Speyside
“Falling Down a Mountain” turns out to be a cafe with coffee brewed from freshly ground beans and the best homemade carrot cake we have had on this trip. Well worth the one mile detour before turning our heels and driving the mile back on General Wade’s Military Road to cross the river Spey for…
Islay Farewell: Seafood Feasts, Ferry Chases & FOMO Frenzy!
We bade farewell to Bruichladdich for one last time on this trip and decided to take the remainder of the day off, do some reading in the sunshine and go out for dinner at the Balaclava Byre, not 5 minutes from the Little House, just outside of Port Ellen going North. We had been on…
Islay Sunset Symphony
After having said our ‘see you tomorrows’ to our turquoise friends, we drove to Port Ellen to get a cup of tea at the Port Ellen hotel bar, who had opened their gardens for the lovely afternoon. The hotel was purchased by LVMH in 2022 and will be completely overhauled in 2024, after Feis Ile….
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…
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…
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…
A WHISKY PILGRIMAGE
Driving through the beautiful Kingdom Fife, we find ourselves nearing the town of Newburgh towards a location that should be a pilgrimage for whisky lovers. Where in the old days Grey Monks grew a diversity of fruits from their own orchards, kept bees for their honey and mead and harvested barley to brew and distill…
THE BORDERS DISTILLERY
The Scottish Borders. An area in Scotland we have mostly passed through, when driving on the coastal A1, trying to reach a more northern destination when coming off the boat at Newcastle upon Tyne. Little did we know that the A696 – the “other” road leading north from Newcastle, would merge with the A68 at…
LEG THREE OF THREE
Because three weeks of touring through Scotland is quite a bit to digest in one read, we decided to gather our notes and split the trip in three more edible parts. Mind you, the first, second and third parts are just a resume of what we have been doing and all distillery visits will be…
LEG TWO OF THREE
Because three weeks of touring through Scotland is quite a bit to digest in one read, we decided to gather our notes and split the trip in three more edible parts. Mind you, this second part is just a resume of what we have been doing and all distillery visits will be getting their own…
WhiskySpeller 